Came across this one awhile ago… Wish I could remember where now. But it still cracks me up! And it makes the point so well too… how can we be taught to so flippantly ignore or devalue a huge portion of our inner experience? Should we continue to let the uninformed beliefs of society about dreaming influence the way in which we treat our private or public dreams? If that is considered ‘normal’, I’d rather be considered a raving lunatic! It seems a little backwards though, don’t you think..? Perhaps as this comic satirically suggests, the way in which people ‘usually’ treat dreams is just a little wacko.. At the very least, we might want to know a little more about what we’ve been experiencing in the period we know as ’sleep’ before we write it off. Well, that’s what I think anyways.
Recently I’ve been getting back into a course I bought a while ago but have just been plain too busy to read… and it’s really pretty cool.
It’s a six week course on training your psychic abilities by highly successful self development author Bradley Thompson. He’s also a widely respected scientist, and as far as he’s concerned, psychic abilities are just another branch of science that we don’t fully understand yet.
Well, as far as we’re both concerned, the truth is we’re all ‘psychic’, we all have these gifts – we simply need to learn how to use them. And fortunately, we we don’t have to understand them in ’scientific terms’ to do so. It’s just.. how often do we get it explained to us in a simple, understandable way that we can actually *use*?
To me that’s what makes this course pretty good, it doesn’t stuff you round with big words, complex formulas or ridiculous practices. It focuses on your psychic development, not someone elses theories.
So why not check this out for yourself? To begin with, there’s a free mini-course for anyone interested in finding out more about their psychic potential here.
The degree of lucidity you have in a lucid dream can vary according to a number of different factors. We must always remember that lucidity is awareness and it is not something that is ‘on’ or ‘off’, it varies as much as your waking consciousness does and often more so.
First, what is the strength of your conscious focus? Are you brightly aware or dimly? Do you feel tired or groggy, or have you never been more awake in your life? Both of these can happen and anywhere in between in a lucid dream, and can affect your ability to make lucid decisions. The sharpness of your focus can be affected by your mental energy.
Second, is the dream stable? If you are having to spend your time and attention on stabilizing a lucid dream rather than doing anything, it can be quite distracting. That said, it is undoubtably a necessary distraction if you want to stay in the lucid dream! Training your dream stability also trains your lucidity as you stay focussed on the fact you’re dreaming while using stabilizing techniques.
Third, how present is your critical faculty? Do you accept things at face value, or do they engage your curiosity and attention? Are you aware of what is possible in a dream? Are you able to form logical or complex thoughts? It is all very well to be aware that you’re dreaming sometimes, but when you want to use it for more indepth applications, learning to awaken your critical faculty more can be important too.
Fourth, how is your memory? Can you remember who you are in waking life? How you got where you are in the dream? Perhaps even what other dreams you’ve had recently. If you consciously exercise your memory while in a lucid dream, this will help you increase later recall by opening memory channels to your waking memory from the ‘other side’.
Finally, what is your ability to take control of the dream itself? Can you do ‘anything’ or are there things you don’t believe you can do. These beliefs can affect your dreaming abilities and dream control. What, you can float but you can’t fly? How strange. You can lift that trashcan with your mind, but you can’t lift that building? Hmmm… Maybe you aren’t as lucid as you think then… Remind yourself it’s a dream and you can do anything!
A few years ago I had the experience of dreaming in Zen! For those unfamiliar with Zen stories, they are often short but insightful tales about experiences that have helped people realize the truth… (I recommend Zen Flesh Zen Bones by Alan Watts, a great collection of Zen stories.)
But I was fortunate enough to bring this one back from the dream world! I saw it from the eyes of the characters and third person simultaneously, but here is my attempt at a written version… Enjoy!
…A travelling zen monk was passing through a city one day, when he was approached by one of the locals seeking his help. There had been a number of deaths in the city by poisoning recently, and the man knew of the particular shopkeeper responsible for supplying it. He was, however, too afraid to approach the authorities for fear he might be next. The monk assured the man that he would look into it, asks directions to the shop and proceeds to it.
Upon entering the shop, he approaches the counter and politely says “I require one dose of your finest poison thankyou.” The shopkeeper is visibly surprised at such a request from a monk, but is not in the business of asking questions, and after all, this could be a disguised assassin who it would not be wise to refuse. He recovers his composure, bends down under the counter and shortly produces a small vial for examination.
