Verdict?

It was pretty awesome.

In fact, I’d say this is the best film that’s come along that is specifically about dreams and the architecture of the dreaming mind since Vanilla Sky was released in 2001.

Instead of a movie review, I just want to bring up some points of the film that intrigue me. If you’ve not seen the movie, I don’t know if you will want to read any further!

…still with me?

OK, here we go!

1) The use of dreams signs.

Sort of.

But if you’ve seen the film and you’re . . . → Read More: The Inception Movie & Dreams: 5 Things I Really Liked About This Film]]> SO I’m thrilled to say I saw INCEPTION tonight for my 30th birthday at IMAX.

Verdict?

It was pretty awesome.

In fact, I’d say this is the best film that’s come along that is specifically about dreams and the architecture of the dreaming mind since Vanilla Sky was released in 2001.

Instead of a movie review, I just want to bring up some points of the film that intrigue me. If you’ve not seen the movie, I don’t know if you will want to read any further!

…still with me?

OK, here we go!

1) The use of dreams signs.

Sort of.

But if you’ve seen the film and you’re familiar with lucid dreaming, you probably know what I’m referencing: in the movie they use small, unique objects that only they know something distinct about. Because of this uniqueness, they are used as a test of their reality, since someone else designing their dreamscape or dream landscape would be unable to replicate what’s unique about the object, and thus, the dreamer would know this meant the experience is a dream.

I thought this was very cool twist on the lucid dreaming community’s use of dream signs as a way to test reality to realize you’re dreaming.

2) The discussion on how dreams just “start” without a beginning.

In the beginning of the film, Leonardo Dicaprio is training his new dream architect and asks her how they got to where they are now. She cannot remember and realizes that they are actually in a dream right then and there.

This is definitely something familiar to lucid dreamers as a means of lucid dream induction. i.e. to train yourself to  ask the question “How did I get here? What was I doing 20 minutes ago?” so that you do it while dreaming, and it becomes a lucid dream cue.

This is very cool and I don’t believe I’ve seen any film on dreams mention this concept.

3) The huge use of dreams within dreams and false awakenings.

The idea that within each dream inside a dream one is closer to both the subconscious and an increasingly unstable dreamscape is awesome. They did a really good job on this one I think.

4) The nature of dream time.

The idea that dream time gets exponentially longer as you move down each level of a dream within a dream was very clever both as a plot device and just as an idea on dreams.

But I couldn’t help thinking of Stephen LaBerge’s lucid dream experiments where they had a subject fall asleep, become lucid, cue the outside world that they were lucid (I believe with pre-approved motions of their eyes, which move in real life parallel with the subjects dream movements) and then count from 1 to 30 followed by a second eye movement cue to signal the count is complete. From what I recall, the research found that the time experienced in the subjects dream was basically the same as the time experienced outside of the dream.

In other words, time passes the same in a dream as it does when awake.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that all dreams experience time like this, does it? Perhaps it was just that one dreamers experience and that specific dream.

For me personally, I’ve never had a dream experience that led me to believe that time can stretch in huge ways in the dream world. But I have had visitors here discuss in the comments that they’ve had dreams that lasted years or entire lifetimes – something I must admit I find hard to believe, but nevertheless, am eager to hear about.

Do you have dream experiences that stretch the concept of time?

5) The notion that characters in our dreams are projections of our subconscious.

Yep, they hit the nail on the head with that one and it was nice to see it be a strong part of the story. I loved how the dream characters became resistant to the people coming into the dreams when they sensed someone was messing with their world, like a subconscious psychological defense of the dreaming mind.

. . .

All in all, a kick ass movie about dreaming, for sure!

If you’ve seen the Inception dream movie already, I’d love to know what you think!

Did they “got it right”?

What did you like or dislike?

How does it compare to other movies about dreams?

And most importantly, did you think it was a little silly how many people they had shooting machine guns at each other while skiing on a mountain side? I did..

I have more lucid dreams.

It wasn’t but a day or two into reading Robert Waggoners new book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self , that I found myself experiencing more lucidity in my dreams.

