Lucid dreaming: Difference between revisions

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A '''lucid dream''' is any [[dream]] in which one is aware that they are dreaming. This is a well-established phenomenon<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream</ref> and something which can happen to people during normal sleep. However, simple techniques can be learnt to consistently induce lucid dreams within any person who chooses to do so. If this is done, it can be utilized as a powerful method of consciousness exploration which makes lucid dreaming an important field of [[psychonautics]]. This article exists to serve as a dedicated descriptive breakdown, analysis and instructional guide regarding dreams and the behaviour of their general content, their embedded limitations and the skill sets necessary to consciously utilize them as powerful methods of self-exploration.

==~~Subjective effects==~~

==Techniques==

~~===Internally sourced sensory input===~~

The most fundamental component of any dream or hallucinatory state can be defined as some form of perceivable sensory input. This differs from that of everyday sensory input in the way that it is received from an internal source created by one's own mind as opposed to an external source within the immediately perceivable surrounding environment. The dreamscape of a human being is capable of manifesting completely realistic, convincing and detailed equivalents of all five senses across varying degrees of vividness and intensity.

~~These themselves can be broken into 5 differing levels of clarity which are broken down and defined below.~~

#'''Imaginative visualization''' - The lowest level of a dream is extremely common and occurs frequently during waking consciousness on a daily basis. It can be defined as the heightened state of mental visualization that one drifts into when simply daydreaming or using the imagination. This state results in a level of visualization that is mostly felt internally within the mind's eye instead of visually perceived. It can be described as a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy. The generation of the details of this internal visualization are partially autonomous in nature but mostly controlled by the content of one's current thought stream.

#'''Partially defined hypnagogia''' - As one begins to fall asleep, the experience of daydreaming and general imagination begins to progressively heighten and form into what is known in the literature as "hypnagogia". This is defined as the experience of the transitional state between wakefulness to sleep and generally consists of hearing indistinct noises and seeing faded imagery behind closed eyelids.

#'''Fully defined hypnagogia''' - As the vividness and intensity slightly increases, the spontaneous imagery becomes fully defined in its appearance/detail and is now seen within the person's direct line of sight under closed eyelids. Alongside of this, audible noises such as fleeting voices, music and general auditory hallucinations are often present.

#'''Partially defined dreams''' - As the ability to hallucinate increases, random flashes of spontaneous hallucinatory scenarios begin to show themselves. At this level, the hallucinations no longer consist of fleeting imagery on the back of one's closed eyelids but become sustained as all-encompassing settings which surround the dreamer as what feels like a sudden breakthrough into an alternate reality. In terms of sensory vividness the dreams are not completely defined in their appearance or sound. This means that they often display themselves as partially to completely blurred and transparent. Along side of this the dreamers physical body will also still feel at least partially connected to the real world. Other senses such as touch, taste and smell seem to be extremely vague or entirely absent altogether.

#'''Fully defined dreams''' - At this level, all five of the senses are replicated perfectly as the dream becomes completely realistic and indistinguishable from that of everyday reality in terms of the detail and sensory vividness which they provide. These sensations are equally capable of including both positive sensations such as sexual orgasm and negative sensations such as pain and physical bodily harm.

~~===Perspective===~~

~~In terms of the perspective in which dreams are perceived through, just like literary plots, dreams can be experienced through four alternate vantage points which are described and listed below.~~

*'''1st person''' - this is the most common form of dream and can be described as the perfectly normal experience of perceiving the scenario from the perspective of one's everyday self and body.

*'''2nd person''' - this can be described as the experience of perceiving the dream from the perspective of an external source of consciousness such as another person, an animal or an inanimate object.

*'''3rd person''' - this is essentially an out-of-body experience and can be described as perceiving the dream from a perspective which is floating above, below, behind, or in front of the dreamer's physical body. It is worth noting that for unknown reasons, many people consistently and exclusively dream in the third person perspective.

*'''4th person''' - this is particularly rare but entirely possible and can be described as the experience of perceiving the dream from the perspective of multiple vantage points simultaneously.

