fool`s guide to lucid dreaming

8/14/2019 Fool`s Guide to Lucid Dreaming

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A Fool's Guide to Lucid DreamingBy Lynne Levitan

PEOPLE often want us to specify the criteria for lucid dreaming, asking, "Wasthis a lucid dream?" and describing some definite non-rationality in the midst of

a lucid dream. Webster's definition of lucidity is: "clearness of thought or style,"and "a presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously."However, the lucidity referred to in the term "lucid dreaming" as coined byFrederik van Eeden in 1913, refers only to perception of the truth that one isdreaming. This is much like the usage of the word "lucid" in psychiatry todescribe a patient who is well oriented to time, person and place.

Knowing that you are dreaming, however, does not automatically guaranteefull rationality. Then again, being awake doesn't ensure good thinking, either.Nonetheless, we get more comic relief out of the errors we make in dreams,even lucid ones, than the ones we make while awake. Why do we do stupidthings in dreams? One of the possible reasons is that we are less familiar withdreams and how they work, because most of the time in them we assume weare awake and so miss out on many opportunities to learn the ropes. Anotherpossibility is that the dreaming brain is actually less intelligent than the wakingbrain, at least sometimes. Perhaps there is something about the activity of thebrain in REM sleep that, on occasion, makes the dreamer's actions seem likethose of a brain-damaged person.

The "brain damage" theory is plausible, given that the electrical activity of thebrain varies tremendously in REM sleep, from less to more than in waking.Maybe our inner experiences change along with that activity, ranging from dulland irrational, to ecstatic and sharp-witted. On the other hand, the majority of

mistakes made in lucid dreams are probably the result of "dream naivete," thatis, a lack of understanding of what is and is not appropriate to the time andplace of the dream world. Until you have accumulated sufficient experience attesting the boundaries of dream reality, and overcoming inhibitions fromwaking life, then you are likely to misinterpret situations and overlook chancesto try something new.

One way to look at rationality in dreams is to classify different levels of lucidity.At the highest level, the dreamer would not only be aware of dreaming, butalso possess complete understanding of the implications of this knowledge,and would behave in accordance with that understanding on all levels fromthought to action. The lowest, minimal level of lucidity would be realization of

dreaming, but without understanding how dreaming is different from waking,and without acting on the lucidity at all, mistaking events, characters andconsequences with those from waking life. Yet, degrees of rationality vary frommoment to moment in dreams, so that one wishing to use a scale of levels oflucidity would have to rate each decision, action, or response of the dreamerindependently. Averaging the lucidity levels in a dream might be a way ofestablishing a lucidity "score" for the dream. All of this is for future research todecide.


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As a start on approaching this issue, I picked 38 instances of irrationalthoughts and actions from lucid dreams. Half came from my own dreams (sono one should feel I'm picking on them), and half from the lucid dreamssubmitted for the "Minds & Machines" experiment written up in this issue'sResearch Update. I have classified them into categories of different types oferrors. Three categories covered most of the examples.

1. Being Afraid of "Physical Harm"

There are certain kinds of situations in which action is reflexive, not awaitingdecisions from the conscious mind. Fearful circumstances are one example. Itis much better for our skins, in general, if we respond quickly to danger, in away that will increase our chances of avoiding harm, usually running away,less often fighting. Consciousness can override behavioral impulses resultingfrom fear, but is unlikely to do so without good reason, decided on in advance.For example, some people decide that, for the pleasure of skydiving, they willignore the terror involved in jumping from an airplane 10,000 feet above the

ground.

I go into the closet and throw myself out the window. Briefly, I doubt if I'mdreaming, again, and get stuck halfway through the screen. Wow, what if Iweren't dreaming, I think I'd be killing myself!

I became aware that I was lucid and started to change my size and quasi flyingwith the Jeep. When I noticed the other cars I became worried and pulled overfor concern of safety. I lost lucidity...

I want to go into the house, so I fly up to a window on the second story and tryto fly through. I bump into the screen. I tell myself that I should be able to getthrough. I'm banging against the screen with my hand and scraping myself upa little. I'm not entirely lucid because I think even though I'm dreaming it'sprobably not wise to get cut up like that.