(And hey – not a problem. I will gladly trade waking myself up at all hours of the night in an attempt to induce lucidity for reading a great book on lucid dreaming. )

Other themes from Waggoners book began making their way into my dreams, too – especially how I thought about my dream . . . → Read More: Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self – 3 Questions for author Robert Waggoner]]> Something funny happens when I read books on lucid dreaming:

I have more lucid dreams.

It wasn’t but a day or two into reading Robert Waggoners new book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self
, that I found myself experiencing more lucidity in my dreams.

(And hey – not a problem. I will gladly trade waking myself up at all hours of the night in an attempt to induce lucidity for reading a great book on lucid dreaming. )

Other themes from Waggoners book began making their way into my dreams, too – especially how I thought about my dream experiences upon waking.

I’d write my dreams down, and then find myself asking questions like:

• Do dream characters have some kind of free will?
• Do dream characters have their own goals and intentions?
  (…and how much does any of that have to do with me? Everything? Nothing? )
• Can dream characters tell me or show me things I can benefit from?
• Am I fooling myself by thinking I really create and (if lucid) control my dreams?

One of the first points Waggoner makes in his book is that, contrary to our popular understanding of lucid dreaming, lucid dreamers do NOT control the dream.

He explains this using the following analogy:

No sailor controls the sea. Only a foolish sailor would say such a thing. Similarly, no lucid dreamer controls the dream. Like a sailor on the sea, we lucid dreamers direct our perceptual awareness within the larger state of dreaming.

At first glance, this might not sound like a big deal, but this is quite a break from most definitions.

Starting from this mindset, there are many interesting consequences, from refocusing the concept of lucid dreaming beyond a self-centered, sometimes egotistical experience, to wondering then what sort of limits there are in this world that I previously thought of as under my control?

And finally, it begs the question that’s surely on the tip of your tongue right now:

Hey, if I’m not controlling this dream, then who or what is?

…

3 Questions for Robert Waggoner, author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self.

I’d like to highlight one of the more startling interactions with dream characters you speak of in your book. In chapter 4, “Beyond Freud’s Pleasure Principle”, you write about an experience in which a lucid dreamer tells a dream character named Sandra that she was a character in her dream, and then:

She replied that I’m a character in her dream.

To prove her wrong, I did various things such as fly around the room and change our environment.

Sandra did similar tricks. Neither of us could influence the other.

After a bit of this, I was very confused and Sandra commented that she, too, was confused.

What do you think interactions like these mean in regards to the identity and motivations of dream characters? Is the question of dream characters having free will a legitimate question?

Ben, thanks for your question.  I first became interested in this topic, when I noticed how many lucid dreamers reported the dream figure looked annoyed or upset after being told they were dream figures.  This did not support the prevailing thesis that all lucid events are the result of expectation and mental modeling.  Looking in to it more deeply, I felt like the Dr. Dolittle of Dream Figures – I wanted to talk to them, and understand them from their perspective.

In the conscious conversation you pulled from my book, lucid dreamers see the shocking complexity of dream figures.  First, the dream figure suggests from its perspective the lucid dreamer is the dream character! Then, it responds rationally to the lucid dreamer’s attempt to demonstrate superiority by showing that it can do everything that the lucid dreamer does.  Finally, it realizes the futility of these attempts at persuasion, and emotionally shows its sense of confusion.

Think about that.  A dream figure shows apparently unique awareness, the ability to observe and rationally respond, and the capacity for emotion.  Incredible.

Like many lucid dreamers who experience these moments, we are left with the sense of some dream figures having awareness roughly equivalent to our own (and sometimes greater!); a point the German psychotherapist and lucid dream researcher, Paul Tholey, suggested also.  So lucid dreamers quickly see that dream figures are much more than mere symbols or ‘a reflection of some aspect of yourself.’ Some dream figures appear basically self-aware.  As such, they demonstrate a unique independence and separate-from-the-waking-self thought process.  Lucid interactions like this may be showing us actual ‘sub-personalities,’ or ‘ego-complexes’ in action.  In lucid dreaming, we may have the means to investigate a continuum of conscious forms; both those beneath our level of awareness and also those beyond it e.g, the Self.

