Book: You Are Dreaming

Have you ever had a dream and one day later it comes true?
Like Déjà Vu[1][w], but you remember having dreamed it?
If so, then this book is for you.
Copyright © 2010 by Ian Wilson
–
FINAL ROUGH DRAFT ONLY – PENDING EDITING AND SOURCES -
This book is printed in electronic format, no paper products have been used in the
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As for reproduction and distribution, this book is a public on-line resource that can be
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Title: You Are Dreaming
Page Count: 109
Version: 1.2
Last Revised: 2013-04-30
Publisher: Ian Wilson
Editor: Dr. Art Funkhouser
Graphics: Ian Wilson
Artwork:
Printing History: None.
Author: Ian Wilson
Mail: ianwilson27@hotmail. com
Website: http://www. youaredreaming. org
“Thus then it is quite conceivable that some dreams may be tokens and causes [of future
events]."
Aristotle 350 B.C.E. On Prophesying by Dreams[2][L].
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will
prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." - Joel 2:28
NIV The Holy Bible[L]
“A good dream that comes true is from Allah” - Hadith -Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87,
Number 115: Narrated Abu Qatada[L]
Table of Contents
Copyright © 2010 by Ian Wilson................................................................................................2
Preface ........................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1: To Dream or Not to Dream?......................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Enter the Dream.......................................................................................................11
Chapter 3: Dream Mechanics 101.............................................................................................18
Chapter 4: Dream Mechanics 102.............................................................................................34
Chapter 5: Dreaming 101..........................................................................................................46
Chapter 6: Dreams in Religion..................................................................................................67
Chapter 7: Cognitive Reality.....................................................................................................75
Chapter 8: You Are Reality.......................................................................................................88
Chapter 9: Precognitive Dreaming 101.....................................................................................91
Chapter 10: Mutual and Shared Dreaming.............................................................................107
Preface
Have you ever had “déjà vu”[W]? Déjà vu is French for “Already Seen”. The
chances are, you have. The bigger question is, have you ever had “Déjà rêvé”? “Déjà
rêvé” is French for “Already Dreamed”.
“Déjà rêvé” is like déjà vu except at the time you are having déjà vu, you can link
the familiarity to something you remember dreaming. The dream could have happened
days, weeks, months even years ago. In examining your own experiences with déjà vu,
how much of your déjà is actually “Déjà rêvé”?
If you haven't had this type of experience, this book still covers dreams and
consciousness with techniques and insights into dreams and neurology that will benefit
nearly anyone with a desire to become a more literate dreamer in todays day and age.
We will examine the possible reasons for precognitive dreams and look at the
skeptical arguments and the theories which could explain it. Our journey into dreams will
also include our current scientific understanding of how the brain works. New theories will
emerge to tackle the “Hard Problems of Consciousness”[w] and “Perception”[w].
Reality will be discussed and explored from both materialistic[w] and idealistic[w] view
points showing how both of these concepts are correct, and how it is a matter of
understanding the relationships between the objective world and the observer that
produces the confusion between what is real, and what is not.
In the “Ultimate Question” that asks if there is a relationship between dreams and
waking reality; this book sets out to not only answer the question but provide the toolkit
and direction needed to prove it to yourself.
Ian Wilson started with Lucid Dream[w] exploration in 1987. He is one of the first
dream researchers to report that while in a lucid state a person can affect a precognitive
dream and change it. He reports that the changes do come true when the dream
actualizes days, weeks, months later.
Think about all of your dreams that have come true. Imagine if you could have
changed them prior to the waking event. Would those changes ultimately come true?
This book challenges you to learn the techniques to achieve this state known as “Active
Lucid Precognitive Dreaming”.
Chapter 1: To Dream or Not to Dream?
There is no arguing the fact that when you sleep; you dream. The real question is,
do you remember dreaming?
In 1952, Prof. Nathaniel Kleitman[w] and his associates at the University of Chicago
Sleep Laboratory discovered while studying infants that when sleeping, their eyes kept
moving under their lids after all other body movements had stopped.
This lead to what is commonly known as REM or rapid-eye movement and is a telltale sign that a person is actively dreaming. Through this research and others like it, sleep
laboratories have been able to determine that not only do we dream every night, but we
have several dreams per night.
Dreaming is not exclusive to Human's only. If you are a pet owner, you might have
seen your dog twitching and pawing in it's sleep [V]. Your dog is having a dream. We know
that animals also dream. How this phenomena of dreaming descends into the plant,
animals and insects kingdom is not conclusive; however it seems that dreaming is an
important part sleep for many of Earths bio-diverse species.
Why do we dream?
There are many theories regarding the role and function of dreaming as it relates to
human cognition. Sigmund Freud[w] was one of the first modern fathers of Psychology who
examined the link between the dream and his patience. Carl Jung[w] also ventured into the
concept of what dreaming was. The disagreements between Jung and Freud regarding
dreams ultimately ended their relationship.
In 1977, Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley presented a neurophysilogical model of
dreaming, the Activation-Synthesis hypothesis[w]. They hypothesized that dreaming
resulted from the interpretation by the cortex of information concerning eye movements
and activated brain stem motor pattern generators. This finding created a very fallacious
argument that all dreams consisted of; are random electrical signals firing from the brain
stem.
In many ways, this has created the stigma that dreams are meaningless and without
purpose. Such a fallacious argument starts to crumble when you start to examine dreams
from their content and discover that dreams have a ridged rule-set, deep plots and very
articulate details that give rise to a type of natural occurring virtual reality system that our
brains have naturally developed.
The Unconscious Non-Verbal Thought Process Hypotheses
The Unconscious Non-Verbal Thought Process looks at how dreams form a NonVerbal inner language that facilitates non-verbal communication from our
compartmentalized unconsciousness. Dreams are a form of non-verbal linguistics that
involve a thought process that utilizes highly advanced organized thought forms which
describe every detail of the dream reality.
Dreams are far more organized and detailed then what random brain-stem firing
could allow for. The UNVTP hypotheses takes us past the idea of random electrical brainstem discharges and addresses dreaming at the more direct role of a highly evolved type
of sensory linguistics that facilitate communication in the form of dreams and dream
symbolism.
We will cover this in greater detail further in the book.
What is a dream [L]?
According to the dictionary, a dream is: 1. A series of images, ideas, emotions, and
sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. [L]
In Oneirology [L] dreams are described as activity in the brain that occurs during
REM sleep and is defined as a form of thinking that occurs under minimal brain direction.
External stimuli are blocked, and the part of the brain that recognizes self shuts down.
Oneirology supports the UNVTP hypothesis that dreams are a type of thought
process. It is clear that for most people, we dream in an unconscious state and that most
of our dreams flow from unconscious thoughts. It is only when we strive to maintain
waking consciousness during sleep that we find we can change and control the content of
our dreams. This is known as “Lucid Dreaming” and has been popularized by the movie,
“Inception”.
To understand the UNVTP hypothesis, we need to understand the mechanics of
dreaming from the perspective of information processing and thought. It is important to
examine how the brain produces a dream in the first place. What are the mechanics
involved that allow for such vivid experiences?
The first area we need at is the human brain. The human brain provides the
hardware and processing power needed to render highly organized Non-Verbal thought
forms into a dream experience.
The Human Brain as a Super Computer.
In 2006, Professor Randall O'Reilly of the University of Colorado at Boulder
discovered that certain regions of the brain functioned much like a computer.
O'Reilly's research determined that the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia
operate much like a digital computer system. "The neurons in the prefrontal cortex are
binary -- they have two states, either active or inactive -- and the basal ganglia is
essentially a big switch that allows you to dynamically turn on and off different parts of the
prefrontal cortex," O'Reilly said.
This research supports cellular automata which shows how simple on/off states in
cellular latices forms a basis for information processing. The human brain has effectively
evolved information processing at the cellular level and even more stunning is how the
brain has evolved information processing at the quantum level.
Other bio-physicists have furthered research into brain neurology showing that the
brain not only functions digitally at the neuron level, but also scaled down into the
microtubules into the alpha/beta tubulin where even more binary processes are observed.
Stuart Hammeroff and Sir Roger Penrose proposed the “Orch Or” model of
consciousness which with the support of other researchers have proposed a model of
information processing where the microtubule lattice forms a computational matrix where
the alpha/beta tubulin act as binary “bits” as one expects from computation and cellular
automata. What makes Hammeroff's research interesting is how his research shows the
use of ions and photons by the microtubules suggesting that the brain functions on the
properties of quantum mechanics and is itself natures Quantum Super Computer.
It is important to note how the digital processing of the brain scales up from the
carbon-atom pairs of alpha/beta tubulin lattice to a the larger cellular scale found in
O'Rieley's work on the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia. The brain and nature has
effectively used scaled up systems to create a very complex neurocomputer to process
information. Consciousness itself theoretically should also scale up from the tiniest “bit” to
the larger “byte” of brain neurology. Proposing a hypotheses that Consciousness is scalar
and potentially fractal due to naturally occurring computation within the brain is not an
unreasonable angle by which to start to explore the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
It is self-evident that the brain renders information into a model that we experience.
Simply closing your eyes proves that the brain renders visual information from the eyes
into an observer model within the brain. All the vivid colors, details and objects you see
are actually a mind-rendered output from a series of powerful neurological processes that
act like natures “Rendering Farm”.
A rendering farm is a series of computers networked together to process a single or
set of images for a 3D movie. Movies like Disney/Pixar's “Toy Story” and “Cars” all needed
massive computational power to process trillions of vectors and triangles to form meshes
that contained detailed bitmaps and lighting to create the illusion of 3D space.
Back in the days, a single frame of a popular 3D movie took a full day to render. It
took months for the 3D modellers to push vectors and edges to create a complex
triangular mesh to describe the 3D objects in the world. It took weeks for people to rig the
mesh so it could behave as an animatable character. Several artists would spend weeks
designing the UVM bitmaps to color the 3D mesh objects so when the rendering farm
finally put everything together, the final product would be a vivid 3D image.
The human brain naturally renders the equivalent of a ultra-high resolution 3D
movie nearly instantly and effortlessly. It does not spend months on the wire mesh to
describe the objects it sees, it takes even less for it to render and color the objects
according to spacial calculations, lighting and contrast. Each neuron involved in the
rendering process effectively creates a neural network rendering farm to achieve in near
run-time and instantly what takes entire teams of software engineers, modellers, artists
and computers to achieve in months.
We will introduce another hypotheses in this book that explains how the brain uses
a natural form of “neural geometry” linked to hypnogogia which acts as natures version of
3D rendering meshes to describe the spacial lattice by which to render visual data from
sensory data on to our perceived experience of “Reality”.
The processing power of the Human Brain rivals any computer we have ever
invented. Nature has already invented the perfect rendering farm. The computational
power of quantum computing scaled up into cellular automata and neural transmitters has
exceeded everything that IBM and AMD have strive to produce in their processors. The
facts don't lie: the human brain is natures super computer.
For fun, we will break the brain down and match some brain areas to what we find
in todays modern computer. The emphasis on computing for this book is important to help
us understand how the brain renders out an experience of reality for both our waking
senses and our dreams when we sleep. The mechanics for both are very similar when
dealing with our neurology.
The Computer Brain Analogy
The human brain can be broken down into sections that relate to a computer. For
example, a computer has a graphics card to process images and our brain has the
occipital lobes which render images the data our eyes see. I will attempt to break down
the human brain to it's computer counterpart.
•
•
•
•
•
CPU
Graphics Card
RAM
Hard-drive
Input Devices
- Prefrontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia
- Occipital lobes
- The Pre-Frontal Lobes (short-term memory)
– The Hippocampus (long-term memory)
- Our Five Senses.
The Software
Today we have operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux to
name a few. The operating system is fundamental software that manages computer
hardware, memory, applications and devices attached to it like keyboard and mouse. The
OS often runs behind the scenes managing systems while the user engages the desired
video game, movie or software application.
If nature has evolved a sophisticated quantum supercomputer then what type of
operating system did it evolve to support the hardware? We know that the brain naturally
maintains heart rate, temperature and breathing. Much of this behaviour is what an
operating system would maintain. All the regulatory processes such as motor control,
equilibrium etc. would require an operating system to keep all the systems in check.
All of these automated functions run in the background much like we would expect
from any operating system. This allows us to engage a more active application such as
being awake and conscious. With all the recent discoveries of how the brain utilizes
natural binary “bits” and digital processes, there must be some psychologists and/or
neurologists that can start to dissect and interpret nature's operating system.
In my musings, I imaging that our neurological OS is a highly evolved monolithic
kernel that has hardwired modules to regulate certain automatic function stored in relative
areas of the brain.
All software requires a programming language by which reduces down to machine
language and binary code. If the brain is using a type of cellular automata and binary “bit”
then it is possible that a natural form of digital processing has evolved within nature to
produce the ability to render out a “Perception of Reality”.
It's clear that our sensory perception of reality is a mind-generated rendering. The
mechanics of how our mind renders out a model of perceived reality is still being
uncovered. If information processing in the brain uses quantum computing and “bits” then
we really are dealing with a natural “3D modelling and rendering application” by which the
brain digitally draws and renders out our sensory perception.
Consciousness and unconscious brain function all play a role at the theoretical
neurological software level and the more we understand how the brain processes
information and generates consciousness, the more we can understand how the brain also
processes and creates dreams both consciously and unconsciously.
The Monitor
Computers render output onto a computer monitor. This allows us to interface with
the application through the keyboard, mouse or other input devices. The computer screen
is an external device that uses pixels that light up and create the rendered images. Where
the brain differs from how it outputs our “Perception of Reality” is that it doesn't have a
physical screen to render the data.
There is no actual screen that forms a set of pixels that describes an image in our
brain. If we use the open and close your eyes method of seeing the screen in action, it
seems like the screen sits at the very front of our forehead in alignment with our eyes.
What is the screen that our brain uses to render all this vivid sensory data?
Since the time of Plato, philosophers referred to this as the Cartesian theater where
sat a “homunculus” or a small person in this tiny theater watching all the senses projecting
on a screen as it watched. Descartes described it as the seat of the soul within the pineal
gland.
Modern day psychology and philosophy steer away from this concept of dualism
between the material world, and the illusionary world of the mind. If we look at how
perception is rendered by the mind, we need to see that it creates an artificial virtual
screen by which the sensory information projects outward in a nearly holographic way to
represent material objects and forms.
Research into visual perception has shown that our eyes are actually poor in terms
of how they perceive light and images. One of the early modern researchers into visual
perception Hermann von Helmholtz discovered how poor the eye actually was. In his
opinion this made vision impossible. He therefore concluded that vision could only be the
result of some form of unconscious inferences: a matter of making assumptions and
conclusions from incomplete data, based on previous experiences.
Optical illusions show flaws in our perception demonstrating that our brain tends to
fill in the blanks and fills in the blanks with guess work to get the imaging correct.
Colorblindness will cause one person to have a different rendered “Perception of Reality”
then another person. A cat will render their visual perception different from a dog. Each
creature in existence must render a “Model of Reality” based on perception in order to
survive and exist in the objective world.
How this model of perceived reality scales up from single-celled organisms to plant,
animal and humans will vary greatly based on collective sensory organs. We will cover
this in greater detail in this book when we address this model of sensory reality as
“Cognitive Reality”.
For now, the topic is the screen by which the brain renders a “model of reality”
based on perception. This is important to dreaming as dreams also share the same virtual
screen to render out the dream experience. The same rendering and information
processing that renders our model of reality also applies to how a dream renders on this
cognitive canvas of the mind.
British author Anthony Peake who refers to this cognitive canvas as the Bohmien
Imax, or BIMAX for short. In his hypothesis we relive our life experience on this BIMAX at
the point of death. He builds on the Cartesien Theater in his ITLAD Hypotheses which is
covered in two books, “The Daemon” and “Is There Life After Death”. Both books highly
recommended.
Science is slowly uncovering the mechanics of how the brain creates this rendered
output. If we look closely at the mechanics of how the brain renders our experience of
perceived reality, it starts to appear much like what one would expect from a Holodeck
popularized by the TV series “Star Trek, The Next Generation”.
Unlike a Holodeck, our “Cognitive Canvas of the Mind” has no spacial dimensions
and is likely located across various neurons within the brain. How does perception work
that it allows us to see light and color? How is it that the mind generates taste, touch,
smell and thought? All of these wonderful experiences are mind-generated phenomena
known as Qualia[w].
Qualia is a debated idea that in itself is hard to describe the full meaning. In
essence “Qualia” is the subjective quality of experience when the mind interprets sensory
data. How the color looks to one person could vary for another person based on
interference from different qualities of perception and neurology. As long as the color is
known as red and both people recognize and see red as they know it, there is no other
means by which one can confirm what is known as red between these two people is
identically percieved as the same identical color of red. The gradients, the subtle
differences and the quality of red could vary and not ever be known. Qualia introduces a
sensible acknowledgement of subjective perception and how such perceptions could in
fact vary from individual to individual based on how the mind renders out the sensory
experiences.
We will examine how dreams and our perception of reality explained as organized
thought-forms that take on the appearance of light, color, sound, taste, smell, and touch.
That thought is used as part of the rendering toolkit of perception for both dreams and
waking reality. What thought produces is a rendered “final product” from information
processing as to produce our “Experience of Reality” and a “Dream Experience”.
Chapter 2: Enter the Dream.
What is a dream? We know dreams are phantasms of the mind that occur when
the body is asleep. We know that we seem to forget them when we wake up. We can
wake up terrified if the dream invoked a nightmare, or filled with joy if the dream was
euphoric and wonderful.
There is no question that we all have them. Even dogs, cats and other animals
have dreams. Why is dreaming so important to the mind that we must sleep and become
engaged in this unconscious hallucination?
People report very strange things through dreaming. Some people have reported
dreaming the future, while others have reported sharing the same dream with their friends
of family. Others report being fully awake and conscious during a dream. Some say they
have dreams that have lasted an entire lifetime in a single night sleep. Christopher
Nolan's movie “Inception” incorporates a large portion of studied dream literature into the
movie.
Would you be surprised to find out that some of the movie concepts in “Inception” is
actually something we can achieve through dreaming? Lucid dreaming has been
established as scientific fact since the 1970's with sleep laboratories recording controlled
eye-movements and EEG scans of people when they were asleep. Stephen LaBerge and
his team have been able to verify that people can be awake and lucid during the time
when their body is asleep.
What a great adventure that must be? To be awake in a vivid world that you can
command and control. My life was completely transformed by and article written by
Stephen LaBerge's for “Omni Magazine” back in 1985. When I first read about lucid
dreaming thanks to Stephen's article, I had to know first-hand if this was real or not. To my
surprise and wonder, I was able to achieve this amazing state of wakefulness during sleep
that is commonly known as “Lucid Dreaming”.
What followed were adventures so grand that entire novels could be written around
a single night of sleep. What is observed through lucid dreaming rivals even the most
special effect packed Hollywood movie. Some of the experiences are so amazing that
even telling them would make the claim it was dreamed at all sound totally preposterous.
For the most part of this book the focus will be on practical ordinary dreaming, however for
those of you who can venture forward this book will examine the extraordinary reality of
dreams.
There is a great mystery about the dreamworld, so lets dive feet first into what it
feels like to dream.
Physical Reality as a Dream Training Simulator.
When people have raised the question, “ What is it like to have a lucid dream?" The
answer that I put forth is, “It's exactly like what we experience right now when we are
awake, except the location is in a dream state."
The reason for this is linked to the relationship between the minds ability to “render”
a perception of reality within the holodeck of the mind. The same mechanics of perception
and information processing applies to the lucid dream experience, as dreams too share
the same mind-generated holodeck.
If you don't dream anymore, rather don't remember your dreams. Try to rekindle
what it feels like to dream by using real world experiences as they render before you within
your own virtual holodeck. Lucid dreams appear in context as vivid and real as this text
from this book appears right now. The similarity again linked by the fact what is rendering
from your perceptions is the same “screen” that your dreams will render on.
Lucid dreaming is about being awake and consciously aware while the body is
asleep and you are engaged in a content rich dream. How vivid and real the dream
appears will also coincide with how awake and conscious you are within the lucid dream.
If you can achieve a full waking state of consciousness during sleep, your memory,
awareness and perception increases to allow you to preform complex logical and
analytical skills such as how you reading this text. In a fully realized lucid dream; you can
think, question and act upon your own intent. Most importantly, you can be fully awake
and self-aware that you exist and are in fact, dreaming.
Everything you are experiencing right now transfers over into lucid dreaming
allowing logical left-brain function to integrate with the right-brain's symbolic language.
Feel what it is like to be awake and conscious then imagine that this is a dream right now.
Role-play that you are dreaming and create a mental snapshot of how this feels to be
awake. This is how being conscious in a dream will feel. It may feel even more
exhilarating or even more real.
What makes “waking reality” different from a dream is the obvious material physics
and how those physics define a rigid rule-set such as gravity and the laws of thermal
dynamics. In a dream, you control the rule-set and physics engine. You want to fly, you
simply will it and you fly. You want to create mountains, think mountains and they will
spring up beautifully and magically in the holodeck of the mind. Thoughts create dreams,
this is why we can project amazing ideas and concepts into a highly organized thought
which describes the dream reality. If you are ever in a dream, and realize you are
dreaming. Always remember rule #1. Dreams are Thoughts.
Take Some Time to Review Your Dreams.
With our waking world as a lucid dream example, we now know we can use our
waking reality to help invoke a feeling of what a lucid dream can feel like. Waking reality is
the best candidate for the sense of lucidity that most people are not fully aware of when
dreaming. At this point in the book, it is also a good time to simply review any dream you
can remember and see how real and detailed it was. Also, how it was similar to waking
reality, and how it was different. Think of childhood dreams, teenage dreams, and dreams
from various stages of your life.
All of the context found in your dreaming contributes to a larger overview of
experience that you have as this “sentient life form”. Each dream, like each waking day
simply contributes to your overall pool of personal experiences. Like your waking reality,
dreams are also a part of you, and an experience that you have.
Common Dream Archetypes
Carl Jung noticed that his patients shared similar types of dreams and dream
symbology. There seems to be themes in our dreams that many of us share. I will touch
base on a few common ones that have come up in conversations with friends, see if you
have had these dreams.
If you have, please e-mail me with the subject: “[YAD] Common Dreams” at my
public hotmail account: ianwilson27@hotmail. com as I am very interested in what is
similar in dreaming between each individual.
Teeth Falling Out.
Simply a dream where your teeth all fall out.
Pulling Hair/String/Gum from Mouth.
A dream where you are pulling something stringy from your mouth, it can feel like
you are pulling and pulling yet the hair won't come out.
Moving very slow when running.
A slow motion dream where you can't move fast despite your best efforts to do so.
Falling and jolting awake.
A dream where you feel like you fall and jolt in your bed waking up.
Waking up multiple times until you actually wake up.
This is a dream where you wake up, go about your daily routine. Then wake up
again in another dream. This can recursively happen several times before you actually
wake up. If you have watched the movie, “Groundhog Day”, this dream is similar in repeat
expereinces.
In a fight but have no punching power.
In the dream, you are punching someone or something but no matter how hard you
try, your punches are weak and ineffective.
There are likely a lot more examples, consider this a short list of archtypes.
Reoccurring Dreams
Another common area of dreaming stems from a same or similar dream that a
person can have that repeats over and over again. In some cases, people have reported
having a second life with a type of continuity between their dream life and their waking life.
The second-life dream consists of reoccurring dream that flows in a similar chronological
order to how we experience our waking life.
Reoccurring dreams are so common that it is very likely that you have had your
personal experience with this type of dream. The context of a reoccurring dream may vary
from person to person but the fact remains that a similar dream is repeating for some
unknown reason.
When you progress as a lucid dreamer, you may find that reoccurring dreams start
to resolve themselves and newer and more vivid dream experiences start to emerge. In
many ways, a reoccurring dream suggests some underlying subconscious issue that is
symbolically presenting itself to you with a desire for you to put the issue to rest.
Now that we have touched base with just a few common dreams and dream
archetypes, we can safely move on to how dreams render out in a similar process using
the same mechanics of information processing that our waking perception of reality.
Information Processing and Sensory Data
We have touched on the fact that the human brain uses it's own natural computation
system which is very similar to today’s computers and 3D rendering software to create the
perception of reality on the virtual holodeck of the mind. We have discussed how both
dreams and waking reality render on this holodeck to create an experience of which you
the observer participates in.
If we can address the objective physical world as raw information and data that our
physical senses must perceive; the spectrum of frequencies, energies, radiations,
chemicals and matter effectively comes at us in a seemingly “Incoherent Wave of Data”.
Without having specialized senses by which to interpret this data, we would have no
way to filter out the immense and astronomical amount of information present at any given
moment.
It is the act of filtering this data with our physical senses, and processing the data
through a very complex neurocomputer that our mind then renders a coherent model of
perceived reality. It is this mind-generated rendering that we then interact with and
experience.
