Abstract

Lucid dreaming is self-consciousness or self-awareness while dreaming. Normally, we are self-conscious or self-aware in our ordinary waking state, but not during dreams, when we are conscious but not self-conscious. In the usual dreaming sleep, the left brain hemisphere is closed down, leaving the right hemisphere active. The right hemisphere employs emotional, gestaltic, intuitive, present-oriented thinking, in contrast with the linear, reasoned, sequential, rule-bound and time-bound (past, present and future) logic of the left hemisphere. This explains why dreams are often bizarre, as there is no logic filter, which in our normal waking state, filters out illogical scenarios before they reach our normal self-consciousness. Methods for having lucid dreams are given, including a new method that requires no sensor of any type to be worn during sleep.