What motivates these dream figures?  Good question. By all appearances, this level of dream figures seems motivated by the desire to be understood.   They don’t seem to have an agenda to dominate or usurp the lucid dreamer – any more than they want to be dominated by the lucid dreamer.  They appear to want recognition, appreciation, possibly even respect.

However, as I point out in my book, there does seem to be another class of dream figures motivated by the desire to educate and assist the lucid dreamer.  They often appear when the lucid dreamer needs help or actively asks for assistance, and refer to themselves as “guides” or “guardians.”  As such, we seem to have different types of dream figures, possibly with different motivations.

Free will?  By their actions in lucid dreams, it definitely appears that some dream figures have a separate-from-the-waking self sense of awareness and act according to their own intents.  So yes, some appear to have a type of freedom of action within that realm.  Of course, a larger subset of dream figures appear to have very little, if any, awareness, and may constitute a more basic level of mental formation.

Through your own experience, you’ve come to the conclusion that lucid dreamers do not control the dream, but rather, act more as a guide through the dream, much in the way a sailor moves through water but does not control the ocean.

In this analogy, it’s easy to imagine the sailors boat propped up in the water, with him navigating, but not controlling, the ocean – but in a lucid dream, when we are manipulating our surroundings and experiences, but are still not the ones ultimately in control of the dream, who or what is?

In my book, I suggest that lucid dreamers “direct the focus” of their dreaming, but “do not control” the entire dream, much like a sailor directs the movement of the boat, but does not control the sea.

Lucid dreamers notice this when they fly through a wall and encounter an entirely new, detailed environment.  Who created that environment and all the details?  Not the lucid dreamer.  He or she was simply flying through a wall.  The lucid dreamer did not consciously pre-determine (or control) that the next room would have two doors, green walls, five desks (some with staplers), three dream figures, etc, etc.  But somehow, that is what the lucid dreamer encounters upon flying through the wall, and basically accepts it without thinking about it or controlling it.

Obviously, something fleshes out the dreamscape, and creates all of these details, which are not consciously considered or intended by the lucid dreamer.  But what does it?  How does it come about?

Here, we have a number of possibilities for dream scene creating: 1) the lucid dreamer’s subconscious dredges up appropriate details through an automatic dream making process, 2) or a hybrid system of subconscious dream making exists both automatic and purposeful, which allows for deep meaning and the entry of apparently aware, independent dream figures, or 3) an inner awareness throws together the dream scene with lightning fast speed, possibly in keeping with certain principles or overall purposes.  Of course, once the dream scene emerges, the lucid dreamer can focus on anything in that dream scene and try to direct it – or if talented, the lucid dreamer can focus his intent on potentially anything (flying to outer space, conducting a dream experiment, smashing the dream scene, etc) and try to achieve it.

From my lucid dreaming and research, I knew that my beliefs, expectations, focus, intent and will appeared to coalesce to help create or direct the formed reality.  However, the surprising elements and sometimes shocking information that I sought out (such as clairvoyant and precognitive information) which appeared in some lucid dreams, suggested that something more was involved.  In my book, I call this the Inner X, an inner unknown – since my waking self was unaware of the information.

In part, this caused me to assume that a larger awareness existed ‘behind the dream.’ So I began posing questions and requests to that non-apparent awareness behind the dream.  I would just shout out what I wanted.  Incredibly, a response would occur – sometimes of mind blowing proportions.

So in answer to your question, it may be that like the human body which has automatic functions and the capacity for intended actions and thought, dream creating has both an automatic function and a capacity for intended action and thought, most easily seen when lucidly aware and actively engaging it.  However, the action and thought can originate from multiple layers of the Self – the conscious waking self in the dream, subconscious intents and/or the inner Self or awareness behind the dream.

