This is the second revision of the introduction. It's very similar to the first revision, but with more correct English :-). There's one extra paragraph, which is supposed to answer some of the worries readers might have about lucid dreaming.
Everyone should feel free to discuss, propose or post changes. If you quote large pieces of the text, please mark any changes / comments you add to that text, so we can see them in a nice consistent way. I've made large numbers of small changes and comments at a time, and found a few conventions useful.
Note that this thread is only for the Introduction. There's a whole forum dedicated to this book! Check out the threads on the book as a whole, the project sketch, and the other chapters.
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- blue for anything that wasn't in the original I'm quoting, or that I want to change. That's the most important thing: make sure your changes/comments stand out from the quoted text you've put them in.
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strikethrough to show words I wanted to remove.- underline on new words.
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gud speling good spelling
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--- --- Chapter 1: Introduction
I was in an apocalyptic version of my house. Everything around me was brown and in ruins and the horizon was black and depressing. My father told me we had to get out of there, as it was no longer safe to hide at home. After some running, I faced what was supposed to be my school. It was also in ruins, and this time there were bodies all over. This view was so awful that I told myself "No, this can't be true! I was here yesterday and my school wasn't like this!". That sentence immediately brought up an intense feeling. I knew all I was seeing wasn't real.. but if it wasn't real, where was I? I took a closer look at my surroundings. Everything was mysteriously unknown but rather familiar at the same time. It could only be a dream. And it was. By the time I realized I was inside my own dream, and aware of it, I thought about the limitless possibilities the situation held. I was in charge of my own dream, and I could do anything I wanted. That said, I looked around one more time and then up at the sky. The sky seemed beautiful now, in a shade of blue I had never seen before. And so I took off, using a propelling jump to fly my way out of that ruined atmosphere. Flying felt great: I could feel the wind on my face, and I could see the small buildings below me. At that moment, I was free, nothing could stop me. I could fly without wings, swim without breathing, lift cars and conjure explosions out of thin air. However, the most amazing thing in all this is how real the dream was. At any point I could have mistaken it for reality; the detail filled me with awe. It was like a second life, but a life in which I was the superhero.
--Lucid dream account by Bruno Lepri (Kromoh)
Exhilarating, liberating, and awe-inspiring are just a few ways to describe the wonder of lucid dreams. Within them, anything is possible: you could fly over a sun-bathed city, walk through walls, feel incredible joy, compose music, create your own worlds, and influence any aspect of your dream. The best news is that this vast realm of possibilities is available to any who pursue it. By the time you have finished this book you will have learned the fundamentals of lucid dreaming, the historical and scientific contexts, how to better remember your dreams, techniques to induce lucidity, various lucid aids and more.
Have you ever had a dream where you knew you were dreaming? If so, you too have experienced the unique sensation that is lucidity. You might have pinched yourself and tried to wake up, or ran to do something you couldn’t in waking life. Whatever happened, this dream probably sticks out in your mind. Compare this to the non-lucid dream we are all familiar with. In the average dream it can seem as if you were handed a movie script and told to play out your part exactly as written. In truth the scenery, characters and situations are all a product of your own subconscious, but you believe everything, no matter how ridiculous, and accept it as reality.
The benefits to lucid dreaming are far greater than meets the eye. How much time do you spend asleep over your lifetime? Most people spend a third of their lives unconscious, missing out on grand opportunities to be as awake and alive as their waking life. The most obvious use of lucidity is pure enjoyment, but if you pursue it further there are many potential therapeutic and psychological benefits. Through lucidity you can overcome nightmares, face your fears, learn about yourself, gain artistic ideas and insights, boost confidence, problem solve and release a new level of freedom in your life.
Lucid dreaming is perfectly natural, but at present it is not widely known about. Most dreams are not lucid, and in general people don't spend much time thinking about dreams, so it isn't surprising if you've never heard of lucid dreams before. In the past few decades, lucid dreaming has been studied by scientists and its existence is firmly established. Although it is natural, most people have to make an effort to have regular lucid dreams. The exceptions are a lucky few who have had frequent lucid dreams from an early age, who are surprised when they discover that it doesn't happen to everyone else! If you try the techniques in this book, you should not worry that you will be stuck with regular lucid dreams against your will and be unable to stop them.
In the endeavor to become lucid in your dreams, the ability to recall dreams is an important one. In daily lives, our chores can leave us little time to know ourselves better. Many of us lose the ability to remember our dreams in the tiring routine. Some of us might even conclude that they are not dreaming anymore; that is hopefully not the case! We all average about five dreams in a good night of sleep. If that were all there was to it, we would remember our dreams with great ease. But there is also the fact that, while we're having a regular dream, we're mostly unconscious. That makes recalling dreams a challenge of key importance to lucid dreaming. Good dream recall will not only increase your lucidity rate, but also make sure you do not forget your lucid dream when you have one.
To improve dream recall, there is a consensus that keeping a Dream Journal is of utmost importance. It could be anything that stores information about your dreams from a simple spiral bound notebook, a computer or tape recorder. Since dream recall is so important we will come back to it in later chapters.
This book provides you with a range of relaxation methods to help you fall asleep, which are also rather important. While these techniques will not directly make you lucid, but they play a fundamental part in many induction techniques.
There are scientifically proven methods to obtain lucidity within your dreams, which we will explain in detail. The lucid dreaming community popularly classifies them using acronyms. For example, many techniques are classed as DILDs, meaning dream initiated lucid dream. As well as the main techniques, you will learn many relevant pieces of information, such as when the best time to gain lucidity is. The techniques will be guides that you can use, but also expand upon. You may even create ways on your own that best fit your lifestyle. Lucid dreaming involves creativity: if one way doesn't seem to work for you, then you can adapt it and make your own method. The goal behind this book is more than just to teach you popular techniques; it is aimed to help you learn to lucid dream on your own and do so masterfully. All told, lucidity is more of a personal achievement rather than a series of learned techniques.
Now then, you’re ready to begin your path to lucid knowledge. If you have never experienced a lucid dream before, take heart: it is only a matter of time and patience. Let us guide your first steps into the realm of lucid dreaming.
© Copyright 2007 Dreamviews education team. All rights reserved.
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