...I reflect on the lucidity itself as being so effortlessly stable that I don't evenhave to try or struggle to maintain it....I am in a cafeteria type place andremember my intention to look for lottery numbers...[looks for lotterynumbers]...I ask if there are any Lotto 6/49 machines around am told there isone--at a nearby tourist centre on the edge of the [military] compound. I gothere and find myself walking down a slightly wooded lane. There are somemen doing something that looks covert. I hesitate, then proceed and seeing

others around am reassured....

The next example illustrates how lucidity can help negate irrational fear:Spinning is easy. I see a chart of words--which seem to be possible dreamselections. I choose the one that says, "Joy Traveler" and don't remember anyothers. I come to a scene in my parents' living room with Fred standing next tome. The light is dim blue. Fred has no shirt on, is tan, with golden highlights inhis hair and no hair on his chest--he looks good. I go outside with him, to thefront yard. I say, "Fred, you never have lucid dreams. Indeed, you rarely


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remember your dreams." He agrees. As we're crossing the street, Fred aheadof me, I see a car at the corner backing up. I tell Fred to watch out this car isbacking up towards him. We fly up into a tree and hold on. The car drives backat us (going forwards now), so I figure it really was trying to hit us. I tell Fred tofly higher into the tree. I realize I am feeling some fear and it's of this car. Idecide I should deal with it rather than going somewhere else. I yell to Fred,

"Merge!" and as we dive at the car, I hear him making a grunt of surprise andshock. The car comes up slowly. A flap opens in the top and shoots projectilesout. Then a stereotypical terrorist with a gun leans out the back. I note all thisand keep falling at the car. When I hit: "POOF" and the scene vanishes. I seenotes on paper float before me and think, these are of no interest to me and Ifeel myself wake up.

2. Being Afraid of "Social Consequences"

Social interactions are another case in which behaviors are automatic. Aschildren, we learn how to behave in a variety of social circumstances, the

difference between public and private, and the consequences of breaking therules. Parents discipline their children to train them to act "correctly," and peerspunish with ridicule, exclusion and violence when a child does something"forbidden," such as urinating or crying in public. As we mature, we internalizethis training to make it unconscious, because even a momentary slip-up cancause severe social consequences. Once social rules become unconscious,only deliberate conscious decisions can override them.

The people populating our dreams are only mental images of people, with nopower over our social standing in waking life, yet they look and act completelyreal. It can be extremely difficult to ignore the dictates of our social trainingwhen faced with wholly realistic "people." The following analogy might makethe challenge understandable in a waking context: Imagine you are in a roomwith a window into another. It is a one-way window that allows you to see intothe other room, where a group of people is sitting, looking in your direction as ifwatching you. However, they cannot see you, because their side of the windowis mirrored. How would you feel about undressing, using the toilet, picking yournose, having sex, or, say, singing, in such a situation? Now imagine that the"audience," although they cannot see you and do not know what you are doing,have shocked or amused expressions on their faces as you carry on with yourembarrassing activity. Dream characters are mental images of people that weendow with the social reactions we have learned to expect from others. Thus, ifyou decide to take your clothes off in a dream, the dream people around you

might act astonished, because that is what you would expect in waking life.Your knowledge that there are no actual people there is purely intellectual,contradicted by the evidence of your senses, which see and hear a socialsituation and automatically define for you appropriate and unacceptablebehaviors. It takes solid lucidity and a strong will, at least initially, to overcomethe internalized mental constraints of society in the essentially private world ofdreams.

Wandering about again, I see some money on a table--a big stack, with a $1


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bill on top. A minute later, it's a smaller stack with a $20 bill on top. I pocket it.Around this time the light flashes (DreamLight) and I reflect that it doesn'tmatter what I do 'cause it's a dream. But it doesn't sink in yet, and I'm a bitworried about being caught.

I find myself saying over and over, "This could be a dream," and say, "This is a

dream." But I continue with the story because I'm very emotionally involved in it.I'm with B, approaching the place where M is going. B says something about Bbeing with M and me and M replies with something about taking off as manyclothes as we can when we get there. I wonder at this lack of discretion.