~~===Setting===~~

At level 4 - 5 dreams consistently manifest themselves through the essential component of extremely detailed imagined landscapes, locations and sceneries of an infinite variety. These exist for the purpose of acting as the setting in which the plot of the dream occurs. The geography of these settings is capable of rendering itself as static and coherent in organization but will usually result in a non-linear, nonsensical and continuously ever-changing layout which does not obey the rules of everyday physics. In terms of the chosen locations, appearance and style of these settings, they seem to be selected at random and are often entirely new and previously unseen locations. They do, however, play a heavy emphasis on replicating and combining real life locations stored within the dreamer's memories, especially those which are prominent within one's life and daily routine.

Within the settings themselves, relevant and irrelevant objects or props will be placed in appropriate but sometimes inappropriate locations throughout them. These can be interacted with in exactly the same way that any real life object can and can often react in unexpected and spontaneous ways (but usually behave exactly as the dreamer expects them to).

~~===Dream characters===~~

~~{{Main|Dream characters}}~~

Across the setting of almost any dream, the scenery is inhabited and populated by conscious dream characters who can be spoken to and communicated with in extreme amounts of detail. These entities generally appear to be the inhabitants of a perceived independent reality -- they are expectant of one's appearance and interact with the dreamer in various ways.

In terms of their appearance, dream characters can show themselves as literally anything but will usually display themselves as perfectly ordinary people. These people are equally likely to be complete strangers or randomly selected people which the dreamer has encountered throughout their life. The more prominent and emotionally significant the person is, the more likely they are to be encountered within the dream scape.

There are distinctly different types of dream characters which one may encounter, each of which represent a particular subsection of one's own consciousness through both their visible form and their personality. These can be broken down into 3 separate categories and include:

*'''Representations of the self''' - The simplest form of dream character can be described as simply a mirror of one's own personality. It can take any visible form but clearly adopts an obviously identical vocabulary and set of mannerisms to one's own personality when conversed with.

*'''Representations of specific concepts or people''' - This category of dream character is by far the most varied type in terms of its visual form and immediately perceivable personality. It can be identified as a simulated representation of any internally stored concept and adopts an appropriate personality to fit this to an amazing degree of accurate detail. For example this specific concept could include people one has met throughout their life, fictional characters or symbolic representations of abstract concepts such as emotions or key parts of one's own personality.

*'''Representations of the subconscious''' - This category of dream character can take any visible form but adopts the personality of what seems to be a conscious controller behind the continuous generation of the details behind one's own dream scape and internally stored model of reality. When conversed with it usually adopts an attitude which wants to teach or guide the dreamer and assumes that it knows what is best for them.

~~When communicated with through spoken word the level of coherency in which these entities can reply with is highly variable but can be broken down into 4 distinct levels of communication:~~

~~# '''Silence''' - this level can be defined as a complete unresponsiveness from the side of the dream character and an incapability of speech despite their obvious presence within the dream.~~

#'''Partially defined incoherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which sound like words but do not contain any real content or meaning beyond a vague sense of emotional intent.

#'''Fully defined incoherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which contain fully defined and understandable words but often lack grammatical structure or general coherency.

#'''Partially defined coherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which contain fully defined and understandable words with a partially defined grammatical structure and general coherency which conveys its point on a level which may not always be fully understandable but is still capable of conveying a general point.

#'''Fully defined coherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which contain fully defined and understandable words as well as fully defined grammatical structure and general coherency which conveys its point on a level which is on par with the dreamer's own intellect.

~~===Scenarios and plots===~~

Each of the above components are randomly shuffled and spliced into any number of an infinite variety of potential plots and scenarios. These may be positive or negative to experience and are difficult to define in a comprehensive manner in much the same way that we cannot predict the plot of abstract literature and films. They can, however, be broken down into extremely basic occurrences which generally entail visiting some sort of setting, or a number of them which contain within them, interactive, multiple, or lone dream characters. Alongside of these, completely unpredictable plot devices, events and occurrences, force the dreamer to become involved within the specific scenario of the particular dream.

These scenarios and plots can be linear and logical with events that occur in a rational sequence which lead onto each other through cause and effect. They are equally likely, however, to present themselves as completely nonsensical and incoherent. This means that the plot will occur with spontaneous events which are capable of ending, starting and changing between each other repeatedly in quick succession and as they please. The plots themselves can either be entirely new experiences that are unlike anything experienced within the real world, old experiences such as accurate memory replays or a combination of the two.

