Imagine that you’re running down a dark hallway. You’re not sure what you’re running from, but you know that you’re terrified. You realize that the hallway has doors all along both walls, and that the doors have numbers. The thought occurs to you that you’re in a hotel of some sort. You start trying the knobs on all of the doors as you run by, but they’re all locked. Your panic is mounting as you reach the door at the end of the hall. Frantically, you turn the knob. The door opens, and you rush inside, only to fall through empty space at a million miles an hour. After landing in a giant bed of gummy bears, you look around and see a large collection of dinosaurs in three piece suits staring at you expectantly. All of a sudden, you realize you’re in a crazy ass dream.
Dreams have eluded mankind for as long as we’ve been having them. Which as far as I know, is always. They’re mystical, magical, and even menacing. They can portray your deepest fears and longings, and bring forth feelings more intense in just a few minutes than you often feel in a whole year. There are too many theories about dreams to even begin trying to count. I’m just going to go over a few of the most crucial aspects as I see them, so let’s begin.
Dreams grant us a chance at our deepest desires. I’m sure you can remember a time when you had a dream about something you really want, but just don’t have. Probably fairly recently as well. Maybe it was a career, somewhere you’ve always wanted to live or travel to, or maybe a special someone that you’ve never been able to talk to or win over in your waking life. Dreams can also portray our deepest fears to us, whether directly, or symbolically. Maybe your freaky dream about dinosaurs in suits was actually about your fear of professional rejection. Who knows, I’m not Sigmund Freud, I’m just somebody trying to open up your mind to possibilities.
Dreams can also pass on messages and solve problems that your waking conscious just can’t figure out. It may be that you’ve been puzzling over a difficult, life-altering decision lately, and don’t know what to do about it. Or possibly even just wondering if you truly like Brussels sprouts or not. Who knows? All that I do know is that the human brain is a very successful problem solving engine, and most likely during R.E.M. sleep you’re brain is dumping the days information to the back burner, and your dreams are a great way to represent all of that information to your conscious mind. Speaking of all your brain dumping information, how about all of that useless, random crap that’s always on your mind? You know, the little things that your brain randomly wanders off to on it’s own throughout your day. The stuff that has nothing to do with anything in your life, it just happened to be a random chain of thoughts that you accidentally discovered. That stuff is on your mind and will often show up during your dreams as well.
There seems to often be a lot, and almost no significance to dreams. Sometimes they mean nothing, other times everything, and usually, you just have to pick and choose what you really think matters. Hold on though, we’re not done. There’s a whole other aspect to dreaming that’s only gotten real credibility during the last few decades and we’re going to have a brief look at that as well.
I’m talking about lucid dreaming. I’m not going to delve to deeply into the topic of lucid dreaming quite yet, but for now, I’ll go over a few brief points, strictly;
- What is lucid dreaming?
- How can one dream lucidly?
- Why should I dream lucidly?
First and foremost, what is lucid dreaming? Simply put, lucid dreaming is a state when the dreamer is consciously aware during their dreams. Basically, you know that you’re dreaming, thus giving you more control and perception during your dreams. There are varying levels of awareness during dreaming and lucid dreaming, but the act of being consciously aware of being in a dream is all that’s required to qualify for a lucid dream.
Second, how can one induce a lucid dream? There are many different ways to induce a lucid dream state. Some will work better for you than others, none will work one-hundred percent of the time. No matter how often you try the various techniques, it is unheard of for someone to become lucid every single time they dream, or every time that they attempt to do so, though it does become more frequent the more you try. The simplest technique, and most often taught would be to find your hands. Each night, while laying in bed, repeatedly look at your hands and verbally tell yourself that you’re going to have a lucid dream. Keep this up until you either fall asleep, or until you are too tired to do so. The idea is that during your normal course of dreaming, at some point, you’re going to see your hands, for whatever reason. When you do, the association between your hands and having a lucid dream occurs, and BAM! Lucidity hits. There are a whole range of techniques from Reality Checking and Dream Signs, to MILD, EILD, and WILD techniques, and more. I will definitely paint a much more definitive picture of the various techniques and how to use them when I publish the full article on lucid dreaming.
Finally, why would I want to have a lucid dream? The real answer to this is subjective. Is there anything that you’ve always wanted to do, but can’t in your waking life? What about anything you’ve wanted to have but can’t afford? Somewhere you’ve wanted to go? You can, with lucid dreaming. Don’t take this as the answer to all of your material problems and queries though. It doesn’t replace the truth of your waking life, but it does make a great, enjoyable distraction or a short period of time. During lucid dreams you can do all that and much more, such as meet historical people, have superpowers (including flight), be anyone or do anything that you want. Possibly the greatest aspect of lucid dreaming to myself, would be the discovery. Not just of the dream realm (I usually opt for a space-type setting), but of the inner you as well. The inner-psyche. You live with two minds, two consciousnesses. Your upper, “functioning” consciousness, (the one that creates your identity, the “you”), and your sub-consciousness. The one that runs the machinery, and basically does everything complicated, deep, symbolic, or otherwise, all behind the scenes and without you knowing how. Lucid dreaming offers a chance to learn more about that hidden “you”. Who wouldn’t want that opportunity?
I know I didn’t cover a whole lot, and what I did was just briefly, but I plan on giving a more detailed article on dreaming and specifically lucid dreaming at a later date, so bear with me. I just want to leave you with this thought, we spend roughly one-third of our lives asleep. A lot of people just view that as time to recharge before the world begins again. I don’t. We live dual lives, sharing both a waking conscious and a sleeping conscious. Why waste either? There is always more than at first appears. Keep an open mind and just wonder, “What would I do if I had access to that missing third of my life?”