I'm in a foreign country staying at a hotel and I know there's a nice French girlin the reception area. I know I'm dreaming and I'm in a hurry to meet her beforeI wake up. I run through the building.... I find the girl and decide to go back tomy room.

[Risks losing the girl to the instability of dreaming, probably because of a lackof awareness that there is no need to go to a private room for sex in a dream.]

Then the old woman says it's 21 something. Then she thanks me, and givesme some ... money, towards something. She doesn't look as though she canafford it so I don't take it at first, but then accept it so as not to hurt her.

3. Thinking Another Dream Character is "Really" There

One research aim in child psychology is to identify when children recognizethat other people are like themselves in having emotions, needs, pain,pleasure, etc. Before that time, presumably, we treat ourselves as the center ofthe universe, and everything else as being important only in how it affects ourwell being. Once awareness of self and other dawns, our choices generallyreflect concern for others, although the degree of consideration we showothers varies greatly. Fear of social consequences reinforces our socialdeference, which in common parlance we usually call "goodness." Being "bad"is being selfish or cruel, that is, not considering the feelings of others. Anotherway of describing this aspect of human psychology is to say that we learn atsome age that other people are "real," like us, and to treat them accordingly.And so we do in our dreams, too. Of course, as long as we think dreamcharacters are "really there," we are likely to be concerned about socialconsequences, as described above.

I believe that B is also dreaming and aware and thus we are having a "mutual

dream."

Inside with M, we decide we're both dreaming and attempt simultaneoussignals. I can't understand some of what he says, then he mutates to look likesome food by Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee.

I see an arm coming from behind a tree, and tell myself, "That's him." So, sureenough, when I get there, it is S. He is wearing a belt with an amazingly shinybuckle in some angular pattern--this startles me a bit. We embrace and


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kiss--this is sort of insubstantial. Now he wearing shiny silver mylar pants, andlooks like a slick cowboy. I am not too clear about it being only my dream. Ihave a few thoughts like--he'll remember this, too. He is very sharp and clearand startlingly real. I ask him to come with me and we'll fly. He doesn't believeit will work. I know it is me who is causing him to be uncooperative. I tell him italways works with my dream characters. I take his hands to pull him up.

I run down the hall into the kitchen, deciding on my way that I will do a back flipin mid air when I get there. I do it smoothly and land on my feet. ...I am full ofenergy but I don't know what to do next. I say that I want to do something little.At some point I eagerly suggest to M "Let's go wake up your sleeping body!" Imention something about flying through people. M says, "You can't fly throughme unless you are some alien who can get up my nose." I begin to thinksomething like "I don't think anyone can fly through you (if you're real) not evenaliens" but fear saying it before "one appears and proves me wrong." I tell Mthat I've flown through dream people before and if they were real it must havebeen an offensive act. (This seemed logical at the time that the dream peoplecould be real.) If they were real then I am sorry that I flew through them.

As the bad guys get out of the truck, we fly into the air. I call to my dog, and heflies up to me, and we fly and fly. It's all so easy and I'm very relaxed. Knowingthat I'm dreaming, I try to think of other interesting dream places I've been to sothat I can show them to my sister. I lucidly fly out of the dangerous dreams Iremember and take her to some fun places.

I know I'm dreaming as I fly about with R and others. I encourage R to try toremember this experience [not lucid enough to realize I'm talking with a dreamcharacter]. We hover in front of a striking glass picture of pale green hues, withflower designs embossed into its surface. I tell R that lucid dreams are evenmore easy to recall than non-lucids.

I was walking in a building. I was going to meet with some people. My plan wasto meet in a dream with people I was going to meet in waking tomorrow. Then,I would compare the waking meeting with the dream meeting. (I don't knowfrom where this idea came. I never considered this experiment.)... I lost lucidity.

