Blogpost #1: Lucid Dreaming and Common Things

        Every time we sleep, some of us dream. Dream of those things that might actually happen or things that may not be possible in real world. And there's a kind of dream that can control, called lucid dreaming. There, we can make our own decisions while dreaming and all the things that will happen or might happen in your dream might be in favor of you. The reason why some people who are sleepy heads are much like that
because they want to extend their dreams because, maybe their dreamland is a happier world than the reality. Have you ever wonder why we dream of those things?Or what are the aspects why we dream?

I remember my one of the most unforgettable lucid dream I ever had. There was a boy named Steve who rescue me from some bad guys. He had nothing but himself when he come in the abandon place where I was who was tied by those thick ropes while the bad guys have their own guns. I shouted at him, refusing not to rescue me because we all know that one vs several guys will win the fight will never happen. I don't know why but I guess he's important to me in my dream because I rather loose my life than him. But he was so stubborn like me, that he will fight with those rude guys. Unluckily, he beaten up by those guys, reason why I cried a lot and shout to stop those thing. They only stopped when some policemen came by. And from that, those bad guys where forced to take the shot for the policemen.In that time, I don't know what to do and Steve came top me and untied me even he was so weak. And when, we saw  something that fired in our direction, heading to me. So, he covered me up with his body to protect me. In short, he was shot. The last thing I remember in that dream was, we hide in some place. I don't what is the right thing to do.I looked at him, and it seems, he don't care about his bleeding gunshot wound. So, I tried to cover his bleeding wound with my handkerchief and as I do it, she actually take a glance of me. And when some objects were falling, he hugged me to cover.


According to the article from lucidipedia.com by Tim Post entitled "Lucid Dreaming", lucid dreaming is like an immersive game. The person who might actually having a lucid dreaming can be the game architect and at the same time the main character of the story. It has two strand of lucid dreaming, the one is to have the intentionally a recreational experience which like to have it just for the sake of fun. Some of them are like flying high,passing through those walls to escape some creepy monster, having a power to save your love one or to have sex with anyone who you desire. And when you wake up, you have more positive thinking towards real life.

              In real state we can compare this kind of mysticism in the things that we are actually doing. Lucid dreaming is like a video game which you can control things in the game. You can manipulate it with one small handheld devices. Here you can be the main superior of the game and at the same time the main character. Just like in lucid dreaming, with the help of your brain, you can change everything in your dreams that can be favor for you. One of the examples of video game that closely related to lucid dreaming is "The Sims". You can change the whole thing from the details of your house to the thing which you want to do in order to have more fun and pleasure. In short, you're actually playing a game while sleeping but the advantage of lucid dreaming is that there are no game consoles. 

        But, the question is, why we can control things in the dream? What explains this theory? And why we can think while dreaming?

As for the article from dreamstudies.org by Ryan Hurd entitled "History of Lucid Dreaming: Ancient India to the Enlightenment", science didn't recognize the concept between the lines of lucid dreaming over a thousand years until 1978. The history of the uniqueness of this kind of dreaming reaches back from them passed years and potentially into the era called Paleolithic Era. The first textual description of it was before 1000 B.C.E. from the book of Upanihads, a Hindu oral tradition that contains philosophy of their ancestors, proverbs and spiritual lessons and rituals. The other one is an ancient Hindu tracts called Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. It describes how best is to have a direct consciousness while you are dreaming.And as the years goes by, Indian influenced some region in the mountain of Tibet. This textual legacy survived the tract culture of Tibetan and became a partof its culture believing in those concepts. It serve as a meditations for them for over a 12000 years. The partial translation of this esoteric track was made by Walter Y. Evans-Wentz in the year 1935. He was the first Western audience who learned these ancient practices. Further more, these kind of practice about experiencing lucid dreaming was influenced through the Americans in 20th century.

                Even though history can explain why this theory exist, it only the explains the tip of an iceberg. But some thing like Maya in Hinduism explain furthermore why there are some things that history not even science can understand lucid dreaming. Maya is actually the same as our mind goes while in lucid dreaming. It has the ability to create a ignorance in the individual's consciousness. So, every time we become lucid in our dream it activates which can result of the things that might actually thinking while sleeping, an illusion for short. An illusion that came out from the consciousness of the individual so,  the people has the ability to become lucid in their dreams because of their ignorance that came out from their consciousness.

              People have their own consciousness. And after, dreaming they are more likely to have contradiction condition of reality and dream.So, some people revealed it through the art by painting it in a surrealism type. For all you know , surrealism is a kind of style in painting that has illogical scenes creating strange features that most like to come up from their lucid dream.

According to Tim Post, from the website lucidipedia.com "Lucid Dreaming: Scientific Evidences", there are many researchers state some conclusion about the lucid dream. LaBerge(1981) stated that the eye  movements of REM sleep corresponds to the reported direction of the dreamer's direction of sight. And comparative to the study of Gackenbach(1994), it shows that frequent lucid dreamers are less stressful and are more able to focus their attention.And as for Prescott & Pettigrew(1995), they conclude that people who frequent experiencing lucid dreaming are also positively related to one's search controlling situations from real life. Phenomenologically viewed as being awake while dreaming, lucid dreams are physiologically defined as a form of dissociation in which one part of the brain is in the waking state while the other is in the dreaming state according to Hobson, Pace-Schott & Stickgold(2000).I therefore conclude that even though,they have differences between with their conclusion, it ends up with connecting their ideas.
            
Nevertheless, it can't explain the mysticism behind the lucid dream until some people find an interest about lucid dream and research about it to uncover the piece of scroll behind it. But there conclusions connect in one piece of an idea, a concept for lucid dreaming that we people can able to think while dreaming and to know that we are in the dream state.But regardless of that, it is only a iceberg of the whole information of the lucid dreaming. But the mysticism of the lucid dreaming still enclosed and until now, no one can reveal it.

As Laberge say that,"Not all lucid dreams are useful but they all have a sense of wonder about them. If you must sleep through a third of your life, why should you sleep through your dreams, too?" A thought of him that is confusing for other people yet a meaningful message hidden between the lines, just like lucid dreaming full of mysterious. 
        And the other one is that,"Lucid dreaming has considerable potential for promoting personal growth and self development, enhancing self-confidence,improving mental and physical health, facilitating creative problem solving and helping you to progress on the path to self-mastery." from  Laberge to.It explained that it's not just good to our health but it also good to make our imagination more powerful.

          Watched out for more information about lucid dreaming in this blog:)