The physical world when broken down is effectively information streaming to the
senses. Keeping in line with computer metaphors the objective world is effectively a
“datastream”.
The Datastream
Right now, your physical senses are downloading information from the “Objective
Reality” datastream. This data is then converted into electrical signals and sent through
the nervous system to the brain. The brain converts these signals into tiny “bits” of data as
coherent photons (Hammeroff/Penrose Orch Or) which in turn stimulates the tublin
switching digitally upwards to the neuron and larger groups like the occipital lobe and
through information processing, the incoherent data from the physical datastream is
rendered into a coherent rendering of perception.
When we fall asleep and start to dream, our brain takes over and produces a new
datastream which represents the dream. You will notice that in a dream you have
hearing, sight, taste, touch and smell. Depending on how developed you are as a
dreamer, the range of senses available to perceive the dream can vary. What is important
to note is that we are still emulating perception and the brain is still rendering an
experience based on sensory interpretation much like we do when awake.
If a dream is just thought, why does the brain go through all this extra work to
generate a “virtual reality” that you must then see, touch and feel as if it was a physical
world? Clearly it's not physical, it's just ideas and thought forms. Yet the brain treats the
“Datastream of the Dream” similarly to how it treats our “Waking Datastream” and mimics
sensory perception to create the same “Quality of Reality” within the virtual holodeck of the
mind.
The Powerful Illusion of Dream Reality.
When we are in this virtual reality of a dream, we most likely will not know that it is
a dream until we wake up. While in a dream, we most often assume it is “Reality”. If you
practice lucid dreaming, you will probable notice times when questioning if you were
actually dreaming or not was challenged by the overwhelming “Sense of Reality” that the
dream conveys.
Dreams effectively put us in a trance like state to complete an “Illusion of Reality”
that we assume is real at that moment of realization in the dream. In Lucid Dreaming
there is something called a “Reality Check”. The reality check is a logical assertion that
you are in fact dreaming. The reason why lucid dreamers assert this reality check is
because when we are awake in a dream world, the “Sense of Reality” is overwhelmingly
convincing. The reality check helps us logically break free of this trance like grip and free
ourselves from the powerful illusion of dream reality.
The movie, “The Matrix” offers up a similar argument when Neo has to take the red
or blue pill. This movie metaphor is similar to a lucid dream reality check. That pivotal
moment when one must go through the hard problem of resolving if what one is actually
experiencing is a dream, or reality.
Dreams are “Virtual Reality Simulations” rendered on our cognitive holodeck.
Understanding these mechanics becomes quite critical in breaking through the illusionary
reality of dreaming. This is why the “reality check” is so important in getting us into the
required lucid awareness to allow our waking self to change and control the dream.
Staying true to a virtual metaphor to describe the process of dreaming, we will now
look at the rendered output of the dreamworld.
The Rendered Output of a Vivid Dreamworld
There is a lot to be said about waking up in a dreamworld so real that you think it is
the real world. When we preform our reality check and we assert our will, we free
ourselves of the trance like state induced by the dream. When awake and self-aware we
can then explore this rendered output of the dreamworld.
What is very interesting in observing this rendering is that again and again the fabric
of this world is composed of organized sensory thought-forms. This brings us to the first
rule of dreaming.
Rule #1: Dreams are Thoughts.
What happens if we extend our physical sciences and apply them to dreaming?
How would particle physics describe the “Reality of a Dreamworld”? Is this dreamworld a
digital rendering composed of information processing and organized thought?
Quantum Mechanics quantizes everything down to the tiniest quanta. Are there
small quantized “bits” in a dreamworld? If we look at dreams from a mechanical stand
point and break down the mechanics of dreaming into these quantized bits, what is the
dream equivalent of a hypothetical Boson Higgs scalar elementary particle [L]. Is there a
Plank Constant [L] of a dream to measure the building block of dream matter. What would
the God particle like the hypothetical Boson Higgs particle of a dream be?
The Dream Particle
That particle would have to be "thought". Dreams are organized thoughts.
Why are dreams thoughts?
This self-evident thought experiment simply takes the use of
your imagination. Thoughts are more then just our own inner
monologue of our sub-vocalized voice [L] when we think. Thoughts
form ideas and images which become faintly apparent in our mind. For
example, think of an apple. Close your eyes and imagine this bright
red apple floating in your mind. Rotate the apple, make it bob up and
down. This process of thinking in a visual way is exemplified in
dreaming. Dreams take this non-verbal thought process[L] and expands thought-forms
which become a virtual version of our physical senses. Thoughts take on the form of light,
color, taste, touch, smell and sound when we are in a state known as dreaming.
Dreams are highly organized thought forms which convey a virtual reality in a full
sensory array of experiences; much like a 3D video game but evolved far beyond the limits
of a computer screen and in the realm of a Star Trek holodeck [L] of the mind.
If we get down to basics, “Dreams are Thoughts”. Most importantly, dreams are
your thoughts.
Once we understand this very self-evident [L] fact that dreams are a form of
thinking; we need to then look at who is thinking this way and why. For that, we need to
look at the dreamer, and that dreamer is “you”.
Who and What is the Dreamer?
A dreamer is one who dreams dreams. There is not one dream in existence that
does not posses a dreamer, and yet when we dream we often forget who and what that
dreamer is who creates the dream experience.
Do you even consider yourself to be a dreamer? What exactly does it mean to be
one who dreams? Where did this skill and ability come from? The dreamer is like a God.
It possesses the power and skill to conjure up amazing dream virtual realities. Yet, quite
often the dreamer is lost within the dream, unaware that he/she is dreaming it. What a
complex entanglement between the dreamer and the dreamworld.
Where Did you Learn this Amazing Skill?
You have dreamed since you were born, your entire life has known vivid and
amazing dreams. Yet, you probably never practised, studied or learned the art of
dreaming other then the very natural way it just occurs.
Dreaming is an experience where one just “knows” how to dream. Dreaming
comes effortlessly and naturally. You don't require a degree in dreaming to be the
dreamer. Like breathing, you simply dream when you sleep at night [L]. The scale,
imagery and intensity of these dreams are merely effortless expressions of your thoughts.
We will cover in greater detail the role of thought and how it forms a dream experience.
If you study any art-form or science, it takes years to master sculpting, music or a
deep understanding of physical sciences. Dreaming simply comes pre-learned and is
effortless; as if you have been dreaming for trillions of years.
The real skill in dreaming is not in dreaming itself, it is in the participation of your
dreams consciously and awake; with the ability to remember the dreams when you wake
up. That becomes the apparent skill; not having to dream in the first place.
The next chapter will examine what we know about dreaming; and what mechanics
are taking place within our neurology and sleeping stages.
“Married or unmarried,
young or old, poet or
worker, you are still a
dreamer, and will one
time know, and feel, that
your life is but a dream.“
- Donald G. Mitchell
Chapter 3: Dream Mechanics 101.
In this chapter, we will look at the mechanics behind dreaming. This will not yet
answer why some dreams come true; but it will help us understand what processes are
involved with dreaming.
Sigmund Freud [L] and Carl Jung [L] progressed forward with dream theories;
where they differed in opinion was the nature of the unconscious. Sigmund Freud looked
at dreaming from a purely subjective and personal perspective; and acknowledged this
unconscious state by which dreams flowed.
Carl Jung argued that there was more to this than the individual consciousness; that
there was a collective unconsciousness where we at some spiritual level connected
during dreams.
Although these theories allowed for concepts regarding dream types; they seemed
to lack basic mechanics regarding how dreams are constructed through acts of cognition
both consciously and unconscious.
Setting aside the desire to interpret or add all sorts of analogies as to the content of
dreaming; we need to start at the fundamental basics of dreaming. For the sake of critical
thinking and keeping close to what we know about dreaming, I will break down what is
known, theories and ideas as to prevent a bias view as to what is actually going on.
Let's start with what we do know about dreams from a neurological stand-point.
In 1953 by University of Chicago researchers Eugene Aserinsky [L], a graduate
student in physiology, and Nathaniel Kleitman, Ph. D. ,[L] chair of physiology discovered
Rapid eye movement (REM)[L]. In classical psychology, REM has been cited as the only
time we become aware of a dream. However, even though we know scientifically that this
is the prime condition for dreaming within measured brainwave activity; that still does not
guarantee the person dreaming will remember the dream upon waking.
To understand the potential for dreaming; we need to understand that there is also
non-REM dreams (NREM)[L] and these takes place in other stages of sleep. Sleep
researchers have concluded that there are 5 stages of sleep; one is REM and 4 are
NREM.
More recent research has shown that dreams can occur during any of the sleep
stages. Tore A. Nielsen, Ph. D. [L], of the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory in Montreal,
refers to this as "covert REM sleep" making an appearance during NREM sleep. [L]
The Five Stages of Sleep
We know that when you start to fall asleep, brainwave frequencies begin to change.
The brain wave frequency is measured in cycles per seconds hertz (Hz) and covers four
categories [L]:
Beta: (13- 40 cycles per second) and we are considered awake during this cycle.
Alpha: (8-13 cycles per second) The first pattern discovered in 1908 by an Austrian
Psychiatrist named Hans Berger [L]. Alpha pattern appears when in wakefulness where
there is a relaxed and effortless alertness.
Theta: (4-7 cycles per second) Associated with sleeping and dreaming.
Delta: (1/2 - 4 cycles per second) Delta is associated with deep sleep.
Dreaming occurs during all these cycles however the potential to remember them is
greatly reduced. Day dreaming occurs during alpha when you are awake and deep in
thought; imagining some far off place or a new house or career as a movie star.
The five stages of sleep allows us to pass through all four brainwave frequency
stages when we include the act of falling asleep. If dreaming is occurring during all of
these cycles then dreams exist as potential for remembering but do not guarantee the
dreamer waking conscious memory of the dream.
If we look at these stages and frequencies we have a clear chart of potential
dreaming that spans our waking and sleeping hours. Of that, we are lucky to remember a
fraction of this over all dreaming potential.
Stage
awake
pre-sleep
1 NREM
2 NREM
3 NREM
waves
4 NREM
waves
5 REM
Frequency (Hz)
15-50
8-12
4-8
4-15
2-4
Amplitude (micro Volts)
<50
50
50-100
50-150
100-150
0. 5-2
15-30
100-200
<50
Waveform type
beta
alpha rhythm
theta
spindle waves
spindle waves and slow
slow waves and delta
Dream Memory and Amnesia
Dream recall is an area where there is little known as to why some people
remember more dreams where others do not remember any at all.
One good reason is linked to where memory is stored in the brain.
Research in the 1960s and 1970s focused on ability to recall dreams depended on
a personality type. PET scans and fMRIs done in the 1980s and 1990s indicated that
deactivation of the prefrontal lobes during REM sleep, the area of the brain commonly
thought to be the location of working memory, was responsible for the inability to recall
one's dreams.
These two lines of thought are not necessarily mutually exclusive. It may be that
the degree of prefrontal lobe deactivation indicated by PET scans is dependent on
personality type. There is wide variation in the ability of individuals to recall their dreams.
Some people recall two or three a week while others recall two or three a year or none at
all. -[L]
If the brain shuts down the prefrontal lobes during sleep; this is clearly a strong
indication that conscious waking memory has become sedated; it doesn't mean the dream
information doesn't exist; the mind is busy at work dreaming however our ability to
remember has entered into a state of amnesia.
Amnesia occurs during sleep; the transformations neurologically show memory
centers shutting down. This creates a form of Sleep Induced Amnesia.
Based on the fact that we lose cognitive memory in the prefontal lobes. Amnesia is
clearly the circumstance that we find ourselves in during this particular restriction of
cognitive function. Regardless of amnesia, we are still dreaming in the 5 stages of sleep.
There is another type of amnesia that seems to occur when we wake up. A sudden
jolt awake from an alarm or other stimulant that causes you to wake up suddenly can
cause Waking Induced Amnesia. In cases where I have experienced this effect, it is like
the dream is stretched out like a rubber-band, and the sudden jolt awake causes the
rubber band to snap back collapsing all the dream memory into fragments.
These two factors introduce a challenge to anyone who wants to dream more
regularly because there clearly are neurological functions at work that affect memory.
Having amnesia forced upon us by sleep makes dream research and dreaming in general
a difficult task.
With the right attitude and discipline, we can still recover several dreams in a night
of sleep regardless of the various neurological centres that shut down. The brain is quick
to adapt to how we focus our intent. Through intent we can influence enough interest in
dreaming that some of these centers can kick in to allow for short-term and long-term
memory.
As an avid dreamer, I can recall as many as 5 dreams at night. I still suffer from
WIA when my alarm goes off. The sudden jolt awake causes near total memory collapse;
however if I take time to relax and start to find key-words or images to trigger the memory.
I find I can restore some (but not all) of the dreams that occurred during sleep.
Research into amnesia and dreaming could mutually benefit each other in
improving memory recall as we naturally fall into amnesia induced states every time we
sleep.
Into the Depths of Unconsciousness
We know that memory shuts down during sleep due to inactivity in the prefrontal
lobes. This causes a form of sleep induced amnesia (SIA). Waking up with a jolt causes
memory collapse and waking induced amnesia (WIA). What happens when memory
collapses during the process of waking up from sleep creates memory fragments of which
you may or many not review regarding that nights dreaming session.
Memory Collapse is the best term to describe the stream of consciousness in the
form of a dream suddenly folding into memory compartments and phasing outside of your
waking memory access. Think of how short-term memory works. In a short period of time,
you forget what little remains of this now collapsed stream of dream data. The chances of
recalling this dream memory now relies on your intent. Do you have the intent and
motivation to sit down and try to restore this memory and access the fragments of your
dreams? Therein lies a problem for dream recall. Most of us simply do not care enough to
recall this data.
What once was, is now lost to the chambers of compartmentalized memory access.
Hypnosis may help to recover some of this data; but without prefrontal lobe memory
access, it is difficult to say if any dreams during that time can be recalled at all. The
argument could simply be no; this is now inaccessible information.
Based on your own personal experiences with dreaming, look at how your memory
works. When you remember a dream, do you notice the clarity of this memory fading and
becoming ghost like? Dream memory will fade and deteriorate over a short period of time
when we wake up.
What is happening is a type of memory phasing that shifts the dream data from your
waking focus to more unconscious data stores. As the memory fades, the reality that you
dreamed is not in question; the fact you no longer remember becomes the issue.
The dream journal becomes the last refuge what you dreamed. When you read
your journal, the key-words can act as triggers and you may find yourself remembering
aspects dreams that you previously forgot.
The link between dream recall and brain function are connected. This is further
complicated by the lack of motivation and desire to recall dream information. Like any
unused skill; not actively participating in the act of remembering will cause atrophy in ones
memories.
For most people, child hood dreams tend to be the most vivid and remembered. As
we mature into adulthood many abandon this gift and let it fade into obscurity. My child
hood dreams were spectacular and vivid but degraded over time until I took a renewed
interest in the reality of dreaming. Through discipline and practice, I was able to have a
long lineage of amazing dreams both lucid and non-lucid.
We can regain our ability to remember dreaming.
Total Recall
If we start to re-train ourselves to become more avid dreamers, there is a moment
when we start to have more vivid and longer dreams. It is not that these dreams are not
already there when we sleep. We know five stages of sleep where dreaming is a
constant. The problem is memory access during these stages of sleep. We can improve
our memory like any skill through attention and practice.
When you become more adept at dreaming, you start to recover more dream data.
You can achieve “total recall” during sleep. This allows for a very vivid, long lasting dream
experience. Start writing these memories into a dream journal; this will greatly improve
dream recall.
The pre-frontal lobes are responsible for short-term memory and if we practice
dream recall we can move the temporary memory to the long-term storage of the
hippocampus. Much like how a computer uses short-term Random Access Memory
(RAM) and a hard-drive for long-term data storage.
Total recall is the ideal memory access for quality dreaming. It is not guaranteed
but can be achieved with practice (like any skill).
To recap on dreaming; we know that there are 5 stages of sleep. We know the
reason why we do not remember dreams stems from deactivation of the prefrontal lobes
and atrophic memory skills. We know increasing our interest in dreams and writing down
dreams in a journal helps to increase memory but does not guarantee full access to all the
dream stages that occur. Remember that dreaming itself is not the skill; it's the act of
remembering them that is.
Our ultimate goal is total recall. There are a lot of forces at work making this goal a
difficult one to obtain. Memory related neurological disorders will also affect dream recall.
Despite best efforts; some people simply will not be able to remember their dreams.
Everyone is different and some will be more adept at recalling their dreams then others.
You will know which person you are; but you need to at least investigate this potential if
you desire to be a more advanced dreamer.
Perception During Sleep.
The next area of dream mechanics is the act of perception. Perception in dreams
mimics how we perceive information from “Physical Reality”. When we start to fall asleep,
our five physical senses begin to shut down from sensing the physical world. These same
senses start to shift our awareness to a new datastream in the form of a dream. The
process of waking to sleeping sensory perception is a type of inversion. I call this the
Inversion of the Senses; and act of shifting perception from the waking world to the
dream world.
The quality of sensory perception in a dream varies; for example some people only
dream in black and white. The full spectrum of color is not realized when their sense of
sight inverts to sense a dream. Our visual sense is the most prominent in dreams followed
by our ability to sense sound and then sense of touch. It is rare for people to remember
taste and smell during a dream. These these senses do occur during dreams.
From my personal experience; I have full sensory range including taste, smell and
the sensation of hot/cold and pain. This sensory range is also reflective in our ability to be
more aware of dreams. The more aware we are in the dream increases the range of
available senses. This may also be directly linked to memory.
The range of perception will also vary from person to person; with no guarantee that
you will taste chocolate or smell a flower in a dream. Only you will be able to determine
how far your sensory range is during a dream; and that may be limited by how you are
virtually recreating these senses.
Like memory; our dreams exist with a potential for sensory virtualization. It is an act
of observation and cognition that enables us to realize this potential within a range of
inverted sensory faculties. The quality and range of sensory stimuli during a dream is
limited to the subjective observer and will vary from person to person and produces a
dream based entirely on qualia [L].
If having the challenge of potential memory is not enough; we are also challenged
with the range by which we can perceive the dream through virtual sensory interpretation.
The more sensory aware you are in a dream, the more vivid and real the dream
experience becomes. All of this just indicates that dreams exist as potential only and
requires many of our waking cognitive faculties present to fully engage the dream
experience.
We know that any of the five senses can be active in a dream; but they can also be
inactive when similar brain centers like the prefrontal lobe are inactive. Sensory centers in
the brain may also affect our senses in a dream.
Perception in dreams use 'virtual senses'.
Dreams appear very real when our sensory apparatus is fully realized. The
difference between our physical senses and the ones we have in a dream state is
virtualization of our dream senses. We become virtualized in a dream state by which we
then experience the dream.
Think about a computer-game metaphor where you have a game character that you
now project into. The movie “The Matrix” exemplifies this concept when Morpheus is
talking to Neo in the “Construct”, a Matrix Pre-loading area and Morpheus tells Neo that he
is “the mental projection of your digital self”. In dreaming, we also project a mental image
of ourselves to engage the dream world like a computer game character, an avatar.
Brian Whitworth of Massey University has a publication called, “The Physical World
as Virtual Reality” where he describes the requirements of a virtual reality. Brian states
that in VR Theory the virtual world can only exist from an outside process. Dreams fit
within VR Theory as the brain acts as the outside process influencing and directing the
virtual reality of the Dreamworld.
A dream is a virtual reality that uses organized thoughts to render the experience of
the dream. The human brain acts as the outside influence on this virtual world and creates
all the required laws and physics by which you, the dream character then abides by.
Even if Virtual Reality theory does not apply to the objective reality we exist in, it
certainly has merit if we apply the principles and theories to how we experience a dream
when we sleep at night.
Take our waking world example where we are imagining that this moment right now
is a type of dream. Look at your hands, look at light and listen to any sounds. All of these
experiences are also present in dreaming. When you see, hear and feel in a dream, every
detail is completely virtual including the virtualized dream body, and the sensory apparatus
that it mimics.
Your mind needs to mimic the act of perception in a dream based on how it has
been conditioned to experience physical reality. For example when you see light in a
dream; the light you are seeing is just an organized thought form. The eyes you are using
are also an organized thought forms. The perception of sight that these virtual eyes are
recording is also an organized thought form.
Dreams are organized thoughts and each aspect of the dreaming experience is
based on cognitive and mental phenomena that is compliments Brian Whitworth's Virtual
Reality Theory.
Unlike physical reality where we have sensory data in the form of real physical
information that our body collects using our physical eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin;
everything we experience in the dream state is virtual. The mind must create the dream
data using organized thoughts and also create a virtual point of reference by which we
observe the dream, Our dream body ends up being a virtual avatar within this dream
experience.
This act of dreaming mirrors the act of being awake in amazing detail. Our minds
make virtual; an experience in a dream based virtual reality (effortlessly). This natural
ability to dream is natures “Virtual Reality Simulator”. Science and Technology has yet to
produce a virtual reality simulator which can rival the one that nature has achieved this in
many different species of animals on this planet.
We do not have the technology to create a virtual reality experience like the one we
find in our own natural dreams. If you don't dream, or don't think they matter, Imagine the
fun you can have it you just tap into your own personal virtual reality simulator? You have
been equipped with one since you were born. It is up to you as to how you wish to use it.
Awareness during dreams
If memory and perception during dreams were not flawed enough; we also have to
have something called awareness. We are seeing a common pattern between memory
and perception in that they both come with certain ranges and limits. When we enter
sleep, the part of us which we recognize as our self also appears to transform and change.
We become unaware that we are dreaming for the most part. We wander around
the dream in a very unaware state. Awareness appears to link directly to perception and
memory. The more aware we are during sleep, the more sensory range we have and
more potential memory is realized. The dim awareness is also linked to faintly
remembered dreams; ghostly images and vague feelings will surface if remembered.
You are awake right now; as such you have full range of your cognitive faculty
including your logical and analytical processes. In dreams; much of this faculty is shut
down. Our waking conscious awareness also degrades into total unconsciousness during
sleep. This waking awareness suffers the same fate as memory and perception; it shuts
down and we becomes unaware.
There is a type of dreaming where we can take our full range of cognitive function
into the dream state and will fully awake and self aware as we are right now. This type of
dreaming is known as Lucid Dreaming or Conscious Dreaming. It recently was made
popular by Christopher Nolan's movie “Inception” but has been around and known about
for thousands of years.
Lucid dreaming can be learned. To be fully awake and self-aware in a dream
requires attention focusing during the pre-sleep stage. We will explore how to lucid dream
in this book, and the experience itself is amazing and worthy of attention.
Awareness can be broken down into stages as well:
1. ) Unconsciousness
– no awareness.
2. ) Dimly aware
– faint dream experience.
3. ) Semi-lucid
– Aware of oneself but not aware you are dreaming.
4. ) Fully-lucid
– As you are right now, fully awake with full cognitive faculty
however self-aware and self-realized in a dream.
How awake and conscious we are during sleep will directly affect perception and
memory. This is self-evident if you are a lucid dreamer or conscious dreamer. It is already
scientifically proven that we can have consciousness during sleep. [L]
The first evidence of this type was produced in the late 1970s by British
parapsychologist Keith Hearne [L]. A volunteer named Alan Worsley used eye movement
to signal the onset of lucidity, which were recorded by a polysomnograph machine [L].
Stephen LaBerge [L] at Stanford University, independently developed a similar
technique as part of his doctoral dissertation. During the 1980s, further scientific evidence
to confirm the existence of lucid dreaming was produced as lucid dreamers were able to
demonstrate to researchers that they were consciously aware of being in a dream state
(again, primarily using eye movement signals).
Mind awake / body asleep
When I was 15 years old, I read an article on lucid dreaming by Stephen LaBerge in
a 1987 publication of Omni Magazine [L]. This is the article that changed my life forever
when I would have my first lucid dream thanks to the influences of this article. Thanks
Stephen, I don't know where I'd be with this knowledge and experience had I never read
that article.
The Monroe Institute [L] has taken the conscious exploration of sleep to the highest
level using a technology known as hemi-sync. The Monroe Institute cites this type of sleep
exploration as mind awake / body asleep. The goal of the institute is to assist people
through the use of hemi-sync to have full waking consciousness restored during physical
sleep.
If you really want to dream and get the most out of the dream experience; then it's
my recommendation to be awake when your body sleeps. The ability to transfer your
waking mind into physical sleep is not a mystical one; rather a simple act of attention
focusing to allow the shift of awareness to remain intact during the process of physical
sleep.
Having full cognitive function during physical sleep is not science fiction, it is
science fact and simply requires learning how to focus your attention when your body falls
asleep. What comes next is only part of an ongoing process of dreaming. The only
difference is now you are consciously participating in the process rather then just being
oblivious to it.