The monk studies the vial, and satisfactorily pronounces, “Yes, that should suffice for everyone.” The shopkeeper is again taken aback, and says quite seriously, “Sir, I do not think you understand. As you asked, this dose is for one person. It is not sufficient for more.” The monk smiles and replies, “No, it will certainly suffice. For you see, I intend to take this myself tonight… and tomorrow, everyone else will be dead.”
At which, the shopkeeper is enlightened, and never sells poison again…
Probably the greatest thing about Lucid Dreaming is that once you recognize you’re inside a dream, you can change or create whatever you like. By becoming aware of your ability to choose and exercising that will, you can experience just what you want to experience! If you consider that for a moment, you’ll see it’s a very powerful idea. Not many people get a chance to experience their desires with such little effort.
It really is like your own ‘Personal Virtual Reality’, a holodeck with flexibility and realism far exceeding the most advanced of computer simulations. The possibilities that open up for exploring the your own fantasies, ideas, inventions, creativity, knowledge, self-growth and insights are truly mind-boggling to begin with. With so many options and applications, it can easily become a matter of where to start!
But at the same time, I think this is best thing about lucid dreams – you can do anything, and I mean anything! There aren’t any limits or boundaries to your experiences as there are here in the physical world. Nor is there a time delay to what you decide to manifest – everything is created virtually instantly as you put forth your desire for it. It’s hard to describe just how fulfilling and freedom engendering this kind of experience is. Not to mention really really really fun!!!
THC, the active ingredient of cannibus/marijuana, certainly has a definite affect on one’s dreaming. However, insomuch as THC itself affects different people in different ways, the effect of one’s dreaming will vary from individual to individual too. Some scientific studies have shown that REM periods are reduced or suppressed by THC, and though unfortunately these are quite old, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence supporting this too. While some people may experience vivid dreams shortly after use, generally, most people (again, not all) who smoke or ingest pot find that they have more trouble remembering their dreams, or even a complete lack of dream recall.
One likely cause of this is that THC builds up in the Hippocampus area of the brain, which has been identified as relating to dream interpretation and short-term memory, resulting in less dreaming or less dreaming memory. How quickly this happens, whether with one-time or regular use, is probably different for everyone, though with abstinence, full capacity generally returns in about a week. Personally I don’t go near pot any more, not because I have anything against it, but because I enjoy my dreaming far more. So for some of us it may come to a choice between the two.
When it comes to lucid dreaming, obviously having an impairment of one’s dreaming memory is going to be a bit of a problem, since memory is one of the foundations of lucidity. But for those who want to both smoke marijuana and lucid dream, it may be a worth trying some other herbs to counteract this undesirable side effect… A herbal tea before bedtime of Mugwort (known to increase the vividness of dreams) and Ginko Biloba (known to improve memory) may prove beneficial. In fact, I would recommend trying this whether you smoke or not! These two common herbs will give a nice boost to your dreaming.
Hope this helps! If you want to read more details on studies of THC on REM, check this forum thread (not exactly light reading though.)
Some people with a sceptical ’scientific outlook’ maintain that astral projection and out of body experiences are just lucid dreams in which we are dreaming that we are out of our body. It’s an interesing point of view to have in that it really doesn’t fit as a plausible explanation given the ‘data set’ of people’s experience. For example, the massive amount of data gathered on out of bodies through Near Death Experiences cannot be written off that easily.
What makes these experiences ‘proof’ of actual being out of body is the reports of those having had them that give accurate information that could not otherwise be known. It is this ‘extraneous data’ that cannot be explained away as enlivened imagination or hallucination. Conscious projectors have produced similar information that can be verified by witness reports. Some of the more famous examples are Eileen Garrett, Edgar Cayce, Robert Monroe and Jane Roberts.
What we are seeing is really a kind of belief blindness. If you already believe something, there is no way you’ll accept the validity of information that contradicts that belief, regardless of the volume and quality of data. With obstinacy, straight out the window goes open-minded scientific investigation. It is simply not enough to call these subjectively observed experiences and thus dimiss them as unobjective phenomena when all objective phenomena are observed subjectively! But I should say, it’s not my intent here to descry anyone for their beliefs, only to point out that they are just that, beliefs.
