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    LukeSid

    The great schema of things

    by , 02-06-2016 at 10:35 AM (688 Views)
    Winter in the Uk now means wet and windy, and I hate that, so I'm not going out much. So it's maybe no surprise that I'm not getting LD's at the moment (although I'm still remembering, and logging a reasonable amount of dreams)

    I'm now in a regular routine of 40minutes+ of meditation/nearly falling asleep. I'm not as bad as the lad in the first video link but you get the idea So it's bad for meditation but better for my dream research.

    It means I can get the brain to show me how it works. There's a brilliant BBC documentary series, “The Brain” with David Eagleman, and he demonstrates how our brain usually controls us, and tells us what to see and do. (The second video link shows proof of that) I believe that kind of knowledge about the brain is important for dream research. He mentions schemas (templates) that the brain uses to “free up” neurons for other essential work.

    So, when we pass a house, the brain pulls a schema from its template rack and merely adds details to it. Well, when I reach the hypnagogic stage I can get my brain to actually show a few schemas by thinking things like “show me a house” and I got the outline of a house. The schemas are tastefully presented in white outline and surrounded by a white border. I'm not saying that's necessarily how the brain stores them, but that's how it shows me.

    So far I've got geometric shapes, a house (and when I asked for “a house” recently I got the outline of a key!) Fascinating stuff. Of course, the question is, can I use that to advance my LD ambitions? Knowing how the brain works could be the way in. Anyone who lives in a foreign country and doesn't learn the language is a fool. Presumably a DILD is just a person “creating a dream image” and the brain responds by popping up a schema , then embellishing it (i.e. a dream forming)

    So, my “house” schema maybe needs to be pushed, so it becomes second-nature for my brain to create it on demand. Then the Polish building neurons turn up and give it a nice frontage, plant a few bushes and away we go into dreamland. It's a thought.

    Brain trivia
    Apparently the unconscious is the big brother and the conscious is the runt. Who knew that? He likens the conscious, to a CEO of a large corporation, who steps in when there's a crisis. The trick for us is to get our CEO to make LD'ing one of its priorities.

    The brain's insistence on showing its pre-determined schema's (despite them sometimes being illogical) presumably explains why we are tricked by magicians. Well, not any more matey! You just have to shout “it's a bloody schema” and some big guy will probably throw you out...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njMP4c3SJJA


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtzzS9TtKes

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    1. gab's Avatar
      Interesting stuff, thank you for posting it.

      My main RC is looking at hands and when I closed my eyes falling asleep, I just said "hand" and I got an image on the back of my eyelids of a hand that was just a bit lighter than the darker "fog". It just happened, I didn't practice for it to happen, and it was surprising. I did this every night just out of curiosity if the image gets more "real" looking and one day I got a photograph of a real hand.

      And yes, european winters are dark and wet and cold and yucky. I feel for ya. Greetings from sunny California : D
      LukeSid likes this.
    2. LukeSid's Avatar
      Hi gab...hope you're well. I find it all very interesting. My lucid events, and most of my dreams, are limited and often short, so to be honest, I find dream research maybe more rewarding. Without it, I wouldn't have discovered McKenna, Adyshanti, or taken up secular Buddism and meditation. I wouldn't be (as a slow-learning layman) researching the brain, DMT and psilocybins.

      When I lay down to sleep I usually reach a stage, where a change comes over me. Like you, I have these muttered sayings (the obvious being "bring the mind home") When I feel the change, it's "here we go." Last night, it lasted longer...it's difficult to describe...my heart speeds up, I get disjointed thoughts and images and the feeling that something bigger is going to happen. It's not quite as strong as the "rushes" I used to get. I remembered instructions about not trying too hard, when a dream assembles during DILD, so I relaxed and let things happen. But, as per usual, I didn't end up going somewhere...it just gradually faded.

      IMO, when I'm meditating/dozing I sometimes hit a "sweet spot," an optimum stage, when I can obtain the strongest images. Other times, the images are further away and more indistinct...and that's strange...why further away, or is it just smaller because it's not the "sweet spot?"
      The other day I saw a small, but brightly coloured, Youtube Video (what it was about, I haven't a clue...) There was a orange and yellow surround around the video...can people create that sort of effect around their vids? Maybe my brain knows how easily I'm pleased. "Let's show the old boy something...anything..and then perhaps he'll go away."
      Still alive, still thinking, still dreaming, still researching and still waiting for Autumn.