Lucid Dreaming: Doorways to the Unconscious Mind

Sitting now in front of computer screen, calmly proceed to levitate from your seat, through the ceiling, and begin to fly towards whatever destination you may wish... because you are dreaming.

That is a ridiculous claim, you may think, but if you were dreaming (and how can you say you currently are not?) your dream-self would likely propose an identical statement. You cannot float through the ceiling and towards your eternal paradise because you are bound by gravity, not unlike whatever forces (within your mind) you would be bound by within a dream.

The solution to these thwarting boundaries is the practice of lucid dreaming, when you become consciously aware of your dreaming state whilst maintaining physical unconsciousness. Once you have identified that you are residing within a dream, you may then control all aspects of said dream, as the dream is within your mind. You have the power to realize that the law of gravity only applies within your dreams because you expect it to and by a simple shift in thought you may soar through the air. Though the task of lucid dreaming may be a difficult one to achieve at first, it is not an impossibility nor even remotely unrealistic and due to the fact that you may venture deep within yourself and interact with your subconscious, the skill presents a vast array of benefits.

The ability to lucid dream is not, actually, as specific to your sleeping behavior as you may think. In fact, the ability to dream lucidly is simply a product of living lucidly. The goal of the entire project is to be able to distinguish between waking life and the dream state which may be achieved by retaining a more thorough state of consciousness within their lives as well as recording and further analyzing their dreams.

Another essential, though shocking, component is that one must adapt an outlook that would be found within their dreams. Essentially, one must always expect that they are dreaming. If a person would dream with the expectation that they are actually awake (as is the case with the “average” dreamer) then it would present a much greater obstacle for their goal of becoming lucid.

This prompts an important question: How can one tell if they are dreaming? The most common method is to test your reality. This entails performing or observing a task in which the outcome would present a noticeable difference within a dream than within reality. Some approaches to this are plugging your nose (if you can still breathe, and it is assumed that you do not a have a large hole in your nostril, then you must be dreaming), reading a line of text, averting your eyes from it for a moment, and then rereading the text (words change dramatically within dreams), or trying to place your hand through a solid object. These tasks should be performed on a regular basis, to the point in which it becomes a habit. The purpose of this is that you will continue the habit while dreaming (and perhaps spontaneously realize that you are dreaming.)

Due to the fact that you can do quite literally anything you wish to within your lucid dream, you are presented with the opportunity to create change for yourself. Many people have successfully used lucid dreaming as a means of eliminating recurring nightmares and to rehearse performances to sharpen skills and develop new ones.

Also, lucid dreaming is one of the few ways to reach transcendent states of consciousness (other methods being meditation, brainwave entrainment, and, although mostly illegal, the use of psychedelics.) These experiences are very hard to describe with words but they offer a feeling of utter divinity. I shall recite one of my transcendent lucid dreams, a “negative” though immensely significant experience:

“Sunday, August 29 2009

“I had realized that I was dreaming after having a conversation with my grandfather who, I realized, sounded and looked nothing like the one in my ‘real life.’

“The moment I became lucid I attempted to fly through the ceiling of my dining room and towards the beyond. Because of indiscernible reason, I could not fly and I fell onto my back in the attempt.

“After I recovered from the fall, I suddenly sank through the floor. I became paralyzed and fell for a seemingly infinite amount of time. I eventually managed to close my eyes.

“As I fell deeper the temperature dropped sequentially, eventually reaching a degree of absolute frigidness. As the temperature descended, I became increasingly gripped with negative emotions. I succumbed to the emotion and became overwhelmed with negativity… I had never felt such despair and hopelessness in my entire existence. Terrifying sounds and smells accompanied the dread. I dare not open my eyes for fear of what I may see.

“Eventually I felt something solid beneath my feet and I opened my eyes. I had returned to my dining room with my grandfather still in the room.

“When I awoke the next morning I reflected that what I experienced was truly significant. I felt entirely encompassed by it and it was a feeling that I never had or have since experienced. I felt truly separated from the earth.

"I had met and immersed myself within the whole of the darkness that exists within me…And by meeting it I had reached a rare level of agreement with it. I had freed myself from this burden.”

Since the late 1980's, there has been in an influx in the amount of scientific and practical research completed in the realm of lucid dreaming. Many books have been written on the subject and utilizing such documents, coupled with a proper dosage of experimentation, beginners may learn to dream lucidly.

A prominent book on the subject is Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge. For his dissertation work at Stanford University, Stephen LaBerge conducted a series of experiments and studies in an attempt to eliminate the skepticism surrounding the practice of lucid dreaming. Based on the premise that eye movements enacted in a dream would effect the dreamer’s physical eye movements, LaBerge created an experiment. He told an experienced oneironaut (an explorer of the dream realm) to execute a certain eye pattern the moment they gain lucidity. Using an eye-tracking device called a polysomnograph machine he was able to observe as the dreamer executed the exact eye pattern he had commanded.

Despite the multitude of research, there is still much skepticism about the psychological phenomenon. How can any one person dispense introspective advice towards one's dreams, a phenomenon respected for being very personal and unique for those experiencing it? For this reason studies of lucid dreaming may not apply to the specific person attempting them.

I am reminded of a conversation I had with Kayo Dot, maudlin of the Well, and Tarter Lamb composer Toby Driver in which I discussed the ideas of lucid dreaming and brainwave entrainment (which is a method of brainwave stimulation through the use of binaural audio frequencies). Driver utilized lucid dreaming and astral projection as a means of writing material for the first two maudlin of the Well albums (ensuring that all music was “found, not created”) and is therefore quite experienced with the practice. In fact, it was the discovery of his creative utilization of the skill that initially inspired me to work towards my goal of becoming an oneironaut.

During our conversation about brainwave entrainment, (of which he had never heard of beforehand) I told Driver that often the proposed effects of the particular binaural arrangement will have an entirely different effect upon me, if any at all. He found this very logical, and the idea that there would be a specific effect described absolutely appalling. “Each of our minds are far too unique,” he stated, “for anything to have the exact effect upon them.”

There are also many rumors surrounding lucid dreaming that I feel obligated to rectify. A common fear is of damage towards your health and mind. Due to the fact that you exist as a “simulated being” within a “simulated environment”, it is impossible to damage yourself mentally or physically within any dreams including those that are lucid. This being the case, all negative experiences may be seen as significant and progressive (for it is your own negativity that you are facing, as much a part of you as any fantasy.)

Another invalid rumor is that lucid dreaming will fatigue you due to the fact that your dreams are when your body stores information and completes many other useful tasks. This is a simple claim to refute, as we have hundreds of dreams each night and the maximum amount of lucid dreams I have ever discovered a person having in a night is four. Ultimately your lucid dreams will only occupy a maximum of one percent of your dream time, leaving plenty of time for your mind to recuperate as would in “normal” REM sleep.

Each of us spend a third of our life sleeping which means we spend about 25 years dormant. Lucid dreaming presents the opportunity for us to utilize that time and further progress ourselves. Whether used as a means of wish fulfillment or for reasons of more prominence, only good things can be wrought from the practice.

• Jake Kobrin

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