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So says Wikipedia: A Lucid Dream Is...

 

A lucid dream is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that she or he is dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, she or he can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.[1]
...
Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established.[3][4]

Scientific History
...the realization that eye movements performed in dreams affected the dreamer's physical eyes provided a way to prove that actions agreed upon during waking life could be recalled and performed once lucid in a dream. The first evidence of this type was produced in the late 1970s by British parapsychologist Keith Hearne. A volunteer named Alan Worsley used eye movement to signal the onset of lucidity, which were recorded by a polysomnograph machine.

Hearne's results were not widely distributed. The first peer-reviewed article was published some years later by Stephen LaBerge at Stanford University, who had independently developed a similar technique as part of his doctoral dissertation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream#Scientific_history 

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Floppy Clocks

Perhaps a more appropriate image to accompany my banging on about lucid dreaming:

Dali's floppy clocks. And here's a jaunt through his astounding works:

In a world before computer graphics, and abundant 3D modeling tools, how much more astonishing and utterly magical must these images have seemed?  Even with an ILM, Weta, and Avatar saturated mind, I still delight in Dali's dreamscapes.

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Are you dreaming this?

STOP! Pause, and ask yourself "am I dreaming?"

Are you?

How can you tell?

The wonderful thing about dreaming is that you use the same mental-world-modeling machinery in your brain that you use in waking life.  So the experience in a dream is indistinguishable - it's made of the exactly the same stuff as your waking experience.  This is why dreams seem so utterly vivid and real.

So are you dreaming?

Well there is a way to tell.  A curious characteristic of dream awareness is that you can't hold it together when looking at symbols...not for long.  If you look at a clock, or pick up a book, if you try to concentrate on the symbols your find they start to morph and melt and ooze around.  And if you find that happening...you know your dreaming!  And if that happens, good for you!  You've just entered a lucid dream, one of the most wonderful tricks you and your brain can pull.

So, you've just read to the end of this post...and the words haven't gone soft and splodgy on you...you know you're not dreaming.  But keep asking yourself the question.  Make it a habit of mind...and then one day, you'll ask, and discover that in fact, yes, you are.

 


 L'Ange du Foyer ou le Triomphe du Surréalisme - Max Ernst (1891-1976)

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