The reality check technique for inducing lucid dreams (LD) is one of the oldest. It was known to the Tibetan yogis. This method is simple to describe: during the day, practitioners ask themselves “Am I dreaming?” as often as possible. This forms a habit that will recur in the dream, thus entailing awareness.
Piotr Szymanek, a philosopher from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland), conducted an analysis of the factors that could provoke this state and make it a regular nightly occurrence. While the author does not offer any new LD induction methods (exploring instead the long-standing technique of reality checking), the fact that such a study exists indicates the transition of lucid dreams from practice to the stage of abstract philosophical conceptualization.
The author starts off with the proposition that our cognitive abilities do not change when we dream. The process of self-awareness in a dream can, therefore, be reduced to a simple logical structure:
1. Something strange is happening.
2. The events taking place are contradictory, strange, dreamlike, or already experienced within a dream.
3. Such things happen mostly in dreams.
4. Conclusion: I’m dreaming.
If that is the case, then why are lucid dreams not ubiquitous? The reason is that we assume a priori that we are awake. As a result, the probability that we are dreaming seems insignificant and does not occur to us. The reality check method increases the likelihood that the world around us is a dream, gradually convincing our brain that this alternative option is possible.
However, there is a caveat to this theory: it may be that our cognitive abilities are impaired when we sleep. In that case, the abovementioned structure is moot. However, as Szymanek suggests, the reality check technique not only convinces our consciousness of the possibility that the world around us is a dream, but also affects the activity of brain functions, improving cognitive skills. This hypothesis, the author adds, requires additional research.
The article is available online since June 2021 and will be published in the August issue of the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