Lastly, a more mundane, but rather important question:

In your presentations on lucid dreaming, you often begin by asking people if they’ve ever had a lucid dream. About 80% of the hands go up. One question later reveals that about 35% of the audience has had more than 2 dozen lucid dreams. But if you go further and ask who has had more than 100 lucid dreams, you wrote that you might look out and see just one hand, alone, in a sea of people interested enough in lucid dreaming to actually attend a lecture or conference on the subject.

This point bothers me.

Despite the rich amount of information describing techniques to induce lucidity and assurances from people that it’s not hard to do – it is.

Why do you think this is the case and what can people do differently to change this?

Personally, I feel that this culture does not value dreaming, nor does it approve of altering consciousness.  When you put those two things together, you create a cultural sanction against lucid dreaming.  As social beings, it seems hard to go against the culture and its belief system.

If the culture valued dreaming, and approved of altering consciousness, you would likely find a flourishing of lucid dreaming and a much deeper exploration of it. Individually, we must learn to value dreaming, value active explorations of consciousness, and value lucid awareness.

Some people have written me that these are the reasons they like my book.  I help illustrate the value of lucid dreaming by showing how some lucid dreamers have used it to heal their own bodies and apparently others as well.  How lucid dreamers have been able to seek out conceptual information, unknown information, clairvoyant and precognitive information.  How lucid dreamers have been able to come to a greater understanding of the dream realm, and its interface with waking reality.  How lucidly aware, we have a platform to honestly probe our larger identity and methods for reality creation.

Once we value something, let go of limiting beliefs, and reward or praise the activity, it becomes much easier naturally.

So it is important to un-earth those limiting beliefs, address the fears and hesitations and create what I call a ‘welcoming mental atmosphere’ for lucid dreaming.  That, along with persevering in a proven practice, should get most any truly interested person into the game.

Lucid dreaming does not seem to be everyone’s path.  But I believe almost anyone can become a talented amateur, and see for themselves the potential and beauty of this approach.

…

It wasn’t too long ago that researchers published results suggesting how capable the brains is at projecting an Out of Body experience, using similar techniques with camera goggles attached to a person’s face giving them a view originating elsewhere. (Read the old news article on this story here.)

But in this case, the subjects weren’t tricked into having the sensation that their consciousness was outside their body in a point in space, but that another body was their body. In this case, it was a mannequin.

On the . . . → Read More: OOBE’s the Scientific Way: With Goggles, Cameras and Mannequins]]> New Scientist published an interesting article today titled Swapping Your Body Becomes a Virtual Reality.

It wasn’t too long ago that researchers published results suggesting how capable the brains is at projecting an Out of Body experience, using similar techniques with camera goggles attached to a person’s face giving them a view originating elsewhere. (Read the old news article on this story here.)

But in this case, the subjects weren’t tricked into having the sensation that their consciousness was outside their body in a point in space, but that another body was their body. In this case, it was a mannequin.

On the weird-o-meter, researchers get extra points for this exercise: (emphasis is mine)

The scientists also mounted the camera onto a second person’s head in order to test whether subjects could perceive someone else’s body as their own. When the two turned to shake each other’s hand, the subject perceived the camera-wearer’s body as their own, giving the sensory impression of shaking hands with themselves.

Hopefully this won’t last too . . . → Read More: Hello world!]]> Hello World! —- and please excuse my mess…. I’m obviously tinkering with the site right now, and you’re likely to stumble upon it while the dirt is still out.

Hopefully this won’t last too long!

—- Ben!

Whoa – this is interesting.

The International Association for the Study of Dreams has put together an INTERNET CONFERENCE on dreaming. It takes place Sept 21` through Oct 5.

Here’s a snippet from the site:

Between September 21 – October 5, 2008 join some of the world’s foremost experts on the subject of Psi dreaming for two weeks of cutting-edge papers, discussions, workshops, and chats. If you’ve ever had a precognitive dream, a lucid dream, or simply an “unusual dream” that never quite made sense, this is the place for you.

You might also be curious to know the blogger behind Dream Studies, . . . → Read More: IASD’s PsiberDreaming Conference – an internet conference on the fringe topics of dream research]]>  

Whoa – this is interesting.