No magic or funny beliefs required. You simply shift conscious focus from being
awake physically, to being awake during sleep. It is that simple in theory; however it can
prove difficult in practice. Again; not everyone will achieve the mind awake / body asleep
state. Some will come by this spontaneously and naturally; others will have to work very
hard to produce results.
Having been involved in exploring my own dreams; I understand the struggle and
challenges we face in the naturally changes to our awareness as a result of physical sleep.
The good news, we can progress towards a higher quality of skill and awareness
during sleep that once achieved; opens up a whole new virtual reality system for us to play
in. There can be no loss in gaining the freedom that comes with conscious dreaming.
Like total recall is to memory; fully awake and conscious dreaming is the ultimate goal of
the true dreamer.
Perception of time during sleep
In the movie Inception, Leonardo Decaprio's character Cobb is able to enter a lucid
dream that has several layers, as he progresses into deeper layers the ratio of time
extends onwards into days, weeks, months and even years.
This phenomena has been reported in dream literature. I have read several cases
where some people claim to have lived entire lifetimes inside of a single dreamed of
moment. There has only been one study that has tried to confirm the passage of time in
dreams conducted by Stephen LaBerge and the Lucidity Institute where they used eyemovement to tick out time as it occurred in dreaming.
The result ended up demonstrating that time in dreams also matched time in waking
life. Having experienced extended time in dreams that has clearly exceeded the time my
body was asleep, I can argue that there certainly is more sense of time in dreaming then
what passes when the body is asleep.
In a recent cycle of dream exploration, my goal was to observe the passage of time
in dreams without having to focus on the physical body. When totally detached from an
awareness of the body, many of my dreams spanned into hours and days, even if the time
I slept was only 30 minutes.
It is for these observed and repeated reasons that I cannot fully agree with
Stephen's results. Quite possibly having to use the physical body and eyes causes the
mind and dream to synchronize and lock-in the sense of time as it passes for the body and
not the dream. The body itself may act as a metronome and prevent the required depth of
awareness to move past time as it cycles out physically.
What I have yet to experience is anything in excess of two weeks, and in such long
dreams there are definite lapses in time, fast forwarding and other tricks at work that
condense the sense of time from weeks to 7 or 8 hours. That said, the time I slept was in
short naps consisting of 30 minutes to an hour. What was experienced certainly exceeded
the time my body was asleep in a dream. We may need to look past Stephen's work as
the final say on this issue as experience dictates time does not have to cycle out in sync
with physical time when we dream. How we measure this will be a problem for science to
solve.
You nap for 30 minutes and have a dream which appears to last several hours.
The potential can even create a perception of time that lasts weeks and even months.
Where clock time is cycling out a 1000 microseconds a second; psychological time
allows for a much faster rate of computation to take place exponentially affecting the
increment of time. We can assert that everything we experience in a dream is virtual
including the space we see and the time we experience.
The answer to why we have psychological time that can exceed clock time may be
linked to the research of Takaaki Musha, who expands on Penrose and Hameroff's Orch
Or model of quantum computing in his publication, 'Possibility of High Performance
Quantum Computation by using Evanescent Photons in Living Systems' [L]
Takaaki suggests that the use of evanescent photons by the brain allows for the
possibility of faster-than-light speed in the quantum tunnelling within microtubules. He
provides mathematical theorem in his article.
The brain is also processing and creating information that can facilitate the
perception of time within a dream. The dream itself is a virtualization of reality and not the
real reality so the rules of time/space and physics need not apply.
If consciousness and perception are linked to brain function and how the brain
processes information; then it is suggestive that these faster than light computations could
greatly accelerate our sense of time if we are not longer focusing through our five physical
senses.
It is known that certain psychoactive drugs like LSD and Mescaline can cause an
experience of prolonged psychological time where the user feels like hours have passed in
minutes. The interference in their perception may allow for the FTL computations to start
cycling out more psychological time.
If clock time (ct) cycles out at 1000 milliseconds and psychological time (pt)
remains in sync during normal waking perception; then we have a simple formula:
ct = pt;
If FTL computations are affecting perception this high-performance we would have
to introduce a multiplication factor based on uncertainty principle that could affect
psychological time represented by U.
ct*U = pt
Increasing the Clock Time interval in Psychological Time
Based on this formula: ct*U=pt, if U is a factor of 2 our psychological time interval
will be 2000Ms vs 1000Ms of ct.
If 30 minutes pass in ct while we are asleep and dreaming, we have the potential to
experience 60 minutes of psychological time as a result of this theoretical effect of high
performance computation by the quantum evanescent photon.
How this affects a much longer duration that spans into days/weeks/months and
potentially years may depend entirely on our MAP (Memory, Awareness and Perception)
as well as beliefs during these anomalous cognitive principles affecting the perception of
time.
This is a self-evident phenomena to anyone who starts to become an avid dreamer.
You may already have some experience in this field of anomalous cognition thanks to
naturally occurring awareness of your dreams.
In my opinion, this represents potential that we may with skill and focus be able to
improve and control. In some cases when I have had a fully conscious dream and ignored
the signals to wake up; I have managed to allow myself several more hours of conscious
awareness during sleep.
The longest period of time I remember experiencing during a dream occurred within
a 30 minute nap where in the dream state I was consciously aware I was dreaming and
just allowed the dream to continue. The passage of time spanned into what felt like two
weeks of conscious dreaming.
I spoke with Tom Campbell author of “My-big-toe” regarding this phenomena. He is
far more advanced in consciousness during sleep than I and he reported experiencing 3
months of extended dream time as his personal record.
Take my two week excursion and apply it to this formula to see how this extended
PT affected the uncertainty principle U by a factor of 627 ( or two weeks in 30 minutes of
sleep). If we look at Tom Campbell's potential 3 month record and assume only that it
happened in 30 minutes we would have a U factor of 4,368.
If there was one theoretical way to prolong your life and stretch out time; this
potential to affect the sense of time in dreams may allow you to increase a longer
experience of self-realized consciousness during sleep adds to our total conscious
experience pool (TCEP) which is be the summation of our life experiences.
If you could add 20 more years of conscious experience to your life thanks to being
able to consciously dream; wouldn't that in effect allow you to experience a longer life
through extended time with dreaming? This is certainly something I try to take advantage
of. I will break down why you may want to harvest consciousness during sleep if you are
seriously considering excelling at this gift. Looking to get an extra few minutes of
experience in before you cease to exist forever?
Your total conscious experience pool (TCEP)
Lets say you will live a nice long life until 80 years old. However, you develop
Alzheimer and are cognitive unaware for the remaining 3 years. You sleep an average of
8 hours a day. You do not practice mind awake / body asleep techniques and don't care
about your dreams so have no MAP realized.
The Alzheimer has stripped 3 years of your total conscious experience pool
reducing your conscious life to a potential 77 years. You lose 8 hours a day to
unconscious sleep, leaving you with 16 out of 24 hours by which to be conscious. 16 / 24
= 66. 7% of your life being lived consciously; thus reducing the 77 years rounded down to:
51.
Out of a potential 80 years of conscious experience; you in fact have only lived 51
years of that time consciously aware. 29 years of existence has been lost to
unconsciousness.
Taking this same formula but factoring in conscious dreaming during this time. Let's
say that you have an average uncertainty factor of 20 as you manage to enjoy a lot of
consciousness during sleep. During sleep you have 30 minutes of conscious dreams.
30*20 = 600 minutes or 6 hours of consciousness through the passage and
perception of psychological time regains you 6 hours from the 8 hours you lost to
unconscious sleep to add to your total conscious experience pool: 22/24 = 91. 7% thus
only reducing your total conscious time lived to: 71 years with only 6 years lost to
unconscious sleep.
This is a great way to trick the passage of time into buffering and cycling out time in
dreams, thus slowing down each day with filler experiences in the form of dreams. Taking
a conscious interest in dreaming is an investment where you gain the one thing you value
most; the ability to exist.
Having experienced this phenomena many times over, I think this is a good theory
for the people who are convinced death is final and may want to exist more. Why not
harvest time and consciousness from the natural process of sleep and dreams?
If this is an interesting goal for you; then the good news is... all you have to do is
start to dream and focus your attention to what is already there and you will add to your
total conscious experience pool thus living a much longer conscious existence as a result.
Full-Spectrum Dreaming and MAP
There is nothing mystical in what we have discuss so far aside from the
acknowledgement of precognitive dreams. We are discussing self-evident states
regarding dreaming from a neurological perspective. Dreams require Memory, Awareness
and Perception [MAP] to return something of value to our waking self. The conscious
awareness during sleep is just a state of focused attention and requires no special drugs,
rituals or beliefs to obtain. We will get to some techniques so you can test this and verify
through personal experience that lucid dreaming is real and can make for amazing dream
experiences both entertaining, inspirational and fun.
Full-spectrum dreaming means the potential for peak memory, awareness and
perception are achieved. The potential for psychological time factors in a longer duration
of conscious experience that adds to your total conscious experience pool. (TCEP)
The ideal MAP situation creates a full-spectrum dream that one returns to their
waking life having this now very vivid and fun virtual reality experience in the form of
dreaming. To have a full-spectrum dream, you need to have total recall when you wake
up; all of your sensory faculties fully active and virtual in the dream followed by a
consciously awake and self-aware mind by which to observe the virtual reality dream state.
This must be done naturally with already existing sleeping patterns.
The reason why I emphasize on natural dreaming techniques and no requirements
of drugs, rituals and beliefs is this: there are many claims that buying into certain products
and practices will give results; and some are down right dangerous like taking mindaltering drugs.
Dreams occur naturally, they are a part of natural sleep. We are only changing our
attitude towards dreaming and applying attention focus techniques to improve our memory,
awareness and perception to bring about a more fulfilling dream experience. What lacks
in dreams these days is our willing participation.
The problem not a lack of dreaming; it's our atrophic dream skills linked to MAP.
Like any weak muscle, your MAP needs to be strengthened through practice and
exercise. You already dream; you just need to become more focused on them and more
aware of the process of dreaming to get into a full-spectrum experience.
We will discuss attention focusing techniques later on in this book. The techniques I
use simply follow natural sleeping patterns with the introduction of attention focus to allow
this transfer of waking consciousness into a mind awake / body asleep.
What is important to know is what we need as a cognitive toolkit by which to
experience our dreams as fully as the potential allows. Memory, awareness and
perception will all factor in during a night of sleep. There is no guarantee you will
remember your dreams when you wake up. Even less a guarantee if you simply do not try
at all. If you want to grow a garden, you still need to plant seeds, water and weed.
This holds true to dreaming; if you want experience them you need to remember, be
aware and perceive them. Dreams require participation and certainly need you at the
helm driving the vehicle of experience that comes from dreaming.
Doing nothing always yields the same results; absolutely nothing. You are just
tapping into dreams that are occurring regardless of your conscious participation. That
itself should make it easier to realize your dreaming potential. Let's start to MAP out our
dreams?
What have we learned so far?
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There are 5 stages of sleep.
Dreams exist with the potential to be realized in these 5 stages.
This potential is limited by Memory, Awareness and Perception [MAP].
We have the potential to be fully awake and self-realized in a dream.
Achieving our full potential yields a full-spectrum dream [FSD].
We add more time to our TCEP through psychological time.
Our attitude and attention will affect our dreaming potential.
Dreams occur regardless of religion, beliefs or drug use.
A natural approach to dreaming is a common sense approach.
Chapter 4: Dream Mechanics 102
Dreams - Nature's Virtual Reality Simulator
Now that we have covered cognitive faculties related to dreaming, we need to dig
deeper into the mechanics of what a dream actually is. To do this, we need to look at
modern metaphors which fit within the nature of cognition and dreams.
The best metaphor is one that looks at information processing and data rendering
such as a virtual reality simulator. The human brain is already a massive quantum
super-computer and demonstrates information processing and rendering. Research
conducted by Stuart Hameroff and Penrose confirms the human brain takes incoherent
energy and transforms it into coherent photons. The use of photons by the alpha/beta
tublin within the microtubule of a neuron reveals quantum mechanics at work in the realm
of neurological brain function. [L]
Takaaki Musha expands on this research to provide formulas suggesting fasterthan-light computations in the human brain. To fully embrace how the brain processes
information, research into the quantum states that exist, and how the brain utilizes
quantum coherent photons should be very exiting to observe as the science becomes
more rigorous.
What we know right now with this research is nature already has created the perfect
quantum super-computer and it's called the human brain. Dreaming comes equipped as
one of the pre-installed applications.
Why look at dreams as a form of virtual reality? It supports modern Virtual Reality
Theory as proposed by mathematician Brian Whitworth and fits within our current modern
metaphors.
From this point on, we will embrace this metaphor to describe many of the
mechanical properties of dreaming. You will find that there are similar mechanics in this
VR metaphor that also describe how our quantum brain processes information gathered by
our physical senses to render this information into an experience of reality.
To kick start the metaphor, lets look at how virtual reality applies to the act of
perception within the physical world. Let's describe physical matter as a type of data that
requires an interface by which to read that data and render the findings into a world view.
Physical Reality as a Virtual Reality Metaphor.
Datastream
Interface
Software
Computer
Output
Rendering
Observer
= Physical Matter, energy and a rule-set governed by physical law.
= A human body with average five physical senses.
= Human Consciousness.
= The human brain.
= A virtual reality screen we can call the cognitive holodeck.
= Organized thoughts projected on to the cognitive holodeck.
= You.
Dream Reality as a Virtual Reality Metaphor.
Datastream
Interface
Software
Computer
Output
Rendering
Observer
= Organized thought in the form of ideas and a rule-set governed by belief.
= A virtualized avatar that mimics a physical body with virtual senses.
= Human Consciousness.
= The human brain.
= A virtual reality screen we can call the cognitive holodeck.
= Organized thoughts projected on to the cognitive holodeck.
= You.
If you compare this to our physical reality model; the dream version has replaced
two key components: The Datastream and the Interface.
Where in physical reality the datastream is energy and matter, in a dream reality this
has been reduced to organized thoughts.
In physical reality we have a physical body that has a physical range of senses. In
the dream world; we have to create a virtualized version of this body.
Everything in the dream world is governed by organized thoughts and virtualization.
Dreams are a form of thought. A virtual reality programming language that is organized in
such a way as to present an experience packet that exists within the realm of “Cognitive
reality”. Cognitive reality is a mind generated virtual reality that exists within you as part of
awareness where thoughts are rendered. It is your own personal reality; a sub-reality of
the much greater objective physical world. We will cover “Cognitive Reality” in it's own
chapter later on in this book. For now, we will fully expand this virtual reality metaphor and
how it fits into dreaming.
The Datastream
The biggest change between being awake and being asleep is how the datastream
changes. The datastream is completely dependent on our ability to interface with our
thoughts through our senses. This holds true for physical reality and dream reality. Data
must be processed through an interface and rendered so that we the observer have
something coherent to observe.
Where physical reality has matter and energy by which it's datastream is governed
by; the dream has organized thoughts. Thoughts are the fundamental language by which
this datastream is programmed and organized.
In physical reality, the datastream is governed by Physical Law; a rule-set which
describes how physical systems interact. This rule-set is represented in all of our sciences
and tested over and over again to verify that these systems do indeed interact this way.
In a dream reality, the datastream is governed by belief systems. What you
believe ultimately influences the rule-set of the dream data. It is very important to
understand that a dream is a thought-reactive interface that rapidly renders free-flow
thinking at run-time. This recursive feedback interface (RFI) is what makes a dream
experience much more fluid and less restrictive then the physical law rule-set. The limits
imposed on your dream experience are the ones you are imposing. Everything in a
dream is governed by the law of thought. That law is simple: Thought is everything.
How do we test this theory?
To prove that dreams are thoughts is easy to do with self-evident critical thinking.
We can observe these processes right now while we are awake; and continue to examine
these processes as we fall into sleep.
For example as you fall asleep and start to have more vivid imagination; what you
are experiencing are visual thought forms naturally generated by your mind as a form of
non-verbal communication (NVC).
A dream is founded on this type of thinking.
The inner voice you have right now as you think in a sub-vocal internalization of
words, is another form of thought that is virtualizing sound. From reading this text, you
should be able to self-examine your own inner monologue and how this faint audible subvocalization is apparent. If you do not experience this, I would like to know about it as selfevident experiences like this do not occur for everyone.
Let's re-emphasize: . The virtual inner voice sounding in your mind is also a form of
organized thought. It is thought in the form of an inner sound representative of this dream
based recursive feedback interface (RFI). Make a note that the RFI is already active
when you are awake. And the processes of organizing thought into sensory expressions is
the foundation of what organizes a dream.
Take some time to think of a few words and listen to the inner sound of your subvocalized voice. Do the same with a visual image, take this picture of an apple and
visualize it in your mind. It is self-evident that you can think in sounds and pictures. Even
if these are faint impressions; when you start to dream these now faint impressions will
become fully vivid realizations.
Rigid constraints on Sensory Input Rendering.
Hopefully by now you have been able to experience thought in the form of sound
and visualization. Seeing how thought can become a non-verbal form beyond normal
linguistics demonstrates how dreams utilize this ability to render out a reality of pure
idealism.
What you may or may not accept, but it is self-evident is your waking reality is also
being rendered using thought forms to create the perceptions of hearing, taste, touch,
smell and visualization forming the same quality of experience as they do in your dreams.
We do have the hard problem of consciousness and concepts like Qualia which
simply don't sit well with some thinkers. We tend to shy away from anything that involves
thought as having anything to do with our Reality other then the lower-order ideas and
imaginings that we usually associate thought with.
Scaling up thought from the lower-order forms, we need to look at the higher nonverbal forms that thought also exists as. Thought may be a broad-spectrum concept that
is both conscious, unconscious and part of automatic brain function. Just an over-all
useful medium that nature naturally has evolved along side of consciousness to produce
the right tools for the job at hand.
When non-verbal linguistics occur within the mind, we have an amazingly difficult
time controlling the thoughts that our sensory faculty is generating. Like controlling our
heart-beat or body temperature at will, tapping into this automatic reaction to sensory data
and changing the thoughts manually is actually very difficult.
Not impossible however. Like any meditation or attention focusing, you can alter
ever-so-slightly your visual perception by influencing with your intent the visual rendering
of sight.
For example, look at this word: MOVE
If you stare at this word, and try to make it move or waver, after some time of
fiddling and hacking away at the visual datastream, you can affect that word and cause a
mild effect. It's difficult because the natural response of our mind is hardwired to render
the sensory input exclusively. Nature may not have intended for our intelligence to take
over and start hacking away at the mind like we are attempting to do right now.
However, without attempting this technique you may never be able to verify if you
can, or cannot influence the word and cause it to alter slightly. For myself, I find a
tremendous amount of resistance to get the word “MOVE” to do anything, however as I
relax and let go the more I stare at it the more it starts to waver and shift in my field of
perception.
Once you get it to behave differently, you will see that attention focusing and intent
can affect the rendering of our reality experience in a controlled manner. It will also
demonstrate that an unconscious layer of thought is being used to create thought-forms to
describe our perception of reality. Thought itself becomes quite a curious element of
consciousness.
Organized Thoughts Render our Reality Experience.
Thought and Consciousness are cognitive elements and are part of mind-generated
experience. It is only natural when dealing with the mind to realize that it has it's own
toolset by which to preform certain tasks. That toolset contains self-awareness,
consciousness and thought.
Thought from a higher-order state of forms becomes more apparent when
dreaming, but with self-examination one can see the same mechanics of thought being
used to produce every aspect of a cognitive mind generated experience of reality.
Where dreams exist 100% in a purely mind-generated state, our physical perception
of waking reality requires processing to convert energy and matter data to thought. Think
of it as a type of file conversion like changing a wave file to an MP3.
Physical Reality is scanned by the physical senses, the senses convert the input
into electrical signals that travel through the nervous system to the brain for an electricity
to photon conversion and from that information processing begins to break down the
information digitally by the neurons until it can be processed into organized thought-forms
to render an experience of reality.
Dreams provide a purely virtualized version of an objective reality concept and
mimics the same sensory information processing however rule #1 tells us that Dreams are
Thoughts, so a more direct recursive feedback loop exists to provide the instant virtual
reality of the dream.
How the Dream Datastream is programmed.
Hopefully by now through our self-evident experimentation with perception and
cognition; you have a broader understanding of the natural mechanics at work within our
virtual reality metaphor. We have reduced everything down to thought as the basic
fundamental component of Cognitive Reality. As a consciousness that uses thought to
render reality; it's not a bad trade off. We are simply observing self-evident systems and
discussing how these systems work.
We looked at relationships between physical reality; cognition and dream reality to
see what is the same, and what is different. We know the datastream and the interface
changes during sleep. This is the one major difference between being awake and being
asleep in a dream.
How does the datastream organize itself into a dream? Thought also plays a role in
this process. A dream datastream is created by consciousness and depending on your
intelligence and imagination; can appear as anything you want it to appear as.
Understanding the roll that thought plays in the 'programming' of dreams is
important. Why? It gives way for us to understand the mechanics of dreaming from a
matter of fact rather then from beliefs and theories. We know we think in sensory thought
forms; we know dreams are the vivid outcome of this process of thinking.
When people control their dreams, they are simply controlling their thoughts about
the dream. Dreams are a thought-reactive instant feedback interface. What you think
ultimately influences the reality of the dream. Once you achieve lucidity in a dream, this
becomes very self-evident.
The Virtual Interface of a Dream Body.
Next in our list of the virtual reality metaphor to describe dreaming comes the
interface. In physical reality this is our physical body and all the five physical senses by
which we use to download data from this physical datastream and render an experience of
percieved reality.
We know the datastream has to change from physical reality to a dream. We know
the physical body also has to change to a dream body. This interface is still required to
experience a dreamstate, however instead of being physical, this dream body becomes
100% virtualized much like a video game character in a simulation.
Our senses go through a transformation of looking outward into the “physical
datastream” and during sleep, our senses must invert inwards to perceiving the dream
datastream. When the datastream starts to shift, we see an interference pattern called
hypnogogia. We will cover that in more detail, but for right now it is a visual pattern that
can emerge as clouds of colors, clear and vivid geometrical triangles swirling and folding in
and out of itself. If you approach a dream with lucid awareness and observe the
datastream shift, you will no doubtingly observe hypnogogic patterns.
This inversion of senses starts the virtualization of our dream body. This shift is
very interesting to observe as often interesting visual effects emerge along with audible
sounds. Sensory vibrations and tingles start to emerge as our tactile sense of touch also
virtualizes.
Generally as you fall into a lucid dream from the moment you start to sleep, the
gradual build-up of sensory inversion suddenly explodes with a rush as the dream rapidly
emerges once the body and mind have fallen into sleep. It is quite climatic when you go
from the interference patterns while the datastream is changing, and the senses are
inverting to the sudden emersion into a fully lucid dream.
It can be like passing through a tunnel at light-speed. I am certain if you have lucid
dreamed in the past, then you know how rapid and exciting the virtualization of the body is
when entering a lucid dream.
Now that you are in a dream, you have a completely virtualized body by which to
interact and explore the dreamworld acting as if it was physically real. This amazing feat
of human consciousness always amazes me. Hopefully it also fascinates and inspires you
in your journey with dreaming.
Now that the datastream and interface has changed, we should be in a dream. I have a
small list of rules that I like to live by, and rule #1 has popped up from time-to-time in the
above chapters. Here is the rest of the rules.
Rules to Dream By.
#1: Thought is everything.
#2: They are your thoughts.
#3: You are the dreamer.
Back to the Virtual Reality Metaphor.
We have covered the Datastream and the Interface; two things which will be
different between dreams and physical reality. We now have the remaining constants
between these two changed states in our virtual reality metaphor.
The Constant Attributes of Virtual Reality
Software
Computer
Output
Rendering
Observer
= Human Consciousness.
= The human brain.
= A virtual reality screen we can call the cognitive holodeck.
= Organized thoughts projected on to the cognitive holodeck.
= You.
The Software
The software of our VR runs on Consciousness. The problem is, we barely know
what Consciousness really is. Consciousness appears to be more then just our waking
observer self. Like any OS, our consciousness is compartmentalized into specific
applications and roles.
Sigmund Freud split consciousness into parts: The ID, the Ego, the Super-Ego and
the Unconscious. Freud touches on the fact our consciousness and personality breaks
down into subtypes. If we look are neurology, consciousness could scale up from
quantum states into individual neurons, then neuron groups for specific brain functions.
Where I differ from a lot of people on the issue of consciousness and personality is
where I view what we call the “self”. The self is the fundamental part of our consciousness
system that we identify with who we view ourselves as. Much like Descarte's homunculus,
the self is the one who sits in the chair of holodeck and observes the BIMAX experience
and makes choices and takes action based on the experiences of reality which render out
in a grand display.
The “self” is at the root of our personal subjective reality, it is what our existence
hinges on. Consciousness seems to turn on and off for the “self” suggesting that it is more
of an indication of self-awareness. My logical argument about the origins of
consciousness is that we can have a conscious and unconscious self, but we cannot have
consciousness without the self. The self is the heart and core of all of our reality
experiences, both conscious and unconscious.
