Thread: Why aren't we always lucid

Bingo!! I had never really connected it up all the way like that, but you're absolutely right. Conscious awareness has only been with us for as long as we've been human, and we're still learning how to use it. And it seems the default thinking approach is still mostly unconscious for many people - conscious awareness needs to be developed through practice, such as critical thinking skills, self-analysis etc - things many people don't do often if at all. It's entirely possible (and much easier) to go through most of life without switching on the conscious apparatus. The unconscious apparatus runs by default - things like instinct, unexamined opinion and bias, and automatic emotional reactions. It takes a lot of work to discipline the mind to become more conscious, and it takes practice and effort.

I suppose what it looks like to develop conscious awareness more fully so that it extends through sleep would be what Tibetan Buddhists call the Clear Light - or something similar anyway. They develop the ability to hold this state constantly through every level of sleep, even the deep dreamless stages. I'm not sure it's exactly like what you're talking about - I do have the book The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, but it's been a long time since I've read it. It's about developing awareness, just keeping the spotlight of base awareness focused even as you relax and drop off. And I think it's what Sageous calls the Void, or at least they're closely linked.

But what they do is detach from dreams entirely and instead it's like meditation that lasts all night long (and all day as well). I think that part is up to you - you can either continue to experience dreams and exert lucid awareness and control over them, or let dreaming slide away and just go into the clear light awareness. I've heard of similar things in other ancient traditions - there was a lot of talk about it in Castaneda's books as well.

I think it's also like dream meditation that people talk about in here.