Why do people enjoy lucid dreaming? There are probably as many answers to
that question as there are lucid dreamers. In LDE 27 we asked readers what
it was about lucid dreaming that held their interest. We received numerous
responses ranging from practical uses to spiritual questing.
According to our readers, most lucid dreamers enjoy the sense of freedom
being lucid brings, the ability to defy the laws of physics, walk through
walls, fly, breathe underwater, etc. Some use lucid dreaming to rehearse
for waking life events, like giving a speech or practicing a sport. Others
enjoy being able to express themselves freely in the dreamstate, safe from
the pressures of society, where they can let off steam or speak their minds
to those they feel they can't confront in waking life. Still others of a
more metaphysical perspective use lucid dreaming to explore their own
psyche, to visit past lives, or induce self-healing.
Some dreamers are passive, allowing the dream to unfold around them, while
others engage dream characters and manipulate objects, taking a more active
role. Some ask their dream characters to explain to them what they
represent, as an aid in dream interpretation.
Taking this a step further, some dreamers ask their lucid dream characters
or symbols for clairvoyant or precognitive information. This is one of many
aspects of lucid dreaming that keeps Robert Waggoner interested in the
lucid dream state. In his article, Lucid Dreaming For Precognitive
Information, Robert discusses active and ambient lucid precognitive dreams,
detailing some wonderful personal examples.
Regardless of your beliefs about dream reality, employing lucid dreams for
precognitive clues can be quite interesting and a lot of fun, as Robert
shows below. Give it a try. You may surprise yourself!
Lucid Dreaming for Precognitive Information
(c) 2003 Robert Waggoner
In my experience, there seems to be two types of lucid precognitive dreams:
active and ambient. Active lucid precognitive dreams are ones in which the
lucid dreamer actively engages the dream objects or characters for a
precognitive response. By contrast, ambient lucid precognitive dreams are
ones in which the lucid dream report contains a precognitive element that
was not actively sought by the dreamer (this being more of a mixture of
lucid dreaming and standard precognitive dreaming). An example of ambient
lucid precognitive dreaming occurred to me in a dream in which I was being
chased by gangsters in a car in my old hometown. When I passed 17th and
Plum, I turned behind the Vickers gas station and became lucid when I saw a
car wash there! In waking physical reality, there was no car wash there -
at least at that time. Probably five years later, a car wash was built in
that exact same spot. I hadn't lived in that town for 15 years by the time
of the dream.
I remember the first time I tried to have a precognitive lucid dream in
response to a challenge by Linda Magallon. In the subsequent lucid dream, I
was in "like a big stage area for a band and a dance floor. There are
instruments all around, a drummer behind his drums, chairs, etc. I think,
"What should I do? Should I send energy to disabled people I know?" No,
that doesn't interest me. Then I think, Linda Magallon wants people to
precognate in dreams. But as I think about it, I can't think of how to
precognate! It seems absurd --- How am I supposed to precognate when I am
cognating now (in this dream)?" When I woke, a bit upset at this
mini-philosophical crisis, it was quickly evident that I needed to project
the precognition outward as if from another source like a character or
object in the dream."
As far back as 1986, Ed Kellogg, Ph.D. wrote in the Dream Network
Bulletin (vol. 4) about developing a Lucid Dream Incubation Technique
(LDIT) to seek answers to questions. In a lucid dream, Ed decided that the
answer to his important question would appear on a note when he turned over
a silver bowl. The answer on the dream note was later confirmed. Ed writes
"The essential principle behind this technique involves first finding a
medium for the materialization of the answer (such as a bowl, or closed
drawer) asking the question, waiting a few seconds, and then reading the
materialized answer (after turning over the bowl, or opening the drawer,
etc.) I have found it most important to pick an appropriate medium in each
dream for the LDIT (response)...."
The following are some of my other attempts at precognition in lucid
dreams. As you may notice in these accounts, the precognitive tasks vary in
a qualitative sense. Some of the tasks came to me spontaneously in the
lucid dream - and in that state, the task seemed a reasonable test. But
upon waking, it is easy to see that the tasks could have been much more
stringent and meaningful. For lucid dreamers who are interested in testing
precognition in lucid dreams, I strongly advise you to compose the
precognitive test in the waking state, so that you will have a solid test
available to you when you become lucid.
April 20-21 1999 "Talking To My Dead Father" --- Lucid Dream.
