Dreams and life – lucid and otherwise.
General Dreaming
Articles and essays touching on non-lucid dreaming.
The Tonocololocai – A Cautionary Tale
May 5th
The Tonocololocai – A Cautionary Tale
by Pete Celano
Some time ago, a species of small, furry creature vaguely resembling a fluffy cockroach evolved in isolation on a tiny island near Tuvalu. In spite of their ridiculous countenance and facial features that looked to be in a state of perpetual dumbfounded astonishment, they had no natural predators other than humans, who at first thought they were kinda cute. Soon large colonies of these creatures had become firmly established and were driving the natives to drink. The creatures were called “tonocololocai” by the islanders in their native tongue, though the ability to pronounce this tended to be inversely proportional to how inebriated the annunciator happened to be at the time. (A popular pastime on the island was to see who could drink the most without mispronouncing “tonocololocai”. One of the more common alcohol-induced mispronunciations sounded something like “tonoloco-loco-loco”, and some etymologists believe this to be the true origin of the term “loco”.)
After depleting their limited stores of Caribbean rum, the natives began distilling an amazingly flavorful and potent concoction using relatively scarce sugarcane juice and molasses combined with copious amounts of coconut milk, the juice of annatto seeds and the readily available (and, it turned out, mildly hallucinogenic) droppings of the tonocololocai. So successful was the pacifying sedative effect of this liquor that the natives soon forgot about their island being overrun by by the tonocololocai and instead occupied their few collective sober moments building a community processing plant for their new concoction, the centerpiece of which was a monumentally gigantic and ornate still built in the style of Louis XIV. In all, it was a raging success and a strange synergy gradually developed between the tonocololocai and the islanders, who began welcoming the creatures into their homes, schools and places of worship. The tonocololocai multiplied, while the islanders mostly continued drinking.
One late Thursday, while the afternoon shift of the still boiler tenders were distractedly engaged in a spirited game of loco-loco, a marauding gaggle of tonocololocai intent on finding out for themselves what all the fuss over gathering their dung was about passed much too close to the boiler fires. Their fur caught flame and they scattered, carrying the fire into the walls and floors of the still and throughout the processing plant. Before anybody could sober up enough to respond, the entire plant was ablaze. Fire quickly spread, and once the liquor holding tanks were breached the entire island was quickly engulfed and completely destroyed.
None of the tonocololocai survived, and the only islanders who lived to tell the tale happened to be some distance from the island on a small fishing vessel, themselves playing the loco-loco game to relax after a grueling day of hard drinking. On seeing their island home erupt into a giant inferno, they quickly downed all of the tonocololocai liquor they had with them and passed out, except for one young man who somehow managed to remain conscious. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched his entire world – his home, family, culture, people and every aspect of his life – reduced to smoldering cinders before his eyes. This was beyond belief; the worst of all possible nightmares. Out of habit, he pinched his nose shut and tried breathing through it. . . and discovered that he was dreaming.
The Tonocololocai
Engaging With Dreams – a Mortal Mist Workshop
Jan 29th
Engaging with Dreams
Everyone is invited to a workshop entitled Engaging with Dreams. As the title suggests, we’ll be looking at ways of getting more out of dreams especially through recognising where our own ways of thinking and being can be used to special effect.
Dreams are generally considered to be the products of unconscious processes, by which we mean thoughts and feelings that occur outside of our conscious control. This has led some to conclude that we need to understand the language of our unconscious mind through the symbolism of dreams. Yet most have found that dream dictionaries constructed using these ideas to be highly speculative and probably flawed. Are there other ways of getting access to the dreamer’s unconscious? I believe there is. But it is not straightforward, and for many of us we perhaps only get a sense of what’s going on no matter how hard we try and find meaning. It is that ‘sense’ that Engaging with Dreams is about.
Through looking at our own dreams and the dreams of others, we’ll share our observations, our emotional responses, our gut reactions and indeed anything that arises for us. In doing so we’ll find our more about how we personally understand unconscious processes and how these are revealed in dreams. Dream work of any type is a highly inexact science so what each of us will take from the workshop will be different and personal, perhaps shaped by the kinds of people we have each grown up to be.
Engaging with Dreams runs from 1 to 15 February, in seven simple stages. Watch out for the introductory thread which may appear as early as Sunday 31 January! Looking forward to engaging with as many dreamers as possible!
No previous experience required!
Sign up for this FREE workshop here.
Hosted by Mortal Mist
When We Know We Are Right, We Become Blind
Jan 29th
A caller on the radio this morning was talking about a favorite professor who was special because he always presented alternate viewpoints. As I drove, I imagined myself as that professor – teaching about a subject I am passionate and sure about, yet making a conscious decision to expose my pupils to perspectives and points of view I likely know are wrong. What an amazing thing to choose to do. What an amazing thing to be able to sit quietly through. . . and maybe even learn from.