In terms of the amount of time in which they are experienced, hallucinatory dream plots and scenarios usually feel as if they are being experienced in real-time. This means that when 20 seconds have been felt to have passed within the hallucination, the exact same amount of time will have passed in the real world. At other points, however, distortions of time can make themselves present, resulting in plots and scenarios that can feel as if they literally last days, weeks, months, years, or even infinitely long periods of time.

An important part of any dream which entails obviously unlikely and absurd scenarios is a strong sense of uncontrollable and powerful plot acceptance. This sense of plot acceptance allows the dreamer to accept any plot as it comes as a completely real event in which the results of one's own actions will have genuine consequences regarding the dreamer's life. This delirium motivates the dreamer to avoid danger, solve puzzles and accept the scenario as reality even if it is clearly and undeniably more likely to be a dream than an event which could ever occur within real life.

~~===Sleep paralysis===~~

[[File:John Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare.JPG|250px|thumbnail|''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare The Nightmare]'', by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fuseli Henry Fuseli] (1781) is thought to be one of the classic depictions of sleep paralysis perceived as a demonic visitation.]]

Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon that is distinctively separate from that of normal dreams. It can be defined as a state in which people, either when falling asleep or wakening, temporarily experience an inability to move which is often accompanied by hallucinations. More formally, it is a transition state between wakefulness and rest characterized by complete muscle atonia (muscle weakness). It can occur at sleep onset or upon awakening, and it is often associated with terrifying visions and [[external hallucinations]] (e.g., an intruder in the room or a demon sitting on one's chest), to which one is unable to react due to paralysis. It is believed a result of disrupted REM sleep, which is normally characterized by a complete loss of muscle control that prevents individuals from acting out their dreams.

Many people find sleep paralysis to be a horrific and negative experience but it can be escaped by simply changing the rhythm of one's breathing. When one changes their breathing pattern, such as holding one's breath or breathing much more deeply, if this is done for roughly 15 seconds or more the body will notice the change and automatically exit sleep paralysis.

