The Tibetan Book of the Dead, an ancient Buddhist text also known as the "Bardo Thodol," offers profound insights that extend beyond the moment of death, guiding us through various transitional states, or bardos.

Traditionally, the bardos are considered to be six in number:

Bardo of This Life (Skye-ne Bardo): The span from birth to death.
Bardo of the Dream State (Milam Bardo): The periods of dreaming during sleep.
Bardo of Meditation (Samten Bardo): States experienced in deep meditation.
Bardo of the Moment of Death (Chikhai Bardo): The process of dying.
Bardo of the After-Death (Chonyid Bardo): Encounters with deities and visions after death.
Bardo of Becoming (Sidpa Bardo): The state of seeking rebirth.

In the after-death bardos, the soul encounters a series of deities and visions both positive and negative, which are to be understood to be projections of one's own mind, lest they rule us. The key to liberation lies in recognizing these projections as such and not being entrapped by fear or attachment.

What if we applied this wisdom to our current existence, the Bardo of This Life? In this light, the systems, religions, beliefs, and fears that bind us can also be seen as projections of our own minds. Our "gods" and societal constructs, much like the deities in the after-death states, are creations of our consciousness. By recognizing them as such, we can begin to dissolve their hold on us.

This perspective allows us to see through the illusions that we ourselves have created. Life, then, is a journey through a bardo - a continuous flow of experiences and transitions. By understanding the impermanent and illusory nature of these experiences, we can achieve a form of liberation here and now. In embracing the teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide for the living, it is possible to see that the path to enlightenment is not only a matter of navigating the afterlife but also of awakening to the true nature of our present reality.

Liberation as envisioned by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, can happen before death. That, I suppose, is enlightenment.

Lucid dreaming can be seen as a form of enlightenment within the dream bardo. It involves a heightened level of awareness, control, and insight, paralleling the principles of enlightenment in waking life. By recognizing the illusory nature of dreams and actively participating in them, lucid dreamers experience a form of awakening that can lead to personal growth and deeper understanding.

Can we see that our concepts such as money and democracy, our beliefs in heaven and hell and all the rest of it, is not really true but rather projections of our mind? Can we achieve "no-mind" to see clearly what is actually true? Can we through enlightenment achieve "lucid dreaming" in the waking state?

A child torn to shreds by bombs in Gaza is true. That is what is actually going on. Borders, are not. Israel is not. Palestine is not. Those concepts are like the images and deities in the bardo after death. To be seen through and moved past. Our material world may be more "dense" than the dreaming state, or the after death state so control is not instant and spontaneous, but I propose that it follows the same rules and logic.

No war ever has been built upon truth. No war ever will be. If truth is seen clearly, no war is possible at all. If truth is realized it can be seen that all is one, and therefore also that it is ourselves we kill and wage war on. When this is clear, it is also clear that war is never the answer.