In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s I was a big fan of the “For Dummies” books on technology. You know the ones: “Windows for Dummies”, “HTML for Dummies”, “Java Programming for Dummies”, etc., etc.  They were easy and fun to read and packed with so much practical and useful information that by the end of a book, I was able to navigate the chosen technology well and create full-blown projects with it. I didn’t have mastery of the subject, but I was well on my way to it if I chose to pursue the subject further.

Reading A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming gave me the same sorts of feelings. The authors are very interesting and sometimes quite humorous in their presentation. The information they communicate is extremely useful and practical for anyone looking to cultivate awareness of, and awareness in, their dream life. There were practical methods, techniques, and advice on just about every page of this book.

Scattered throughout the book are many blocks of asides containing dreams and experiences the authors and others have had that directly relate to the subject matter of each chapter. Reading them infused me with wonder over the multitude of possibilities that dreaming presents us and also triggered memories of long-lost dream experiences of my own, which was pretty darn exciting. Sometimes it’s hard enough remembering dreams from the night before; imagine the thrill of remembering dreams from years ago!

 To give you an idea of the sorts of activities they present, these are the main 3 principles given out in the first part of the book:

1. One must develop a burning desire to be lucid. A strong intention is the key.
2. Develop a “healthy suspicion” of reality. Perform 5-10 “reality checks” throughout the day at regular intervals. This will train your consciousness to automatically pose the question, “Am I in a dream right now?". Eventually you will ask yourself that while inside a dream and the answer will be a resounding: Yes!!
3. Keep a dream journal. Write in it every day. “There is no way around this fact,” they write on page 69, “if you want to become lucid in your dreams, you need to record your nighttime adventures.”

The book is full of nuggets like these. I followed through on these 3 and noticed a difference in the quality of my dreams within 2 days. It was remarkable.

For the authors, lucid dreaming is all about self-discovery, self-healing, and self-actualization. Dreams are always meant to tell you something about yourself, whether it’s to show you the way forward in your life, or to discover something new about yourself, or to face some demons that have been hiding out in the basement for far too many years. This is the theme that is present throughout the entire book.

One of the things I found myself disagreeing with early in my reading was their persistent thesis that 100% of everything that happens in dreams happens in your mind. That is, every object, every character, every landscape is created by you at some level and, in fact, it is you. It’s a part of you. It’s all a part of your “subconscious”, they say. The authors make no effort to discriminate what is real vs. what is hallucination. They seem perfectly content swimming in a pool of their self-created illusions, so long as it’s enjoyable and fantastic in some way.

Here at SubtleRealm.org we are intent on separating fact from fiction in our dreams. We’re learning to look past the fantasies and illusions created by our minds and to observe the reality of the “subtle realm” directly and for what it is. Dreams are a hodgepodge of real subtle realm objects, beings, and settings together with objects, beings, and landscapes of our own fabrication. By mastering our minds and our consciousness, we refine our discrimination and increase our awareness of the real.

At the end of the last chapter, they begin to approach the characteristics of the boundary-line between lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences, such as the “vibration” noises and opening your eyes to find yourself floating over your bed staring down at your sleeping body. They also briefly discuss the ability to pass into the sleep state with full consciousness and awareness. I have a strong feeling that this could be the beginning of their insights into the reality of a subtle world outside of their own minds.