Mind Meld 46 | How Do You Know You’re Not Dreaming? With Robert Waggoner

Robert Waggoner is the author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self and Lucid Dreaming Plain and Simple. He’s the former President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, has been lucid dreaming for four decades and has become one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject.

LISTEN | ITUNES YOUTUBE ARCHIVE STITCHER

These mind melds are brought to you by YOU! Find out how to support us and receive rewards in the process at our Patreon page.

Of all the technologies for inner-exploration at our disposal, all the ways we can paw at the mysterious barrier that defines the border of our distinct us-ness, there’s nothing more integral and universal than dreaming.  For most of us though, it really isn’t a technique, it’s something that just happens to us. 

But dreaming is more than that, it’s a sort of language you can decipher and when you become fluent enough, doors begin to open. You even begin to exercise your free will to an extent in dream states and really, as you’ll hear, even that is just the beginning. 

Despite the fact that dreaming is so engrained with the human experience, it’s not a topic that gets the respect it deserves. Dreams are considered by many scientists to be “a way to delete junk from the mind” and are for some some reason often relegated to the realm of  dubious woo instead of a frontier fit for rational and philosophical exploration. I’ll admit it, until recently, I wasn’t really that fascinated by lucid dreaming, but between this conversation, other anecdotes I’ve heard and other research I’ve looked into, I’m thoroughly curious.

Musings in this mind meld –

• Why dreams and inward-facing practices aren’t well understood, especially in our culture 
• Practices that help you cultivate awareness in dream-states 
• Supplements to enhance dreaming 
• More content, relaxed and focused = more distinct dreams
• What is dreaming, what is the dream realm?
• “I’m lucid in my dream, now what?” 
• What is the intelligence you come into contact with during dreams?
• Is the practice of dream interpretation a valid one?
• When you’re dreaming, go to the area with the most energy 
• Some of Robert’s most profound dream experiences
• Tibetan buddhist “dream yoga”
• How lucid dreaming is preparation for death 
• What can the properties of reality in dreams tell us about physical reality?