Dream Geometry

Full disclosure, I am an LD newb. Like I'm as green as you can be, just started practicing techniques last week, although I do them daily and commitedly. I have an interest in philosophy, and to get into the real juicy stuff, real logic and analytical stuff, you need to understand math and the logic of math better than I do. I only took the amount of math necessary to graduate from high school.

So lately I've been teaching myself some math, and I've begun to apply very, very basic principles of mathematical observation to my ADA and RC-- for example try to recognize angles to as close a degree as possible, if you see a spinning sign count how many seconds it takes to revolve, things of that nature. I was in a dollar store with a very regimented grid of fluorescent lights, at first I noticed the visual effect of changing my perspective and then I counted the lights in a quarter of the store and multiplied it to decide how many must have been hanging from the ceiling.

Anyway, like I said I'm a newb, but it's my understanding that the part of your brain you want to turn back on during REM is the one concerning logic and critical thinking. Am I on to something?

In the transitional phase between consciousness and dreaming, the release of key hormones or brain chemicals such as serotonin is completely suppressed which limits the way the lateral prefrontal cortex (part of the brain that controls execution and cognitive functions) handles logic. It's very difficult to just 'turn it back on' because at that point you are already losing the structured progression that is waking life.

Ok, well, isn't becoming conscious in the dream state the activation of that "execution and cognitive function?" I understand that dreams are characterized by this lack of awareness. Are you saying that the technique would be ineffective because for me to perform it in the dream would require that system to already be active? I'm not sure I understand your point.

I'm not sure if you were mislead by the term "turn on" but I'm just wondering if making a concentrated effort on that part of awareness will help make RCs more effective, when already included in a complete routine with normal inductions etc.

Which is why I carefully said that the function of that part of the brain is limited and not shut-off. My point is, what you're doing is an interesting idea but ultimately counterproductive if you are using it to achieve lucidity.

I certainly don't want to do anything counterproductive. Do you mean that it would be so when included in RC when used normally, or just assuming that it was the only thing I was doing to become lucid?