~~==Lucid dreaming techniques~~==

Despite powerful senses of delirium and plot acceptance, there are moments within dreams in which a person realizes that they are dreaming and takes control of the situation. These are known as lucid dreams and are formally defined as any dream in which for an uninterrupted and prolonged amount of time, one is consciously aware that they are dreaming.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 A '''lucid dream''' is any [[dream]] in which one is aware that they are dreaming. This is a well-established phenomenon<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream</ref> and something which can happen to people during normal sleep. However, simple techniques can be learnt to consistently induce lucid dreams within any person who chooses to do so. If this is done, it can be utilized as a powerful method of consciousness exploration which makes lucid dreaming an important field of [[psychonautics]]. This article exists to serve as a dedicated descriptive breakdown, analysis and instructional guide regarding dreams and the behaviour of their general content, their embedded limitations and the skill sets necessary to consciously utilize them as powerful methods of self-exploration.
-==Subjective effects==
+==Techniques==
-===Internally sourced sensory input===
-The most fundamental component of any dream or hallucinatory state can be defined as some form of perceivable sensory input. This differs from that of everyday sensory input in the way that it is received from an internal source created by one's own mind as opposed to an external source within the immediately perceivable surrounding environment. The dreamscape of a human being is capable of manifesting completely realistic, convincing and detailed equivalents of all five senses across varying degrees of vividness and intensity.
-These themselves can be broken into 5 differing levels of clarity which are broken down and defined below.
-#'''Imaginative visualization''' - The lowest level of a dream is extremely common and occurs frequently during waking consciousness on a daily basis. It can be defined as the heightened state of mental visualization that one drifts into when simply daydreaming or using the imagination. This state results in a level of visualization that is mostly felt internally within the mind's eye instead of visually perceived. It can be described as a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy. The generation of the details of this internal visualization are partially autonomous in nature but mostly controlled by the content of one's current thought stream.
-#'''Partially defined hypnagogia''' - As one begins to fall asleep, the experience of daydreaming and general imagination begins to progressively heighten and form into what is known in the literature as "hypnagogia". This is defined as the experience of the transitional state between wakefulness to sleep and generally consists of hearing indistinct noises and seeing faded imagery behind closed eyelids.
-#'''Fully defined hypnagogia''' - As the vividness and intensity slightly increases, the spontaneous imagery becomes fully defined in its appearance/detail and is now seen within the person's direct line of sight under closed eyelids. Alongside of this, audible noises such as fleeting voices, music and general auditory hallucinations are often present.
-#'''Partially defined dreams''' - As the ability to hallucinate increases, random flashes of spontaneous hallucinatory scenarios begin to show themselves. At this level, the hallucinations no longer consist of fleeting imagery on the back of one's closed eyelids but become sustained as all-encompassing settings which surround the dreamer as what feels like a sudden breakthrough into an alternate reality. In terms of sensory vividness the dreams are not completely defined in their appearance or sound. This means that they often display themselves as partially to completely blurred and transparent. Along side of this the dreamers physical body will also still feel at least partially connected to the real world. Other senses such as touch, taste and smell seem to be extremely vague or entirely absent altogether.
-#'''Fully defined dreams''' - At this level, all five of the senses are replicated perfectly as the dream becomes completely realistic and indistinguishable from that of everyday reality in terms of the detail and sensory vividness which they provide. These sensations are equally capable of including both positive sensations such as sexual orgasm and negative sensations such as pain and physical bodily harm.
-===Perspective===
-In terms of the perspective in which dreams are perceived through, just like literary plots, dreams can be experienced through four alternate vantage points which are described and listed below.
-*'''1st person''' - this is the most common form of dream and can be described as the perfectly normal experience of perceiving the scenario from the perspective of one's everyday self and body.
-*'''2nd person''' - this can be described as the experience of perceiving the dream from the perspective of an external source of consciousness such as another person, an animal or an inanimate object.
-*'''3rd person''' - this is essentially an out-of-body experience and can be described as perceiving the dream from a perspective which is floating above, below, behind, or in front of the dreamer's physical body. It is worth noting that for unknown reasons, many people consistently and exclusively dream in the third person perspective.
-*'''4th person''' - this is particularly rare but entirely possible and can be described as the experience of perceiving the dream from the perspective of multiple vantage points simultaneously.
-===Setting===
-At level 4 - 5 dreams consistently manifest themselves through the essential component of extremely detailed imagined landscapes, locations and sceneries of an infinite variety. These exist for the purpose of acting as the setting in which the plot of the dream occurs. The geography of these settings is capable of rendering itself as static and coherent in organization but will usually result in a non-linear, nonsensical and continuously ever-changing layout which does not obey the rules of everyday physics. In terms of the chosen locations, appearance and style of these settings, they seem to be selected at random and are often entirely new and previously unseen locations. They do, however, play a heavy emphasis on replicating and combining real life locations stored within the dreamer's memories, especially those which are prominent within one's life and daily routine.
-Within the settings themselves, relevant and irrelevant objects or props will be placed in appropriate but sometimes inappropriate locations throughout them. These can be interacted with in exactly the same way that any real life object can and can often react in unexpected and spontaneous ways (but usually behave exactly as the dreamer expects them to).
-===Dream characters===
-{{Main|Dream characters}}
-Across the setting of almost any dream, the scenery is inhabited and populated by conscious dream characters who can be spoken to and communicated with in extreme amounts of detail. These entities generally appear to be the inhabitants of a perceived independent reality -- they are expectant of one's appearance and interact with the dreamer in various ways.
-In terms of their appearance, dream characters can show themselves as literally anything but will usually display themselves as perfectly ordinary people. These people are equally likely to be complete strangers or randomly selected people which the dreamer has encountered throughout their life. The more prominent and emotionally significant the person is, the more likely they are to be encountered within the dream scape.
