LUCID DREAMING: How to Make the Most of a Magical Opportunity

Welcome to this Jungian life. Three good friends and Jungian analysts, Lisa Marciano, Deborah Stewart, and Joseph Lee invite you to join them for an intimate and honest conversation that brings a psychological perspective to important issues of the day. I'm Lisa Marciano, and I'm a Jungian analyst in Philadelphia. I'm Joseph Lee, and I'm a Jungian analyst in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I'm Deborah Stewart, a Jungian analyst on Cape Cod. A little over half of us have had that strange and uncanny experience of lucid dreaming. About twenty three percent of people say that they lucid dream every month. Various mystical practices cultivate lucid dreaming as part of their spiritual practice and even a preparation for the afterlife. Nineteenth century occultists worked tirelessly to escape the body and travel the inner planes at will. And the recently published Dan Brown book, The Secret of Secrets, also explores the uncanny powers of consciousness and the possibility that maybe consciousness extends beyond the physical brain. So when we find ourselves lucid dreaming, we often will take it as an opportunity to feel omnipotent. We'll want to vault into the air. Resting the power of the dream away from the dream maker and putting it in the hands of the ego may be an uncertain proposition that deserves some careful consideration. You know, this has been a topic that has been very frequently requested on the podcast. And I think I felt a little resistance to talking about it because there isn't a big opus of work around lucid dreaming and Jungian dream work that that intersection. It's there, but it's a little, it's a little sparse. And I I know there's a lot of excitement, like you're saying, Joseph, about lucid dreaming so much online. Whenever I I'm looking up something and dreaming on on the Internet, it's just you can't help but find something about lucid dreaming, a lot of activity on lucid about lucid dreaming in places like Reddit and that sort of thing. So this is something that really appeals to a lot of people, but we as unions, I think are generally a little bit suspicious of trying to cultivate a lucid state for the purpose of shaping the dream experience, because it feels like kind of the colonization of the unconscious on the part of consciousness. Now it doesn't have to be that way. And I think we're gonna talk today about lots of different ways that lucidity can enhance our, dialogue with the unconscious, let's say. I think it has a lot to do with preparation. I mean, as I said, it's not uncommon when people say, oh, I had a lucid dream last night. And when I'll say, well, what did you do? And most of the people I talk to say, I jumped up into the air, and I was soaring all over the place. It was the most wonderful euphoric experience. And yet, is that really the best thing I might have …