Secret of Natural Lucid Dreamers, A Perspective
I've had fairly in-depth conversations, both with myself and with others, lately regarding the nature of awareness and how self-awareness is the underlying key to being lucid, whether it's all-day lucidity or dreaming lucidity.
However; too often self-awareness is discussed as if it's 'the' key in and of itself. But what activates the 'self' part of self-awareness when it comes to dreams? We must backtrack to the true source or we are not discussing the cause, the true instigating factor. This missing piece, this underlying impetus that brings about lucidity in the first place, is what we should be searching for.
One of my focuses to get to that underlying element has been trying to understand the mindset of the Natural Lucid Dreamer. I know that if we can crack that code, so to speak, we'll find the kernel inside that answers our questions. But its hard to simply ask a Natural what they do because what they do is not a technique, it's a mode of existence.
The conclusion that I have come to, rightly or not, was arrived at by observations in disparate areas, many not at all related to lucid dreaming.
One of these areas is memory training. For example, I can choose to use the method of loci to remember a grocery list. On my couch, I'll set a giant radish which is using celery to beat on a loaf of bread as if it were a drum. The underlying reason this works as a memory aide is that you are creating a unique, slightly, okay mostly, crazy visualization that the mind finds so interesting, or at least so compelling, that it can not be ignored. More importantly, the mind does not want to ignore it. The mind loves uniqueness. Uniqueness makes it happy. It gets the mind out of its boring, daily routines. Remember, the primary function of the sub/unconscious mind is as a recording/playback device, your brain's hard drive. It deals specifically with the playback of routines (habits). It is through this playback of recordings that we wake up each morning and don't have to relearn how to walk and talk afresh. Yet, these routines are monotonous.
Another of the disparate ideas comes re magical philosophy wherein it states that if you perform a magical act in accordance with the natural flow of energies that you have a chance to succeed wonderfully. If you go against the flow of the natural energies, you will have the hardest of times, even if you succeed, and usually to a lesser extent. Go with the flow not against it.
I'll leave the observations at two for the sake of brevity.
We spend our time trying to force ideas onto the un/subconscious, trying to force it to take on lucidity whether it wants to or not, in a manner that it does not find enjoyable. We approach against the tide. The forced, rote approach will/may work over time, as has been proven with various techniques discussed on DV. So it's not as if the rote, forced method has no value.
But the better route to take, I believe personally, is to engage the mind in an activity that it is more than happy to participate in.
What I believe Natural Lucid Dreamers do as part of their very makeup, their intrinsic nature, is to engage more fully with their world. As a counter example, ADA practice is an artificial attempt at replicating the natural process that the Natural takes for granted. In a sense, we are trying to force onto our minds the awareness of our surroundings through the use of language and direct, forced observation, rote memory activation. Eventually this rote method brings results. But it does not develop it naturally or perhaps even sustainably. We are fighting against the natural energetic flow of the mind. We are, metaphorically, creating an adversary that must be vanquished rather than engaging with a co-conspirator. (Which may be why Naiya described MILD as being her only needed tech to acquire daily lucid dreams. Maybe MILD is a more natural approach to training the sub/unconscious, a soft approach, so to speak. But I have no experience from which to comment.)
To the point specifically, the Natural sees the world magically. He/she sees the beauty, the uniqueness, in the world, and the mind loves the experience (wonders why the hell it took you so long to figure out), and wants to replicate it as often as possible. Each and every encounter with an object in our surroundings is unique unto itself if you choose to see it that way. That's what the sub/unconscious mind relishes.
Just so you don't think I'm making this shite up, here's an example, from the real world, of something that professional athletes the world over have to contend with. It's an example of the sub/unconscious mind forcing uniqueness into its day. In this example, the professional golfer makes the same swing a thousand times during practice. The sub/unconscious mind, at first, obliges and lets him create his routine, because initially the swing itself is unique. After a while, the mind gets really bored. It needs something new, something unique again. It needs its uniqueness fix.
So, without informing the waking consciousness, the sub/unconscious tosses in a flexion of a forearm muscle just at the moment that the golfer makes contact with the ball on the downward arc. The wrist twists just slightly outward, and the ball slices out into the deep rough. The rest of his round is in ruins, until he consults his coach who notices the newly acquired flexion, and a fix is applied, bringing his swing back into harmony. The sub/unconscious mind, in its quest for uniqueness, screwed the 'user', so to speak, simply out of boredom and with the desire for an unique experience. This real-world example was used to point out how important uniqueness is to the sub/unconscious mind.
Go with the flow. Give the mind what it wants. See the beauty around you, the uniqueness, and the mind will be happy to copy this activity into your entire day, which includes your dreams. You'll show the sub/unconscious that you want to be aware of the uniqueness in life, that you want to be self-aware through joyous, unique interaction, that you don't want to continue going through life with the bland, joyless routine of the 'sleepwalker', the person on autopilot. Choosing to see the uniqueness in everything brings self-awareness into being at a whole new level that makes it far more easily attended to.
As always: advise, grain of salt. Still, hope it helps.
Unique dreaming fellow travelers
