Lucid Dreams: The First Virtual Reality

Lucid Dreams: The First Virtual Reality


Psychological


Sean Pasinsky LibEd 316-2 5 Feb. 1997


     For ages people have thought of dreams as curses or blessings that we

could not prevent nor manipulate. This "place" called our dreams has constantly

puzzled us, because it is here where all things are possible and seem to occur.

In our dreams we perform superhuman and wonderful feats that would normally be

impossible in the "awake world". We find the men or women of our dreams,

depending on our sexual orientation. While we dream, these wonderful things

become our temporary reality. Yet sometimes while dreaming we may experience the

most horrifying events imaginable, called nightmares. Everyone has their own

version of horror, my most terrifying nightmare has been where my family and

friends have been taken control of by evil monsters that cannot be stopped.

Rather than kill me they make me watch old 1970's television shows over and over.

For years, men have thought that there should be a way of preventing or

controlling these nightly events.


     Humans must, like any animal, sleep. We do not fully understand why we

must sleep. We only know that if we are deprived of sleep long enough that we

will most certainly die. The same is true for dreams and dreaming(1). If we

sleep long enough we will reach an advanced stage of sleep where our body begins

to experience rapid eye movement (REM). It is during this REM period that we

experience most of our dreams. Many scientists try to speculate the reasons for

dreaming through biological our psychological means. This proves to be very

frustrating for someone trying to find empirical meaning and truth about his or

her dreams.


     There are countless books written about dreams with just as many

different interpretations and meanings for specific dream references. For

psychics, astrologists, or psychologists who attempt to interpret dreams, there

are numerous factors that must be considered when endeavoring to find meaning in

a dream. Because of these numerous factors that contribute to the condition of

dreaming, many different paths have been created for exploration. From Freud's

sexual symbolism to the current random recollection theories diversity in dream

interpretation abounds. However, there is a way to dream and not be at the mercy

of your subconscious mind.


     For the past ten years a bright psychologist at Stanford University, by

the name of Steven Laberge, has been studying dreams and the physiology of the

human body during the dream state. His research may sound commonplace if it

weren't for the added fact that he is training people to control their dreams.

His subjects are learning to become aware of their dream experience as it is

happening. Once they are aware of their dream they can simply take complete

command of their dream and can consciously cause anything to happen. To the

semi-conscious mind the experience is virtually identical to being awake. This

concept is nothing new, in fact many of us will experience at least one of these

dreams in our lifetime.


     There are a variety of stimuli that he uses to induce this state of mind.

One method is playing a tape recording of the phrase "This is a dream" during

the sleeper's REM. He may also use conditioned tactile stimuli. Light, however,

appears to be the best stimulus means of providing an external cue to the

sleeper that they are dreaming. This is because environmental light seems to be

easily incorporated into dreams and, when properly con
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