"The dream scene is basically like a dark stage. Suddenly I see a golden
wood ladder right in front of me, hanging in the air. I can see the
polished wood gleaming and the thin lines on the wood. Suddenly I see a
foot and then another and look up -- I recognize my dad is coming down the
gold ladder. I realize, "Hey, Dad is dead," and think, "Well, then this is
a dream." I am a bit surprised by his bad haircut, and grin at the
absurdity of not getting a good haircut in the afterdeath state! He looks
about 60 years old and very healthy, even though he passed on at 82.
I think that since he's dead, I'll ask him some questions. Then, I can
determine if the information is valid. He tells me that he is doing fine.
Then, reasoning that the deceased should know about issues around death, I
say, "Dad, tell me, when do you think M will die?" He looks at me and says,
"Oh, she will probably die in 2 to 6 years." (In my notes, I have written
'heart' but I can't recall if he said she'd have heart problems. To the
best of my knowledge, she has never been bothered by heart problems.) I ask
him some other questions. He says something like the coming months may be
challenging, but that the family can make it. I get the feeling that August
will be the most difficult. He also tells me that I need to be more
compassionate and understanding of one family member. He has some other
advice (but upon awakening, this is all I recall.) I felt very pleased to
see him."
As a postscript, I think that about a month later my sister's place in
Kansas was hit by a tornado, and sustained about $30,000 in damages, - no
one was home at the time.
Almost two years later, M went to the hospital in March 2001, complaining
of shortness of breath. It took the doctors a few weeks to diagnose the
problem, and they told her she had a heart problem, in which the muscles of
the heart begin to thicken and can't keep up with the supply of blood, so
the blood backs up into the lungs and creates a shortness of breath. They
said her veins and arteries were very healthy, and prescribed medication to
help her heart. As of today, she is still alive, and her heart problem is
her only serious medical issue (she is 78 years old).
In a lucid dream of Jan. 3-4,00, I had a spontaneous desire to experiment
with precognitive lucid dreaming. I wrote: "After a while, I see D, and
wonder what should I do in this lucid dream. Recalling some precognitive
lucid dreams of D, I step up and ask him, "When I hear from you next, what
will be the first words out of your mouth to me?" He looks me square in the
face and replies, "Robert, you." I make a note to remember that. Then once
again, I have this incredible surge of sound energy within me - like an
inner explosion that realigns my cells." (I wake up tingling and a bit
shocked.)
Almost five weeks later, the phone rings and my wife answers. She calls
out, "Robert, it's D." I recalled the lucid dream and took the phone and
said "Hello" while I waited for his response. D replied, "Robert, you are
finally there!" - confirming my earlier lucid dream which predicted the
first two words "Robert, you".
In a lucid dream a few years ago, I asked two questions of the same person;
the questions were, "A year from now, will you be married?" - he responded,
"No." Then I asked, "A year from now, where will you be living?" - he
responded, "In London." The responses given to both lucid dream questions
were correct one year later. At the time of the lucid dream, he had been
making plans to move away from London, and had a serious relationship that
could have led to marriage, but did not.
While traveling on business, I had another lucid dream in which I again
spontaneously made a precognitive dream task. In the lucid dream, I
announced that when I picked up the telephone in the dream, I would hear
from the most important person to talk to me on the next day. So, lucid, I
picked up the phone, and I heard my wife talking to me very happily. I woke
up and wrote the dream down (a bit disappointed that I had not thought of a
more convincing precognitive task). The next day, as I went to my meetings
and traveled, I had basically forgotten about the lucid dream, until that
evening, when I called my wife and she announced that she had great news!
As I recall, she was being offered some exciting task in her job as a
university administrator.
In this next case, I made a waking decision to become lucid and attempt to
discover precognitively the numbers of the Pick Three lottery game. This is
not a lottery game that I play, and my attempts to find the exact rules of
the game (before the dream) failed -- so I basically knew that the game was
a selection of three numbers.
May 30-31 5:45 am, "Lucid Lottery" - Lucid Dream
"I am walking along with a radio listening to something. I seem to be on
the 17th street sidewalk near my old elementary school. As I go along at
night, something seems odd - I realize that this is a dream. I put my hands
out in front of me and run down the sidewalk yelling, "This is a dream,
this is a dream!" I can see my hands go out of focus after about 5 seconds
- and I think that I need to be careful not to lose my visuals.