The International Association for the Study of Dreams has put together an INTERNET CONFERENCE on dreaming. It takes place Sept 21` through Oct 5.

Here’s a snippet from the site:

Between September 21 – October 5, 2008 join some of the world’s foremost experts on the subject of Psi dreaming for two weeks of cutting-edge papers, discussions, workshops, and chats. If you’ve ever had a precognitive dream, a lucid dream, or simply an “unusual dream” that never quite made sense, this is the place for you.

You might also be curious to know the blogger behind Dream Studies, Ryan Hurd, is presenting some of work on lucid dreaming in this conference, too!

Check it out.

PS And maybe I’ll see you there?

Read the news . . . → Read More: Dreamed up phone number leads man to a bride]]> Okay maybe this is stupid to post on my blog but I think it was semi-amusing. A guy in London claims he woke up with a phone number in his head and decided to send it a text message. Long story short he ends up marrying the individual who had the phone number and it all started with him dreaming up the number.

Read the news tidbit here…

If you’ve not seen the movie, it’s about how we are all creators of of own reality. This idea is promoted with a blend of mysticism and quantum physics wrapped around a story of a woman coming to terms with her life, all spliced together between interviews with physicists and new age gurus.

The box set has 6 hours of extended interviews and that’s mainly why I wanted to own it.

Right now, I’ve just finished watching the interview with “Ramtha”, AKA JZ Knight AKA a woman who channels Ramtha, . . . → Read More: Ramtha & JZ Knight: What the BLEEP is that all about!?]]> So I got the “What the Bleep Do We Know?” DVD set for Christmas.

If you’ve not seen the movie, it’s about how we are all creators of of own reality. This idea is promoted with a blend of mysticism and quantum physics wrapped around a story of a woman coming to terms with her life, all spliced together between interviews with physicists and new age gurus.

The box set has 6 hours of extended interviews and that’s mainly why I wanted to own it.

Right now, I’ve just finished watching the interview with “Ramtha”, AKA JZ Knight AKA a woman who channels Ramtha, a 35,000 year old spirit from Atlantis.

Where do I start? I mean, what the fuck is this?

A woman channeling a spirit from Atlantis who speaks english with a slight irish accent? She (or should I say he?) wouldn’t even cooperate in the interview – every other question was turned into a question for the poor soul interviewing her! I felt bad for the guy. He’d ask questions like ‘Who are you, what is Ramtha?’ and she’d smile coyly and ask ‘Who are you?’ and then sit back and intently stare, waiting for an answer.

This sort of behavior went on for the whole interview. I couldn’t even make myself watch it in its entirety. It was a slow, drawn out, painful experience.

I realize that maybe a 35,000 year old spirit such as Ramtha would be annoyingly hostile to interview questions, or just unable to really talk to us on our level. But you’d think if you’d mastered eternal life, out of body experiences, multiple languages, and so on and so forth, you’d be pretty good at doing interviews. Especially when a business empire has been built up around you for many decades.

Honestly, I’m really disappointed to learn that JZ Knight/Ramtha and her School of Enlightenment are so involved in this movie. Supposedly 2 of the 3 directors are also students at this School of Enlightenment.

Here’s an official bio of Ramtha, from Wikipedia:

“Ramtha is an entity that JZ Knight, an American self-claimed spiritual medium claims to channel. According to Knight, Ramtha was a Lemurian warrior who raised an army and fought against the tyrants of the times, the Atlantians, over 35,000 years ago. Ramtha led an army of over 2.5 million across the continents, conquering 2/3 of the known world, which was going through cataclysmic geological changes. According to his teachings, he led the army for ten years until he was betrayed and almost killed.

Knight further claims that Ramtha spent the next seven years in isolation recovering and observing nature, among other things. He later mastered many skills, including foresight and out-of-body experiences, until he led his army to the Indus River when aged in his late seventies. Ramtha taught them everything he knew for 120 days, before he ascended before them. He made a promise to his army that he would come back to teach them again, and so he appeared to JZ Knight in 1977 to re-educate the “forgotten gods”, those who had forgotten themselves and their divinity.”

How on earth do you respond to something like that?