Imagine you have the ability to travel clear across the country in a day, be in two places at once, or have lengthy conversations with deceased relatives while sipping tea in the clouds whenever it strikes your fancy. By learning a simple technique of the mind, you can do things you never considered possible. Unfortunately, this technique can only be used while you are asleep; nevertheless, our dreams can open doors we never knew existed. Lucid dreaming, in particular, gives us the ability to walk through, over, under, or around those doors. Lucid Dreaming is a beneficial state of awareness that can be learned to reach while in the dream state. .
While records of lucid dream discussion date back to the days of Aristotle, it was Frederick Van Eeden who first coined the term "lucid dream". Van Eeden used the word "lucid" simply to mean "clarity". In Webster's sense of the word, lucidity means "clearness of thought or style," and "a presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously." Lucid dreaming simply means awareness of the fact that one is dreaming, while in the dream state (LeBarge and Levitan par. 1). In his essay "A Study of Dreams," Van Eeden classifies nine different types of dreams. He constitutes the seventh type, Lucid Dreams, as the "most interesting and worthy of the most careful observation and study" (par. 27). In the Lucid Dream state, the reinstallation of our psychic functions is so accurate that the sleeper recalls their waking life, realizes their current position, reaches a state of complete awareness, and has the ability to concentrate on certain things and act upon them in whatever way imaginable.
(par. 28).
A more recent study of dreams has been, and is currently being done by researcher Dr. Stephen LaBerge. With a Stanford Ph. D. in psycho-physiology, LaBerge was the first to conduct the science of Lucid Dreaming. LaBerge states that in the usual case, we do not realize we are dreaming when we are in the dream state.
