Originally Posted by ShadowOfSelf
@Sageous
Thanks for the reply I expected an insightful post. I can agree, I believe a lot of these companies work on the power of suggestion/placebo, though i'm always open to ideas. I practise being aware, during the day and through meditation, but lately feel like i'm not making much progress.. do you have any suggestions, any books or insight that could help?
Suggestions:
In terms of books about technique: About the one thing that Stephen La Berge did give us is Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming: read it, memorize it, and believe that the techniques he lists actually work, regardless of how kitschy they may seem. Stephen shot his lucidity wad with that book, written decades ago, and it might reflect more of others' input than his, but who cares? The fundamentals are there. In terms of the "rules" for LD'ing, not much else is necessary.
In terms of books on self-awareness, I got nothing; I've never found one that made sense or didn't fall into some dogmatic morass that I wasn't interested in. I guess that's because self-awareness, even sense of Self, can be explained in just a few words, so nobody's too interested in writing a whole book. Indeed, in a book I recently wrote I included a chapter on self-awareness, and after only about 800 words I was repeating myself.
In terms of sheer discipline, I have to recommend The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, by Tenzin Rinpoche. There are are of course other books, probably better ones, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.
In terms of general dreaming books (you must know the subject before you can explore it): For a global view of dreaming and its social/philosophical implications, I suggest James Hillman's The Dream and the Underworld. For real foundational insight into the whole deal, you should look at Dreams and Man and His Symbols, by C. G. Jung. For a genuine fugue of mathematically-oriented philosophy about perception, Self, and reality itself, carefully absorbing Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstadter would be very valuable. Oh, and everyone should read Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman, just because it's cool .Of course all these books will only increase your knowledge; how you use the knowledge is up to you.
In terms of other toys/ aides: About the only electronic device I have ever found value in is the state tester. La Berge was selling one for about a week call the PEST (Personal Electronic State Tester), and it's long gone, but lots of people sell devices that chirp, buss, light up, or whatever at random intervals to remind you to do reality checks and think for a moment about where you are standing, and why. Here's the only one I can put my hands on, built by the guy who made the original PEST. I owned a Dream Light once, and it, like the NovaDreamer and the machine advertized at the top of this page, all work fine(meaning they detect REM and make noise about it), but in the end they are very expensive ways for a dreamer to say,"Hey, what's that bright light over there?" without ever becoming lucid -- in other words, they are excellent devices, but they require the same mental prep that not using them does.
In terms of drugs, the only one I've found to effectively enhance LD's is gallantamine. But be careful, as it has a nasty habit of adding too much clarity and excitement to your dreams, and thus making the work required to become lucid not so interesting!. Vitamin B-6 does nothing for lucidity, but it truly does help improve dream recall.
In terms of all those high-priced CD's programs, Dream Camps, etc: I suggest staying away from them until after you have become reasonably adept at LD'ing (or OBE's, or AP). Then you can use their wherewithal and occasional wisdom as an assist to enter your dream state more quickly, or with more confidence. You really must learn to master the fundamentals first, though, whether you like it or not. Also, once your skills are sound, those Dream Camps are excellent places to meet with others who have done the same. And no, no matter what they advertise, the recorded programs will do nothing to build your self-awareness. About the only assist in that department you could ever get is to move to Tibet for, oh, seven years, and develop your self-awareness under the tutelage of an established llama. Of course, even those bad boys expect this process to take many years!
That's all I got right now. If I think of anything else, I'll share.
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