In the computer metaphor, consciousness is the software, and the self is the user.
Both the self and consciousness however are interdependent and interconnected.
The Computer
In our virtual reality metaphor, the human brain is the functioning quantum supercomputer. We have already touched base on O'Riley, Hammeroff and Penrose and how
the human brain does use cellular automata and binary “bits” as part of it's information
processing showing how it is both a quantum super-computer with the carbon-atom pairs
of the alpha/beta tubulin. And how this digital system scales up to neurons which act in
on/off states.
When asleep or awake, it is the human brain that is processing information and
rendering both dreams and waking perception into an experience of reality. When we are
dreaming however, we are less likely to be aware of our physical brain than when we are
awake.
The Cognitive Holodeck
The cognitive holodeck is a metaphor for the place in your mind where the
perception of reality is rendered by the brain. It is a mind-based mental canvas where
perceived reality is rendered. In Philosophy, dating back to the age of Plato and in an
attempt to describe consciousness the term, 'Cartesian Theater' was coined. [L]
This model of cognition has been rejected by more modern philosophers such as
Daniel Dennet [L]. Dennet replaces the CT with A multiple drafts model. [L]
The fact remains regardless of metaphors that the brain is responsible for how
sensory data is processed into a model of perceived reality of which we, the subjective
observer experiences.
British author, Anthony Peak [L] offers another metaphor based on the Cartesian
Theater called the Bohmian IMAX. We can probably throw hip terms at this information
rendering screen such as inner holodeck (Star Trek); or the Matrix (Keanu Reeves); or the
Homo sapien cerebello reddo speculum (Latin for a bunch of stuff to sound witty and
smart).
What is important to understand about this metaphor is it's derived from information
processing by a living system that has a quantum super-computer that is called the brain.
How the brain processes this information is still being studied and the fact that information
is then rendered into a model that we subjectively experience is fully confirmed but still not
fully understood.
The work of Stuart Hameroff and Penrose regarding Orch OR and the publication
entitled, 'The Brain Is Both Neurocomputer and Quantum Computer' [L] will help you
realize that computation in the brain is fact; not fiction. The creation of computers has
helped us realize that our brains are also a type of computer; however one that existed
long before humans invented the silicon counterpart.
As we begin to understand how computers process information and render data into
views; the virtual reality metaphor for dreaming becomes natural and realistic.
Rendering the Datastream of Thought
Now that you know “thought” is the mysterious substance by which everything is
rendered; the next leap in self-evident dream mechanics is the rendering of organized
thought into a dream experience. If you haven't realized it yet; the human brain is
natures rendering farm. This natural quantum super computer has the ability to take
incoherent sensory data from our physical bodies sensory apparatus and transform
sensory stimuli into electrical signals which in turn travel to this rendering farm to stimulate
neurons.
How the neurons are stimulated starts the rendering process by which the brain
then create a mind-generated representation of sensory data and projects this information
on a mental canvas that is shared by both realms of perception. This reality, and the
dream reality are rendered exactly where you see this text right now. You are observing
the same non-localized interface used by dreams and your perception.
We have proven this through self-evident tests such as closing our eyes. Without
visual sensory data to stimulate the eyes; the neurons located in the primary visual cortex
located at the back of your brain cease to stimulate. With out sensory stimuli; the neurons
responsible for rendering the data from your eyes invokes a blank screen. No visual data
= no visual thoughts organized in the mind.
The brain is a reality rendering farm that renders a model of perceived reality onto
a virtual cognitive screen. Why is the brain a rendering farm? The brain has billions of
neurons needed to render the data. We can look at each neuron as a mini-computer that
is networked into a massive cellular mainframe. Each neuron works in sync to produce
this neural network of cellular processors. Computation in living systems as found in the
neurons of our physical brain is yet another reality of science.
Think about computer generated graphics and how a computer must calculate and
process all the data that digitally represents objects in a 3D computer world. This
rendering process already exists in nature and is used by the brain to facilitate an
experience of reality. The end result is a final product and that is what we call our “reality”.
The Final Product of a Dream rendering.
All of this organized thoughts and dream programming is like a form of movie
production. This creative process that creates dream reality ends up going through many
processes until we the observer have a final product by which we can observe and interact
with.
Rendering the dream datastream is a very complex and highly computational
process involving our thoughts; our consciousness and our physical brain. We have this
creative process that organizes thoughts into a datastream. This is also called thinking.
Something we do all the time, so it should come natural when you engage a higher level of
thinking which controls and directs the dream datastream.
Now that we have the source of the datastream, the brain must then render the data
into a coherent model by which a virtual reality is rendered. Like any digital system and
information processing, the output creates a rendering I like to call “Final Product”.
The final product is a metaphor to describe the very last act of reality composition
at run-time. At run-time the datastream of this organized virtual reality packet is then
slotted into our virtual holodeck and processed into a final rendering that happens
simultaneously; it is a recursive feedback interface between highly organized thoughts in
the form of virtual reality; and the act of perceiving this feedback as a virtual avatar within
this amazing system.
We the observer now sits within our virtual dream avatar in this mind-generated
experience free to engage and interact with what ever thought, fantasy or idea renders on
the virtual holodeck of the mind. As a virtualized observer, we now have to go through
another act of perception.
This is always a bit mind-numbing for even me to think about. Now that we exist
(virtualized) in hopefully a lucid dream state. Our virtual body starts to perceive the final
product that the mind has rendered and in doing so, yet another process of perception is
taking place.
It is likely that we recursively render the dreamworld twice so that we can now
perceive it. That means it is rendered once in an observable way, then rendered again
based on how we perceive the first initial rendering. We might overlook all of this as
meaningless random firings of a sleeping brain, however I think it is a spectacular feat of
natural computation by a living system.
Human perception duplicates itself in a dream in the most spectacular of ways.
Unlike our waking reality where the datastream is already setup by the objective material
world, or dreams are not. We don't have a preset of objects and matter that our senses
can perceive and simply render.
Dreaming is not that easy, we have to create everything simultaneously at run-time
and all of this comes effortlessly and naturally as if we have done it for trillions of years.
This is no small trivial trick of the mind, it is a very powerful process that involves the
creation of a virtual reality.
Understanding quantum computation in living systems does suggest how this is
possible. It's doubtful that classical Newtonian Law can support the processing power
required to trick the mind into such a vivid reality at run-time experience such as a lucid
dream.
The processing power and calculations are likely astronomical and requires qubits
to drive the processing, not simple synaptic firing. That of course is my own theory and
opinion on this matter.
How does Hypnogogia relate to the Final Product?
Hypnogogic patterns are linked to neural geometry produced by the brain and as
part of it's natural digital information processing and rendering system.
We haven't covered the rendering material fully; this is easy to cover if we take real
world 3D modelling and further the metaphor. In a 3D world, you have a wire mesh that
looks like and object. The wire mesh can be full of vectors which are 3D points within a 3D
world. These vectors form triangles or quads and give the mesh the 3D form required to
appear as a 3D object.
3D modelling also requires a means to map a colorful bitmap image over the mesh.
This is called UVM mapping which takes a 2D picture and wraps it over the 3D mesh to
create the illusion that the mesh has color. Further maps can give the 3D model texture
and other reflective qualities.
In our virtual reality simulation of physical reality, our brains can only use thoughtforms to generate the 3D mesh, the bitmap image and create the virtualized simulation of
physical reality. This type of organized thinking is also found in dreams when they adhere
to this self-similar system of virtualization.
Another very interesting phenomena with dreaming is hypnogogia, a condition that
occurs as we fall asleep where vivid geometrical patterns can emerge, or clouds of colors
and other abstract imagery. The geometrical patterns that I've observed during
hypnogogic states often extend out and create a wire-mesh representing the dreamworld
just prior to the UVM bitmap layer.
In many lucid dreams, as I broke down the dream into observable bits, the UVM
bitmap would strip away revealing a geometrical grid that perfectly matched patterns
observed in pre-dream hypnogogia.
It is very likely by this observation that hypnogogic imagery facilitate the framework
by which a fully vivid dream simulation can emerge. It provides the necessary neural
geometry and mesh by which thoughts render and create objects, space, light and color.
Hypnogogia is another naturally occurring phenomena with the edge of sleep that
has historical significance in early writings such as Aristotle in 350BC, or Edgar Allen Poe.
You may have your own experiences with this pre-dream loading program. In many ways,
it could be our cognitive version of the Construct that Morpheus talked about with Neo in
the movie the Matrix.
The importance of observing organized and structured hypnogogic patterns in a
fully rendered dream environment I feel is very valid and critical in understanding the
processes that bring about the virtualization of reality through human perception. This is
so important and critical in the processes and mechanics of perception and dreaming that I
feel prudent to overlook such a valuable observation.
The use of mind-altering drugs also introduce these geometrical patterns while
awake and the interference could prevent the mind from completing a final product
rendering of sensory data thus reveals some of the underlying processes involved. It
comes as no surprise to me that people report these geometric patterns with drug use as
in natural dream mechanics, such geometry becomes apparent and can be observed
creating a geometrical mesh system by which spacial parameters are rendered in our
cognitive model of reality.
It may be some time before psychologists and science can confirm this self-evident
link, but by raising attention to how I have perceived hypnogogia and how it relates to the
underlying fabric of a dream could prove extremely significant.
Chapter 5: Dreaming 101
Everything from this point on is a “thought thing”.
This chapter covers how to dream, and to get more from dreaming. For many of
you this is the part of the book that will intrigue you the most. It is where you will obtain
first-person experience with dreaming that can potentially validate some of the more
profound aspects of dreaming such as precognition.
Much of this becomes quite self-evident. Being lucid in a full-spectrum dream
having full Memory, Awareness and Perception [map] is a skill.
What we do know which will greatly approve your attitude and knowledge about
dreaming is that dreams occur regardless of your conscious participation. This book is all
about taking charge of this experience and getting back into the drivers seat. No more
auto-pilot required; you are the dreamer and now it's time to put that fact to the test.
The above chapters help walk you into understanding the processes involved with a
metaphor to end all metaphors if you can stomach existing in a virtual reality simulator
based on cognitive thought. The techniques we used in the above chapter that made selfevident claims about perception and cognition will help in this part of the book.
If you liked those self-evident techniques; we will follow the same simple mechanics
as we approach dreaming. The most important thing to understand at this point is:
We will use a toolkit that exists as cognitive function. In this toolkit we has the
following two tools: attention and focus. Dream techniques used in this book are called :
“attention focusing techniques”.
The goal of these techniques is to help you reach potential dreams that exist in the
5 stages of sleep. These techniques do not guarantee that you will reach your full
potential; but they will certainly help if you practice them. If you want to see how simple
these attention focusing techniques are? Open and close your hand; that same principle
of directed thought and attention is what we are talking about. It is that simple in theory;
perhaps a little more challenging in practice.
Remember in previous chapters when we discussed imagining an apple. This was
to demonstrate that you can indeed think in a visual thought form. This was an attention
focusing technique. Simple wasn't it?
Focused Thought 101
Why this will be easier then you think is we are going to “master the obvious”. We
are going to take already existing patterns of sleep and simply tap into what is already
there using very simple attention focusing techniques. There is no need for any mindaltering drugs; electronic stimulator, dream gadgets or magic blessed spring water under
your pillow.
It is intent, attitude and belief that will make or break your ability to access these
already existing dream datastreams; or to create some of your own.
Some of these techniques we can apply while we are awake; to demonstrate the
natural skill you have as a dreamer. We know that we can think in visual pictures and
audible sounds. This non-verbal thought process is the “kindergarten level” of advanced
University level dreaming.
This first technique is to help demonstrate faint inner-subvocalization control when
you are relaxed and not asleep. It is a type of low-level dreaming that is faint and
demonstrates a pre-sleep datastream program that you will easily achieve and render.
We can at any time close our eyes right now and start to visualize beautiful images
and imagine sounds. Daydreaming is a type of low-level introductory dreaming; so let's
use this to remember how to focus our thoughts into non-verbal datastream.
For this exercise, read the following techniques and then find a nice relaxing bed or
chair to sit or lie on. Simply close your eyes, start to relax and just use your imagination
focusing on the simple scene suggested by the exercise.
Just be relaxed and focused; if you are distracted, your distractions will probably
take the place of the thoughts. Just stay focused and intent on practising this simple
exercise.
Let me break it down into the three sensory focus states that you will work with:
Visual: Imagine a stairway going up. The stairway has a wall on each side that you can
touch and feel.
Audible: During the exercise try to knock on the wall and listen for a thump or knocking
sound as your mind creates it.
Tactile: Imagine you are walking on the stairs, feel your feet stepping on the stairs. Feel
the wall beside you. Feel the force of your knuckles hitting the wall when you knock.
Take as much time as you want with your eyes closed, you can do this sitting where
you are right now to preform this simple attention focusing technique. Try to gauge how
clear each of the three senses surfaced as you imagined this very simple day-dream.
When you are satisfied that you saw stairs, felt a wall and heard a knock; you have
just graduated from kindergarten into grade 1. You created your first organized dream
however faint and participated in it consciously.
If you have a star, just put it next to this text. A+ for effort.
If you failed, you can still have a star and an E for effort.
Is dreaming really this easy?
Dreaming is a very natural process of organized thinking. It is as natural as
breathing. We are taking advantage of what is already here. My goal with these
techniques is to keep it simple; but allow you to become very advanced. Feel free to use
the above exercise and change the content to what ever you want. Practice day-dreaming
5 minutes a day; just to get acquainted with consciously directing and focusing non-verbal
thought.
Believe it or not, we can use this same simple technique and apply it to when we fall
asleep at night to enter a vivid dream consciously. We will get to that in a bit; but first let's
understand some of the mechanics of falling asleep consciously.
Now that we have experienced a simple day dream example; we need to look at
what happens when we sleep; and why we enter this world unconsciously. The answers
for this are self-evident in the act of falling asleep; we need to identify some of these
underlying mechanics as to learn how to control them; set them aside or simply walk past
them into a conscious dream.
The goal of this book is to make you an conscious dreamer; you need to be in the
driver's seat of this experience. The front-seat requires a fully awake and fully aware
driver at the wheel. Once you get your feet wet a bit and realize dreams really are just
your thoughts, the potential for amazing experiences await only the limits of your
imagination.
Our Fears, Negative Attitude and Belief gets in the Way of Dreaming.
Falling asleep for the most part has been one where we believe we must
consciously shut-down and forget everything as we embark into sleep induced amnesia.
The lack of skill and focus has made our MAP potential atrophic and weak. We have
succumbed to a form of dream illiteracy and this has resulted in a rather dream illiterate
world.
The first obvious obstacle is our own natural sleeping patterns, belief and habits.
We are certainly beings of habit and this will prove true as your try to undo the mess we
got ourselves into when it comes to falling haplessly and out of control into our dreams.
Let's look at common beliefs that may get in our way:
1.) We believe we need to consciously shut down so that the body can sleep. This is
actually a belief-system based obstacle. Through our own self-programming and
belief systems we have trained ourselves to shut-off during sleep into
unconsciousness and we believe this is the normal way to sleep. If we were any
the wiser; this is like getting into the driver's seat of a massive star-ship and passing
out when we hit the auto-pilot switch. No fun in being an unconscious dreamer;
where's the action and adventure in a black empty void?
2.) We are bias towards dreaming as if it's crazy; silly or just a nuisance. Our cultural
bias towards favouring only what is real when awake; has left us jaded and cold at
what exists in an infinitely more expressive reality of dreaming. Although we exist in
both states; our attitude favors one over the other; so the other just recedes into
atrophy.
3.) We are afraid of our dreams because they are powerful expressions of thoughts;
but we lack knowledge as to what this all really means; so fear seems like a natural
reaction; even though it's actually quite irrational as fear often is. Fear is an
emotionally charged belief system. False evidence appearing real.
4.) We are tired and lazy so put no effort into applying any more work then we have to
when we go to sleep.
5.) This is the short list; please add to this anything you know you have based on belief
that may affect your ability to dream.
Most of the above barriers can be overcome with enthusiasm, excitement and a sense of
adventure. You pay good money to sit in a theater and experience amazing special effects
for a 2 hour ride. If you just shut down your dream world; then you won't realize you have
a virtual reality system that rivals any movie made by man. This again is self-evident as
you develop your dream abilities.
Dreams are a Thought-Reactive Recursive Feedback System.
When moving from our physical datastream to one of pure thought, you must
remind yourself that dreams are a thought-reactive recursive feedback system. This
means what you think quickly and dynamically updates the dreamscape with vivid imagery
and experience.
It is this instant feedback that makes lucid dreaming so much fun. When you have
full control over the datastream, anything is possible and the only limits are your
imagination. It is also true that what you believe will ultimately influence your dreams, so
less believe and more open-mindedness is a recommendation. Dreams will behave and
function in a manner that you believe they should.
There was a really funny TV series called “Red Dwarf” that had an episode called
“Better then Life” where Lister, Rimmer, and the Cat found a BTL Virtual Reality game but
when in the game Rimmer can't think of anything but misery and self-loathing to
experience. Here is a link to the video on youtube; have a laugh: [VIDEO]
This thought-reactive Virtual Reality game represented in the BTL episode of Red
Dwarf is It is very similar to what dreaming is like. Dreams are our own BTL VR game.
Learn from Rimmer's comical mistakes.
Think about the impact of a thought-reactive feedback interface in the form of
dreaming when you have lots of fears? Would this not lead to lots of nightmares? All
those nightmares were conjured up by your own thoughts. What if you believe dreams are
meaningless and stupid, wouldn't the dreamworld convey such a belief effortlessly?
Dreams give you what you want. They are your creation. They are your thoughts.
When I started to study lucid dreaming, the initial pre-sleep hypnogogic imagery
started to reveal that even this complex neural geometry was a part of my mind thinking.
The patterns and images triggered a realization that these strange abstractions of thought
were indeed my thought-process at a deeper level then a verbal monologue. Once
realized, I immediately started to change and influence the hypnogogia into more desired
forms.
When in the lucid dream, the fact that my thoughts were rendering out in a vivid 3D
virtual experience became even more self evident. I could simply will away one dream in
favour of a more vibrant one. If I wanted a beautiful ocean with a nice hut and a tropical
drink on a lawn-chair, no problem. I just simple thought about it and the dream shaped the
desired experience.
Hopefully you will also discover this amazing natural ability to organize thoughts into
amazing dream experiences, it becomes very natural once you get into the swing of
things.
The real challenge in consciously dreaming.
Through attention focusing techniques like the stair example; we can start to regain
control over this wild ride into sleep. We can shape the dream into something more
pleasant and entertaining to our fancy. However, there are still some pitfalls that will occur:
(The not so easy part of dreaming)
1.) Keeping yourself awake – As we start to retrain our attention, it can be focused in
such a way to keep the body from falling asleep. This is actually a skill for
conscious dreaming and we have a few things we can do to over come this
uncomfortable problem that may affect our natural sleeping pattern (which we will
not change).
2.) The inversion of senses introduce fractal patterns known as hypnogogia and can
hypnotize and abstract our focus into unconscious sleep.
3.) Fear again can force the subtle changes in the inversion of senses to push back the
on coming dream in favor of not being afraid of the louder more vivid sensations of
sight, sound and touch (even smell and taste however rare).
4.) Sleep induced amnesia – an obvious dream killer.
5.) Waking induced amnesia – just as obvious as SIA.
The belief barriers are the easiest to over come; as they just reflect attitude and
belief. These other challenges are a bit more difficult to navigate through when you want
to be conscious and let the body fall asleep.
This is where techniques come in. For each of the above challenges we can work
out attention focusing that can address them head on. Nearly all of this can be focused
into solutions using the stair exercise and I will explain why.
Keeping Yourself Awake
This is the most annoying part of learning to consciously dream again. The difficulty
we have in focusing our awareness so that it allows the body to fall asleep naturally. It's
very true that if you focus on your body; even just the wiggle of a finger will re-focus you
into a waking state. The body seeks to be awake when the mind is awake. This is also
why people who finally wake up in a dream; find themselves waking up nearly right after
this realization. It's partial to our beliefs, but a very real obstacle.
Learning how to make the body fall asleep and remain conscious is a skill. You can
use meditation; visualization or study and learn the natural process by which your body
falls asleep and simply allow that process to continue uninterrupted due to your attention.
As you become more aware of your own natural sleeping process; it becomes more
common and comfortable when these shifts from waking to sleep follow. You can use the
natural sleeping pattern you have had every night to teach yourself how to navigate
consciously through this process.
Isn't it nicer to not have to change what you already do naturally? The task at hand
is merely focusing your attention elsewhere; not on the body. Any attention on the body,
be it breathing or a spot in your head can act as an anchor to keep you awake. In the
case of the stair case; as you build out and engage this non-verbal thought setting; get into
the virtual body and start feeling through it. The more you focus on the virtual body the
better. Practice as you fall asleep waking down or up stairs and feel how the virtual body
starts to interact in these thoughts. You literally are switching gloves here; a physical one
in trade of a virtual one.
Allow signals from your body to just pass onward, do not give them any attention
and let the body enter sleep without your attention focused on it. You'll learn with practice
that it is attention of the physical body and it's signals that keeps you and the body awake.
Even in a dream you can just try to focus on a finger or the body and you will snap
awake.
The Inversion of the Senses
This is my favourite part of falling asleep. The inversion happens regardless of our
conscious participation of the shift in datastreams By paying attention to this shift; you will
see visual patterns and faint images starting to emerge. As you fall asleep, the body starts
to shutdown parts of the mind; as a result, more hallucinatory imagery can emerge as your
sense of sight inverts to start sensing the dream datastream. These seemingly random
thoughts are still your thoughts. It took me a year to realize that I was actually thinking in
this abstract pattern stemming from my unconscious mind before I could unlock this
mystery and think in these forms consciously.
What is the fractal cloud of hypnogogic imagery? What does it look like? Why does
it even look hypnotic? If you start to see colorful clouds and patterns emerging; this is a
very strong indication that the datastream is changing and your sense of sight is inverting.
The first thing to do is not panic!
Don't panic when vivid sensory shifts occur. This is natural and it will not hurt you in
anyway. Any fear generated is irrational and you need to understand that fear is the
biggest barrier you face. The datastream has to change in order to dream. If all these
vivid sensory shifts are new to you; it is because this is the first time you actually tried to
consciously go for a ride in your natural virtual reality system.
These shifts can look like fractals like the Mandelbrot set or Mandalas.
The datastream must shift for you to dream!
This shift between datastreams will pass and in that time the imagery will become
more vivid and real. You must learn to allow this shift to happen without being a chicken
at the first sight of an unusual image, sound or feeling.
Practice will prove that your fear will push the migration to a dream back to a
wakeful state and you will have to start from the beginning. By allowing the shift to
naturally occur as it does every time the datastream changes during sleep; you will be able
to experience the dream that lies beyond this hypnogogic state. This hypnogogic state
does not always appear, you can get so good at this that you accelerate through this step
into a dream with less effort. The fear will go away and you will be left with the freedom of
virtual reality exploration.
When certain images appear that you do not like; assuming this is the case; just
think of another image in it's place and allow the thoughts to affect the stream. Think of a
pink teddy bear and behold; a pink teddy bear will appear in this visual stream. You can
control the thoughts as they emerge visually; never forget you are the dreamer.
The second wave of sensory shift is also audible; you could hear loud popping
noises, or hear music and even voices. In our waking life it's culturally unacceptable to
hear voices in your head. I agree, you need to be focused on what is going on in physical
reality. However, when you fall asleep; it is normal to start hearing people talking from
within a dreamworld; or music or other sound effects. What do you expect to start to hear?
Dreams are very real simulations that are self-similar to what you experience in real
life? Do you hear people talking on the street in real life? Yes. Will you hear dream
characters talking on the street in a virtual dream reality? Yes! This shift is a welcomed
indicator that you are close to realizing a full-spectrum dream. Allow it to happen naturally;
and you can change any of it using thought; think of a song to prove this self-evident
experience when sounds become more vivid during the pre-sleep stage.
You do not have to engage these voices, or these sounds; just be aware that it's a
natural part of dreaming that strong audible thoughts in the form of sound will emerge.
You are still in control of these and can change them with your focused attention. Here is
a tip; you start to engage any of these dream characters too soon without being prepared;
it can cause you to loose waking focus and you can fall into an unconscious or dimly
conscious dream. Let it take place, but be more focused on being consciously aware.
During the audio shift; which can occur at the same time as visual shifts, I have
focused my thoughts into an arrangement of music to make this shift very pleasant and
enjoyable.
You can begin to touch and feel the thoughts you create.
The tactile shift into a dream also comes with strange signals such as vibrations,
buzzing, little tickling feelings. If you are engaging the visual shift; you may actually start
to touch the objects in the visual shift. For example, that reach out and touch that pink
teddy bear and if you are that far down the “rabbit hole”, it will start to feel real.