The stars are very bright and seem to be more numerous than in waking
reality. I think about flying up to the stars, but don't think it would
amount to anything. I put my hands up again and repeat that this is a
dream. I turn right towards my childhood home, when I see a car with
headlights on, turning into Mr. Metcalf's garage (different than waking
reality). I run over there. The car turns off its headlights.
It occurs to me that I could ask Mr. Metcalf what are the (Pick 3) numbers
for the next Iowa lottery, as another lucid dreamer had mentioned as a
precognitive test. I couldn't quite recall the name of the lottery game and
also the date. As I prepared to ask him the question, I saw a circular
thing in my hand - like a watch face only with numbers (actually it was
like the Wheel of Fortune on the tv show, in color). I thought, "Is this
the answer?" Then my vision seemed to fall on '8'. I looked again feeling
uncertain but this time saw no numbers, just the wheel. I looked again and
saw an '8'. Then finally I saw a '1'. I thought, "Is it 8-3-1?" I looked
again - but the wheel of numbers would change. For some reason, '831'
seemed like the number of something familiar (which reminded me of an old
lock number on a post office box in college that was circular shaped like
this dream wheel of fortune). Mr. Metcalf is now out of his car - but he is
about 40 years old (instead of 70 or 80) and so is his wife. I can't get
greater lucidity, feel a bit frustrated and decide to wake up."
Comments: When I woke up, I strongly felt that '8' was one of the numbers.
I wasn't pleased with how the numbers showed up, one at a time and before I
even asked the question formally!! Then I realized that in the dream when I
thought the "next lottery", I was also thinking that it would be the
weekend lottery (though there is a Weds. drawing and the morning was
actually Weds.). So I felt like it was a bit of a busted play, and my
lucidity wasn't sufficient. I did enjoy the dream's insertion of Mr.
Metcalf, who was an old codger in the neighborhood whose lawn I mowed -- he
had the fortune of having found oil on his land, so was quite wealthy even
though he lived very modestly, except for his car.
In any case, the weekend numbers were 8-0-8! I didn't even realize that 0
was a choice, having never played the pick three game - but you can see
from the dream report that I recall looking at the wheel in the dream and
seeing no numbers, which could possibly be considered 0. A liberal
interpretation might say that I saw on my first look, '8', on my second
look "nothing, but the circular wheel"-which is shaped like a '0',- and on
my third look, another '8'. Also, it didn't occur to me prior to the dream
and during the dream that the same number could show up twice, 8-0-8, which
is why I felt '3' seemed more appropriate. I have to say that I was a bit
upset that the numbers showed up before I formally asked the question.
Finally, I have another lucid dream which is a bit more clairvoyant or
telepathic, than precognitive. In it, I become lucid, and see a member of a
friend's family. I know this person has a rare physical condition, so
lucid, I go up and ask, "Why do you have this condition?" He responds, "I
have it for (this reason)." This completely shocks me and I wake up to
write it down. To make a long story short, I happened to mention this dream
to my friend. My friend is very surprised by this lucid dream and tells me
that I have uncovered a family secret, and the information provided in the
lucid dream is correct.
While I do not intend to presume the validity of lucid dream precognition
from these small samples, it is certainly suggestive of the possibility of
lucid dream precognition. Other lucid dreamers have reported instances of
lucid dream precognition which were later confirmed, according to their
self reports. In normal dreaming, there are thousands of reported instances
of precognitive dreaming (while in our private dream journals alone, many
of us could show hundreds of examples).
The value of lucidity however is that the lucid dreamer can direct the
content of the dream towards some specific goal or task, such as a
pre-determined precognitive task, under accepted scientific protocol. In
standard dreams, however, precognition happens randomly and could not be
subject to testing as easily or with high degrees of certainty. Also,
standard precognitive dreams often are not evident until after the event
takes place or they have symbolic content that is open to interpretation.
In the book Dreamtime and Dreamwork edited by Stanley Krippner, Jon
Tolaas has an excellent chapter on the common pitfalls of many reported
psychic dreams from a scientific standpoint. Nonetheless, I am certain that
an experiment could be structured and conducted to determine the validity
of lucid precognitive dreaming.
The Lucid Dream Exchange is a quarterly newsletter featuring lucid dreams and lucid dream related articles and interviews.
To subscribe to The Lucid Dream Exchange send a blank email to:
TheLucidDreamExchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
You can also check us out at
www.dreaminglucid.com
|
