Heya,

Bet that title got your attention, didn't it?

I mean it. Lucid Dreams don't exist. But before you start writing angry retorts, please bear with me as I explain. Put down the pitchfork, stop assembling the gallows... and err, no gasoline please

I first started experimenting with lucid dreaming some fifteen years ago. I remembered having had one or more spontanious lucid dreams at childhood, and so the experience was easy enough to reproduce. Two weeks later I had my first true induced lucid dream.

Since that time I've had more lucid dreams then I can count (I don't actually count anyways). Lucid dreaming is probably my number one hobby, and in my mind, about the greatest thing known to man. Which would seem to make my bold statement all the more paradoxal...

But lets explore this 'lucidity' concept, shall we?



TOWARDS A THEORY OF DREAMCONSCIOUSNESS

The definition of lucid dreaming

Just today i was reading a post in the area for newer members. Someone was recounting their experience during a dream, and then asking if that was a lucid dream or not. The question, as well as the answers, baffled me.

Now I knew my fellow dreamview members meant well. It is after all the area for newer members, so big theoretical discussions on lucid dreaming don't really belong there. So what our newer dreamer got was a fairly general answer:

"It wasn't a lucid dream cause a lucid dream is a dream in which you're aware that you're dreaming, while you're in the dream."

Sounds familiar right? Well, there's a big problem with that definition. What does this mean, this 'to be aware of something?'

What is awareness? Are there different levels of awareness? And if so, just exactly 'how aware' do I have to be to have a lucid dream?'

Suppose I'm walking towards work, and I'm thinking a problem over in my head. Obviously, I'm aware on some level of the houses, the pedestrians, the cars that I pass. I know this because I'm not walking into walls, I'm not bumping into other people, and I'm (hopefully!) not getting run over by cars. Ergo, I'm aware of them.

But my friend who's with me, and who's thoughts are not occupied like mine are, is paying lots of attention to his surroundings. After all, its the first time he comes this way. So at the end of the trip, he asks me: "Did you see that gorgous woman with the blond hair?"

And I go "Err no.".

"Well," he asks, "what about the green house?"

And I go "What green house?"

To which he replies: "You know, the one with the limo in front of it!"

And I go "There was a limo?"

So was I aware or not? I didn't actually bump into the blond, did I? I wasn't run over by the limo, and I was smart enough to turn at the corner and not walk straight into the green hourse.

I think that demonstrates the problem. Awareness of something is very hard to define. And if its already this hard for waking awareness, imagine how much more complex the situation becomes for 'dreaming awareness'.

Alright, maybe the defination was a bad choice of words. Lets try another approach:

"A lucid dream is a dream in which you know you're dreaming, while you're asleep."

A fairly valid definition, would you say? But it hits the same problem. What's knowledge then?

I know my best friend. I know him really well. And yet sometimes his reactions still surprise me. Obviously I didn't know him as well as I could have. And I know my boss. But will he give me a raise if I ask him? I don't know him well enough to predict that.

I know how to cook pancakes, but I can't make them like my grandmother makes them. And I know how to run... but when I listen to an athlete or a physician explain to me the mechanics of running, I have no idea what the heck they are talking about.

The problem persists. What is knowledge, and just exactly how much knowledge of 'having a dream' do I have to have to be considered 'dreaming lucidly?

Truth is, try as you might, you cannot define lucid dreaming. You can try, but you'll never quite manage to catch it with your words. To define 'lucid dreaming' we need to define things like knowledge, awareness, consciousness, and mankind has been trying to do that since before Plato was born. Now, more then 2000 years later, those debates are still raging!


Getting away from the duality of it

We like to think very categorically. Black or white. Yes or no. Good or bad. Me or not me.

You're either lucid, or you're not. This is a lucid dream, and this isn't. This sort of categorising makes it easier for us to structure the world around us. Unfortunately the truth is, consciousness, awareness, knowledge of dreaming in a dream, these things are far more complex.

I'll try to illustrate, but know that even with my illustration I'm simplifying the entire thing a great deal. Still, I think it'll help carry my point across.

Imagine 'being aware' if you will. As our previous examples already showed, you can be "more aware" of something, or "less aware" of something. My friend was a lot more aware of his surroundings during our walk then I was.

So lets put awareness in a sliding scale, ranging from 0 (absolutely no awareness) to 100 (absolute awareness), with the average being 50, the sort of awareness most people would have most of the day.

Now some people tend to be more aware then others. Someone in a coma probably has almost no awareness. Someone who's just been meditating a lot trying to get his mind to be as aware as possible will probably be a little more aware of everything around him for a while.