The inversion of senses from physical reality into dream reality brings out a very
real and vivid experience in the form of dreams. Think about how real you feel right now,
all the vivid sensations which are being rendered. The same rendering mechanics are
coming along with you on this journey into a dream; and when I say it is going to feel as
real or more real then this; is not an exaggeration. It will be very self-evident that dream
reality is a virtualization of it's physical counterpart. It appears as real as this right now. If
you fully realize your MAP in a full-spectrum dream.
You will have very vivid and tactile shifts into a dream if you go there consciously; it
is natural and any fear you have will push it away and you will wake up. This is selfevident so I have no doubts you'll see what I mean as you engage your own personal
dream datastream. Learn through your own personal experience with this book. My goal
is just to point out what is already there.
Do not put limits on dreams.
Think deeply about this goal: you are going to have consciousness during sleep in a
dream that will become very vivid based on how much MAP potential was realized. This is
the desired result, a full-spectrum dream experience rendered on your cognitive holodeck.
This whole book is about switching the datastream when the body falls asleep. It is
about keeping the mind awake through this process. It is about putting you: the dreamer
back in the driver's seat where you belong. If you think Jedi's are cool; like Luke
Skywalker from Star Wars, or perhaps Superman is cool from the comics; in this virtual
dream reality you are now participating in, you will have super-powers that will rival all of
them.
You want to use force like ability to levitate a semi-truck and smash it into a
building? Well? What is stopping you? It's your dream right? Just focus on a truck,
visualize it levitating and it will respond and start to float and defy physics of the dream
world. As it should! You are the dreamer; that is your natural gift of organized thinking.
It is all a Jedi mind tricks in the dream world. The force may not exist in physical
reality; but dream reality the force is just the way it is. Not to mention you can fly. That's
right... no more tedious walking for you. Just allow yourself to float upwards and up up
and away; you are soaring through your virtual dream world like the Son of Krypton!
You might frog-swim in some of your earlier dreams when you fly(at least I did).
Don't ask me why. I thought I had to flap or do some silly swim to get airborne. Belief still
plays a role in this fun world of the mind. Soon I found I could fly like superman, so I
stretched out my arms and just blasted anywhere I wanted to go.
The superman flying pose was soon replaced with a more vertical flying method like
Magneto in X-Men. I rather enjoyed floating in a vertical position to the next dream
location. Eventually, I replaced all of this for teleportation. Just blink to another local in a
dream. Why put limits on dreaming?
Who wants to dream with chains on? Let go of the physical reality rule-set in a
dream; the rules of physical law do not govern the world of your own organized thoughts.
Don't drag in physical rule-sets to restrict your freedom (unless of course you want to) it's
your dream after all.
Physical Laws do not Apply to the Dreamworld.
If you are new to lucid dreaming; you will find everything I am saying is self-evident
through the act of conscious participation. It's your world, these are your thoughts
organizing the datastream which is now being rendered in real run-time on your virtual
holodeck. The experience of vivid conscious dreaming will feel and appear as real as this
physical data is being rendered right now.
The difference is obvious; “here” we have physical law. In the dream we have
“belief”. Keep it simple; and make it fun. My motivation to write this book is to help you
reconnect with this system because I feel guilty exploiting it for endless fun and adventure
without sharing this success with others. If I take all this excellent adventures to my grave;
then I am being selfish in not sharing the good news: you are a dreamer. Find out what
that really means by dreaming.
I'll die happier knowing others got to play more vividly in this playground thanks to
this book. Once your stripped of fear and irrational belief; the rest is merely organized
thoughts of a mastered dreamer.
Overcoming Fear
One of the reason for pumping up the fun side of dreaming and giving you
motivation to take your dreams with more vigour and enthusiasm is to help you over come
fear. There is no question I have brought fear up for very sound reasons coupled by the
effect of belief as to real barriers with dreaming.
There fear barrier is real. It is a self-inflicted irrationality in regards to dreaming
that prohibits us the freedom we desire to simply enjoy our dream reality. In 23 years I
have taught courses on dreams, spoke on a one-to-one basis with friends regarding how
to dream, and the fear barrier crops up time and time again when they deal with the vivid
nature of dream reality.
There is a big difference from a Norman Rockwell or Norman Bates quality of
dreaming. It's all thought; I cannot stress that enough. Dreams are organized thoughts.
The fear is just irrational and stems from cultural illiteracy regarding true dreaming. Shake
it off and have some fun. Good times await the one who dreams.
Work Through Fear with Attitude and Experience.
The first point I like to make in regards to dreaming and fear is look at the fact that
you dream several dreams every night and not at anytime has this process that is ongoing
since birth causing you any physical or mental trauma. It might rattle your cage with a
nightmare, but that is probably the worse of the experiences you can face.
The worse thing that happens to a dreamer is you wake up. You cannot die in a
dream, you will not get trapped in a dream. When it's time for the body to wake up, you
will be pulled out of what ever amazing experience you are having and you will be totally
unharmed both mentally and physically.
Everything else is exactly what I have been saying, you fears, attitude and belief
towards dreaming that is affecting the quality of the dream. Dreams are just thoughts and
they are your thoughts. They cannot hurt you.
The more you progress and grow as an advanced dreamer, the less this fear and
negative attitude problem will be of any issue. You then will be left with a sense of
exploration and fun as you harness the raw awesome power of thought to conjure up
dreams of your own creation.
Cognitive Mapping
A cognitive map is just a mental snapshot of what it feels like to be awake and selfrealized as you are right now. We borrow from our waking reality to help front-load our
focus state for dreaming in that we know we can transfer our waking awareness into sleep
for a mind-awake/body-asleep technique required for Lucid Dreaming.
This is the first step towards lucid dreaming, knowing that it can be exactly as you
experience waking reality and being aware that you can feel, think and be exactly as you
are right now but in a dream when your body is asleep.
Start the technique by simply being aware of what it feels like to be you. To be
awake and self-aware. Affirm that this is how you want to be when your body is asleep
and you are dreaming. By affirming and asserting your intent and desire to be awake and
conscious in a dream, you are setting the pretext and framework of awareness needed to
allow the much needed logical, analytical and cognitive faculty to kick in during sleep.
Think about all the logical and analytical skills you have when awake. It is this key
ingredient that is needed in your right-brain dominated dreamstate. The ability to think, to
reason and act on intent. Being able to ask and answer questions is a gift of our logical
and analytical self. When we dream, much of this is turned off and dormant leaving us
unconsciously wandering about the dreamstate with little or none of our intelligence.
The cognitive map is just a simple affirmation of desire and intent to bring this gift of
self-realization and self-awareness into the dream, to produce the desired lucid dream
experience.
Lucid Dreaming is not a mystical experience, there is no religious or spiritual feat to
simply activate your left-brain function during a mostly right-brain dominated realm of
dreaming. It is a simple attention focusing state where you have successfully allowed your
waking consciousness to bring the left and right brain requirements of waking
consciousness. It is a skill of intelligently guided reason and logic. This becomes
apparent when you do start to preform reality checks and assert your will over the
dreamstate.
The best part is when you are successful in having a lucid dream, it begins to get
easier and easier and the rewards are the freedoms that come with being able to control
the best virtual reality simulator that nature has to offer.
Maximize control over the three major senses
We have looked how our ability to subvocalize sound and imagine images takes
advantage of organized thought which is the founding mechanics of dreaming. Knowing
that we can think in this non-verbal organized thought which in turn renders out on our
cognitive holodeck.
As we fall asleep, it's important to see this in action with the pre-sleep hypnogogia.
Having organized thought set the framework of lucid dreaming as we enter into a dream
from an attention focusing technique.
The goal is to utilize focus on the three main senses: Sight, Hearing and Touch.
Using our imagination to organize these thoughts into non-verbal thought-forms is
an attention focusing tool we can use to ride through the inversion of our senses and the
switching of the datastream. Using the hypnogogic switch by harnessing a more
organized series of thoughts is the best method for walking into a lucid dream.
You can use several of these techniques to enter a dream; and create any of your
own that fits your comfort level. You do need to apply this and practice this when falling
asleep.
Walking down stairs:
• Visual: Create a stairwell with walls on each side and walk up or down the stairs.
Imagine the stairwell and any details that you desire to keep a visual focus on this
faint visual image. Allow the image to become more focused and clear.
• Audible: Knock on the wall or even toss pennies down the stairs. Allow the sounds
to occur naturally and the more vivid they become; the closer you are to dreaming.
• Tactile: Feel the knuckle on the wall when you knock, or the penny in your hand.
Allow the sensations of touch to become more vivid.
While this is going on; let the body fall asleep and focus on your virtualized body.
Feel the virtual arms moving, the virtual feet walking, even create virtual breathing. Try to
get into this virtual perspective allowing the physical body to fall asleep naturally.
You may feel your body drop into more relaxation; that is good. It may start to tingle
or have vibrations; another good sign of progress.
When the body falls asleep, you might feel a rapid flush of dream information as you
fully virtualize into the dreamworld. You should feel fully emerged in the dream, in a full
first-person view like you have right now.
You should have no awareness of your now sleeping body. Take the time to be
aware of these feelings. If you are conscious in the dream, make note how clear and
focused you are. The last step is to just have fun exploring.
With all these techniques; we are using organized thoughts in the form of visual,
audible and tactile thought-forms to focus our attention and awareness into the emerging
datastream as our senses invert and we become virtualized.
Hopefully practising this type of a technique will yield a conscious dream where you
can then taste the potential for many more exciting dreams to follow.
Climbing a rope or ladder:
• Visual: Imagine a rope or ladder with no end and visualize yourself climbing on the
ladder.
• Audible: Imagine bells on each rope knot or ladder rung and ring it as you progress
each step.
• Tactile: Feel the rope knots or ladder rungs in your hands and how it feels to pull
yourself up. Feel your legs and feet helping in the walk.
Continue focusing on this while sleep emerges and allow all the natural process of
sleep to continue.
You can replace any of these three sensory focuses with walking in a park,
swimming in a lake, driving in a car. They are merely organized thoughts focused into the
emerging datastream. A focus technique to help transfer waking consciousness into the
mind awake / body asleep state.
Repeating the same technique helps with familiar signals and progress; so try to
find one you enjoy and use it as your training wheels to get going.
The Lazy Man's Technique.
This is a tried and proven method to increase success with Lucid Dreaming. This
technique has been scientifically studied through Stephen LaBerge's research in 1994 and
published in a paper entitled, “An Hour of Wakefulness Before Morning Naps Makes
Lucidity More Likely”. Their research into naps shows an increase of lucid dreaming
success by up to 10 times the normal average.
This is a technique that I naturally encountered in my early start with lucid dreaming
back in 1987. It has been mentioned by Robert A Monroe in his book, “Journeys Out-ofthe-body”. It has been called the Suneye Method, WBTB and will help you get the results
you desire from lucid dreaming.
The technique is simple, sleep a bit before trying to lucid dream. This can be 2-4
hours of sleep. Wake up and physically get out of bed for 30-60 minutes and then go back
to sleep and apply your attention focusing techniques. Use the same focus techniques
discussed in this book and compare how effective this is between a normal sleep and a
WBTB method of sleep.
Remember the only thing stopping you from lucid dreaming is you. This book
focuses on tried and proven techniques to help you achieve lucidity during sleep. From
that focus state, you are then free to explore all of the other amazing potential that resides
in the world of dreams.
The Dream Journal
What good is an awesome dream, or any dream for that matter if you don't write it
down. Having a dream journal is highly recommended. It helps with dream recall, you end
up having more dreams just by the act of writing them down. If you ever trip over a dream
that comes true and have it in your journal; it helps in the process self-verification.
The dream journal is very important and should not be treated lightly. Even I
struggle with work and life and barely have time to journal. I try when the time permits but
it is a bigger discipline then dreaming; especially if you have limited time between getting
family ready for school; yourself for work etc. Just do the best you can with the time you
have to journal; as it will prove a valuable asset in your dream toolkit.
You can even sketch in dream imagery if you feel inspired to do so. All of this will
help improve dream recall and memory. Highly recommended practice for the dedicated
dreamer.
"Lucid Dream Tornado" by Jesse Ferguson [L] d
Using Affirmations
You can also use verbal affirmations of intent when you fall asleep. These are voice
over affirmations that you affirm in your mind; your goals and intent with dreaming.
Examples:
I know I am falling asleep. My body will fall asleep and I will be as conscious as I
am right now but fully awake in a dream.
When I wake up, I will remember my dreams as clearly as I remember this right
now.
I know I am going to sleep and will be dreaming; if I am not awake in my dream then
I will allow myself to wake up and realize I am dreaming if anything in the dream triggers
my awareness.
You can come up with many affirmations to help set up triggers and queues to allow
you to dream certain types of dreams and also act as a safety net should you loose
consciousness.
Intent
Intent is used to help pre-program what you want to dream, like and affirmation you
simply state in your mind what you intend to do with the dream experience. :
Examples:
I want to dream that I am flying.
I want to dream that I will realize the very fabric of existence.
Use your intent to drive what you want from the dream, be it experiences, answers
or problem solving or just to face fears and resolve issues. Plan your intent as it works
best for what you want. Intent will get you want you wish for from the dream experience.
Anchoring Technique
If you find yourself in a dream and losing focus; sometimes I grab onto a desk, or a
pole. Anything to anchor myself in the dream and use that to refocus my awareness.
Anchoring is a good way to just pull yourself together in the dream; to be more aware of
the virtual experience.
Anchoring is another good way to prevent the body from pulling you awake. I have
used it to prolong my dreams exponentially knowing that no matter what; when I am really
physically ready no amount of anchoring will keep me in a dream. Time does appear to
stretch more using this technique.
These may seem like simple toolkits to get started, and they should be. Everything
from this point on is practice and attitude. Keeping it simple is the best method for
practical dreaming. Use what is already within you.
Chapter 6: Dreams in Religion
Religious Beliefs and Practical Dreaming.
There is no escaping the fact that we live in a world that is rich with a diverse
system of religious belief. Dreaming exists as a natural process of existence and could for
the most part be treated religiously like anything else that people wish to elevate and
grandstand.
My authority is not on what to believe, or what religion is right, which religion is
wrong. That is not my intent. As a dream researcher, I like to look at what is similar rather
then what is different amongst system and dreams have many interesting views from
many of the worlds major religions.
For the most part, most religions endorse and support dreaming as if they are from
God. Whether true or not, we will look at the religions that focus on dreaming as having
some merit or value in hopes that people of that faith can also enjoy dreaming as much as
those not of that particular faith. Hopefully if you are of that religious faith, this then will
encourage you to dream more.
Dreaming has played a role in many of the world religions. It is not ungodly to
dream; in most faith it is through dreaming that God communicates with his creation.
Dreaming is a natural process that exists regardless of your religious beliefs, atheism, or
what ever you want to call yourself: Scientologist; New age; materialist... the list goes on
and what ever you label yourself as; is totally fine with me. We are all dreamers here.
This book will touch on matters that ultimately resonate with spiritual belief; for
example having a dream that comes true seems rather God inspired; and many religions
talk about God using prophetic dreams as a means by which God directly has
communicated this future knowledge. In no way should dreaming affect your religious
beliefs; you may already embrace dreaming through your religion.
If you want to progress with your dreams to be closer to your faith in a God or Allah,
by all means this author is not going to stop you. You have free will and I only have advice
and opinions. Many different religions will converge on the topics covered in this book.
This book simply points out what is already known: we are all dreamers.
How that affects your religious, social or political beliefs is what makes being an
individual in this socially diverse world so great.
Dreams cited from certain religious texts.
Here are some historical religious references to dreaming in various world religions as
historical reference only.
Hinduism
The root of Hinduism is based on dreaming as the source of the Universe. Brahma the
supreme God created Vishnu and Vishnu, the God, sleeps, and the activity of his thoughts
creates dreams, and we are all his dream: the world is Vishnu's dream.
"There is the deep and appealing notion that the universe is but a dream of the god who,
after a hundred Brahma years, dissolves himself into a dreamless sleep. The universe
dissolves with him - until, after another Brahma century, he stirs, recomposes himself and
begins again to dream the cosmic dream.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, there are an infinite number of universes, each with its own god
dreaming the cosmic dream. These great ideas are tempered by another, perhaps
greater. It is said that men may not be the dreams of gods, but rather that the gods are the
dreams of men. " - Carl Sagan “The Cosmos”
Buddhism
Similar to Hinduism, Buddhism adheres to an illusion of life that is like a dream.
According to contemporary teacher Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, all appearances
perceived during the whole life of an individual, through all senses, including sounds,
smells, tastes and tactile sensations in their totality, are like a big dream. It is claimed that,
on careful examination, the dream of life and regular nightly dreams are not very different,
and that in their essential nature there is no difference between them.
On precognitive dreams, the famous book 'Milinda Panha' or 'The Questions of King
Milinda', in which Ven. Nagesena states 5 causes of dreams; the sixth being prophetic
dreams and the most significant.
Christianity
This is just an external source to a website that lists 7 reasons why Christians should listen
to their dreams. I felt the author has argued as good point for people of the Christian faith
to take on dreaming. Thumbs up from me; I love dreaming.
External Source
http://www. cwgministries. org/Principles-of-Christian-Dream-Interpretation. htm
Seven Reasons We Should Listen to Our Dreams
1. God declared that He WOULD speak through dreams and visions in the Old
Testament.
And He said, "Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD
will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream"
(Num. 12:6).
2. God declared that He DID speak through dreams and visions in the Old Testament.
"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used
similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets" (Hos. 12:10).
3. God declares that He WILL communicate through dreams and visions in the New
Testament.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days," saith God, "I will pour out of My Spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:17).
4. God declares that He WILL COUNSEL us at night through our dreams.
I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind (inner man) instructs
me in the night (Ps. 16:7 NASB).
5. Rather than our dreams being fatalistic, dreams are calling us to change SO WE
WILL NOT PERISH.
For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a
vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Then He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That He may
withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his
soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword (Job 33:14-18,
emphasis mine).
6. God does very significant things WITHIN dreams. For example, He established the
Abrahamic Covenant in a dream.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an
horror of great darkness fell upon him... . And God said to Abram... . In the same
day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying... (Gen. 15:12,13,18,
emphasis mine).
7. God grants supernatural gifts THROUGH dreams.
In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, "Ask
what I shall give thee... . "
"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may
discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?
"
"... Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an
understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee
shall any arise like unto thee... . " And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a
dream (I Kings 3:5,9,12,15).
Dreams in Islam
As I have done with the Christian citation; I have provided another external source to an
Islamic view on Dreaming
External Source
http://www. deenislam. co. uk/dreams/dreams1. htm
Dreams are broken into three parts according to the Sunnah:
Ru'yaa - good visions (dreams)
Hulum - bad dreams
Dreams from one's self
Abu Hurayrah narrated Muhammad (S) said, "There are three types of dreams: a
righteous dream which is glad tidings from Allah, the dream which causes sadness is from
Shaitan, and a dream from the ramblings of the mind. (Sahih Muslim)
True/Good Dreams
We can see true dreams are from Allah Ta'aala as Muhammad (S) said, "True dreams are
from Allah, and bad dreams are from Shaitan. " (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
True believers are more likely to happen to those who are truthful in their lives as
Muhammad (S) said, "Those of you with the truest dreams will be those who are most
truthful in speech" (Sahih Muslim)
Good dreams are also from Allah Ta'aala. Prophet Muhammad (S) said, "If anyone of you
has a dream that he likes then it is from Allah. He should thank Allah for it and narrate it to
others. " (Sahih Al-Bukhari) Good deeds consist of people doing Halaal (lawful) acts.
One should share their dreams with those they like as Muhammad (S) said, "If one sees a
good dream, let him expect good, and not tell it except to those he likes. " (Muslim) An
example of this is Yaqoob (AS) telling his son, Yusuf (AS) concerning his dream about
eleven stars and the sun and the moon prostrating to him (scholars have said the eleven
stars were his brothers, and the sun and the moon represented his mother and father):
"He said, "O my son! Relate not your vision to your brothers lest they arrange a plot
against you. Verily! Satan is to man an open enemy. " (Surah Yusuf 12:5) We know the
half-brothers of Yusuf were jealous of him to begin with so telling them the dream would
probably only serve to increase the jealousy.
Muhammad (S) also told us, "Nothing is left of prophethood except glad tidings. " Those
with him asked, "What are glad tidings? " He (S) replied, "Good dreams. " (Sahih AlBukhari)
Bad Dreams
As stated above bad dreams are from Shaitan. Muhammad (S) told us what to do upon
seeing a bad dream. "So when one of you sees a dream which he does not like, he
should spit on his left side three times, seek refuge with Allah from Shaitan thrice, and
change the side which he was lying (Sahih Muslim) and in another narration in Muslim,
Muhammad (S) told us if we spit three times and seek refuge from Allah then it (the dream)
will not harm them. " (Sahih Muslim)
Muhammad (S) also told us that if we saw a bad dream to "stand up and offer prayer. "
(Sahih Muslim)
Kabbalah and Jewish Dreaming
Dreams are rich in many religious beliefs and as I have done with Christianity and Islam, I
will cite one more external source for Jewish dreaming.
External Source
http://www. hermetic. com/stavish/essays/lucid. html
A Kabbalistic Guide to Lucid Dreaming and Astral Projection
by Mark Stavish, M. A.
Director of Research, ORA Project, The Philosophers of Nature (PON)
Copyright 1997 Mark Stavish. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
The projection of consciousness has been an integral part of kabbalistic teachings, from
the Merkavah (Chariot) Riders and their journeys to the starry Palaces (Hekelot) of the
invisible world, to Traveling in Spirit Visions with the early adepts of The Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn in the 19th can early 20th centuries. While a wide variety of approaches
has been formulated to assist the disciples of these diverse schools, much of their
techniques require an extensive amount of preparatory teachings and/or ritual assistance.
For those who have little or no knowledge of traditional 10-12 th century Merkavah
doctrines, or no interest in learning the necessary signs, symbols, and invocations for
Golden Dawn style techniques and their ‘spin offs’, yet want a Hermetic approach to their
inner world, their is a solution. It is also simple, direct, and does not require an extensive
amount of visualization or creative imaging.
The following experiment was carried out over a three month period, from December 1996
to February 1997. During that time, no additional ritual methods were performed, either for
personal development, or in a group, in order to asses the value of the technique as it
stood alone. The majority of the experiments occurred at night, before going to sleep, and
about half the time, in the morning upon waking, while still in a borderline state.
It is designed for those who would like to have an ‘out of body experience’ but lack either
the necessary visualization skills required of so many of the present techniques, or who
have had violent experiences leaving their body, and would like a more gentle approach to
the astral planes.
It can be carried out by either experienced ‘traveler’ or beginner with equal ease, and
possibly, similar results.
Theoretical Background
The theoretical background behind this experiment is strictly kabbalistic, and is applicable
to either the traditional Tree of Life (Golden Dawn), the revised Tree of Life as applied to
the Portae Lucis material[i], or the Palaces as outlined in the Sepher Zohar. In short, any
systematic outline of the interior body-world of humanity can be applied, as long as it has
concise, easy to visualize symbols for the various planes of consciousness.
Dreams play a profound role in many religious faiths.
As you can see by the sampling from religious faiths; dreams play a profound role in
shaping and influencing each faiths relationship with God. If your faith has not been cited
in this book; I do apologize but that does not make how dreaming is involved in your faith
any less interesting and meaningful.
Dreams have been a very profound of many tribal religions like the Australian
aboriginals who believed in a dreamtime that formed the creation of everything. [L]
Native American Indians support prophetic and spirit dreams. [L]
As an author; I simply embrace this rich religious and cultural interest in dreaming. The
goal of providing these references is to simply encourage the passion of dreaming to
anyone of any faith that simply wants to grow the skill and art of dreaming.
Even without a religious background, you may have a deep desire just to have fun
dreaming and regain some of your lost consciousness to add to your TCEP. The
materialist and skeptic can enjoy expanding their own virtual reality experience by
becoming more awake and aware during dreams. Even if there is nothing other then
amazing dreams to have when you sleep; if you like dreaming, you will have amazing
dreams.
The fact is: Regardless of race/religion/beliefs, we all dream and are all capable of
becoming more avid dreamers should we simply desire to experience more from these
nighty adventures. We are going to dream regardless if we remember them or not; so
participation is all about your own personal interests.
This book is ultimately about helping you become more conscious during sleep to
maximize your MAP potential and add to your TCEP should you desire it. What ever
beliefs; theories or ideas you wish to wrap around the experience is part of your excellent
adventure through subjectively living life as a Human.
Now that we touched on Dreaming in religion; lets move on to some theory relating
to reality and step closer to understanding why some dreams come true and others do not;
should you have had such an experience.
Next step, a closer look at “Cognitive Reality”.
