Thread: Induction Methods: Mental vs. Substance

If some of the original criteria can be met by the person , like being able to remember at least some dreams at all ( which can be improve too) Lucid dreaming can be obtained without any outside chemical influence.
Most all that substances do is try to aid in the effort to Lucid dream. To add to that most of the effects are just hear say rather than fact. Some may indeed work and if an individual would persue it through those means then so be it.
It all comes down to what combination works for you! Unless ofcoarse it invovles harming your body.
Even if somthing is actually a placebo, who cares if it works for a particular person. Wether it be in the form of a technique an herb or a device.

Good point, the placebo effect is a powerful thing, and god it can be used to an advantage (like saying that certain chemicals cause coughing in chemistry class and watching the insuing coughing fits.). Which reminds me, I must start my placebo experiment.

I personally think it's best to stick to mental methods - lucid dreaming is pretty risk free, when you think about it, and that's one of the benefits of it: you can just stop, it's easy to do, you aren't actually affecting your body in any way. But when you start smoking things or using injections or depriving yourself of sleep for days on end, that is where you start taking risks and affecting your body in (sometimes) harmful ways. Sure, you can go and take drugs or whatever you want to use for a dream anyway, I'm not going to stop you - but I'm not joining you.

I like to think of it the way that without aid your not dependent on anything. In a worst case scenario, on a deserted island after your ship got wrecked you would be thankfull for learning it all the hard mental way i guess.