Are you dreaming right now? The Chinese philosopher Chuang Chou (also known as Zhuangzi) wrote, “Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”

That is the power of the mind. We have all had dreams so vivid and so “real.” I myself have had dreams in which I noticed the smallest details in things, like the cracks in pavement or the feel of tree bark. I've heard songs play perfectly without interruption despite in my “awakened” state not being able to remember the words. I've had stimulating conversations and curious insights. Basically, when we are asleep, we are in another world, a world where the rules may be different and the stimulus more broad (such as being able to fly or jump from location to location), but we are just as alive as in our perceived awakened state. You don't necessarily sleep a third of you life away, you live it in another world... the dream world. This is worth embracing.

But there is a downside. Dreams are usually experienced without consciousness meaning that while you are dreaming, you are void of choice or awareness. Typically you just experience things in a dream whether it be pleasant or not without any active, mental participation. The other downside is we often forget our dreams very quickly, thus losing the wonderment and experience of traveling the dreamworld. But, like most things worth doing, both of these obstacles can be overcome with attention and practice.

I came across the notion of lucid dreaming and was intrigued at the idea of being able to experience the dreamworld consciously. Yes, this means to be aware you are dreaming and maintain control of your thoughts and actions within the dream state (ah, if you can do it while you are awake too that would be splendid). This is not an easy feat at first and I have only been able to do it once. After trying for weeks and following some basic documented suggestions I was a bit frustrated at not being able to experience it. However, one night without thinking about it I entered the lucid dream state and all I can say is wow... To experience sleep like that not only allows you to live that other third of your life but allows you to live it in a magical place.

I can't tell you how to get there and will direct you to other resources. On the most basic level, you have to work at remembering you dreams. Dream retention is step one and practicing this will help. When you wake up, recite your dream to yourself or write it down. Keeping a log is beneficial. You quickly begin to find that you are able to remember more often and in more detail the dreams you experience. The next step is to be able to recognize that you are dreaming. Look for signs.. find a clock, look for certain indicators within the dream that inform the part of your mind that it is a dream you are experiencing. For me it was a clock and when I saw that it was 3pm something in my brain triggered and I realized I was dreaming and gained full consciousness. Visit this site for more information on learning lucid dreaming: The Lucidity Institute.

In my one dream, I learned that being conscious in the dreamworld does not mean you can control the objects or people in it. This I learned the hard way by intentionally being obnoxious thinking I could do anything since it was a dream. Oddly though, I found the characters in my dream put off by it... I couldn't control their thoughts or actions or displayed emotions. Maybe this changes as you become more comfortable in the dream but my first go wasn't smooth. But it was amazing and I want to go back.

There are philosophical points that can be extracted from experiencing dreams in such ways. It gives you pause in judging what is real, if anything. After all, we actually live in a sound proof, pitch black cave we call our skulls (or do we???). Our consciousness is a cerebral cortex receiving electrical impulses that get translated into some sensation, well, when we are awake anyway. But when we are asleep, the sensations are derived from within instead of without. Being conscious in the caricature of the sleep dream state helps one identify the dream state of the waking world. Are they the same? Different? Does it matter? What matters to me is that if I can learn to be conscious in one state, then I can be conscious in another and living consciously is what I'm after. To live consciously is to feel what is like to be alive.

I will leave you with this, one of my favorite excerpts from Descartes's Meditation:

“I will suppose, therefore, not that God deceives me – he being supremely good, and the fount of truth; rather, there is an evil genius, enjoying utmost power and cunning and employing them to this end. I shall think that the sky, the air, the earth, colors, shapes, sounds and all external things are merely delusions in dreams – things he has devised to ensnare my judgement. I shall consider myself not as having hand or eyes, flesh or blood or senses, but as falsely believing that I have all these things. I shall stubbornly and solidly persist in this meditation; so that even if it is not in my power to know any truth, I shall at least do what I can – namely, to guard resolutely against assenting to any falsehoods. In this way, the deceiver – however powerful and cunning he may be – will be unable to impose on me in the slightest degree. But this is an arduous task, and a kind of laziness drags me back to normal life. I am like a prisoner who is enjoying an imaginary freedom while asleep; as he begins to suspect he is asleep, he dreads waking up, and carries on with the pleasant illusion as long as he can. In just this way, I slide contentedly into my old opinions and dread being shaken out of them for fear that my peaceful sleep may be followed by hard, waking labor, and that I shall have to toil not in the light, but in the inescapable shadows of the difficulties I have now raised.”

Good night and sweet dreams.

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