Accordingly, just as if a finger be inserted beneath the eyeball without being observed, one object will not only present two visual images, but will create an opinion of its being two objects; while if it [the finger] be observed, the presentation will be the same, but the same opinion will not be formed of it; exactly so it is in states of sleep: if the sleeper perceives that he is asleep, and is conscious of the sleeping state during which the perception comes before his mind, it presents itself still, but something within him speaks to this effect: 'the image of Koriskos presents itself, but the real Koriskos is not present'; for often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream. If, however, he is not aware of being asleep, there is nothing which will contradict the testimony of the bare presentation. ~Aristotle, On Dreams
Aristotle seems to be talking about lucid dreaming in this passage: the act of becoming conscious of a dream while dreaming. Supposedly lucid dreaming was only "confirmed" by science in the last decade or two, most notably by Stephen LaBerge, whose Lucidity Institute is in association with Stanford University. I first read LaBerge's book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
about 8 years ago, and experimented with it myself. Fantastic as it may sound, the phenomena is very real and his techniques work. I lent the book to several friends over the years, some of whom flat-out refused to believe it, or simply couldn't wrap their head around the concept.
about 8 years ago, and experimented with it myself. Fantastic as it may sound, the phenomena is very real and his techniques work. I lent the book to several friends over the years, some of whom flat-out refused to believe it, or simply couldn't wrap their head around the concept. LaBerge often would talk about how Tibetan Monks engage in lucid dreaming as part of their meditative practice. He never mentioned that Aristotle knew about it, though I am not too surprised. Aristotle talks about how once we become aware that the dream is in fact a dream and not reality, it changes our perception of that dream. Much in the same way that when pressure is applied to our eyeball we see two images, but knowing this, we do not incorrectly assume that we are looking at two object - we know we are merely seeing a double-image of one object.
As I write this, I have just recalled that I gained a brief moment of lucidity in a dream last night, which I will briefly relate:
The entire ground had about a foot of snow and I was next to a hill. I had set a jug of water in the snow, and some of the water splashed out onto the snow. This began a chain reaction, whereby the entire ground of snow began to split and jut-out, and the chain-reaction traveled up the hill, and it looked as if an avalanche was about to begin. At about this time, it occurred to my dreaming self that these events were quite fantastic, is it possible that I am dreaming? (This is a habit of thought that I have developed over the years: when anything out of the ordinary happens, I will often question whether I am dreaming). I soon realized that I was, and thus willed myself to float upwards. Soon I was floating is a vast fuzzy greyness, and then I awoke with sleep-paralysis which lasted about 5 seconds.
Sleep paralysis is sometimes (for me) a side effect of lucid dreaming. When you are dreaming, your body paralyzes itself so that you don't act out the dream in real-life. Sleep paralysis occurs when you wake up, but your brain hasn't yet turned off the paralysis mechanism, so you can't move - which can be disconcerting. When you lucid dream, you are using your mind in a way that it probably wasn't evolutionarily designed to do: you are hacking it. (Push the limits of your mind and consciousness at your own risk!)
What Next?