What are currently recognized as dreaming periods are the REM (rapid eye movement) portions of sleep. What is generally not known however is that we dream and have other experiences at deeper levels of the psyche that aren’t usually fully consciously remembered. Some of these are formless or imageless interactions. The information and experiences we have on these levels is translated into dream imagery at levels closer to our waking consciousness, and this is what is recognized as REM dreaming.
In other words, we still dream in non-REM periods, but these dreams are trickier to remember directly the deeper we go, because there the information we receive is usually too vast for our conscious minds to contain. So we translate it in symbolic form through the image-laden medium of REM dreams. And yet, as we stretch our dreaming attention and conscious capacity, we are more likely to remember more information from these levels, which is more akin to a direct knowing.
The confusion that REM periods and dreaming periods are exactly synonymous is one that has come about through the scientific study of dreaming from outside observation. But by recognizing that REM is associated with the scanning of dream imagery, it is easier to see that those non-REM periods of sleep are not necessarily ones of ‘unconsciousness’ but quite the opposite, they are periods of superconscious activity that escape our conscious focus, imageless ‘dreams’ of a magnitude that is mind-blowing to glimpse!
This is an extremely thorough course, covering everything you need to know about Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection induction techniques. The insights are profound and original, and the information is all first-rate. It was written with the intention of being the best Lucid Dreaming guide available anywhere, so it’s really jam-packed from start to finish. This one will be a stayer folks!
Consisting of six books, it’s really going to take you places… The first book is a free introduction to lucid dreaming and astral projection. The second book is intended to prepare you and clear the way for these experiences. Third is an excellent comprehensive book on Lucid Dreaming induction and awareness. Fourth is a huge range of ideas for lucid dreaming applications and how to easily instigate your chosen lucid dreams. Fifth, it moves on to Astral Projection induction, with incredible insights on this phenomena and all the best improved methods. Sixth and upcoming is a guide on mastering your astral experiences.
I happen to know this is the best course available on Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection… How do I know? Because the author is me! I’ve read dozens of books in the research phase of this writing project and nothing comes close to the depth and simplicity of this course.
Okay, perhaps it’s a little facecious reviewing my own books, but “it’s a dirty job and someone’s got to do it.” Lol! Luckily I’m a person who means what I say and says what I mean. Check out more details on the Ultimate Astral Experience Course.
Have you heard the latest song by Franz Ferdinand called ‘Lucid Dreams’?
Pretty cool! And here’s the Lucid Dreams lyrics:
Sweep slides on my stereo
Short wave ’round my rodeo
Became from that of Savalon
But I’m flying to Istanbul
Oh so why don’t you meet me there?
There is no nation of you
There is no nation of me
Our only nation lives in Lucid Dreams
Lucid Dreams
I’m living in lucid dreams
I’m living on short based dreams tonight
I’ll dial Alexandria
If you dial into Ithaca
South fisher, German bite
I skate on the world tonight
Oh so why don’t you come along?
There is no nation of you
There is no nation of me
Our only nation lives in Lucid Dreams
Lucid Dreams
I’m living in lucid dreams
I’m living on short based dreams tonight
I’m gonna give my aimless love
My angry heart
My desire
I woke with wings from lucid dreams
I knew the reason I felt hollow
Was it I may never know
If there is some great truth or not
There is no nation of you
There is no nation of me
Our only nation lives in Lucid Dreams
Lucid Dreams
I’m living in lucid dreams
I’m living in a short wave stream tonight
Lucid dreams
I’m living on lucid dreams
Now there is just plain mystery
Came across this one awhile ago… Wish I could remember where now. But it still cracks me up! And it makes the point so well too… how can we be taught to so flippantly ignore or devalue a huge portion of our inner experience? Should we continue to let the uninformed beliefs of society about dreaming influence the way in which we treat our private or public dreams? If that is considered ‘normal’, I’d rather be considered a raving lunatic! It seems a little backwards though, don’t you think..? Perhaps as this comic satirically suggests, the way in which people ‘usually’ treat dreams is just a little wacko.. At the very least, we might want to know a little more about what we’ve been experiencing in the period we know as ’sleep’ before we write it off. Well, that’s what I think anyways. 
