Lucidity Blog
Dreams and life – lucid and otherwise.
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.
Why LucidityBlog?
Jan 16th
What could possibly justify the addition of yet another blog to cyberspace?
Lucid dreaming is the reason for this one. But there is more to it than lucid dreaming, so please let me explain.
The world of lucid dreaming is well represented by websites explaining how to do it and by forums full of people sharing the experiences. The art and practice of lucid dreaming, however, remains veiled to the general population. The uninitiated often don’t know it exists or believe it is possible, and many of those who are aware tend to lump it in with the occult and New Age spiritualism. Lucid Dreaming, in short, has a generally bad or nonexistent reputation outside the circles of those who practice it.
Those of us who are lucid dreamers know it is a safe practice that doesn’t require any particular belief system. It is something pretty much anybody can learn to do as an art and discipline rather than as a spiritual undertaking. And what an amazing art it is! The reward is being able to enter a world all your own, where you can wield unlimited control over. . . everything. For examples of the possibilities, just read some of the lucid dreams posted in public dream journals. (Here is one place to start.)
The one thing you won’t find much of in the Lucid Dreaming world is any effort to reach out to the rest of the world. If somebody isn’t deliberately searching for information, they aren’t likely to ever learn about it. This is where LucidityBlog.com is intended to fit in.
Here we will share information about Lucid Dreaming and its impact on the lives of those who practice it. We will publicize the places Lucid Dreaming is showing up in society and culture. We will do all we can to let the world know about this amazing human capability.
If you have an interest in contributing, please register and then drop a note to pete “at” lucidityblog.com with your username.
We welcome anybody who wishes to share in this endeavor, and warmly welcome you to LucidityBlog.com.
Searching for the Paradise of Pandora? I know the way. . .
Jan 16th
I took the kids to see James Cameron’s Avatar on opening day, expecting to be slogging through a cheesy American effort at anime. With that low expectation, it was a pleasure being treated to the enthralling and magical 3d experience of entering Pandora. In spite of the movie’s trite and predictable plot, the thoroughness in conceiving and presenting the world of Pandora made it all worthwhile.
The News Record of Cincinnati recently ran an article about the incredible popularity of the movie’s setting. They refer to one Avatar discussion forum with over a thousand posts about depression resulting from people’s inability to visit this fantasy world. Cameron succeeded magnificently in bringing his audience into his vision, and many would love to experience more.
Lucid Dreaming is discussed in the forum threads as a means to enter Pandora. It isn’t just a means – it is the only way to really experience being there! Pandora exists only in the imaginations of its creators and in the computer models rendered to the magnificent 3d setting for the movie. In our own dreams, however, we can go there and experience it for ourselves, again and again.
In the movie, the characters must yield their physical selves and consciousness of their real bodies in order to experience Pandora as one of the indigenous humanoids equipped to survive there. In lucid dreaming, as in all dreaming, we are separated from our physical senses as we enter a “dream body” through which we experience our own worlds.
In the film, Pandora was a world best experienced through something very akin to lucid dreaming. In reality, Pandora is a world that can only be experienced through lucid dreaming. And I can tell you from experience that Pandora is just the beginning.
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.