Chapter 7: Cognitive Reality
Cognitive Reality is a Virtual Reality Based on Thought.
Reality is a very complex topic and has endured deep religious, philosophical and
scientific debate. Materialism and idealism both demand that “Reality” is something
completely different and with respect to both lineages of thought, both are correct
depending on what aspect of Reality you are looking at.
Clearly we exist in an objective Universe. This Objective Universe is measurable
and obeys strict laws which define our material sciences such as Chemistry, Physics and
Biology. It is vast, astronomically large in scale. The Universe moves outwards into an
unimaginably huge and seemingly endless space.
For the staunch materialist, this is what “Reality” is, and it cannot be anything else.
For the Idealist, Reality is a mind generated experience where thoughts and ideas, not
atoms and molecules make up the fabric of the Universe.
In ancient Greece, the arguments of Materialism and Idealism waged on as
vigorously as it does today. In Plato's Cosmology, the Universe was composed of ideas
and triangles. Plato was one of the many philosophical thinkers of his time to support
Idealism as the model of Reality.
On the other side in support of Materialism there was Democritus. The Father of
modern day Materialism. He believed the Universe was made up of Atoms and everything
else was just opinions.
With regards to physical matter, we know that Democritus was correct, the Universe
is made of Atoms. Atoms are the result of matter being divided down by chemical
reactions, and there are only 118 known atoms which make up the Periodic Table of
Elements. For someone existing in 350B. C this is a remarkable realization.
However, Democritus was wrong as the Atom is indeed made up of other particles
such as protons and neutrons which form the atom nuclei. To further split the atom, we
need to get into Particle Physics and break apart the proton and neutron through Nuclear
Fission or smash together atoms with Nuclear Fusion. This is where we start to observe
the smaller composite particles and elementary particles and observe the forces which
keep the Atomic structure together.
Protons and Neutrons consist of smaller particles known as Quarks which make up
Hadrons. Quarks are elementary particles meaning that further breaking them down will
not produce any more measurable particles. However, the Quark itself is theoretical
because it has never been observed on it's own, only reduced from observing the Hadron
itself.
Quantum Mechanics provides several theoretical particles such as the yet to be
discovered Bosson Higgs Elementary Scalar Particle. To further complicate particle
physics, research into elementary particles revealed with the electron something known as
particle/wave duality where a particle could behave as both a wave or a particle.
This introduced Wave-Function and Wave-Function collapse to the world of
Quantum Mechanics when trying to describe the result of observing the state of a particle.
The famous Double-Slit experiment, or Young's Experiment shows the particle/wave
duality of light.
In the case of an electron, they would fire the electron through a double-slit to see if
it would behave as a particle or a wave. When the electron passed through the slit, it
created an interference pattern that showed it behaved as a wave. When they put a
device in front of the gun to observe the electron it caused an odd effect where the
electron now behaved as a particle.
In the quantum state, it's not possible to measure these particles without affecting
the result of the experiment. The reason for this behaviour is still being understood
however it has demonstrated particle/wave duality and wave-function collapse within these
systems.
This helped physicists understand quantum superposition, where a particle exists in
all of it's quantum states simultaneously. When measured, the measured state collapses
from probability. If every particle exists at any given time in every possible quantum state,
this creates a very complex probability measurement for determining what state the
particle will be in when it's measured.
Such concepts imply that at any given point in time, until matter is measured it
exists in a state of probability and superposition. That the act of measuring the state of
matter causes wave-function collapse and allows us to serialize matter from a “State of
Probability and Superposition” to a state of “Measured Reality”.
If the act of observation and measurement causes wave-function collapse, this
suggests a relationship between: probability, wave-function collapse and the observer.
This is why there is the “Observer Effect” in quantum physics and the “Measurement
Problem”. How is it that at the quantum scale, reality exists in every possible state of
superposition and probability until the wave-function collapses when “Reality” must be
observed and rendered?
How can a particle be both a wave and a particle? How can an electron exist in
every possible state of superposition at any given point of time? Why can a photon
through quantum entanglement be in two locations of space at the same time? Where
does all of this “spooky action from a distance” and strange physics come from?
Probable Reality vs. Actual Reality
Particle/Wave Duality and Quantum Superposition suggests that our Physical World
exists in two potential states: Probable and Actual. “Probable Reality” is the potential for
something to be measured, where “Actual Reality” is the result of measuring or observing
Reality from Probability.
Reality is more probable then it is actual, meaning through superposition, all known
states exist entirely as probability, but only one measurement determines what actualizes
as measured and real from the many probable states of superposition. It suggests that the
observer collapses actualized reality from probability and that is the final measurement of
what is realized.
Physical Reality can be reduced to wave-function, probability and superposition. All
of these ideas are scientifically valid and verified in working particle physics and quantum
mechanics. Practical applications are starting to emerge from quantum scale research
such as in the case of quantum teleportation. Researchers in China have been able to
teleport information 10 miles between entangled photons. This in known as Quantum
Teleportation and takes advantage of a state known as “Quantum Entanglement”.
Plants appear to use superposition in photosyntheses to maximize energy
efficiency. Nature has long before Science managed to evolve and utilize the very delicate
world of Quantum Mechanics as part of it's scaled up systems. We do live in a scaled up
Universe and how the Universe scales up could also help us understand how
consciousness arises from the very small, to the very big.
Physical Reality as Potential Information.
We know that “Reality” collapses from probability into a measurable state by which
the observer can now interface with. We touched on how the physical objective world
exists as a large system of information that requires sensory filters to interpret the data
and render a model of reality within some virtual cognitive holodeck of the mind.
The objective world is composed of: Matter, Energy and Information. How
information plays a role in the relationship between Matter and Energy is quite significant.
Our physical senses require information in the form of matter and energy so that
information can be processed and rendered into an observer model. What is also
important to note, is how this information presents itself related to the sensory apparatus
that is interpreting that information.
When you look at human perception and the very limited range that each sensory
organ offers in terms of interpreting potential information from probable reality, it is the final
act of rendering out the experience of “reality” into the cognitive holodeck that creates our
“Sense of Reality”. Our entire view of this information is just a small window view of a
much larger spectrum of potential information.
Through limited senses, we can only ever observe a small band of data from
physical reality. Through science and technology we are able to broaden this band to see
and understand more about the potential information offered to us by matter and energy.
In a real world example, take the lowly Tripleurospermum maritimum (A flower).
This flower has exists as information with the potential to be realized and measured.
You should see a white flower with a yellow center on a black background and some green
stems in the back.
This is what you don't see...
Flowers have additional information with the potential to be realized within the UV
spectrum of light. Insects use this range where human eyes cannot see into this
spectrum. What appears real to an insect does not appear real to a Human. It is through
the act of observation and measuring the flower that gives us a better view as to what
potential information exists within the flower. See the new patterns in red?
If we believe that the only thing that can be real is that which can be observed and
measured then many potentially 'real' systems exists in an unmeasured and unknown
state of information. If Physical Reality is only real because it can be measured; then what
happens when we take away that which measures it? Does it cease to exist?
Physical Reality may as well appear as this:
Physical Reality as Potential Information.
Information exists with the potential to be realized. Physical information exists as a
type of datastream with potential for realization based on our sensory input. It is the act of
conscious observation of this datastream through the five physical senses which allows
the above information to be processed by the quantum super-computer called the brain
into a virtual reality model which in turn organizes this incoherent information into a
coherent rendering of this:
Physical Reality becomes a final rendering in Cognitive Reality. Both realities exist
in the the spectrum of reality and both realities are important and meaningful to the
observer.
The Subjective Paradox
What does it mean to be subjective? In a 3D Universe where everything exists as
matter, energy and information there is a price that is paid in how we may experience this
amazing Universe. That price is subjectivity.
We cannot escape this paradox. Every living system on Earth is a prisoner to
subjectivity. Regardless of how objective the Universe may be, there is nothing alive or
dead that has every objectively experienced it all. We are born into it, and will die without
escaping it. Each of us experience our objective world subjectively. There are no
exceptions to this rule.
In my world-view, understanding subjectivity is as critical and important as
understanding objectivity. Regardless of how objective the Universe may be, it can only
ever be experienced subjectively. This is our blessing and our curse.
The blessing is that for the most part, we get to exist and have an experience with
an Objective World for better or for worse. The curse comes from the confusion and
ideological problems that flow out from our individuality. It is from the subjective that we
strive to maintain objectivity.
The need for a “Cognitive Reality” comes from the subjective paradox. Without the
ability to render a subjective view of the objective world, we simply could not interact and
interface with the outside world. “Cognitive Reality” becomes critical to our survival, it is a
requirement of existence that we cannot ignore.
Every Living System requires Cognitive Reality to Survive.
Cognitive Reality is not a Human only achievement. It is shared across the vast
spectrum of living systems as a requirement for existence. As to what depth, level and
characteristics that it may take on comes down to some very fundamental basics.
If the organism has a sensory apparatus, then the organism must render the
sensory input into a subjective interpretation on a virtual cognitive holodeck in “Cognitive
Reality”. The interpretation of sensory data allows the organism to survive by reacting to
the sensory stimuli and act accordingly. How reality is perceived and experienced is
completely subjective to that organism because of the subjective paradox.
This is why a Dog will experience reality differently from a Cat, and a Human will
experience reality differently from a single-celled amoeba.
Conscious Dualism
There are arguments about the nature of reality when we start to look at it from the
cognitive perspective. Dualism in Consciousness stems from early philosophers such as
Plato and gave rise to absurd ideas of the time like Descartes Homunculi, the little man in
our pineal gland.
These ideas stem from self-evident facts about human perception. There is no
escaping the fact that our minds render out a reflection of “reality” akin to how a mirror
reflects our face. When we have something that must create a duplicate, we have
dualism.
Now, I am not arguing that dualism is spiritual, rather... I am acknowledging that for
us to exist, we must create a model of reality based on sensory interpretation. I call this
“Cognitive Reality” and acknowledge that it's a completely mind-generated phenomena of
living systems and neurology.
Here is a diagram that shows Physical Reality, Perception and Cognitive Reality in
an hourglass shape that represents conscious dualism.
As illustrated in the diagram, we have an outward looking view of Physical Reality,
that must filter down to our sensory perception and then expand inward to produce the
Cognitive Reality output needed for us to exist and interact with the outside world.
Scaled Down Perception.
This is really a matter for Science to resolve, and that is at what scale does the first
“Cognitive Reality” starts to take form? In Living Systems, where is the very first reality
renderer? Is it a single-celled organism with a Nucleus? The Nucleus of a single cell may
be the most simple and primitive form of reality rendering.
An amoeba does have a sensory apparatus; it provides dim sensory interpretations
like pressure, heat and cold. The feed back would have to be interpreted and rendered in
such a way that the amoeba can react to the incoming data. Although simple and reduced
in scale, the requirement of perception and the paradox of subjectivity applies even to the
lowly amoeba. It must render it's sensory findings into a type of feedback system.
What are the requirements of perception and information processing for living
systems? It's clear that a single celled amoeba has a very scaled-down view of Reality.
It's reality is nothing like our reality because at certain scale, reality simply appears totally
different.
The bigger question is how does perception scale up from a single cell into how we
perceive our “Reality”? If a cell has a nucleus and any measure of sensory apparatus,
then the cell must produce some type of feedback loop by which to interface and act on
that data. It is plausible to think that every cell in our body also suffers from the subjective
paradox and must also render out an experience. Even though we are made of cells, each
cell really is an individual system within a complex multi-celled organism.
Does a single cell have it's own dim awareness? Each cell has a cytoskeleton that
consists of microtubules and alpha/beta tubulin. We know the neuron potentially uses
alpha/beta tubulin that could be the quantum version of cellular automata and the basis of
information processing. Could the cytoskeleton of every cell be also responsible for
generating a “bit” processing system using quantum automata?
A very large portion of this book tries to deal with information processing in living
systems as a basis for how the mind renders a model of perceived reality. It is important
not only to how we experience our waking world, but in how we experience our dream
world. Understanding how information scales up from quantum scale, to the cellular and
multi-cellular is just a natural progression to understanding these basic underling principles
of perception.
We know that every living system started with a single-celled organism. Nature has
over millions and millions of years perfected life with simple systems evolving over time to
the most complex systems we can imagine. In this evolutionary mix, we have very gifts
that gives us life, awareness and consciousness. Everything scales up from a single-cell
in nature.
How cells form organs and tissues to preform certain tasks is quite a remarkable
feat of evolution. It is obvious that not every cell in our body contributes to how we render
a model of reality on our cognitive holodeck. We know cells specialize and work with
specific tasks and responsibilities. It is only a group of cells that will be responsible for
how information is rendered into this mind-generated view of reality.
Cells create a natural form of compartmentalized systems. It is this unique ability to
create a group, or compartment that gives us the ability to have separation from all these
systems. Our consciousness and unconsciousness for example is the result of cellular
compartmentalization. We don't need to know when to pump the heart, and which valve
should open and close at what time. It's not an important part of what our role and
function is as part of this system. Unconscious automatic function takes care of this and
we are not the wiser as to how that looks and feels to that part of our mind.
When it comes to information processing and the role this takes place in how our
mind renders out our dreams and waking reality, there is no question that only a select
group of cells will be responsible for this role. Consciousness itself is the combination of
many cells working to create a larger scaled up version of self-awareness.
If consciousness is the product of cellular information processing, how do several
cells produce a unified field of perception and self-awareness? There is an interesting
dichotomy of systems working together to produce a self-aware intelligence such as a
human. The answers lie within the digital mechanics of how the mind creates this
virtualization of perceived reality.
The Human Brain Produces Fractals.
The Mandelbrot Set which was first discovered by Benoît Mandelbrot [L] is a fractal.
A fractal is a mathematical process of iterations that produce self-similar patterns. In
digital computing, it was the computer that provided the system by which fractals could be
discovered and researched.
If we look at a digital fractal, the images and systems it creates have self-similar
patterns that also start to describe physical systems. A 3D fractal starts to produce shapes
similar to cells and microscopic structures. In nature, we see fractal patterns in clouds,
plants and textures. It's easy to see how fractals form as it's simply a small iteration
repeated until a pattern is formed. Atoms and molecules can naturally form a fractal
pattern in how they arrange themselves geometrically within spacial dimensions. They
simply provide small “bits” that iterate into a larger pattern.
Quantum Physics have now discovered fractal patterns at the Quantum level. Ali
Yazdani at Princeton University in the US and his colleagues have discovered quantum
repetition creating fractals [L]
Here is a video of a normal 2D Mandelbrot [video]. Here is a video called “The
Power of 10” by ... [video]. Self-similar patterns emerge in both videos.
We can see naturally fractal patterns forming when we fall asleep with Hypnogogia.
This natural neural geometric patterning is very real. The brain effectively uses fractal
patterns to create visual mosaics that can be observed time and time again when falling
into sleep.
It's my suggestion that the entire process of visual perception is based on a “mesh”
modelling system that the brain naturally uses to render our perception of reality. This
system may very well be similar to how 3D movies use a meshing system with bitmap
overlays. How this suggestion comes into play is observing hypnogogic patterns emerge
during pre-sleep and how they shift from a 2D viewport and create a 3D mesh for a dream
just prior to the “bitmap” overlay.
It is through dreaming, and being able to dissect a dream that I have been able to
observe the hypnogogic mesh underling the bitmap layer of a dream. This is further
supported by waking claims of fractal geometry forming when people take mind-altering
drugs.
It is quite likely that a “taste color, or see sound” effect is causing the mind to
visually render part of the meshing system causing a person to become aware of neural
geometry. When we fall asleep at night and the datastream is changing while our senses
invert, this geometry starts to just swirl with no context for rendering until the dream
emerges.
How fractals play a role in Consciousness may be best described by Tom Campbell
author of “My Big Toe” who addresses a “process fractal” [L] and suggests “Reality has a
fractal nature because that is how it is built (evolved). Reality is a fractal, the result of a
fractal process applied to the self-organizing capacity of consciousness.
Tom Campbell's suggestion is that reality is the result of consciousness evolving
itself through repeat iterations and simulations. Here is a link [pdf] to his book on Google
Books, and is well worth a read.
Consciousness may indeed be related to self-similar fractal processes; and the
suggestive evidence linking fractal patterns in nearly every physical model may provide
future evidence that there is a fractal system that consciousness is also governed by.
There is no need to go see a better visual pattern of a fractal within your own
Cognitive Reality then what Hypnagogia can produce. If you stress the optic nerve by
gently closing your eyes and pressing them slightly inward (with out crushing them or
causing pain) with your thumbs, a mosaic geometric pattern may emerge over a short
period of time. This self-evident test is one that you can skip if you are concerned about
hurting your eyes.
Breaching the Subjective Barrier
The biggest challenge with our subjective mind is that what happens inside it cannot
be made external for others to measure it. However, science is starting to breach this
seemingly impossible threshold with MRI scans and technology to recreate visually what a
person is looking at.
Yukiyasu Kamitani at ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto and
his team has used an image of brain activity taken in a functional MRI scanner to recreate
a black-and-white image from scratch.
This is an image of a brain wave scan that takes what a person is looking at; and
recreates this visual information on a computer by processing the information found in the
brainwave patterns.
The fuzzy neuron images are what people where seeing in their minds. The
potential to measure thoughts and dreams is becoming science fact.
[source]
"By analyzing the brain signals when someone is seeing an image, we can reconstruct
that image," says Kamitani.
This means that the mind reading isn't limited to a selection of existing images, but could
potentially be used to "read off" anything that someone was thinking of, without prior
knowledge of what that might be.
This technology or technology like it may be the dream reading devices of the
future. We may one day have the means by which to externalize what we have long
internalized within our own cognitive holodeck to the outside world.
For dream research, the day that we finally record the first human dream will be a
remarkable day for science. To finally see what people dream could give science the
insight into precognition and other dream anomalies that have often been thought of as
false, because the ability to record and document and measure such events simply did not
exist.
For those of us who have experienced precognitive dreams, we don't have to wait
for science to tell us otherwise, but it will be very nice once science catches up and begins
to have hard evidence in favor of such experiences.
“Cognitive Reality” might be a debated branch of Reality theory, however it is an
important branch of what it means to be a consciousness experiencing reality. What is
Reality without the conscious observer? There is a relationship between the reality that
exists, and the observer who observes it. It is the observer that makes real the experience
with reality. For that to happen, the observer needs something we call Consciousness.
What is Consciousness?
Is consciousness just being awake? Is it a state of self-realization where by we are
self-aware and can ask questions? If you are reading this text, you are most certainly
conscious. Without conscious awareness, we have no sense of self, no sense of reality.
We know when we fall into sleep, we loose consciousness, and our ability to
perceive waking reality is replace with a need to perceive dream reality. Our modern
culture is very dream illiterate, so for the most part, we experience our dreams
unconsciously although if we truly desired it, we could experience them with the same
wakefulness and self-awareness as we experience reading this text.
We can only ever be aware of “Reality” if we are conscious of it. When we lose
consciousness, we lose our sense of reality. We enter a void of unconsciousness. Reality
and all it's richness comes with the light of consciousness. It is a very clear requirement of
perception that consciousness has to exist at a certain level for us to take in our
experience of reality.
The same hold true to dreaming, the more conscious we are in our dreams, the
more we get out of dreaming. Both our waking and dream realities require a certain level
of consciousness before they can become tangible and meaningful to us, the observer.
There are lots of arguments that Consciousness exists within the brain, and there
are arguments that consciousness exists outside the brain. There is no question that the
brain and consciousness are interconnected. However, there are some anomalies with
consciousness that suggest the separation as in cases of NDE where people have been
reported with zero-brain function yet still had a sense of self and conscious awareness.
We know consciousness is a requirement of existence. It provides the framework of
awareness needed to make sense of the outside world. We know that our awareness can
shift and change as our consciousness changes. This is most evident when we sleep and
have a dream that we are not consciously aware of. We can have semi-conscious or
dimly conscious moments.
Studying sleep suggests there are alternative states of consciousness which enter
into these unconscious territories of dreams. Hypnosis and trances show our
consciousness can be altered and programmed. Mind-altering drugs can cause great
interference with our consciousness allowing for a skewed perception of reality.
Why for something that is so important for our perception of reality, subject to so
much change? Why is consciousness malleable? Why does it turn on and turn off during
sleep? Clearly it is because of how it scales up from our neurology. How our neurons
create consciousness is clearly a joint effort of a very evolved neurological process.
In cognitive terms, I view consciousness as a field of awareness that is the
summation of many cellular processes and neural-transmitters working to create a field of
awareness that I call the “M-Field” or mind-field. If we get hit on the head, and some
neurons are overwhelmed, the “M-Field” can become weakened and we are left stunned,
struggling for awareness and unable to function normally.
Science is still struggling to answer how all of this brain function produces the selfaware consciousness that we possess. Evidence emerging in research into alpha/beta
tubulin lattices show the potential for some holographic properties which could suggest our
brains use a photon-based quantum field as well as a scaled up electromagnetic field at
the neural-transmitters.
My knowledge into this area is at the mercy of what research is available, other then
I like to look at how all these systems interconnect and work to produce a final product of
self-awareness and consciousness from all those interconnected systems. There is no
question from the smallest “bit” to the larger “byte”, we are scaled up from a very evolved
microscopic network of tiny proteins and larger cellular networks.
The brain seems to suggest that it has evolved into several areas of efficiency for
the purpose of achieving complex information processing. How everything works in terms
of scale is quite theoretical and still being uncovered. Cellular Automata was a very big
breakthrough in bridging how information processing could start in living and non-living
systems.
If we scale down cellular automata, we enter into carbon-atom pairs with the
alpha/beta tubulin showing potentially a quantum automata or atomic automata could also
exist. The brain itself may have already mastered using all of these systems to achieve a
biotechnology that rivals any computer in existence today.
All of this contributing to the M-Field which produces a self-aware conscious
observer who must now interact with a mind-generated holographic interpretation of
sensory reality and make choices and take action based on what is rendered there. Quite
a fascinating study.
Is Consciousness Virtual?
This book certainly covers some fringe areas of thinking. I won't argue that point. I
think it's healthy to dive into these less-talked about corners of Reality if one wants to
venture deep into the rabbit hole. We have reduced the human body and mind to some
sophisticated reality rendering farm. An idea that may not sit will with some people, but at
face value, we are effective reality renderers at heart.
We know that how this comes about is through information processing within the
human brain. It's hard to argue that the brain isn't using computation and calculations to
generate a sense-of-reality within itself. It is for all intensive purposes, creating a model of
reality for us to exist in.
This means that a digital system is at work producing a computer-rendered
equivalent of our perception of reality, our conscious awareness and the part of us that
says, “I Am”.
Consciousness resides in “Cognitive Reality”; it is not a physical system such as a
cell, or an atom. Rather, it is the product of cells and atoms working together to produce
mind-generated phenomena. Consciousness may be purely virtual based on information
processing within the human brain.
Even if it is virtual, that doesn't make it any less real to us. We are obviously totally
interconnected with this virtualization process. It is just a requirement of our existence,
and one that should't cause too much alarm if we realize that we are just the product of
information processing within the human brain.
If our consciousness is a virtual system existing to facilitate a sense-of-reality. What
is the observer in all of this? We know that we exist when we are conscious. Our
existence is tightly connected to how awake and self-aware we are. We sit at the helm of
all of this sensory experience. What exactly are we?
Chapter 8: You Are Reality
The Self
René Descartes [L] was famous for quoting, “I think there for I am” which alludes
the ability to think in order to be. What is this part of us that thinks? That says, “I Am!". At
the very core of your existence, sits something we call the “Self”.
The self is a very interesting part of this whole “Reality” experience. Without it,
there can be no “Realty” experience to speak of. If we stay within the context of “Reality
Theory”, we have an objective world that becomes virtualized internally so that the self can
observe and experience what it means to be.
The self is the one that decides to get up, go to work or watch a movie. It is the one
part of this entire system that acts freely on it's own intent and will. It is the part of us who
we see ourself as. What is the relationship between consciousness and the self?
You can have self without consciousness, but you cannot have consciousness
without the self. The self exists even if our consciousness is turned on or off.
Consciousness it seems, is really just a part of the self. The self in turn only requires
consciousness when there is a need to be self-aware.
If consciousness was not a mysterious substance, the self certainly is quite
mysterious. In an interconnected system like the mind/body relationship we have, the self
is a hybrid of our externalized image of self. The body. It is also the internalized
personality of that body. It is also the dreamer of the dreams it will experience.
What makes the self very interesting is how it possesses the ability to think. How
thought flows from the self to our conscious mind in such a way that the body responds
and takes action is quite phenomenal.
If we decide to move our hand to the right, does this thought first originate in a cell?
Does it originate in the microtubule? Or does it originate from the M-Field directly and the
brain detects a change in the M-Field pattern and acts accordingly? There is not a lot we
really know about how we think, and how the body responds to this interface.
