This question was asked recently in a post on one of our favorite forums, Mortal Mist, and the writer had a couple of theories.
One had to do with the idea that we tend to shy away from things that require introspection; the other had to do with the fact that you can’t make any money off a lucid dream.
I tend to agree with the first one, but also believe that the topic itself is just not well known. I mean when was the last time that you saw a report on lucid dreams on Fox News? Or a “reality” TV show on the topic? Or even someone that everyone seems to read about, like Lindsay Lohan, talking about their dreams. (With LL, it’s probably just as well 🙂 )
What do you think? Why is this fascinating state of consciousness so unknown? Let us know your thoughts; post a comment below.
Xanth
I believe it comes down to the fact that most people these days simply believe that dreams are simply something that happens to people when they sleep and that they are not real.
I can totally understand this line of thinking… we’re all raised by society to think this way. Thankfully a small chunk of people are starting to view things differently. We’re beginning to ask the right questions… and beginning to poke and prod our non-physical surroundings.
I believe we, as a society, are coming around… albeit slowly. 🙂
Karen
Yes, I agree that likely the main reason more people don’t pay attention to the lucid dreams, (no matter how ‘real’ they seem at times!), is because it occurs while we are ‘sleeping’…which we have been raised to believe that sleep is just something we do to ‘rest’ our physical bodies.
We are conditioned to believe (by society, religious beliefs) that we only exist when our physical body is actually functioning. Therefore dreams are dismissed as ‘imagination’ at work.
IMO, if sleep wasn’t as important as our ‘waking’ life, then our bodies would have been designed to NOT need as much ‘rest’ as they do!! Those hours spent ‘just sleeping’ likely do more for our learning lessons here than what we are processing with our minds while awake!
Strider
I am a fan of Karen’s blog and actually was just thinking of this question. So I find it funny coming across this website and this question so “timely”.
My response is similar to what Karen said: Why do we think that sleep is ONLY a physical function? If you really think about it, the body is still functioning during sleep (e.g. heart beating, respiratory center controlling every breathing, the systems of elimination working, etc.). If evolution felt that sleep was just for rest, then would it have been more efficient shutting most of the systems down other than just turning off the aspect of the brain that keeps us awake (called reticular activating system) which how science views sleep. Evolution has always been about efficiency.
So why not go into a “mini-hibernation” mode where even metabolism goes to practically nil, if it was just for physical rest?
However at this stage in our intellectual evolution, science will not see sleep as being more than physical rest because it has not or is only beginning to delve into the non-physical. It cannot understand what it does not know. It does not understand the soul. Not yet.
But most of you out there know that sleep allows us to “increase” our connection to the other side. I say “increase” because we never lose the connection. It always is there. But the soul needs this mode of being more connected for it to continue doing what it is supposed to be doing on this side. We get cranky and irritable with lack of sleep, because we lose our purpose. We start forgetting “our plan”.
Science will see eventually that our physical realm is NOT as real as what is on the other side. There needs to be a change in perspective. We see it happening so it will happen.
I forgot his name now but there was an Indian mystic who was so advanced in his spiritual evolution that he was asked how does he view his life here now. He responded that when he wakes up from sleep, he feels like he is dreaming. When he is asleep, he feels his experiences are more real.
That is where we are heading.