-There are distinctly different types of dream characters which one may encounter, each of which represent a particular subsection of one's own consciousness through both their visible form and their personality. These can be broken down into 3 separate categories and include:
-*'''Representations of the self''' -  The simplest form of dream character can be described as simply a mirror of one's own personality. It can take any visible form but clearly adopts an obviously identical vocabulary and set of mannerisms to one's own personality when conversed with.
-*'''Representations of specific concepts or people''' - This category of dream character is by far the most varied type in terms of its visual form and immediately perceivable personality. It can be identified as a simulated representation of any internally stored concept and adopts an appropriate personality to fit this to an amazing degree of accurate detail. For example this specific concept could include people one has met throughout their life, fictional characters or symbolic representations of abstract concepts such as emotions or key parts of one's own personality.
-*'''Representations of the subconscious''' - This category of dream character can take any visible form but adopts the personality of what seems to be a conscious controller behind the continuous generation of the details behind one's own dream scape and internally stored model of reality. When conversed with it usually adopts an attitude which wants to teach or guide the dreamer and assumes that it knows what is best for them.
-When communicated with through spoken word the level of coherency in which these entities can reply with is highly variable but can be broken down into 4 distinct levels of communication:
-# '''Silence''' - this level can be defined as a complete unresponsiveness from the side of the dream character and an incapability of speech despite their obvious presence within the dream.
-#'''Partially defined incoherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which sound like words but do not contain any real content or meaning beyond a vague sense of emotional intent.
-#'''Fully defined incoherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which contain fully defined and understandable words but often lack grammatical structure or general coherency.
-#'''Partially defined coherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which contain fully defined and understandable words with a partially defined grammatical structure and general coherency which conveys its point on a level which may not always be fully understandable but is still capable of conveying a general point.
-#'''Fully defined coherent speech''' - this level can be defined as audible linguistic conversational responses and noises which contain fully defined and understandable words as well as fully defined grammatical structure and general coherency which conveys its point on a level which is on par with the dreamer's own intellect.
-===Scenarios and plots===
-Each of the above components are randomly shuffled and spliced into any number of an infinite variety of potential plots and scenarios. These may be positive or negative to experience and are difficult to define in a comprehensive manner in much the same way that we cannot predict the plot of abstract literature and films. They can, however, be broken down into extremely basic occurrences which generally entail visiting some sort of setting, or a number of them which contain within them, interactive, multiple, or lone dream characters. Alongside of these, completely unpredictable plot devices, events and occurrences, force the dreamer to become involved within the specific scenario of the particular dream.
-These scenarios and plots can be linear and logical with events that occur in a rational sequence which lead onto each other through cause and effect. They are equally likely, however, to present themselves as completely nonsensical and incoherent. This means that the plot will occur with spontaneous events which are capable of ending, starting and changing between each other repeatedly in quick succession and as they please. The plots themselves can either be entirely new experiences that are unlike anything experienced within the real world, old experiences such as accurate memory replays or a combination of the two.
-In terms of the amount of time in which they are experienced, hallucinatory dream plots and scenarios usually feel as if they are being experienced in real-time. This means that when 20 seconds have been felt to have passed within the hallucination, the exact same amount of time will have passed in the real world. At other points, however, distortions of time can make themselves present, resulting in plots and scenarios that can feel as if they literally last days, weeks, months, years, or even infinitely long periods of time.
-An important part of any dream which entails obviously unlikely and absurd scenarios is a strong sense of uncontrollable and powerful plot acceptance. This sense of plot acceptance allows the dreamer to accept any plot as it comes as a completely real event in which the results of one's own actions will have genuine consequences regarding the dreamer's life. This delirium motivates the dreamer to avoid danger, solve puzzles and accept the scenario as reality even if it is clearly and undeniably more likely to be a dream than an event which could ever occur within real life.
-===Sleep paralysis===
-[[File:John Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare.JPG|250px|thumbnail|''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare The Nightmare]'', by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fuseli Henry Fuseli] (1781) is thought to be one of the classic depictions of sleep paralysis perceived as a demonic visitation.]]
-Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon that is distinctively separate from that of normal dreams. It can be defined as a state in which people, either when falling asleep or wakening, temporarily experience an inability to move which is often accompanied by hallucinations. More formally, it is a transition state between wakefulness and rest characterized by complete muscle atonia (muscle weakness). It can occur at sleep onset or upon awakening, and it is often associated with terrifying visions and [[external hallucinations]] (e.g., an intruder in the room or a demon sitting on one's chest), to which one is unable to react due to paralysis. It is believed a result of disrupted REM sleep, which is normally characterized by a complete loss of muscle control that prevents individuals from acting out their dreams.
-Many people find sleep paralysis to be a horrific and negative experience but it can be escaped by simply changing the rhythm of one's breathing. When one changes their breathing pattern, such as holding one's breath or breathing much more deeply, if this is done for roughly 15 seconds or more the body will notice the change and automatically exit sleep paralysis.
-==Lucid dreaming techniques==
 Despite powerful senses of delirium and plot acceptance, there are moments within dreams in which a person realizes that they are dreaming and takes control of the situation. These are known as lucid dreams and are formally defined as any dream in which for an uninterrupted and prolonged amount of time, one is consciously aware that they are dreaming.