Robert Waggoner

I had the pleasure of hearing Robert Waggoner make a presentation at the Rhine Center in Durham, NC. Lucid dreaming is defined as 'becoming consciously aware of dreaming while in the dream state'. Many acquaintances have reported having had lucid dreams but not many have cultivated the ability to influence and study the dream state from within a dream. I've had a couple of lucid dreams but my involvement was that of an observer who didn't influence any control. Waggoner's book will challenge your notions about the potential for learning about oneself through controlled lucid dreams. The book also offers techniques for achieving this state.

I suspect the dream state can be an entry into non-physical reality and a stepping stone for OBEs.

Jim Fisher… (mehr)

A thorough treatment of the subject, including all the mystical stuff. A lot of helpful hints as to how to begin lucid dreaming, as well as how to maintain it, and fun ideas about what to do once you've achieved lucidity. At times I felt like this was a 4 star book. Why did I give it 2.5? I confess, the stuff on meeting dead loved ones, winning the lottery, precognition, telepathy, well, I guess I'm just not the intended audience for that. To Waggoner's credit, I will say that he doesn't force his interpretation on you, and he does allow room to interpret that everything being experienced is from your subconscious. But only just. And he seems far too credulous of other people's stories. Perhaps it's a phenomenological thing with him, to just record the reports of others, and let you decide.
I think that I got my hopes up in the beginning, when it seemed like he was going to really delve into the subconscious and reveal something new. But it's mostly just Peaceful Cosmic Light, Overflowing Joy, that kind of thing. If that's all that's underneath our egos, then I have a feeling society would look a lot different!
2.5 stars on oc… (mehr)

This is by far the best book I’ve read on the subject. The highly intelligent author delves much more deeply into all aspects of lucid dreams and dreaming than any of the other authors whose books I’ve read. I would give the book ten stars if I could.

I have learnt that a valuable technique when lucid dreaming is to ask the dream itself for information/help/guidance. You can ask a dream figure to explain dream symbolism or tell what it represents.

The author refers constantly to the works of Carlos Castaneda so I will be re-reading some of these. (I read them many years ago.) Don Juan’s advice of looking at our hands in the dream state will stabilize the dream and “renew the power of dreaming”.

Also, to maintain the lucid dream state you must modulate your emotions.

You do not control your lucid dreams but merely direct their focus.

There is a strong correlation between lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences. In fact I have difficulty in distinguishing between them, since it turns out that experiences in lucid dreams as in OBEs can be “real”, i.e. you can meet with other “real” people in mutual dreams, both people you know and those you don’t. OBEs are characterized by the experience of buzzing vibrations. But in both OBEs and lucid dreams you can fly around. I would recommend Robert Monroe’s “Journeys out of the body” for a fascinating, comprehensive account of OBEs. Though not a recent book it is the best I have encountered on the subject so far.

Apparently, the most common difference between a lucid dream and an OBE involves the lucid dreamer’s ability to change the “internally generated” environment experienced, while those having an OBE do not report consciously changing their environment. Also the memory of a long OBE experience seems crystal clear and is easily recalled as opposed to the recalling of a long lucid dream. And those experiencing OBEs report returning to their body.

In a lucid dream where the author asked a boy the right way back to a hotel, he received valuable advice. The boy said “here, any way is the right way”.

The simplest method to move in lucid dreams is “concentrated focus with intent”. Concentrate on the goal as your sole focus then intend yourself there.

In lucid dreams you can fly into outer space, past planets. Waggoner sees a planet with rings and four moons. He speculates whether these journeys represent “a movement of inner depth with the wings of the mind”.

Waggoner’s niece dreams of her great grandmother and receives a message for her mother which proves to be significant to the latter. So was this just a dream figure or her actual great grandmother?

He finds that he is not always directing the actions of dream figures. One dream figure told him that he was a character in her dream. Some dream figures insist that they are real, and get really offended when the opposite is suggested.

You do not create the particulars of your dream, just suggest a general intent.

Waggoner relates a plethora of striking, significant and elucidating dreams in the book.

He discovers that the unconscious is not chaotic, primitive and archaic. He knows beyond a doubt that the unconscious is “conscious, responsive and alive”.

The dream space contains various types of dream figures, behaving with varying degrees of awareness. Some appear to “possess the ability to reason, remember, comprehend and perform purposeful actions”. When the author says in a dream “All thought-forms disappear” many of the figures do so. In one case those left behind looked at him in disdain as if to say “Can’t you tell the difference?”

Moving consciously deeper into the unconscious we meet knowledgeable dream figures that may represent fragments of conscious awareness, and the inner Self. When we focus on dream objects and dream figures, we remain involved with the reflections of the self. We need to intentionally focus away from the presented dream environment and toward the presumed awareness behind the dream.

“Once the lucid dreamer directs questions or intentions to the awareness behind dreaming, he or she creates an opening from which to engage the subliminal or inner Self.” The lucid dreamer can then encounter a consciously aware, much larger aspect of Self.

The author learnt to ignore the objects and dream figures and simply shout out his requests to the dream, or “inner ego”. Responses came.

There are guides and guardians in our dreams that offer assistance or support.

Staring at an object for a long time will normally “collapse” the dream, and you will wake up.

In a lucid dream you can heal yourself in various ways: 1) symbolically and literally entering and manipulating the dream body 2) directing healing intent 3) directing affirmations etc. 4) creating symbolic healing imagery 5) seeking information about the cause or meaning of the illness 6) seeking a dream doctor, medicine, or healing environment. Some techniques are more effective than others.

Sometimes light projects from one’s hands which can be used to heal the body. In one case warts that were healed in a lucid dream turned black overnight and fell off within ten days.

Dream figures may not provide answers about health problems, whereas the awareness behind the dreaming will.

Others can also be healed in lucid dreams if they want to be healed. “The lucid dreamer’s intent appears to engage a deep source of transpersonal healing energy with surprising effects.”

Important factors in lucid dream healing include 1) a positive expectation or positive belief about possible success 2) greater “surrendering” to the lucid dream and acceptance of its own intuited information 3) the use of healing techniques one can perform by one’s own actions 4) a willingness to call on inner energy.

There is a chapter on “forward-looking precognitive” lucid dreams and one on mutual dreaming. The author distinguishes between dual-person-lucid and one-person-lucid mutual dreams. The material presented shows that what happens in lucid dreams is or can be “real” and not just something happening within the mind as often stated. In lucid dreams the author encountered “real” people previously unknown to him who gave him information that turned out to be correct.

Additionally, there is a chapter on interacting with the deceased.

In Appendix B we are given tips and techniques for achieving lucidity, including Castaneda’s finding-your-hands approach, Stephen Laberge’s MILD technique, the NAP-TO-LUCIDITY technique and Paul Tholey’s critical-mind technique.

I usually don’t re-read a book unless at least 20 years have passed since the first reading, but this book warrants an immediate re-read since it contains so much valuable information that one might have missed. So now I will be re-reading this one. I highly recommend that you buy this excellent, illuminating, extremely well-written book. Enjoy this wonderful read!… (mehr)