Pre-lucid dream

Pre-lucid dreaming is the beginning stages of inducing the lucid dreaming process. At this stage, the dreamer considers the question: "Am I asleep and dreaming?" The dreamer may or may not come to the correct conclusion.^[1] Such experiences are liable to occur to people who are deliberately cultivating lucid dreams, but may also occur spontaneously to those with no prior intention to achieve lucidity in dreams.

The term lucid dreaming was coined by Dutch psychologist Frederik Willem Van Eeden who introduced the concept on the 22nd of April during a meeting held by the Society for Psychical Research in 1913. Still, this phenomenon has been present throughout historical periods, with some findings dating back to the writings of Aristotle. American psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge introduced his method for physiological investigation of lucid dreaming through eye signals in the 1980s and ever since, more modern research has been established on the studies of the lucid dreaming process.

The term "pre-lucid dream" was first introduced by British parapsychologist Celia Green in her 1968 book Lucid Dreams. It is preferred to the term "near-lucid" dream on the following grounds:

• Historical priority: it has been in use since 1968.
• Currency: it was subsequently adopted by other writers on the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, such as Stephen LaBerge (1985).
• Clarity: lucidity in dreams may be thought of as a dichotomous variable: one either is or is not aware that one is dreaming at any given moment. Once lucidity is achieved it may have varying degrees of attainment, both from one person to another and from one dream to another within the same person. For example, one's memory of past events in one's waking life may be accessible and accurate to a greater or lesser degree. However, the bare fact of whether or not one is aware one is dreaming does not admit of gradations.^[2]

However, the term "pre-lucid dream" seems to imply that a lucid dream will follow, which is not necessarily true. At times, rather than considering the possibility that it may be a dream, the dreamer lights upon other explanations; some of the more common being that she has died and is in the next world, she's crazy, she's in another time dimension, she's on another planet, in outer space, she's been drugged or has a fever. ^[3] The term "near-lucid" helps convey the often humorous "so close, yet so far away" aspect of such dreams.^[4]

Lucid dreaming has become subject of scientific investigations, and the researchers most meritorious for this achievement are Paul Tholey and Stephen LaBerge, two psychologists who devoted their lives to researching lucid dreams.

LaBerge developed a method known as "eye signals during lucid dreaming" which allowed him to physiologically investigate by comparing physiological processes with dream reports more precisely. With this method he would later go on to perform the first of many scientific research studies on lucid dreaming at Stanford University, which allowed for lucid dreaming and dreaming in general, to become an accessible and acceptable subject for research. Throughout the years, LaBerge's research would lead to the development of techniques that would serve as a recipe for inducing lucid dreaming, one of which was the ‘mnemonic induction of lucid dreams’ technique.^[5]

On the other hand, Tholey laid the epistemological basis for the research of lucid dreams. Tholey (1980, 1981) defined seven conditions of clarity that a dream must fulfill in order to be defined as a lucid dream. The author replaces the word Klarheit (clarity) with the word awareness, which is a well-known and central term in Gestalt therapy theory and describes the subjective experience of the conscious dream state:

1. Awareness of the dream state (orientation)
2. Awareness of the capacity to make decisions
3. Awareness of memory functions
4. Awareness of identity
5. Awareness of the dream environment
6. Awareness of the meaning of the dream
7. Awareness of concentration and focus (the subjective clarity of that state)

For a dream to be lucid as defined by Tholey, it must fulfill all seven factors; for LaBerge, lucid dreams stay true to the definition that they are dreams during which the dreamer recognizes the dream state and is able to act upon volition. The factors 3–7 are labeled as descriptions of a lucid dream.

LaBerge and other researchers in these studies would record and compare eye movements, heart rate, blood pressure and skin potential in lucid and non-lucid dreams, which concluded that lucid dreams occurred in those REM period sections that were characterized by increased physiological activation.

An excerpt from LaBerge's novel, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, suggests how these following steps could allow one to formulate the methods on how one would go about generating a lucid dream:

1. Introduce the intentions before going to bed and recite a single phrase or question by incorporating the matter you wish to dream about. Write down these intentions or draw an illustration that best depicts what you want to see and control in these dreams. ”When I dream of [the phrase], I will remember that I am dreaming.”
2. توجه مباشرة إلى الفراش بعد إطفاء جميع الأنوار والتخلص من كل الأشياء التي قد تشتت انتباهك.
3. ردد نواياك للمرة الأخيرة (سواء كانت صورة أو عبارة) قبل النوم. تخيل نفسك تحلم بالموضوع وتصبح واعيًا في الحلم. إذا كان هناك شيء ترغب في تجربته في الحلم، فتخيل أيضًا أنك تقوم بتلك النوايا بمجرد أن تصبح واعيًا. تأمل في العبارة/النية لتصبح واعيًا في الحلم حتى تغفو. لا تدع أي أفكار أخرى تشغلك بين التفكير في موضوعك والنوم. إذا شردت أفكارك، فما عليك سوى العودة إلى التفكير في عبارتك واستحضار الوعي في الحلم.
4. إذا تمكنت من تحقيق حلم واعٍ، فتابع ونفّذ نواياك أثناء الحلم الواعي حول موضوعك. اطرح السؤال الذي ترغب في طرحه، وابحث عن طرق للتعبير عن نفسك، وجرّب سلوكك الجديد، أو استكشف وضعك. احرص على ملاحظة مشاعرك وانتبه لجميع تفاصيل الحلم.
5. عندما تحقق هدفك، تذكر أن تستيقظ وتسترجع الحلم. عندما تحصل على إجابة شافية في الحلم، استخدم إحدى الطرق المقترحة سابقًا في هذا الفصل لتستيقظ. دوّن فورًا على الأقل الجزء من الحلم الذي يتضمن الحل. حتى لو لم تعتقد أن الحلم الواعي قد أجاب على سؤالك، فبمجرد أن يبدأ بالتلاشي، استيقظ ودوّن الحلم. قد تجد عند التأمل أن إجابتك كانت مخفية في الحلم ولم ترها في ذلك الوقت. ^{[ 6 ]}

يصف إيرل فيكرز عدداً من جوانب وأنواع الأحلام ما قبل الواعية أو شبه الواعية:

• علامات الأحلام التي تم تفسيرها بشكل خاطئ: يلاحظ الحالم أفكارًا أو أشياءً أو أحداثًا غير متناسقة تشير إلى أن هذا حلم، لكنه يطور تفسيرًا بديلاً.
• اختبارات الأحلام الفاشلة: تجارب مثل قرص أنفسنا أو محاولة تشغيل الضوء لا تؤكد إلا الاعتقاد الخاطئ بأننا مستيقظون بالتأكيد.
• الأحلام الواعية الزائفة: يصبح الحالم مدركًا أنه يحلم، دون أن يدرك تمامًا أن الحلم يعني الاستلقاء في السرير نائمًا.
• أحلام تحاول فيها إقناع شخص آخر بأنه يحلم.
• الأحلام غير الواعية حول الأحلام: مناقشة الأحلام أو وضع نظريات عنها، دون إدراك أننا نحلم.
• أحلام الاستيقاظ الكاذب: يعتقد الحالم أنه قد استيقظ ولكنه في الواقع لا يزال يحلم. ^{[ 4 ]}

• بداية
• زوانغزي

• هولزينجر، بريجيت (ديسمبر 2009). "الأحلام الواعية - أحلام الوضوح". التنويم المغناطيسي المعاصر . 26 (4): 216-224 . doi : 10.1002/ch.390 .