We know skeptics don't believe in mind-over-matter, but in the case of the
mind/body relationship, there clearly is a mind-over-matter relationship that is occurring
when the self tells the hand to move. Otherwise our body cannot respond to the thoughts
that our mind has.
We know we can create internal feedback that we recognize and that feedback has
meaning. Such is the case of our internal sub-vocalization, or our ability to imagine an
apple. These thought-forms exist within our “Cognitive Reality” and render on the
cognitive holodeck.
This process of thinking creates an instant recursive feedback to the self and the
thoughts the self projects. If you move your hand, another type of thinking is involved.
Instead of creating an internal sound representing your voice, the muscles naturally
contract and respond to a message you send via this same cognitive reality to the physical
interface of the body.
The person sending the message and thinking the thoughts is a fully-awake and
conscious self. The self is the operator of the physical body and is the one in charge of all
the decision making processes that cause action to occur such as walking, sitting or
dancing.
Reality Theory and the Self.
In my book, we have talked about the widely known Physical Reality as one branch
of a larger reality system. In that system, we have a “Cognitive Reality” which is the
product of a subjective living system and is necessary for survival and how one
experiences physical reality. Cognitive Reality is a virtual reality based on information
processing and holographic feedback.
At the center of all this, we have “The Self” or the Observer. When the body falls
asleep, the self becomes the dreamer. What the self dreams is another aspect of
Cognitive Reality and tends to favor unconsciousness over consciousness in a dream
illiterate society.
The Observer
What if “Reality” only becomes realized through the act of observation? In order for
something to exist and be real, it needs an observer. Without the observer, even the most
amazing rocks, planets and star dust exist in simply unrealized probability. With no
consciousness to observe and render this information into an actualized reality; it may as
well not exist at all. What is reality without the observer? Who cares, it may as well not
exist.
You are the conscious observer. What is “your reality”? Is it atoms and energy? Is
it thoughts and ideas? Is it your dreams? Is it you?
We know there is an objective reality, we know it must be processed and interpreted
into a cognitive view. All of this is so that you, the observer can have an experience of
“Reality” by which to make choices and have opinions.
What happens to “Reality” when you cease to exist? Will this physical world really
matter anymore? The whole stage collapses and you are left facing the ultimate question
of mortality or immortality... is there still a you after death?
The Dreamer
Or the forgotten self. The one who dreams dreams. Like it or not, you are also a
dreamer. Even if you have cut yourself off from this truth thanks to our dream illiterate
age, that still won't exclude you from this club of existence.
What you have potentially forgotten about the dreamer is quite likely why you don't
remember many of your dreams. How big and important are some of these dreams?
Important enough to come true.
Chapter 9: Precognitive Dreaming 101
This is one of the most important chapters in the book. Precognitive dreaming. To
dream the future when in the past. Often Déjà Vu can be linked to a memory of something
a person has dreamed as the source for such profound visions of the future. We will cover
some extremely important points no doubt the most controversial of them being changing
a dream before they come true, thus changing reality when the dream actualizes.
In the beginning of the book you were asked if you have ever experienced déjà vu?
If yes, the next question was have you ever experienced Déjà Rêvé? Déjà rêvé is a déjà
experience when you link the memory of the déjà to the past in the form of something you
dreamed.
There are in fact many types of déjà experiences. Dr. Vernon Neppe who is the
one of the world's leading researcher of the déjà vu phenomena has compiled a large list
of déjà subtypes in his his trilogy, “Déjà Vu Revisited” [L]. If you are interested in all of
the déjà subtypes, then this trilogy is highly recommended and covers a much broader
range of déjà experiences other than just déjà vu.
Dr. Art Funkhouser has several publications regarding déjà rêvé and has worked
with Dr. Vernon Neppe in furthering the research into this area of anomalous cognition.
déjà rêvé is also associated to something known as Precognitive Dreaming; where
something you dream comes true, days, months even years after you had dreamed it.
J. W Dunne wrote a book, “An Experiment With Time” where he applied the
scientific method to his precognitive dreams. I've only been introduced to his work in the
last 2 years and I assure you, it was a gift to read such a stunning expose into the reality of
precognition.
From the perspective of this author, “Déjà rêvé” is a very real phenomena. How
ever impossible or hard to believe, for some people, what they dream does come true.
You will know through your own personal expeirences with this phenomnea if you are one
of these types of individuals.
You are not alone in having this experience. Our historic record is full of individuals
who have discusses this phenomena; Aristotle questioned the reality of prophetic
dreaming in his letter, “On Prophesying by Dreams”[L]. We will examine more historic
references and modern day theories and ideas as to why this happens.
In 1865, two weeks before he was shot dead, Abraham Lincoln had a psychic
dream about a funeral at the White House. In the dream, he asked someone who was in
the casket and they replied, "the president of the United States". He told his wife about the
dream but neither of them took it to heart - for on the night of his assassination he gave his
only bodyguard the night off.
The American writer, Mark Twain, and his brother Henry once worked on riverboats
on the Mississippi. One night Mark had a dream about his brother's corpse lying in a
metal coffin in his sister's living room. It rested on two chairs, with a bouquet and a single
crimson flower in the center. He told his sister about his dream.
Just weeks later, his brother was killed in a massive explosion on a riverboat. Many
others died and were buried in wooden coffins. But one onlooker felt such pity for young
Henry that she raised the money for an expensive metal coffin. At the funeral, Mark was
shocked to see the coffin exactly as it was in his dream. As he stood over Henry's casket,
a woman placed a bouquet with a single red rose in the middle.
Do your dreams literally come true?
If you have not had any experience with precognitive dreams, or déjà rêvé I will
assure you many of your friends, colleagues and family members will have. Not all people
genuinely have this type of dream experience. Memory, dream recall and other factors
can inhibit the clarity and quality of precognitive experiences.
Ask your friends and family members if they have ever had déjà vu ? If they say
yes, ask them if they have had déjà rêvé? You may need to explain déjà rêvé, so tell
them it is when you dream something and one day later it comes true. This may help give
you insights that others are having this type of experience.
Why do some dreams come true?
The sceptical argument is that this is a type of post-dictation, selection bias or some
type of mental disorder like reduplicative paramnesia. There has a been a long standing
bias against anything that might be construed as paranormal or spiritual in the scientific
community. Needless to say, there is other scientific explanations which suggest this is a
natural phenomena because the nature of Reality and time allows for it.
In 2009, Jeff Tollkasen [L] and Yakir Aharonov worked on an experiment that proved
the future can affect the past through quantum mechanics. This is known as Backwards
Causality or Retrocausality and has been confirmed by John Howell at the University of
Rochester with the Rochester Experiment [L].
The Arrow of Time can flow backwards in quantum states, therefore Sir Issac
Newtons theory that time only flows forward in a serialized passage is not entirely correct.
Time does not behave the same at the micro level as it does for the macro level in our
Universe.
Precognitive dreams and backwards causality are likely linked to similar mechanics
in physics and how information is processed by the human brain. The Rochester
Experiment challenges our concept of time and if you have had precognitive experiences;
science may be one step closer to explaining how this experience actually functions at a
mechanical level.
Precognitive dreams show that the arrow of time is not always pointing forward. As
proven in the Rochester experiment, the future can affect the past. If there is a non-linear
aspect to reality, the Quantum World certainly suggests that the past, present and future
are merely relative points within a much larger probabilistic database of space/time.
If time has now been proven to allow for backwards causality, could precognitive
experiences be linked to how living systems use quantum states as part of information
processing? Could quantum entanglement also scale up into consciousness? Backwards
Causality is a triumph for science to finally start looking forward at non-linear physics.
Precognition no doubt is linked to the same mechanics at work with strange physics.
What is also very interesting from the perspective of entanglement is the fact that at
one point everything existed in a singularity which in turn expanded into the big bang. This
suggests that from a singularity every particle would have a certain degree of
entanglement with every other particle. That somehow, everything would be
interconnected regardless of the space/time distance from each other part.
Interconnectedness through quantum entanglement is not a far fetched theory. In
many ways, we could still be in a singularity and in an expanded universe at the same
time, the relativity is merely our vantage point in terms of observation.
When time and space cease to exist as time and space for particles, how does this
also apply to something as elusive as consciousness? Science has done a splendid job of
defining electricity, nuclear fission but seems to waffle when defining what consciousness
actually is.
Is consciousness photon based? Is it electron based? Is consciousness a current,
a wave or a particle? We know it's mind-generated but we don't know how it scales up
through our neurology to become self-aware intelligence.
To further complicate what consciousness might be, we have non-linear and non-
locality present when we consciously perceive a dream that exists in a future context. If
everything is interconnected through a varying degree of entanglement through the big
bang, is it the quantum world that gives rise and scales up to create consciousness?
Stuart Hameroff and Penrose propose the Orch Or model of Consciousness that
shows quantum states such as a quantum dipole existing within the microtubules of the
neuron. It is also fairly logical that quantum systems are naturally part of human cognition
because all reality scales up from the Quantum world.
How this affects consciousness could explain why we have experiences like out-ofbody experiences. That simply could be quantum bi-location and the result of
entanglement. No spook belief there, just a natural effect of how entanglement affects
consciousness.
This can also explain déjà vu and déjà rêvé because again through backwards
causality, if consciousness scales up then it could potentially surface in non-linear states.
The fact we usually only exist within a precognitive dream for very short periods of time
suggests there is instability in how we got there in the first place.
The Future Observed in a Past Dream.
At this point, I have to move past the skeptical arguments and look face value at the
fact that precognitive experience exists. A point that is not up for debate; and is a matter of
fact.
How I came to know about precognitive dreams spans 23 years of dream
exploration and spontaneous events that proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that a
dream could convey in literal detail, a future event.
This came quite uninvited to say the least. Prior to having such profound
experiences, I had no idea that such a thing even existed. In fact, I was quite skeptical of
anything psychic or paranormal. My focus was on art, computer programming and
physics. Dreams had just entered my awareness as a potential avenue of entertainment
only in the form of Lucid Dreams.
There is a very big challenge that comes when such material presents itself to you
in that first-person view. When a dream “actualizes” in the future, it is the individual who
had the dream that is left holding the profound realization that they dreamed of a future
event. If you are this kind of person, look at how these precognitive dream experiences
came about. Did you just take more interest in your dreams? What did you think when the
dream first came true? How did it make you feel? Was the dream 100% accurate to the
future event or did it have bits and pieces all mixed up.
As discussed in this book, our memory, awareness and perception will affect the
quality of recall related to precognitive dreaming as it will all things we dream. Having a
dream journal is of great benefit as one can often return to the journal to discover they they
have written elements of the precognitive dream down in some point form or paragraph
description.
The textual representation of a dream journal will always fails to deliver the full
scope of how detailed and accurate a first-person literal precognitive dream can be.
Dream-to-text translation is a very poor low-order representation of data. But right now
until we master dream reading machines, text is the best alternative.
If Precognitive Dreams are Real, Why Doesn't Science Accept it?
Precognitive Dreams have been researched since 1988 with Eleanor Sidgwick with
a publication called, “On the evidence for premonitions”. In 1927, J. W Dunne compiled
his findings in a book entitled, “An experiment with time.... F. Saltmarsh in 1938 published
findings with “Report on cases of apparent precognition”.
Research into this field is still on going. Dr. Art Funkhouser published an article in
2010 for the International Journal of Dream Research entitled, “The frequency of déjà vu
(déjà rêve) and the effects of age, dream recall frequency and personality factors”. Most
recently there was a study done by Prof. Daryl Bem at Cornell University which has
provided some more empirical evidence in favor of precognition.
Quite often this research gets attacked and discredited by a long standing
paranormal bias that itself has greatly damaged this field of research. However, research
such as Jeff Tolkasen's Backward Causality and Retrocausality proves time is not entirely
linear at the quantum scale may help sway bias opinion that precognition is possible.
What is impossible is dealing with some peoples bias on these matters.
What Makes This So Difficult to Prove?
Let's say you are a person who has precognitive dreams all the time. Let's say you
want to prove it. You start by filtering down a vast dream into a text format that is really
just a mild description at best. The details may be unclear as you find waking induced
amnesia has caused clearer details to fade.
The writing is in a journal with just a simple time stamp. Weeks go by and the
dream actualizes and you race back to the journal and find the entry. Reading it you
realize that the dream was certainly precognitive. The problem now is tying this to the real
event. Building up evidence at this point is difficult.
For people to accept or believe it, they would both had to have been there when you
wrote the journal entry, and then been there when the dream actualized to see it in action.
Because of our subjectivity and the subjective nature by which we all must experience
reality, it is very difficult to narrow down and get hard evidence through this method.
Even if you succeed, people will argue that it was coincidence, that we dream of
daily events so eventually something is going to match. This is without considering the
unique rarity of some events, such as dreaming of the passing of a loved one in great
detail such as Mark Twain had done.
The other challenge is the total spontaneous way precognitive events surface into
our memory. Quite often, they are not a willfully controlled event, rather very random and
seemingly spontaneous. For good science, we would want to control this and direct it to
better solidify evidence, but precognitive dreams don't obey our expected desire to totally
control them at will.
Before science can truly embrace what precognitive dreaming actually is, we need
to better understand the underling mechanics based on what we do know about the
phenomena. For that, we can look at authors such as Robert Wagonner and Dr. Art
Funkhouser to name a few for deeper insights.
Robert Waggoner recently published a book entitled, “Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to
the Inner Self” where he discusses lucid dreaming and precognitive dreaming. To give
more substance to the science of precognitive dreams, here are some categories of
precognition that are worth considering.
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Symbolic Precognitive Dreams.
Third-person Precognitive Dreams.
Literal Precognitive Dreams
(Ambient / Active) Lucid Literal Precognitive Dreams.
Symbolic Precognitive Dreams
This is a type of dream which really is hard to determine as precognitive as the
future event is mired in abstract dream symbolism. These types of dreams are more likely
to be called selection bias dreams because the literal context is distorted by symbolism,
yet the symbolism starts to make sense when key symbols connect the future event to the
dream. When you are keen on this type of precognition, it's exciting to watch the
symbolism fall into place. I will give you some examples from my own personal
experience bank:
1.) I have a dream where this person is wearing rain-boots. I think it's very odd that he
is wearing these boots in winter. The boots really capture my attention in the
dream; when I wake up I slot the dream off as being fun but meaningless.
A couple of days later, I am walking near this trash bin and the same style of boots
are set before the trash to be thrown out. This really strikes me as odd and I
remember the dream with the boots. A strange coincidence, but it matched the
dream symbolism.
2.) I have a dream where I am learning to drive a forklift and this old man is teaching
me the gears. In the dream this man stops the forklift and angrily demands I take
off my boots. I argue with him. We were on some dirt logging road in the middle of
the forest on a yellow forklift.
In reality; long after I had this dream I get a job working at a steel factory and learn
to drive forklift. One day, workers compensation is there and I am told by a foreman
to get steel boots on. I didn't have any because my job was on the forklift; but he
insisted I put a pair on that he grabbed from the lunchroom. Later that day the
owner of the boots goes looking for them and is told I am wearing them. He is
pissed off and demands I take them off in the yard. I argue with him and remember
the symbolic version of the dream. Same person; same boots. Not all my dreams
that come true are about boots but these are two examples.
3.) This dream is a cartoon dream; it happened when I was a teenager and was the
most mind blowing symbolic precognitive dream I remember. I wake up in a
hospital bed and there is strange music playing; My head has bandages and I look
cartoon. I see a car and rabbit climb up the edge of the bed. I grab them with my
hand and they disappear. The dream gets really crazy from that point on.
In reality, several weeks after having this dream I go to my friends house. We are
going to watch a movie called Akira, in that movie there is a scene where the
character Tetsuo is in a hospital bed and matches the dream I had perfectly; the
only difference was I was at the perspective of the character, not the camera as in
the cartoon.
The Akira dream probably was the most thrilling precognitive dream that I personally
have had in terms of linking a movie that I had never seen before to actually putting my
perspective from the first-person view of the character. To this day, I am still in awe at how
profound; mysterious and amazing precognitive dreams can be.
Third-Person Precognitive Dreams
These types of precognitive dreams occur from a third-person view of an event that
happens later. The typical dream an airplane crash seems to fit this. In my experience
bank; I don't have any memory of third-person precognitive dreams to date. My dreams
are in first person; however in my discussions with others; they have presented this type of
precognitive dream where they observe something in a third-person view and then
experience it coming true some time later.
Literal Precognitive Dreams
Literal precognitive dreams fit within the Déjà vu feeling of Déjà rêvé. They are first
person dreams from your perspective and exactly matches a future event that comes true.
Even your thoughts and emotions resonate with a pattern match to the physical event. If
you ever feel like a record skipping or your life is now just a repeat; it is the literal
precognitive dreams that really stick it too you.
I have had my share of literal precognitive dreams although many of my
precognitive dreams appear more symbolic in nature then literal. What is fascinating with
the literal dreams is the clarity of detail and how exact it is to the future event. My first year
of having these types of dreams scared me and caused me to panic. I was in denial that
they could happen but wave after wave of these types of dreams really locked my
awareness to the reality that this was more then just coincidence. Dreams I told friends
would later be confirmed; dreams I told my parents would be confirmed. I would have
journal entries I could go back and underline when these did occur.
If you don't know what it is like. Take this moment right now and make a memory
map including your thoughts and feelings. Even the text on this screen. Then imagine this
is a dream that you will wake up from. Then days/weeks/months later this exact moment
just happens. As if you read this book before, or at least this paragraph of text, yet this is
the first time in waking life. That is how literal precognitive dreams can be to a future
event.
Lucid Literal Precognitive Dreams.
There are no more powerful dream then the Lucid literal precognitive dream. If you
are a lucid dreamer and have had these types of dreams; you will relate to what I am
talking about. If having a dream come true wasn't profound enough; try having a lucid
dream come true.
There is little I can do to give gravity and justice to just how profoundly this type of
dreaming has changed my world view. I know it is the inspiration for writing this book; as I
feel it is not widely documented and talked about in certain dreaming research circles.
Robert Waggoner expands on this in his Lucid Dreaming book citing that ambient
lucid precognitive dreams are where we just observe the dream unfold and take no action.
Active lucid precognitive dreams are when we chose to take action and change the dream.
The active version are the ones that affect causality and effectively influence waking
reality. We will certainly look at this in closer detail.
An active lucid precognitive dream allows us to affect causality through dreaming.
This is very critical to be aware of. When you change an active lucid precognitive dream,
the changes you affect upon the dream, actualize when this type of dream actualizes and
comes true.
Here is a summary of some of my precognitive experiences.
In 1987, when I was 15 years old and started to lucid dream thanks to an Omni
magazine article regarding Lucid Dreams written by Stephen Laberge. Although lucid
dreaming was an amazing experience, I had no idea the side-effect of becoming more
dream aware would bring about a new experience which is commonly known as
precognitive dreams.
In the Summer of 1987, I would have told a friend a particular dream in detail
regarding some girls, the location and what we were doing. Unbeknown to me, this would
be my first precognitive dream. What made it very interesting was it would be my friend
who would point out the fact that the dream I had told him, had in fact came true.
The details certainly were the same, the same girls that we just met that day, the
same location. I had a sense of déjà vu and did remember telling him the dream, but I
considered it just some amazing coincidence and didn't even consider the alternative fact
that it was precognition. At that time, I had no idea that precognitive dreaming even
existed.
Soon other strange dreams would start to come true, little things like going to Dairy
Queen with my Grandma, and I would sit there with a strong sense of déjà vu,
remembering that I dreamed the same thing, but found it totally coincidental, certainly this
was not the first time to go the Dairy Queen with her.
More and more seemingly mundane events in school, at home and abroad started
to surface. I was becoming concerned that maybe my dreams were in fact coming true. I
was in denial and it was creating a lot of fear. It seems this lucid dreaming adventure
inspired by Stephen LaBerge had opened up a Pandora's box that I was not prepared for.
The dream that set in stone for me that this was something more then coincidence
was a very mundane dream indeed. I remembered it because it involved a friend of my
Sisters who would sit with me on a couch and play footsies with me, underneath a blanket.
I recognized the movie that was on TV at the time, it was Evil Dead. I also remember
thinking about the dream that day, recounting the details clearly to myself.
As weeks passed, I would come home from my friends. My sister was sitting on the
couch with her friend, they had a blanket over them. They were watching Evil Dead. I sat
on the couch facing the east wall, the same couch in the dream. I started to remember the
dream and recounted the fact that her friend was actually siting on this couch with that
blanket and she was playing footsies with me.
In a way, the fact this dream seemed to show a coincidence of details, the fact she
was not sitting on the couch with me as in the dream gave me a sense of relief. I
remember thinking how close a dream can convey a real life event, but clearly not in any
accurate detail because in the dream, my sisters friend was on the same couch as me.
There was one major flaw in my logical assumption of coincidence... the dream hadn't
come true yet.
My sisters friend was scared of the movie, and she reasoned that because I was
being a couple years older and male, was safer to sit with. As if somehow I could protect
her from a movie on a TV. She was scared of the movie and gets up with the blanket to
come over and sit with me. She explains her motive as she felt safer with me. What she
didn't know was I was starting to become afraid, but not of the movie.
My heart started to race, and fear started to kick in. I looked at the movie and back
at her. As she settled in and the synchronicity between the dream memory and physical
event actualized, I noticed the scene in my dream was now on TV, and sure enough, she
started to play footsies with me.
Having fully reviewed the dream first-hand before it actualized also preloaded my
awareness of the events in crystal clear detail. There was no escaping the fact that I fully
reviewed the event before it happened, sourcing a past-dream as the context of the
memory for such an event.
This was a major event in my life as it provided enough personal experience with
precognitive dreams to get me past a belief that it was coincidence. At this point in my life,
with all the supporting precognitive dreams prior, I finally had to accept or deny the reality
of precognitive dreams as a part of my life.
In that same time period, I was also recording my dreams to a small degree on my
computer. I had this one dream where I was with another friend, and we were talking
about dreams and he made a comment, “How do you know you are not dreaming right
now?" In the dream, it really creeped me out because I knew I was dreaming. He also told
me about Robert A. Monroe and Far Journeys and how in the future people would just
leave a host body underneath a tree and go out-of-body.
I remember writing a summary of this dream in my journal. When this dream
actualized, I was at my friends place. We got into this philosophical debate and I told him
that I had dreams that were coming true. He just looked at me, and asked, “How do you
know you are not dreaming right now?" and it hit so hard, that creepy feeling from the
dream was my fear an panic that his statement caused to me. In a non-linear relative way,
I was dreaming, or had been dreaming. However, now I technically was not. Or was I? I
didn't know, I became very confused and afraid.
I started to panic and fear hit me really hard. He started to tell me about Robert A.
Monroe, and I was anticipating the next part. As he was about to tell me about the tree,
instead I told him what he was going to say next just as he was about to say it.
From that point onward, he was creeped out and I explained that I had dreamed the
entire event. This friend would be one of the most rewarding people to share these
experiences with from that point on.
That night I raced home and looked at the entry in my journal, and it had a few key
details, and part of the conversation written down. Staring at that text only amplified my
fear. I had two pivotal dreams that locked in the hard fact that somehow, unexplainable to
me, something I had dreamed came true.
From this point, I would start having so many dreams come true it was staggering,
the more I tried to deny it, the more it seemed they would pour out in the most profound
ways. I started to express my fear to my parents, which wasn't helpful. They started to get
concerned.
As time went on, I would have a few more dreams where I could anticipate what
people would say next, finish sentences for them. I would even have a dream where I was
trying to be romantic to a girl I liked roll out where I anticipated everything she would say
and do as I gave her flowers and a teddy bear.
The fear an panic started to subside thanks to my friend, he was the only person I
could trust in sharing this with, so many other people simply thought I was going mad.
It would be things he couldn't dismiss, I told him a dream about a Goat tied to the school
flag pole and he laughed at such a notion, but that year the grad class would tie a goat to
the very same flag pole.
In other cases, I had a friend who was telling me about his friends band, I had no
clue about it in real life, but I told him the cover name and the design just before he was
going to tell me. In reality, that caused him to instead asked me if I had already talked with
his friend (they wanted me to do the art) and I answered no. He just looked totally
puzzled.
I would also tell my friend about a dream where he married this Girl that we were
just starting to get to know, and sure enough, this also would happen. He and she have
never forgotten that dream.
With fear now turning to acceptance and my curiosity now being more about
exploring this experience rather then fearing it, I would turn to trying to look at this in the
place where it was happening most. The dream itself.
From Passive Unconscious Precognition to Ambient Lucid Precognition
The next dream to emerge would be one of the most life-altering paradigm shifting
events of my life. What happened in this particular case, I would have a lucid dream and
rise up a few feet into what seemed was a void shortly after falling alseep. This voice
asked me in English, “What would you like to experience?".
I responded, “I would like to experience people setting aside their social, political
and religious beliefs to just enjoy each others company.".
