My Lucidity on Lucid Dreaming Has Gone to Hell
This week’s word for the Drop in the Ocean show on the @buddyup Discord is “lucidity”. It’s not a word which is used a lot in every day speech. In fact, it is rarely used in conversations I listen to. Lucidity is a clearness of thought or style, an ability to express ones thoughts with the clarity which allows others to perceive the truth immediately.
Ever play with blowing soap bubbles into the air? When they are first released there is total clarity through the bubble. Give it just a few moments and some colour and swirls start to show as the bubble morphs through the air.
My thoughts are often like that, they start out so crystal clear and then I give it just a bit more thought to flesh out how to express them — and damn — there comes swirls to change the colour of the thought. Those swirls can either add to the thoughts and make them clearer or just cloud them to the point even I can’t find any lucidity in them.
In exploring Google for ideas on how to use lucidity, I found one of the more common search results was about lucid dreaming. I’ll have to admit, my relationship with dreams of any sort has never really been good. So, it was with some reluctance that I decide to explore the concept of lucid dreaming.
I’ve heard the term ‘lucid dreaming’ and always thought of it as New Age loosey goosey stuff that folks like to subscribe to cause it makes them feel in control. And anyone knows, there is no control over dreams.
That last statement was my moment of clarity when it came to the subject. Then the soap bubble started getting real cloudy. My lucidity on lucid dreaming has officially gone all to hell.
Lucid dreaming is a dream state in which the dreamer is aware of the dream The term was coined by Dutch psychiatrist Frederick van Eeden in his 1913 article “A Study of Dreams” but, the concept predated the term. Eeden defined lucid dreaming as “you are completely aware of your surroundings and are able to direct your actions freely, yet the sleep is stimulating and uninterrupted.”
The concept goes back to ancient times. Both Aristotle and Augustine referred to it in their writings. In ancient Eastern thought, the concept is central to many of the Yoga practices of Tibetan Buddhists and Indian Hindus. During the intervening centuries, many have written about and studied the concept of lucid dreaming.
In the late 1960s efforts were made to attempt to study it scientifically. Celia Green in 1968 after extensive examination of the published material and a study of her own, she concluded lucid dreams were distinct from ordinary dreams and were associated with REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. She was also the first to connect lucid dreaming with false awakenings.
The most simplistic way to describe false awakenings is sleep walking in which the subject is dreaming but thinks they are awake. Later studies have suggested that false awakenings may precede lucid dreams as a cue for the lucid dream.
With the use of scientific instruments, many studies are being conducted which point to the areas of the brain where the dreaming activity takes place and then are able to compare to the same activities happening during wake time.
The results are not definitive as yet but increasingly, lucid dreaming is looking less like loosey goosey theory and more like the day may come when there will be ways to exert some control over what is going on in our dream states.
Who knows, that may end up leading to a greater understanding of how the mind works in ways that will help to truly heal some mental illnesses.
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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://idesofmay.com/2018/11/26/my-lucidity-on-lucid-dreaming-has-gone-to-hell/
FOR TSE: The last time I was in the hospital (and if it's the last time ever, that will be ok with me), I told the anaesthesiologist not to load me up with pain medication before I came to. Pain medication and I don't do well together ... and I said to him "I'm willing to trade considerable discomfort for greater lucidity."
He gave me a very odd look, like he couldn't believe what I just said.
I don't know if it was because most people want all the pain meds they can get -- or if he couldn't believe I'd just used that word. Lucidity.
Whatever. I get that a lot.
On the subject of lucid dreaming (and dreaming in general), they have always fascinated me. I've only had a few in my life and they were all short. As if, the moment I realized I was "awake in the dream" -- it was so exciting it brought everything crashing to a close.
I remember in one, I was rushing around late for something important -- and I thought to myself, Well, since this is just a dream, I'll turn the clock back a couple of hours and everything will be fine.
I try to cultivate them every so often, but lately without much success. I think I'm too tired usually to pay much attention. But, as I said, they fascinate me. The chance to explore alternate levels of reality is explicitly on my To-Do List -- being one of those goofy New Age types myself and all ... dontcha know. (smile)
Good to see you writing again. I've thought several times of dropping you a note or two in Discord to see how things are. But time gets away from me -- and I know you're still healing. So I send love several times a day -- for you to use PRN. I hope you're collecting it regularly -- and the packages aren't just cluttering up your front porch, although it has an infinite shelf-life, so I guess there's no hurry.
Just shoved another hefty bundle your way. Be well.
now, I never said New Agers were goofy.. although.. there can be some fun in being goofy I hear. I expect the anaesthesiologist was startled at your declining a load of pain meds AND the use of the word lucidity. He likely had to check his funk and wagnall asap to even know what you said.
Ah, and now I know where the packages have been arriving from. I have to be careful when I open the door, Hobo is constantly on the lookout for new things to use as toys. He may have got one or two which is what is making him such a sweet little guy.
I had a couple of lucid dreams a few years ago, and I've been fascinated with them ever since - though I've only managed to have two or three since then. What really fascinates me about them is the possibility that you could do psychological work through lucid dreams. For example, if you're the kind of person who, through social conditioning, always expects things to fail, you could reprogramme your subconscious mind through your lucid dreams. You could actually dream that things turn out a certain way, and maybe that would improve your mindset.
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Yep, this is what I thought, but today I am not so sure anymore. But I still have no clue ... I guess
@eveningart, this would be interesting for you I think ... <3
sometimes you just have to go with your experiences and see what happens. Within reason, whatever reason might be.
Enjoyed reading your lucid perspective on the matter. I've been known to engage in lucid dreaming / astral projection from time to time. Definitely gives a person plenty to ponder, connect, and reconnect on this side of the mirror. #buddyup
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I expect it would be an interesting experience. Apparently about 20-30% of the population do lucid dreaming without any effort on their part.
I used to sleep-walk when I was a kid, but I grew out of it thankfully. Mother foster-mother found me once laying in the middle of the road outside our house! I guess I was getting ready to have lucid dreams?
or you liked really hard beds and the road provided it. You're lucky it wasn't a busy road.
Truly elucidating. 😀
I know we talked a lot about dreams and lucid dreaming this morning (my time 😉). 'Twas definitely an interesting session.
I know I said I don't dream, but now I wonder about some of the times when I am never sure whether I was awake or dreaming that I was awake.... the following morning I feel very, very tired and my memory is that I was lying in bed, awake, trying to get to sleep.
Except that I then wonder if I dreamed it. I'm thinking now this may be a case of lucid dreaming; and maybe, since I am 'conscious', I can control the dream. Maybe that's where pre-setting those anchors are useful.
In Taoist Medicine, dreaming is said to be a case where the 魂 hún (ethereal soul) wanders at night, when it should be resting in the body. It's normal for the hún to be wandering during the day, as this psychic faculty is how we interact with the world — perhaps we could better describe it as 'consciousness'? The etymology for the word is interesting, as its made up of the character for 'clouds' and 'ghost' (the etymology of 'ghost' is even more interesting, made up of the characters for 'mysterious' and 'armour').
Because there is a physiological link to this phenomenon, in the sense of being able to counteract this when it becomes excessive (and disturbs sleep) through certain interventions (acupuncture, herbs, diet, etc) it should in theory be able to be 'reverse engineered' to induce such states...
That's where my thinking is now, having been contemplating on it for a couple of days now. Perhaps I'll start experimenting on myself and let you know how I go.
Great piece!