Being drunk, being introspective, being attentive, being frightened. All these things can have an influence on our awareness. Our state of mind can temporarily increase our awareness or decrease it.

One of these states is the state of sleeping. On average, a sleeping state probably has a lower awareness then a waking state. Going to sleep makes us less aware and less conscious then we would be if we were awake. (Btw, I do not believe this to be an inherent quality of sleep or dream, but that's an entirely different discussion).

So if the waking average is 50, the sleeping might be 25. However just like the waking state, this too can fluxuate. Being very exhausted and in deep sleep might bring it to 15. Sleeping lighter might bring it to 30. Doing certain lucidity exercises might cause a momentary (temporary) spike in awareness and bring it to 50 or more(!). Dedicating a lifetime to the study of dreams and changing your living habbits like a student of Dream Yoga might do could even result in a more or less permanent 'awareness increase'.


Why do we want awareness?

Why would we want an 'increased awareness'. Again, that's a subject of much debate, but generally speaking, heightened awareness of something allows us to access more associations (memories, in a manner of speaking) of the thing, so as to be better able to steer our reactions.

Theoretically, that sounds very complex. So lets take an example.

I'm crossing a street, and a car comes towards me at very high speed!

State 1: Normal awareness.
"Oh crap!" I'd think. I realise the car is driving fast, and if it hits me, I'm in for a lot of pain! (the association of danger is activated, and along with it the memory of physical pain). Furthermore I realise car's can't 'instantly stop' and I better get the hell out of the way if I don't want to be hit. I run forward as fast as I can to get out the way!

State 2: Very Drunk: Decreased awareness
I look at the car, I see it coming, but in my state of drunken stupor, I don't realise the danger (the association isn't activated) and I just stand there smiling stupidly, blinking at the headlights and thinking I have to throw up, while the car comes straight at me!

State 3: State of attentiveness: Heightened sense of awareness
"Oh crap!" I think, and I realise the car is driving fast, could hit me and might cause pain and damage to my body. But being attentive that I am, I also realise the car is skidding out of control, and is beginning to swerve. I realise that it's not likely to go in a straight line, but is more likely to deviate from its course, and that if I run forward now, I will move right into its path! I delay my first "flight" reaction, and stay where I am, and the car passes me right by!

When we are more conscious of something, we can associate more memories and bits of knowledge stored in our subconscious, and make a more informed action or reaction.

Its actually no different in dreams. In most dreams, we have a low awareness, and consequently, we simply react on a very direct level to the happenings around us. In a normal dream, I might see a large nasty insect, and instantly react by the most direct association, fear. Consequently I flee out of the room. There's no option for choice, there's no consideration. There's simply cause and effect.

In a dream with heightened awareness, (what is commonly called semi lucid), I might see the insect and the association of fear comes up. But I also remember I'm dreaming, and can control the dream. Where before I only saw the option 'to flee', I know see various options open to me, and can chose one. I chose to use dreammanipulation and give myself a large black army boot, and crush the bug underfoot!

In a dream with a high awareness, (lucid dream), I see the insect and the association of fear comes up. I remember I'm only dreaming though, and nothing can harm me here. I remember the insect is only a reflection of my mind, and that there's no cause to fear it. Furthermore I remember that 'dealing with insects' wasn't on my agenda, because I wanted to do the lucid task of the month. So I simply turn my back on the insect, and go pursue the task.

See how in each state more associations and memories are accesed, each time giving us a wider palette of possible choices to make?


So back to lucid dreaming

Remember when I said lucid dreaming doesn't exist? I bet you do Well, where does that fit in all this.

In two ways. Firstly, lucid dreaming is a very broad term, which describes a great many states that fall upon our previous awareness scale. If normal awareness had a value of 50, and dream awareness had a value of 25, then lucid dreaming might be defined as dreams with a awareness value of 35+. That means that a dream of 35 awareness is a lucid dream, and a dream of 75 awareness is a lucid dream too. But according to the previous example, there'd be a fundamental difference between the two, in that a dream of 75 awareness would allow a far larger scale of options and choice of actions open to us then a 35 would.

To complicate matters, there is no scale The reality of infinately more complex. We don't have 'one' general awareness, but we have a simultanious awareness of a great many things, all at once, and all with their own individual awareness level.

So what this means is that Lucid Dream is but a word, a category, based on convention. Its something we use to describe a whole group of possible dream-experiences to our fellow friends. More then that, its also a word that's entirely arbitrary. We do we include a 35 dream, and not a 34? Where do we draw the line? On what grounds? Do we even have a line, or just a vague inkling of a line? Is 34 still lucid? If yes, then what's 33? And so forth...


