Lucid dreaming has a long history, perhaps as long as humanity itself. In essence, the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can, with some practice, guide the sleeping fantasy.
Aldous Huxley’s injunction to “dream in a pragmatic way” was meant as an aphorism. A pithy way, perhaps, of paraphrasing that much misunderstood warning at the Oracle’s temple at Delphi — “Know Thyself”. Perhaps it’s just as well that 21st-century scientists are ignoring the calls from a 20th-century futurist to respect limits, to be pragmatic and even to leave some mysteries well enough alone. Companies out of California, including REMSpace, are trying to take advantage of “lucid dreaming” to enhance productivity. In essence, the most private and surreal of realms can be used to learn a skill, gain knowledge and even act as a sort of Bluetooth connection: Researchers envisage people being able to control computer screens and cars.
Lucid dreaming has a long history, perhaps as long as humanity itself. In essence, the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can, with some practice, guide the sleeping fantasy. The general consensus among sleep scientists is that about 50 per cent of humanity has had at least one lucid dream. That figure is greatly enhanced among young philosophy and psychology students. Through a laborious process of reality testing and journalling, many have tried to control their dreams to become more creative. And therapists from Freud onwards, like oracles and shamans, have parsed dreams for meaning.
There’s something unsettling about the current projects to make the Sandman’s domain “productive”. First, because they reduce something that is mysterious to the mundane, the source of inspiration to an algorithm. In the 18th century, Coleridge woke up in the middle of the night with one of his greatest poems almost formed. He wrote down, what became “Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream”. Today, people can turn on a kettle.
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First uploaded on: 21-08-2024 at 06:50 IST
