lucid dreaming- billy blue

Billy Blue
Critical Practice
Lucid dreaming

Lucid dreaming is the ability to realize when you are in a dream state, then to use that knowledge to control your dreams. Most people may think of dreams as uncontrolled, unconscious states in which we are trapped, for better or for worse, but lucid dreaming challenges that notion. Lucid dreaming blurs the line between sleep and wakefulness, between conscious and unconscious. The “levels” of consciousness that we have come to think of as absolute, such as waking and dreaming, can be manipulated at will by skilled dreamers. This also can blur the line between what we think of as fantasy or reality since we can, at will, experience our fantasies at will.
The skill of lucid dreaming can be gained and sharpened through practice. While a few methods have developed, they are similar in that they focus on reminding yourself that you may have started to dream. Or, by asking yourself if you have begun to dream, these simple methods will be clues enough to focus your mind on the reality around you, allowing you to alter it if possible.
By maintaining your consciousness in this way, you become more aware of the moment when you do become a dreamer. This skill, apart from allowing you to literally “live your dreams”, has other benefits as well. Lucid dreamers can rehearse troubling situations, live out fantasies, or solve creative problems. Many artists, scientist, and politicians have gained insight from their dreams.
Through practice we can learn to use our minds to explore what we think of as reality, as consciousness, and to stretch the limits of what we think our minds can do. Lucid dreaming is one way that we can explore the very idea of consciousness. We can test what that idea means to us, how it limits us, and how to pass beyond those limits.




http://www.lucidity.com/

http://health.howstuffworks.com/dream.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077505/

http://www.dreamviews.com/whatislucid.php