When we experience a dream, we don’t know what is coming, i.e. we don’t know the dream plot. How does one portion of the brain create a dream in secret without the cognizant part of the brain know what is going on? Seems like two minds in one brain.
Robert Waggoner Answered question August 7, 2020
Hi George,
You bring up a point that I address in both of my books.
For the science of lucid dreaming (and the rational lucid dreamer), I have suggested the following:
- You can see ‘Levels of Creativity’ operating within the lucid dream. For example, a lucid dreamer will notice that when they turn the corner on a street, a brand new street scene exists. The lucid dreamer did not have to request it, or make it happen; instead, an automatic unconscious function (working on certain principles) creates a street scene. Similarly, when a lucid dreamer flies through a wall, suddenly a new vista appears on the other side (without any conscious thought activity by the lucid dreamer). So at the first level of lucid dream Creativity, we see an automatic, unconscious function (which works on certain principles, as described in my books).
- At the second level of lucid dream Creativity, you see the lucid dreamer using ‘experience creating’ principles (like belief, expectation, intent, etc.) to make an object or event appear or disappear. For example, a lucid dreamer might say, “When I open this garage door, I will see a red Ferrari!” And he opens the garage door, and there is a red Ferrari, with the top down, leather seats and other things in exquisite detail.
- At the third level of Creativity, as I mention in my books, one needs to go beyond their own limitations. Here, they ignore dream figures and the dream environment while they reach out to the ‘second psychic system’ or awareness behind the dream — and make a request, such as “Show me something important for me to see!” Often at that point, the entire lucid dream scene will change, and they will be looking at something important. Or perhaps, one object will appear. In my books, I show how myself and others have called on this infinitely more creative ‘awareness’ and experienced its creativity in microseconds (and also how its responses meet Jung’s criteria for an inner ‘second psychic system’.
So as you point out, within the dream bubble exists an experiencer and the larger experience. When lucid, the experiencer can see how the process works, how to influence it at the level of their own thinking, and then how to influence it by calling upon a ‘second psychic system’ or inner awareness.
Robert Waggoner Answered question August 7, 2020