Introduction rev 3 (aka 2.0, vs 1.0 and 1.1).
Early, partial, draft.
<LD account, courtesy Kromoh>
<The weirdness of dreams, summarised by XKCD cartoon>
<Opening, take 1.
Eventual goal: explain the value of dream experiences.
I tried to work out how to write "dreams can be fantastic experiences", but the copy-edit demon on my shoulder kept sneering at me, so I started with a different tack, but I know I still need more "sense of wonder".>
We live in a world which is mostly other people and follow many levels of rules we didn't write. Like it or loathe it; you can't leave it and choose another one. Happiness lies in coming to terms with it in your own way. On the plus side, a challenging world means you can be truly proud of your own achievements. On the minus side, reality severely limits our range of our experiences. If you want to feel what it would be like to fly like a bird, breathe underwater, or visit a distant galaxy, that will probably remain a dream. Or you might have slightly more realistic desires like touring Moscow, going hang-gliding or telling your boss/teacher/parents what you really think of them. But we don't get to live all of our dreams because these things take time, money, or perhaps more bravery or willingness to face consequences than we really have.
But there are two sides to the phrase “that's just a dream of mine”. If something is impractical in waking life, we can still experience it as a vivid reality - while we are asleep...
<uncompleted>
<Next bit - how to make the best of dream experiences>
There are two major challenges you must overcome to get the most out of your dreams. The first is to remember them! Your dream recall needs to be reliable, vivid, and detailed enough to make it worth the effort. The second challenge is the difficulty of realising that you're dreaming. Just being consciously aware of the opportunities open to you in the dream makes an amazing difference. This self-awareness is known as lucid dreaming. Both dream recall and dreaming lucidly require effort, but they are skills that can be learnt and taught. The main aim of this book is to teach these skills.