The voice responded, “Very well." And a two-dimensional square opened up in this
void like state. In the window, I could see myself standing on a beach that I recognized. I
was fully awake and conscious at that time, in the same manner that I am now as I recall
this event.
In that dream, I projected into the 2D window and entered what was my dream
body, or at least what I thought was my dream body. The dream had friends that I knew
from school. It was my graduation year so I would have been 17 going on 18 at that time.
There were some very key details in the dream, such as a biker and his wife pulled
up and he had a guitar. He played a Pink Floyd song called, “Wish you were here." and I
sang along with them.
In another moment, a group of people put on this play for me, which was fun to
watch. It was a great time, and I enjoyed every minute of the dream. I knew the whole
time I was dreaming, I was fully awake and conscious. When I had enough fun, I left the
dream and returned back to the void.
I thanked the being/voice and woke up.
That year (1990), I was with two of my friends that wanted to celebrate our
graduation by going to the beach and roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. When we
arrived there, I started to pick up the similarities. What is very hard to convey was the
synchronicity between the moment that I projected into my dream body from the 2D
window in the void like dreamstate, to the moment when I stepped on the beach that
coincided with this synchronicity.
For the first time, I would see physical reality from the same perspective that I see a
lucid dream. The realizations were very clear, inescapable. This physical reality, as
unthinkable and unbelievable as it might seem, was a type of dream. Or at least, that is
what I rationalized based on the experience at hand.
Sure enough the dream unfolded as I had dreamed it in the lucid state. I went along
with the dream and had this new overlay of internal thought chatter as I rationalized and
feared and doubted the whole way through, up until the point that I had exited the dream.
The group that put on the play as it turns out was a traveling Christian group that
was preforming the play for schools. The girl I was talking to in the dream liked me and
asked if I wanted to see the play of which I answered yes. It was totally uncanny. A real
you had to be there event to believe it.
What ever belief I had in a physical reality was stripped from me that day. I had
crossed a bridge that I did no know existed, and forever would I now exist in what I could
only surmise was some type of dream that followed a chronological order of events.
My parents by this time were hitting a massive fear button because I had become
so accepting of these events and so open to talk about them that they were sincerely
thinking I needed professional help. It would be this fear and uncertainty that led me to tell
my mother in explicit detail a dream that I had.
I was very coy about explaining every detail, careful to use hand gestures to explain
abstract visual events. The dream was regarding a new sprinkler system that my parents
had installed. I told my mom that unlike a traditional sprinkler that had the hammer like
head, this one sprayed streams of water like a flower, and I used my hand and fingers to
describe the rotation.
I told her we were on the balcony and there was a fire on Munson Mountain, a very
famous mountain in my town. Further more, my father started to freak out and yell at me.
She said that was interesting because they were planning on having a new
underwater sprinkler system installed. She sipped at her coffee and told me that I had
some really good dream recall and I should be a writer with my imagination.
Time went by, and one day my parents wanted us to go out and see the new water
system they had installed. We walked out on the deck, and there was a fire on Munson
mountain. The water sprinker had just turned on as we looked over and the head popped
up showing the grass in a flower like stream pattern as I had described.
What I didn't tell my mom, was that she also freaked out. She suddenly screamed,
“I know this!"
“OH MY GOD! I NOW THIS!", she screamed even more. “I don't know how, but I
know this.".
“Mom, remember that dream I told you? That's how you know.", I told her.
She looked at me in fear. My father turned on me and yelled, “You are messing with
powers you don't understand!" He started to scream and yell irrationally at me. I just stood
calmly letting him vent. This event would result in me leaving my parents and nearly not
talking with them for 2 years.
It was something that they were not able to deal with.
Other dreams that came true also showed me that I didn't always like knowing what
was going to happen next, for example a dream where I had a surprise gorilla at a
restaurant for my birthday, and I couldn't hide the fact that I already knew it.
In other cases, I realized it was good to know things before they happened,
like when my Dog died. The dream that I had which came true to the finest detail
concerned me enough to spend as much quality time with my Dog before his demise.
When these dreams would be about family, they were not as welcomed as the one
with the Dog. By the time I was 18 years old, I had moved out of my parents house and
had experienced hundreds of dreams that had come true since the start back when I was
15.
It is also sad to have future-knowing about the death of a loved one. In many ways
you live through the grief twice, and it is never fun regardless of precognitve knowing or
not. In one dream, I had dreamed that my cousin and his friend died in a pick-up truck
accident. I told his mother, my aunt about the dream nearly a year before it happened.
When it did happen, it was a very sad day for all of my family. He and his friend
where driving home for Christmas in a pick-up truck and ended up having a head-on
collision with a Semi. At his funeral, my other Aunt who was also there at the time I talked
about the dream brought up the subject. The distinct details were too hard to ignore as
just coincidence for even her. A very tough expeirence for all of us regardless of knowing it
first or not.
It is rare that I dream of people dying, and in another case I would have a very
heavy symbolic precognitive dream regarding another death. This is worth sharing
because it shows how powerful the symbolism conveys the future event.
In the dream, I was in the complex where I lived at that time. Two kids were in the
dream and I was concerned for their safety. There was a female police officer in the
dream, she was short, a little on the heavy side. I walked over to a person lying on the
ground and kneeled beside them.
Their hair was all wet and their face looked grim. As I kneeled down the dream hit
hard with the realization that this person was dead.
In waking life, my son would come home from his friends house. He told me that
his friends mother was in a coma. I was sorry to hear the news and asked him if she was
at the hospital. He said no, she was in a coma at home with her kids waiting for the
Ambulance.
I immediately got up and ran to their house. It would be the first time I was there. I
ran upstairs and her two kids were on the phone. She was sprawled out between the bed
and the nightstand. I picked up the phone and talked to the 911 operator and he instructed
me to giver her mouth-to-mouth.
I moved her into position and laid her down. Her hair was all wet and matted as it
was in the dream because she had thrown-up in the bed. I told the kids to go downstairs
and wait for the ambulance. She already had signs that she had passed on, it was quite
likely that she was there in that state. Regardless, I realized that she was deceased but
still gave CPR until the ambulance arrived.
Next I went downstairs and the same female police officer from the dream arrived at
the house. During the whole event I was remembering the dream. What differed in this
case was it had more symbolic dream qualities but the over all people and event was the
same. Not a pleasant expeirence to have to go through for any of us.
On a More Positive Note:
More Lucid Precognitive Dreams followed. In one case, I remember being in
Vancouver BC walking off the sky-train downtown Vancouver to meet my brother on
Robson street for a beer. In the dream, I met an actor from SCTV named Joe Flaherty
who was at a restaurant called O'Douls. My brother and I sat with him at the bar and
talked about SCTV and other movies he was in.
When this dream came true, the synchronicity when I walked off the sky-train was
again exceptional. It was this dream that sparked my curiosity:
Could I change a dream before it came true?
This questioning inspired what would start a mapping phase of dreaming where I
tried to invoke a change on a dream to see if these changes would come true. It would be
a simple technique of leaving a geometrical shape on something to see if that would
happen in waking life.
Active Lucid Precognitive Dreams
This was a very difficult yet relatively simple task. Become lucid in a dream, focus
on precognitive potential and when in a dream engage the dream with the intent to change
it. While in the dream, I would use dream-control or focused thought to invoke a shape on
the surface of something.
In one case, I would have a dream where I recognized a person that I worked with.
I would be fully awake and aware that I was dreaming. There was a very limited window of
opportunity to conduct my experiment. I raised my hand and pointed at my co-worker. He
was over 6 feet away from me in the dream, behind a counter. I caused a small red
triangle to appear on his forehead as part of my mapping phase.
Now, when I woke up I wasn't entirely sure if this dream was precognitive or not.
The fact was, I had just started this experimentation so validation of affecting causality with
this technique was unknown.
Approximately 3 weeks later in May of 1998, the dream would come true. I would
be at work and the déjà vu awareness that follows precognition came into focus. In
waking reality, I went through the motion of the above meantioned lucid dream and indeed
a small red triangle appeared on the forehead of this co-worker.
I have been able to photograph the triangle and he has written a witness account. It
was the best or only method I had of preserving the event in an objective way. In addition
to this mark, I have also induced a similar triangle on my left hand. During that time I
thought I should just in-case at any point in my life I should doubt myself or find myself slip
into a life-path not supportive of my current research.
With the same technique, in one dream when I realized I was dreaming I looked at
my left hand and induced a small triangle. It also would appear when the dream
actualized and came true. To this day, it is still visable although somewhat faded with time.
If these two events are not staggering enough, one of the largest events involved
changing a cloud-mass into a triangle. Had I not lived this experience, or seen it first hand,
I wouldn't believe it myself.
In this case, I wasn't actively trying to change lucid precognitive dreams. In the
lucid dream, I simply affirmed I was dreaming by making a cloud shape into the form of a
triangle. As expected the cloud turned into a triangle, no big deal as it was a dream.
However, unexpectedly this lucid dream also came true following the same process
as all my other precognitive dreams. Walking home one evening I came to the point
where I was aware in the dream. In the Western horizon was the same cloud-mass as in
my original dream.
At this time in my life I was so comphortable with this new paradigm that I focused
on the cloud as I had in my dream, however I hesitated a moment which created an
interesting effect.
The cloud had moved slightly past my focus point as it were in the dream, and when
the triangle formed, the cloud moved slightly backwards. The reality of this I know is so
probably outside the scope of acceptable, but to have lived it, seen it first hand, all I can do
is report the event.
When the triangle formed, it was massive in scale, probably spanned a couple of
football feilds. I was by myself on a lonely road with no one to share the expeirence with.
I looked at the event in awe and simply marvelled at this covert relationship between
dreams and reality.
Other less signifigant events also occured as a result of the mapping phase of my
precognitive exploration. What came from it was a knowing that potentially all of our
"Reality" is part of this process of dreaming and actualization.
Here are some of the photographs of these events.
My motive for writing this book is to help share these experiences with others of
similar experiences. I do realize that some of what I claim is far beyond our acceptable
scope of how we think our waking world operates.
How can a dream convey a future event? Clearly in the causality dilemma of what
came first, a chicken or the egg. With precognition, it is the precognitive dream that came
first. Could a precognitive dream be an origin of “Reality”?
In my research, there is a direct relationship to “some” dreams and their physical
counterpart. The dreams always occur in the past representing an event to come in the
future. The time it takes between the dream and the actual event can be days, weeks,
months even years.
Changing a precognitive dream and watching the changes occur in this reality as
suggested by the photographs implies that somehow the dreamer, or the self can affect
what the dreamer or self experiences as “Reality”. In my humble opinion, I have only
cracked the surface of this pandoras box. My investigation was purely in the interests of
understanding why I personally had dreams that came true.
It many ways, it is a very significant discovery. I have spoken with other people,
albeit very rare who also have had lucid precognitive dreams and have changed causality
as a result of having them.
One such example was a person who I would speak with on IRC chat who told me
they had a lucid dream that came true involving an accident. From what I can remember
of the conversation, they realized they were dreaming and had an accident in the dream.
Because they realized the dream when they were driving in real life, it allowed this
person to move to the right and avoid being pinned to death by the steering column of their
car. Had they not moved in anticipation of the accident, they would have died as the
steering column had pushed back into the drivers seat.
The fireman who used the jaws of life had commented on how lucky they were to
have survived the crash. I have always found this account very rewarding and fascinating
that a lucid precognitive dream could potentially save a life. It was every rewarding to
have been told this tale.
The Mechanics of Precognitive Dreaming.
There is a lot of room for critical thinking in regards to all these mentioned
experiences. If the “Future” can be something we dream of. We must look at the dream
as a fundamental source of reality experience. In Quantum Mechanics, the “Arrow of
Time” can flow backwards as is the case with Backwards Causality.
Human Consciousness potentially scales up from the quantum scale, and could be
linked to photons as observed within the microtubules of the neuron. How “spooky action
from a distance” affects consciousness is likely why strange physics could explain out-ofbody experiences, remote viewing and precognitive dreams.
Our historic record has many anecdotal cases of precognitive dreams. In todays
modern age, people are still actively reporting having such experiences. The challenge is
left to science to explain the phenomena beyond the usual bias scepticism.
In my research, we can bridge the gap between a precognitive dream, and a lucid
dream which allows for more direct interfacing with the potential future event. This active
participation with a precognitive dream suggest that the mechanics of dreaming apply to
the precognitive event.
Through dream control and focused intent, a dream can be altered as expected
from any dream. This change in turn if affecting a “precognitive dream” has the potential
to actualize giving further evidence in favor of a dream/reality dyad.
The Dream/Reality Dyad.
This view is much like particle/wave duality in the sense that a particle can be both
a wave and a particle. In precognitive dream research, reality can be both a physical
event and a dreamed of event. The link between physical reality and dreaming is a covert
revelation that comes through the realization of a precognitive dream which follows a
pattern of experience similar to déjà vu.
At this point, I can only theorize as to this dream/reality dualism. It is possible that
the dream sets up the “wave-function” that is later collapsed when the event actualizes.
This suggests that organized thought is also playing a role in the underlying mechanics of
“Reality”. This also suggests that each of us, as a dreamer has an unconscious
relationship with this layer of causality.
The Real Hard Problem of Precognitive Dreams
If we put this into context of time, we have a precognitive dream that occurs in
March 15, 2010 which details a literal event. In April 12, 2010 the dream comes true in
precise literal detail.
The dream in terms of perception and context is relatively small in scale regarding
the information and data that it represents. The dream like all dreams is constructed as
organized thought. This is just a fact of rule #1 and we cannot skirt around this fact calling
it something else.
What complicates this fact is how did one get to this particular point in time/space
from the first-person vantage point? What about all the placement of atoms, molecules,
cells, particulate matter, photons. Is such a dream to suggest that all future “bits” of reality
are already known, and pre-determined from this non-linear window of cognitive
perception?
When the dream actualizes, the thought that once was a dream has to adhere to
physical law and all the quantized “bits” of matter, not to mention the location of the sun,
planets and stars in the sky. The astronomical information that represents the Objective
Reality overwhelms the minute segment of data that a precognitive dream conveys.
On a factor of scale, we are looking at something so secular and minute in regards
to a precognitive dream. How then can it convey something as articulate and seemingly
random as physical reality. It is this burden of thought that many researchers into
precognition have to consider.
Having had precognition, and even changing these types of dreams suggests a very
direct link between physical reality and a dream reality, hence why I propose that there is a
dream/reality dualism that exists between each of us observing “Reality”.
It is completely understandable that when people not have this amazing quality of
precognitive dream perception, they lack the framework of experience that would allow
even a shred of belief or acceptance that such a thing is possible.
Bertrand Russell a staunch materialist used Occam’s razor to cut down the idea that
life is a dream:
"There is no logical impossibility in the supposition that the whole of life is a dream,
in which we ourselves create all the objects that come before us. But although this is not
logically impossible, there is no reason whatever to suppose that it is true; and it is, in fact,
a less simple hypothesis, viewed as a means of accounting for the facts of our own life,
than the common-sense hypothesis that there really are objects independent of us, whose
action on us causes our sensations. "
Yet in precognitive dream phenomena, this favours the notion that dreams and
reality are interconnected. That somehow what is dreamed of, is experienced as a real-life
waking event. A complex covert relationship that has surfaced up time-and-time again in
our historic record. One that will continue to rise up even after this author passes on.
The Answers to Precognitive Dreams lie within Dreams Themselves.
Dreams are organized thoughts that convey a higher-order of thought-forms which
describe in a virtual 3D way, an expression of “Reality”. In a dream, the laws of Idealism
reign supreme.
When a non-linear and non-localized event such as a precognitive dream occurs, it
is only then that we start to see a crack in the face of Materialism, revealing profound
relationship between dreams and physical reality.
The origin of a reality stems systematically from this deep underlying dreaming
process. A “creative process” that suggests everything that dreams, participates in. Do
dogs, cats and other dreaming creatures experience precognitive dreams as some
Humans do?
All of this is very representative of an advanced system of information processing
and reality generation from a ridged and structured rule-set. Knowing that dreams are a
virtual reality simulation, we need to look at how consciousness organizes and creates
dreams.
Communication Within a Consciousness System
If we look at the Origins of our Universe, we know science has adopted the “BigBang” model of everything. A hypotheses and a theory. Yet one we accept at face value
as the “best” argument for the origin of the Universe. The Big-Bang theory suggests that
at one point, the Universe existed as a “Singularity” which expanded into everything we
have today. All of this is without the involvement of any underlying intelligence or
awareness.
A precognitive dream precedes a future event, could a precognitive awareness also
precede the Big Bang? Is time so linear that we must accept our causality based on
theories and belief-systems when our own life experiences suggest something even more
profound.
What if the Origins of the Universe is founded on consciousness and awareness
where thought organizes the concepts and rules which now govern our idea of matter and
energy? Could consciousness be the true substance of “Reality”?
Origins of Consciousness
Let's move beyond the Big-Bang, and beyond the Singularity and look at
consciousness as an underlying “Substance of Reality”. What if the origins of reality stem
not from matter, but from consciousness? What if this consciousness is you, me and
everything that has ever possessed self-awareness. That we are all interconnected parts
to a much larger and Universally scaled collective unconsciousness as Carl Jung
suggests?
We already know that precognition suggests a direct link to a future event. We
know dreams are phantasms of the mind created by our unconsciousness. We can
consciously interact with our dreams taking control of what was originally unconscious
thought making the dream more real and more meaningful as an experience.
If we can change precognitive dreams, and the changes also actualize into our
waking reality then there is a definite relationship between not only dreams and reality, but
the one who dreams it. The answers may suggest a much more profound relationship to
“Reality” then we tend to believe. A covert and hidden mechanic behind the scenes that
secretly allows us to surface as individualized parts of this complex interconnected system.
A Universe based on Thought and Consciousness certainly allows for the
“dream/reality dyad” to exist, and would be self-evident in the subtle expressions of reality
that stem from precognitive dreaming. To suggest such a concept certainly defies
everything we know about physical reality and physical systems. It suggests that all these
systems are actually organized thoughts which go through a process of actualization into a
perceived “real event”.
For a consciousness system it seems logical that thought would be the means by
which it could organize and direct out an experience. Dreams do form very convincing
expressions of “Reality”. If these concepts scale up into a larger and more robust system
of thought and consciousness, it's quite possible that “Reality” itself is a language and
experience within this system. A consciously created virtual reality simulation for the
purpose of simply satisfying a need to create and be.
Tom Campbell who worked at the Monroe Institute and studies consciousness has
also concluded that the origins of our Reality stem from consciousness. He proposes a
trilogy entitled, “My-Big-Toe” that described the Universe as existing as AUO, or “Absolute
Unbounded Awareness” that evolved through repeat iterations into AUM, or “Absolute
Unbounded Manifold”.
Tom describes this consciousness system evolving what in turn is the equivalent of
“Reality Cells” similar to cellular automata to create an information processing system that
would support a structure allowing for data to be retrieved and stored. Through this basic
system, everything that would become and is our physical reality, dream reality and any
reality we find ourselves in would now be supported by this underlying framework.
In my attempt to understand this origin from the perspective of consciousness,
thought clearly becomes the means by which the system organizes ideas and a rule-set to
convey experiences we have come to know as waking life. It does suggest that “Reality” is
a created experience and we are all part of this creative process.
Dreams certainly support that we do indeed create organized expressions of virtual
reality that in turn scale up into this probability database that Tom describes as a
metaphorical “Big Computer” where the Universe organizes the expression into an
actualized event.
If the idea of a Universe that stems from the Origins of Consciousness intrigues
you, I do recommend reading Tom's trilogy. My segue into precognitive dreams certainly
helps to support his hypothesis.
How Can I Access Precognitive Dream Experiences?
If you made it this far into the far reaching concepts of thought, consciousness and
the reality they create. This book did cover several techniques to help you become a
better dreaming. Clearly the path to precognitive dreams, is with dreaming itself.
There is a lot you can do to try to invoke these types of experiences by taking
dreams far more seriously as a part of who and what you are as a consciousness within
this amazing reality.
When dealing with the non-linear and non-localized nature of precognition, one
queue that you can tune into with your intent is the fact that a part of you is already within
this precognitive focus state in the “dreamstate”. Dreaming for the most part just lets you
have a more immersive focus to allow yourself to interface clearly with this data.
This doesn't mean dreams are the only means by which we can access
precognitive data. When I was actively trying to access precognitive dreams, I tried to
connect to the part of me that was already in that focus state. A non-linear
acknowledgement that time does not exist as it does in dreams, as it does for waking
reality.
This helped. I was able to also focus on the feelings and sensations that came with
precognitive experiences. Another queue that I used was “allow”, I would allow myself to
experience precognitive states as part of my pre-dreaming affirmation and intent.
With practice and lots of dreaming, over time more and more interesting events with
precognition would spring up. It's my belief that this is not a gift, or a privilege to me; more
so it is a potential for anyone who is willing to focus their attention in this direction with an
open mind, and explorative attitude with their own dream journeys.
If all of my experiences with precognition has taught me anything, what ever this
creative process is, and why we have evolved into it... we are all a part of it regardless of
what we believe or not. It is simply part of the underlying mechanics of existence and one
we can tune into and embrace.
Other evidence in dreaming surfaces that suggests some deeper underlying
interconnectedness between those who dream, and the realities they find themselves in.
For that chapter, we turn to Mutual or Shared Dreaming.
Chapter 10: Mutual and Shared Dreaming.
If a dream book doesn't touch base on the reality of shared or mutual dreaming,
then this author clearly is not in the know. One of the other amazing phenomena of
dreaming is when two or more people share a mutual dream. The mutual exchange can
exceed more then two individuals.
Lynda Magelleon first published about Mutual Dreaming in her book, “Mutual
Dreaming”. Robert Wagonner also touches on this topic in his book, “Lucid Dreaming: The
Gateway to the Inner Self”.
In my life, I have had the privilege of sharing dreams with several people. Even
more striking to my awareness of this phenomena was when I was at work on day back in
1998 and three co-workers who were all women started discussing their dreams to
discover that all three were in the same local, with the same setting and the exact same
exaggerated details that described the dream environment.
My interest was in dreams back in that day so to stand near them and listen in to
their wow and amazement as each of them confirmed and verified certain acute and
specific details was completely wonderful. At that point in my life, I was already aware of
shared dreaming having confirm it several times with a few friends.
What I didn't expect was to be standing in a group of people at work to listen to
these individuals discover shared dreaming first-hand with a simple exchange of sharing
what they dreamed of that night.
The International Association for the Study of Dreams has over time conducted
several experiments into Shared Dreaming. The concept has been around long before the
movie “Inception” popularized the idea in film. Just being aware of this potential I feel is
beneficial to any Onerionaut.
Recently, I had the privilege to share a dream with a complete stranger who heard
of me through a webcast TV show called, “Unravelling the Secrets”. This person was a
Shoshoni Native Dreamwalker who set out to share a dream with me.
What made this interesting from my perspective is it was a person that I had never
met before. When I met his dream character in one fateful dream, I had no idea it was the
person until the next day his Wife and I discussed the dream. She thought the character I
described in the dream sounded like her Husband so she linked me to a video.
When I saw the video, I was stunned to see the same person that I interacted with
the night before in a dream. It was a stunning first-person example of this potential to
share dreams.
It is for these reasons that I feel it would be prudent not to share this amazing
potential to anyone else seeking to explore and expand on their dream experiences.
Hopefully much of the material I have presented in this book is of some benefit to your
exploration of Reality and the Dreams that inspire it.
Bibliography
[1]: Boirac, Émile, "Review Philosophique", 1876 http://pedagogie.actoulouse.fr/philosophie/revphi/revphilo.htm
[2]: Aristotle, "On Prophesying by Dreams ", 350 B.C.E
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/prophesying.html
Appendix A: Articles and Images
Appendix B: Dream Journal Sample
Appendix C: Online References
Wiki References
Activation Syntheses
Carl Jung
Déjà Vu
Idealism
Lucid Dream
Materialism
Nathaniel_Kleitman
Sigmund Freud
http://en.
http://en.
http://en.
http://en.
http://en.
http://en.
http://en.
http://en.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/Activation-synthesis_hypothesis
org/wiki/Carl_Jung
org/wiki/Déjà_vu
org/wiki/Idealism
org/wiki/Lucid_dream
org/wiki/Materialism
org/wiki/Nathaniel_Kleitman
org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
YouTube Videos
Dog Dreaming
http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=wI8XgJ3JebE
REFERENCES
Jeff Tolkasen http://discovermagazine. com/2010/apr/01-back-from-the-future
John Howell http://physics. aps. org/viewpoint-for/10. 1103/PhysRevLett. 102. 173601
RESOURCES
http://www. hplusmagazine. com/editors-blog/precoågnition-real-cornell-university-labreleases-powerful-new-evidence-human-mind-canhttp://www. hplusmagazine. com/editors-blog/precognition-real-cornell-university-labreleases-powerful-new-evidence-human-mind-can-