There's the second way in which lucid dreams don't exist. The term "Lucid Dreaming" is a hypothetical concept. It has no real sensory experience to it. You cannot see 'lucidity', you cannot hear 'lucidity', you cannot smell 'lucidity', you cannot taste 'lucidity', and you cannot even feel 'lucidity'.

What you can experience, is the sensation of a sudden realisation in a dream (and that experience for most of us is simply a variation of 'surprise'). We can experience the emotional states that insight and knowledge brings, and the emotion linked to sensation of being able to do anything we want.

But we cannot experience 'lucidity'.

In other words, "Lucidity. Lucid Dreams", these words are hollow containers that we create to try and pass along our experience of various dream sensations. Lucid Dreaming, in itself, doesn't exist.


"Alright." You might say. "Lucid Dream is a hypothetical container, it doesnt exist. Right. Isn't that all a lot of theoretical blah blah from people that have too much time on their hands?"

Maybe But I don't think it is, because I think this theory has very practical implications.


IMPLICATIONS

Lets go right back to the beginning of this by now very long essay. Err, no, not the pitchfork, put that down again!

Remember where I said I was baffled by the question of the newer member, asking if 'this was lucidity'. I was baffled because I was thinking: "what does it matter?". "Why is it important to you whether or not this dream is 'coined' lucid or not?" It will not make the dream more valuable. It will not change what it was. It will not suddenly mysteriously transform it into something else. Call the dream what you want to call it, it won't affect its essence.

Lucidity is a means to an end. Whether a dream is lucid or not has no inherent value to the dream itself.

Why do we want to become lucid?

To have lucid dreams? I don't think so. I know I certainly am not satisfied simply by being able to say 'I can have lucid dreams'. I want to have lucid dreams because I want to do something with them. Lucidity in itself is not a goal.

We become lucid because we want to experience freedom, or perhaps we want to have experiences we cannot have during waking life, or perhaps we're interested in getting a deeper insight into yourself, or perhaps we want to be able to tap deeper into our creative side. There's a million and one reasons why we want to become lucid, but almost never do we want to become lucid simply to be 'more aware of dreaming while I'm dreaming.' Like I said before, increased awareness allows offers us more options, more choices, more possible actions. That's what we're really after, isn't it?

So to ask whether or not the 'dream was lucid', to me, isn't really the right question. A much more interesting question would be: 'Was this dream the sort of dream that I would like to have, and is it indicative that I'm progressing in the right direction?' , or even 'Did it seem like this dream had a higher sense of awareness or consciousness then regular dreams had, thereby allowing me to do the things I want to do more?

Focussing on the lucidity aspect of it alone, doesn't really get us very far.


The problem can become even more pronounced. I wrote at the start of this post that when I first started experimenting with dreams, I recognised the experience of being lucid from when I was a kid. I was lucky in that aspect, because I had a a memory of an actual experience to fall back on.

But I ask myself: "What if I didn't have that?"

I can imagine that trying to become 'lucid' when you've never experienced lucidity is much like chasing a ghost. And when you're setting all your focus on things like 'I need to have a lucid dream' or 'I need to have more lucid dreams', I can imagine quite well why that simply wouldn't work.

Because basically, you're trying to 'get' something that doesn't exist.

I can just imagine your mind responding: "Yeah, alright, so ehh, you want to be lucid right? I'd love to help you mate, but the truth is... what the heck is this lucid thing you're talking about?! Can I see it, can I feel it, can I taste it, can I smell it, can I hear it? No?!! Then what am I suppose to do? What is it exactly that you want?"

I can imagine its going be very difficult to get lucid like that, when you're basically trying to 'achieve' something that's totally alien to your dreams: An abstract hypothetical concept!

So instead, forget the term "lucid dream" for a bit. We use that to communicate, but its not really what you're after.

What you're after are sensations, experiences, mental states. The sensation of walking around being as aware as you can of your surroundings. Now that's something that's a bit more concrete already. The shock of having a sudden insight and the way it has a physical feeling to it? Now that's a lot more concrete already. The feeling of being free and feeling powerful and in control (like you would be if you had full control over your dreams). That's an association your mind and your body knows.

So focus on these things instead. Don't simply chase 'lucidity', try and imagine the essence, the experience of 'being lucid' and chase that instead. Try and look beyond the words, and get your mind to reproduce the sensation of it.

Because, like I said right at the beginning. Lucidity doesn't exist


-Redrivertears-