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Lucid Dreaming
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Lucid Dreaming
– What is it Exactly?
It has been known to philosophers and theologians since the
time of Greek antiquity as well as the time of St Augustine
that a state called ‘lucid dreaming’ is possible, where you
are aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the
dream state. Many centuries later, during the 1980’s to be
precise, the concept of lucid dreaming became a topic of
interest to the scientific researchers at Stanford University,
especially to the research team led by Stephen LaBerge and his
fellow psychologists. The research has thrown open many
possibilities and revealed many facets of lucid dreaming.
Today we know that there are several techniques through which
lucid dreaming can be induced and even their frequency,
duration and clarity can be enhanced.
Interestingly, this type of scientific research on lucid
dreams was preceded centuries ago by Buddhist contemplatives
in Tibet, a country described by LaBerge as ‘rooftop of the
world’. It was here as early as eight century that Tibetan
Buddhists were practicing a form of yoga which was designed to
promote wakeful consciousness during the dream state. Through
the learning of these Tibetan Buddhists we are able to fathom
that dreams are the creative and imaginative creation of the
dreamer. This concept is fully corroborated by subsequent
scientific and psychologists’ findings.
Within the overall realm of Tibetan Buddhism yoga is practiced
with a broader objective of understanding the human mind and
the genuine causes of suffering as well as happiness. In
short, it searches for the ultimate truth which is inherent in
our lives. The Buddhist religion stands on the Four Noble
Truths: (1) recognizing the reality of suffering, (2)
eliminating the fundamental yet internal causes of suffering,
identified as craving, hostility, and delusion, (3) realizing
the possibility of the ending suffering and its source, and
(4) following the path of spiritual purification the outcome
of which is complete transformation of the psyche as well as
uninhibited spiritual freedom.
The principal ethic on which all Buddhist practices is based
can be summarized as “avoid inflicting harm on yourself or
others, and be of service when the opportunity presents
itself.” The next emphasis is resting and balancing the mind
which starts with refinement of attention or learning to
focus. One can achieve this state of mind by continuously
training the attention span to remain focused and enhancing
clarity of thinking. If the mind is at peace with itself, it
naturally gets rid of the cloud and clutter. According to
Buddha: “When mind is established in equipoise it comes to
know reality, as it is.” The trained mind which is in a state
of perfect equilibrium can be put to use to further explore
the potential of human consciousness.
This is the state where the discipline of dream yoga plays a
critical role. When you think of scientists or researchers
conducting their research work in a laboratory, you know that
they use tools which are physically present. Similarly,
Buddhist contemplatives who have mastered the art of dream
yoga use the dream state as a tool to probe deeper in to the
human mind and their research equipment are the various
manifestations of consciousness. The first step for the
practice of dream yoga is to be aware that you are dreaming
while you are still in the dream state. Usually the lucid
dreams would last a very short time and you would wake up in
sheer excitement. But with practice, you can learn to calm
your mind and retain the lucid dream state. This naturally
opens up a fresh vista of new possibilities to explore the
dream state further. The first thing to do is to assess
whether the dreams can be controlled at one’s own will.
According to Buddhist contemplatives, the degree of
flexibility to alter the dream contents is entirely up to the
dreamer’s own creativity. Moreover, as you go deeper in to the
study of dreams, you would realize that dreams can never bring
harm to anyone. The entire content of a dream is a simple
manifestation of one’s own mind and even the goriest of all
dreams are no more dangerous than pure mirror reflections.
The next step of practicing dream yoga is to let the dream
fade away gently, without losing one’s wakeful awareness. The
physical senses during dreaming are in any case down, so when
you allow the dreams to vanish, they do so in to emptiness of
space – the illuminated space of awareness. This gives you an
opportunity to further explore a state of consciousness called
‘clear light of sleep’ which is without any sensory clutter or
mental images. This way you could probe deeper into the
consciousness itself and understand how this can manifest
itself through various physical senses and add to our
cognitive abilities.
Modern researchers have found a sharp distinction between a
wakeful and a dream state. Knowing this subtle yet distinctive
nature of both, have played an important role in their
techniques of inducing lucid dreaming. However, the waking
consciousness and the dream state are more like each other
than we might have expected. As Stephen LaBerge explains,
“dreaming can be viewed as the special case of perception
without the constraints of external sensory input. Conversely,
perception can be viewed as the special case of dreaming
constrained by sensory input. The similarities between wakeful
consciousness and lucid dreaming state have been explored in
great depth by Tibetan Buddhists who conclude that in
comparison to spiritually enlightened human beings, the
average man lives in a state which resembles a dream. To give
an example, Buddha when he was asked whether he was a mortal
soul or a god, he simply replied “I am awake”, capturing the
true essence of what Buddha means: ‘one who has awakened’. |
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Lucid
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