Steve and I and Sasha and Shane are doing laundry downstairs in Ethel'sbasement, where there are dozens of washers and dryers stacked against thewall. Sasha takes the grocery cart I've hung our clothes on because she wantsto use it to hold the helium tank for blowing up balloons. I blow up a fewballoons, Sasha and her friends blow up a few balloons, but they keep popping

for some unknown reason. I start wondering what's happening with theballoons and notice a boy using the tank on a single balloon which gets largerand larger until it's the size of small hot air balloon. He finally pulls the balloonaway from the helium tank and I remember thinking that the balloon was sohuge it would carry him away. The next thing I know, Steve and I are looking upat the sky and there's a white parachute coming down--as it gets closer, I cansee two people on the chute--one has skis on and is doing flips. I'm wonderingaloud to Steve how this is possible and explicitly say, "This must be adream--we're dreaming--this is a lucid dream! We're both in the same lucid


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dream." I waited for Steve to come to the realization that he was dreaming (i.e.the logic was that we're in the same dream because we each put ourselvesthere, not because I, the dreamer, had constructed this experience). I wantedSteve to write down that this was a dream so we'd remember.

In the meantime, I'm still watching the two boys with the parachute come in for

a landing. They landed off behind trees in a distance in a mountain of popcorn,which exploded when they landed. I again say to myself and to Steve that thisis a dream--I remark on how stable the environment is--I find it hard to believe.We're in a beautiful lush canyon area--lots of blue-greens and purples, waterbelow--we stop to watch the ocean and a surfer who seems to grow out of awave. I remember the environment as exceptionally vivid and detailed andsatisfying. I "check back" to see if I'm still dreaming--determine that I am, andsay to my husband that I'm going to fly a little more as long as I'm lucid. Theenvironment switches to the Southwest and the colors change to mauves,sandstones, etc.

...a creature that looks like a deformed elephant seal comes toward shore.

Some guys are trying to capture it. My son and I are watching, spellbound.From behind the creature comes a giant octopus, at least ten feet in diameter.We back away from the water's edge, but it comes right out of the water and atus. It is purple and I can see the lighter colored suctions on the underside of it'sraised tentacles. We are trying to back up into a tree. Due to the intenseemotion, I become lucid. I tell my son, "Relax, we're dreaming and octopi don'tclimb trees." Now, more aware, I know my son isn't dreaming with me....

[As the level of lucidity changes in a dream, it is possible to correct an error ofthinking a dream character is real.]

I decide to fly and go straight up toward the roof of the warehouse. There'ssomething hanging there I think it's a representation of a human, art work ofsome kind. I say, "Are you the teacher?" Then it's a little girl of four or fivewho's flown up with me but is suddenly scared to fly down. I hold her in myarms and bring her back to safety. I want to make sure she gets home safelyand ask her where she lives. She doesn't answer at first and I think she may beconfused and overwhelmed. Then she says, "San Jose." "San Jose!" I repeat,wondering how in hell I'm going to get her back there.

The last example above of a lucid dreamer treating a dream character as areal person, in this case, a frightened child, raises an interesting question. Ifdream characters are based on our expectations, experiences, and biases

about people, then our interactions with them can help us illuminate theblueprint we use in approaching others, and possibly even our models of ourselves. Therefore, it may not always be the best idea to dismiss dreamcharacters as figments of the dreamer's imagination. They may be valuablerepresentations of facets of your mind. If so, then dream figures are still not"real people," in the sense that they will affect your social situation in wakinglife, and so do not require adherence to social dictates, but an attitude ofrespect and curiosity may help you to discover how you see people and yourrelationships with them. Once again, the advice is to utilize consciousness to


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choose the most effective approach.

Several other types of flawed thinking appeared in the lucid dreams reviewed.Some of them may be examples of "functional brain damage" in theREM-sleep state. For example, there were some cases of irrational thought,like believing a firewood log is a god in disguise, or thinking that the dreamer's

body is acting out the dream actions. In one case, the dreamer could not addbeyond 200, and there were several instances of incorrect recall of waking lifeconditions (sleeping place and whether something really exists). Yet, themajority of errors fit the description of following unconscious patterns set upearly in life to protect our lives and social status. Perhaps this expos of habitsinappropriate to dream life can serve as a guide to oneironauts as they stretchtheir mind-wings into new realms of experience.

fool`s guide to lucid dreaming

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