[In order to become lucid in a dream] we must arouse the critical faculty which seems to a great extent inoperative in dreams, and here, too, degrees of activiy become manifest. Let us suppose, for example, that in my dream I am in a café. At a table near mine is a lady who would be very attractive - only, she has four eyes. Here are some illustrations of the degrees of activity of the critical faculty:- In the dream it is practically dormant, but on waking I have the feeling that there was something peculiar about this lady. Suddenly, I get it - "Why, of course, she had four eyes!"
- In the dream I exhibit mild surprise and say, "How curious that girl has four eyes! It spoils her." But only in the same way that I might remark, "What a pity she had broken her nose! I wonder how she did it."
- The critical faculty is more awake and the four eyes are regarded as abnormal; but the phenomenon is not fully appreciated. I exclaim, "Good Lord!" and then reassure myself by adding, "There must be a freak show or a circus in the town." Thus I hover on the brink of realization, but do not quite get there.
- My critical faculty is now fully awake and refuses to be satisfied by this explanation. I continue my train of thought, "But there never was such a freak! An adult woman with four eyes - it's impossible. I am dreaming."
~ Oliver Fox, Astral Projection
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