Why is it so difficult to know when we are dreaming? We endure the most ridiculous situations in our dreams without ever questioning whether we are awake or asleep, because we know without a shadow of a doubt that we’re awake! Once we know we are right about our state of consciousness, we become blind to all other possibilities. It is human nature.
Imagine what it might be like to not be quite so sure of ourselves all the time. If we could learn to check for other possibilities every time we were certain about our circumstances, the chance of discovering we are dreaming would be much greater. Perhaps this is one reason children seem more likely to have spontaneous lucid dreams than adults! They haven’t been around long enough to know everything with such certainly – at least not until they become teenagers.
Our chance of becoming aware we are dreaming is not the only thing we stand to gain by learning to recognize our own blindness.
Public Dreaming – Thomas Metzinger
Jan 18th
A fascinating essay focusing on lucid dreaming and particularly on how the internet is influencing how we think and dream.
If it is true that the experience of controlling and sustaining your focus of attention is one of the deeper layers of phenomenal selfhood, then what we are currently witnessing is not only an organized attack on the space of consciousness per se but a mild form of depersonalization. New medial environments may therefore create a new form of waking consciousness that resembles weakly subjective states — a mixture of dreaming, dementia, intoxication, and infantilization. Now we all do this together, every day. I call it Public Dreaming.
Read the full article here.
The Genius In You
Jan 17th
Wouldn’t it be amazing to enjoy the abilities of great artists, savants and geniuses? What would the world be like if all enjoyed the capabilities of the world’s greatest and most brilliant artists and thinkers?
This idea may seem like a naive, optimistic dream, but the possibility does exist – and dreaming is the evidence.
If we set aside notions about the significance of our dreams and presume (for the sake of this discussion) that dreaming is nothing more than the random wanderings of the resting mind, dreaming is still a stunning demonstration of the true capabilities of our minds and brains. When we dream, we create landscapes, worlds and histories without the struggle of creative process or need for inspiration. Each of us composes entirely novel situations and reproduces in exquisite detail memories that are often long lost to our waking consciousness. Even the least talented among us can hear music in our dreams, accurately reproducing the familiar and effortlessly composing original material.
Dreaming is nightly proof that each of us has access to skills and abilities that few ever develop to the point they can be used at will – capacities so few learn to access in waking life that those who do are heralded in history.
What is it that the savants and geniuses have that we don’t? Our dreams demonstrate that we all have the potential. The study and exploration of lucid dreaming may provide a way for all of us to access and use that potential. It is no exaggeration to say that such creative genius, if ever unleashed, could quickly transform our world.
Dreaming Our Way – Life, Play and Improvisation
Jan 15th
The previous post is, it seems to me, the key to everything. It is a worthy listen.
I have been studying jazz for a few years now. In spite of a lifetime of being involved in music, Jazz is tricky business, and mastery of it remains elusive to me.
Jazz improvisation is the communication of a dream – the translation and exposition not so much of the state, but of the journey. A skilled musician can share that journey with us, even though few of us are or will ever be musical virtuosos, polished performers and improvisers. A skilled musician can lead us into a state where the magic of the journey needs no explanation or effort.
Child’s play is pure improvisation – the selfless acting out of dreams. With adulthood, however, comes responsibility and ever increasing resistance to abandoning ourselves to our dreams. As adults, we replace the natural improvisation of play with surrogate experiences such as losing ourselves in a movie or climbing on a roller coaster. We know these experiences are safe in spite of the thrills they can offer. We can indulge ourselves without abandoning our responsibilities or security.
We crave entertainment because we miss our natural ability to improvise. We still want to play.
This, I believe, is why lucid dreaming is destined to become a revolution in human experience. A lucid dream can be the ultimate playground – the ultimate improvisation, with no risk to our status or circumstances. We abandon no responsibility, breach no trusts, and cause no damage that translates to anything outside of our own transient internal world, and the next dream brings a complete reset. This is a good part of what keeps us lucid dreamers coming back.
We view artists as exceptional because they manage that seemingly impossible feat of releasing themselves to the dream and sharing a bit of it with the rest of us. Yet each of us has grown from a child who once knew how to play without being taught. Perhaps the goal of learning to improvise or achieving any other creative goal isn’t really learning at all. Perhaps what we need to do is un-learn.
We already know how to dream – but we live in a world that defines maturity as learning to abandon our dreams.
Improvisation and Dreaming
Jan 15th
Tools ‹ Lucidity Blog — WordPress.
Study: Jazz Improv Cranks Up Brain’s Creativity
When jazz pianists are improvising riffs, their brains act much more like the dreaming brain, with inhibition turned down and creativity cranked way up, a new study finds.
