For practitioners, being “far beyond inverted views and dreams” means maintaining a clear and sober mind. The goal of practice is to awaken from the dream of the self, to the wakefulness of enlightenment. Once full liberation is reached, one no longer dreams of having a life. There is no more, “I want to do this and I don’t want to do that.” One’s life no longer belongs to oneself, but rather it is there for the benefit of all, responding to the environment and to the needs of others, naturally and spontaneously doing the right thing.

Inverted views are the four upside-down views: perceiving suffering to be happiness; perceiving impurity to be purity; perceiving impermanence to be permanence; perceiving that which is not a self to be fthe self. Basically, suffering arises because of our misperceptions regarding such matters.

Dreams can take many forms. Making unrealistic plans is a form of dreaming. For example, imagining being a successful millionaire, fantasizing about how you made the money and what you would do with your riches, is a dream. After all, what do you know about the causes and conditions of other people? People have their own unique characteristics, their own karma. Some people live their entire lives dreaming of a different life, never even trying to realize it. Others realize that they are dreaming about another life and will themselves to awaken. In this case, they are not awakening to enlightenment but merely to a soberer, clearer outlook.