From: rcrane@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu (Robert Crane - OTHER)
Subject: Re: Some Weird Dreams et alia.
Organization: Washington State University!
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 06:58:11 GMT

In article <4er7NLa00WB78=GpdX@andrew.cmu.edu> Steven Anselmo Aiello <sa2y+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>Dream 3: I was at a small party with some people whom I didn't really
>know, and we were in a semi-large living room/den area with couches and
>paintings and stuff.  Somebody said something about LSD, and then I
>said, "Oh I did that once," and proceeded to tell a few things about a
>trip I once had.  Then it got REALLY REALLY WEIRD.  I began to see what
>was going on in the room from several perspectives, sometimes AT THE
>SAME TIME.  Regularly, through my own eyes, and sometimes through a
>camera in an upper corner of the room.  Then my entire vision flashed to
>a weirdly colored still frame of Jimi Hendrix's head, which took up my
>whole visual field. (!!!!!)  Then it flashed back to the room.  Then it
>flashed to a similar picture, but the field was divided into four
>sections, each one with a Jimi head.  It did this several times,
>sometimes quickly, sometimes for a longer period of time, but no more
>than a few seconds.  Once the field was divided into 9 Jimi heads.  At
>this point, my visual field went totally black, and all I was aware of
>was my body.  Suddenly, my body began to contort and twist in impossible
>directions and lengths.  My right shoulder went up OVER MY HEAD, while
>my left shoulder bent down towards my feet.  The feeling was so real,
>yet utterly IMPOSSIBLE.  I began to twist in pretzel shapes, or a limb
>would extend several extra feet.  It was really odd, but very
>interesting.  At this point, I woke up and said to myself, "That was
>really really strange.  I'll have to tell my friend Pete about that." 
>Then I went back to sleep.  Three times during the rest of the night, I
>dreamt about telling this story to someone.  Twice it was Pete, I don't
>remember who the other one was....
>
Dreams are really amazing!  They are able to induce drug type states
without the drugs (and the hangover!). I always dream that I am in
a land of mushrooms with thousands of different varieties.  I go around
tasting them and experience the effects.

>Okay, about my experiment.  It's basically a self-hypnosis exercise, but
>I do it to force myself to sleep at will.  What I do is relax and take
>some deep relaxing breaths for a minute or two, then I begin to count
>down from 50, at medium speed.  I concentrate on each number, and let my
>mind think of whatever it wants to.  By the number 30 or so, my brain
>will often be coming up with about 10 or 15 distinct thoughts and images
>per second, which I can recognize at the time, but cannot recall by the
>next number.  Around 20, everything gets really hazy and dreamy, and
>occasionally I'll remember to count down to the next number, but I
>cannot think about it consciously.  It is then that I am able to
>recognize for a split-second that it worked, then I am asleep.  This
>process may take from 5-10 minutes, or I guess maybe even less, but my
>concept of time is utterly useless.
>

Scientific evidence suggests that thinking 15 or so distinct thoughts
a second is an impossibility.  LaBerge showed that dream time
corresponds 1 to 1 with waking time.  Though it is possible
for a dream to provide background and context to a dreamer
so that dreams often seem to last longer than they really do.

My question however is are you able to enter directly into
a lucid dreaming state?
-- 
-bob crane
rcrane@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu
"Ah Limbo!"
Newsgroups: alt.dreams