There has been quite a stir in the media this week about the use of gamma frequency radiation signals, to prompt the induction of lucid dreams and I would like to share my view on the matter. Where do we stand regarding technology and lucid dreaming?
I think we should approach this matter with caution, as the risk we face here is the often nebulous schism that seems to separate science and spirituality. The argument, I frequently hear, is that lucid dreaming should be pursued “naturally” and any technological interfacing of the process would allude to something less spiritual.
Well, to put things in perspective, I might ask how any of us have pursued our process today, did we take automated transport, have we employed cellular phone technology, what about the clothes we are wearing, did we hand stitch them or are the machine woven?
Technology is a word and what it implies is not somehow distinct from nature, as people of often imply, we are nature doing nature. If a bird builds a nest, how is that so different to us building a sky scraper?
Labeling lucid dreaming as an exclusively spiritual practice is neither very scientific nor is it spiritual as one is judging the process and tying it up with some cultural notion. The truth is that nobody really knows what lucid dreaming is, except that it is important and and looking increasingly like the next most logical place for the self reflective mind to explore.
So instead of standing on some proverbial Luddite platform, spouting cultural propaganda, we should consider the matter not as an “either/or” situation but instead a “both/and” as we should look first and foremost to make this process possible for people.
Now before anyone shouts “Yes but anyone can do it with enough practice!” - Can anyone jump 6 feet with enough practice? Let’s not be naive about matters which we simply cannot quantify. Lucid dreaming is amazing, it is probably the most interesting thing a conscious being can contemplate, so let’s embrace it together and keep cultural notions out of it.
I, for one, am a firm advocate of technology, as I see what we are doing as no more (and perhaps even less so) sophisticated than a plant turning light into energy, we are all nature doing its thing, so let’s keep doing it well.
In closing, I would like to announce to everyone that we have a new partner working with the site - iWinks - the creators of The Aurora Headband. They are a really productive team with their finger firmly pressed on the pulse of lucid dream technology and their game changing device scooped a massive $239,094 on Kickstarter. These guys are, in my view, the leading tech team on lucid dream research and I hope people support them by checking out and postng out about their product, which we are featuring on the home site. Link here - https://iwinks.org/
Dream Share Experiment is on the 31st this month, so passwords ready and let’s keep at this, who knows where the future will take us, but rest assured it will be exciting!!
R
Hi there - I agree with your comments about no one really knowing what lucid dreaming is and think you could also apply that thinking to spirituality. The word spiritual means different things to different people, to some it means psychically enlightened or advanced, to others it just means non-physical, and yet to others, it means ghosts. You could write several pages on what “spiritual” means to any given person. We’re not very scientific about it because people tend to think these are separate things (science and spirituality) instead of different aspects of the same thing . To me it’s not a question about whether something’s “spiritual” or not anyway, it’s a question of whether something helps you to evolve in a wholesome way or not. Wholesome in the literal sense of something that makes you complete, or whole unto yourself — self-contained and self-sustained. That is true freedom and true independence. And for me, a major part of what it means to evolve (to become whole). Interestingly, to be truly independent from “the construct,” you must be ready to be fully integrated with, and/or accepting of, the stuff that makes up the construct because you have to interact with it in a positive, constructive way, from the inside out. You would no longer be manipulating something outwardly, but instead integrating it inwardly, in order to produce yourself whatever effect you need with the stuff you have at hand. Also, anything we can invent, devise, or produce outwardly, is a reflection of an ability or function that exists, first and foremost, inwardly, and that we are imitating or projecting in order to comprehend it and/or learn to “handle” it. So evolution, healing, transcending, ultimately speaking, are all better accomplished from the inside out, and not from the outside in, which will always limit you in the end. Inside out, on the other hand, will always increase and expand you, because you have taken ownership of, or authority over (author-ity) whatever the thing is that you projected outward to get a handle on in the first place. Which is not to say that technology can’t show up as an example so we can better understand something. I think we just tend to go overboard with things that like that (like some did with LSD) and that we haven’t found a good balance with the “and” in terms of technology. In this probability that we’re in, we have I feel, so far, over-relied on technology, but that doesn’t mean by a long shot that that’s the only way to go. Your lucid dreams themselves ought to be showing you this.
I think the more we rely on any outer-mechanical or even naturally-produced thing (like an herb or chemical for instance), the less likely we are to push ourselves (our own bodies and minds) to accomplish/ perform that same function or produce that effect. And ultimately, we are absolutely, I believe, supposed to be able to perform those functions that we are presently projecting outward, from ourselves onto technology, industry, whatever. Technology, industry, substances, all of these are exercises, examples, and temporary aides, intended merely to point the way to a new place, new way of being or new/altered state of mind), but they are not supposed to do the living/being for us. We’re supposed to do it, or get there (if it’s an altered mental state), on our own. Eventually. If, for instance, you insisted upon using a crutch for a long-healed broken ankle, it would soon cause other, perhaps more severe, problems for the rest of your body while also keeping the ankle weak. Also, you mention can everyone jump 6 feet? To that I say, Can everyone put on one of those flying squirrel suits and skim the mountains after jumping from a plane? Of course not, and probably not all people should try it either. We are all different, with different talents and ways of developing them, and equally importantly, we are at different levels of development. Technology might be okay for some, but could enable others to skip over in an unfortunate way the “stuff” they actually should learn in order to be truly comfortable with their process. They would then be forcing the issue, end up having some bad experience, and then be fearful entirely of the whole idea of ANYthing “spiritual.” Also, a plant turns light into energy by itself. Not with technology.