“I am skateboarding through a city with a crew of friends. We skate down a boardwalk. Suddenly, I am wrenched from the world I was just inhabiting and revisit the world of reality, where I am lying in bed. But my body hasn’t fully switched states of consciousness and my awareness is sent back down into my dream world and I land back on my skateboard. Now that I am lucid and aware of the absence of reality of this existence, I am limitless. I leap off of my board and rocket into the sky, barrel-rolling up into the atmosphere. I soar back down towards the city and fly amongst the skyscrapers. Seeing the ocean sprawled out at the edge of the city, I plummet towards its surface and plunge into the sea, sinking deep underwater. In this world, I can breathe as if I were back on the boardwalk, I can summon any tool or toy that it may please me to use, and I can converse with characters of my subconscious. These characteristics of this particular state of consciousness are a few of the endless possibilities presented by the world of lucid dreaming.”
“Lucid dreamers (during their dreams) report being able to freely remember the circumstances of waking life, to think clearly, and to act deliberately upon reflection, all while experiencing a dream world that seems vividly real.” Stephen LaBerge, one of the most prominent oneironaughts (lucid dreamers) of the age, has conducted extensive research on the phenomenon of cross-state fluidity at Stanford University (LaBerge). Lucidity is a rapidly expanding field of study, as new research emerges and our understanding of our subconscious mind increases.
Ever since the discovery of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep by Aserinsky and
Kleitman in 1953, scientists have been discovering, exploring, and exceeding the boundaries of lucid dreaming (LaBerge). Due to the extensive amounts of doubt and distrust from those who have not experienced lucidity, researchers have searched for methods with which to prove its existence. In 1981, Dr. LaBerge conducted an experiment in the sleep lab of Stanford in which his subjects signaled the onset of lucidity, the moment in which a dreamer comes to the realization that they are indeed dreaming. In dreams, when the dreamer moves his or her eyes in specific patterns, their real eyes attached to their sleeping body back in reality also move (LaBerge). LaBerge managed to pinpoint the moment in which an oneironaught became lucid by recording the observance of a pre-arranged pattern of eye movement. This study was not only groundbreaking in the confirmation of lucidity’s existence, but its results also indicated that lucidity occurs primarily during periods of REM sleep.
Evidence from this experiment and from others in sleep labs prove the existence of lucidity and open to doors to worldwide understanding and use of lucid dreaming. My ELI aims to delve into the realms of this phenomenon. I want to learn as much as possible about the potential of lucid dreaming and how people have used it throughout history. Having already experienced lucidity, I have glimpsed the wonders of this alternate state of consciousness; I intend to perfect my ability to lucid dream and record my experimentation in the dream world.
~Katie
References
LaBerge, Stephen. "Psychophysiology of Lucid Dreaming." Lucidity.com. American Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
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