“Wakefulness and consciousness tend to go together,… One exceptions occurs when we are in the state of dream sleep. We are obviously not awake during dream sleep and yet some consciousness of the events are taking place in the mind. Wakefulness is not the same as consciousness. In wakefulness the dream and mind are “on” and images of the organism’s environment are being formed. Reflexes can be engaged, of course (neither consciousness or wakefulness is needed for reflex activity), and low level attention driven to stimuli that conform to the basic needs of the organism, and yet, consciousness may be absent. Patients with some neurological conditions….are awake and yet lack what core consciousness would have added to their thought process images of knowing centered on the self. italics added
 Damasio 1999

                   “Knowing centered on the self”

This is a photo of the center of a sandtray narrative. These are the miniatures that my patient Jeb chose from my collection to represent the essence of his self experience. Jeb was not “aware” he had incurable cancer at the time and yet he prepared a vessel for crossing over. Sandplay narratives  are  one expression of the waking dream phenomenon.