01-30-2015, 12:00 AM
yea, definitions of lucidity vary. I also noticed this not too long ago. My personal way of referring to what JJ wants to achieve is full lucidity or awareness. Lucidity is, as I have learned from outside sources, to know I am dreaming when I am dreaming. I want to be aware in dreams (as in have a lot of attention and function as 'lucidly' as if it was in an attentive waking state). But I also understand that to be fully aware means to also be lucid .
This link between lucidity and meta-cognition, if we take it to be linked to being aware of the self.. makes sense to me. The fact that I am dreaming often comes from being aware of my processes during dream. For me this being aware of the self goes beyond the mind, but given JJ's post on him being lucid I guess the mind has more to do with it than I thought (ofc I knew it is there, but now I see it is even more than I thought). In dreams it is easy to be silent.. if one has no ID how does one pay attention to the mind? In many of my more aware dreams I function with the whole body. I love that .I am actually learning how to be like that in waking and that is very beneficial. Kick-starting some arbitrary thinking would be a shame, but, yes, I would say it is one of the things one should do in dreams, at last be able to do. It would seem to me that it could be beneficial if there is a kind of switch occurring, dream state into waking and waking state into dreaming. So that we are fluid on both sides and can be in either state.
Anyways, as I understand it. Being lucid is to bring the mind/rationality into dreaming (typical simple example are the reality checks, which should alert the mind that something is not in 'waking order'). But in order to be fully aware, one needs more than the mind. It is my opinion that there are two approaches that lead to the full lucidity or full awareness.. one is from the lucidity side, the other from the aware side. I go through the aware. If I am aware enough I realize I am dreaming. I almost never realize it from reality checks, or never lol.
meta-cognition as I understand it is a layer plus to cognition. Like self aware awareness. cognition about cognition. awareness about awareness. All these additional layers are of utmost importance to the path. Layering plus to experiences is a way to go too. Not just leave it, but work with it and add to it. Add awareness to previous awareness. That is what I learned to do. Now I see the same applies to cognition, interesting .
In the article this thing with the words self-reflection and metacognition is a bit confusing. To me it makes sense they mean self-reflection that really is not just about meta-cognition (thinking). Because, like I said above, the ability to be aware of myself (in a more general sense, my body my feelings etc) leads to lucidity for me.. and this being aware of myself is a type of self-perception and then leads to self-reflection..
P.S.
Just now I went to the source of the article you gave JJ and on that site I found another one, which might explain what I tried to do above:
“In a lucid state, however, the activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex increases markedly within seconds. The involved areas of the cerebral cortex are the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, to which commonly the function of self-assessment is attributed, and the frontopolar regions, which are responsible for evaluating our own thoughts and feelings. The precuneus is also especially active, a part of the brain that has long been linked with self-perception.” The findings confirm earlier studies and have made the neural networks of a conscious mental state visible for the first time.
http://www.mpg.de/5925490/meta-consciousness-brain
I am a person who is pretty aware of feeling states. This has been my entry into dreaming. It is part of my path and interest to work with feelings and be aware of my inner processes real time. When done in dreaming it leads to enhanced dream awareness and can lead to lucidity.
Thus, makes sense to me it is more about the meta part than about the cognition part. But to put full focus on something that leads to the meta is it seems desirable. Meta+cognition it seems is a good choice .
This link between lucidity and meta-cognition, if we take it to be linked to being aware of the self.. makes sense to me. The fact that I am dreaming often comes from being aware of my processes during dream. For me this being aware of the self goes beyond the mind, but given JJ's post on him being lucid I guess the mind has more to do with it than I thought (ofc I knew it is there, but now I see it is even more than I thought). In dreams it is easy to be silent.. if one has no ID how does one pay attention to the mind? In many of my more aware dreams I function with the whole body. I love that .I am actually learning how to be like that in waking and that is very beneficial. Kick-starting some arbitrary thinking would be a shame, but, yes, I would say it is one of the things one should do in dreams, at last be able to do. It would seem to me that it could be beneficial if there is a kind of switch occurring, dream state into waking and waking state into dreaming. So that we are fluid on both sides and can be in either state.
Anyways, as I understand it. Being lucid is to bring the mind/rationality into dreaming (typical simple example are the reality checks, which should alert the mind that something is not in 'waking order'). But in order to be fully aware, one needs more than the mind. It is my opinion that there are two approaches that lead to the full lucidity or full awareness.. one is from the lucidity side, the other from the aware side. I go through the aware. If I am aware enough I realize I am dreaming. I almost never realize it from reality checks, or never lol.
meta-cognition as I understand it is a layer plus to cognition. Like self aware awareness. cognition about cognition. awareness about awareness. All these additional layers are of utmost importance to the path. Layering plus to experiences is a way to go too. Not just leave it, but work with it and add to it. Add awareness to previous awareness. That is what I learned to do. Now I see the same applies to cognition, interesting .
In the article this thing with the words self-reflection and metacognition is a bit confusing. To me it makes sense they mean self-reflection that really is not just about meta-cognition (thinking). Because, like I said above, the ability to be aware of myself (in a more general sense, my body my feelings etc) leads to lucidity for me.. and this being aware of myself is a type of self-perception and then leads to self-reflection..
P.S.
Just now I went to the source of the article you gave JJ and on that site I found another one, which might explain what I tried to do above:
“In a lucid state, however, the activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex increases markedly within seconds. The involved areas of the cerebral cortex are the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, to which commonly the function of self-assessment is attributed, and the frontopolar regions, which are responsible for evaluating our own thoughts and feelings. The precuneus is also especially active, a part of the brain that has long been linked with self-perception.” The findings confirm earlier studies and have made the neural networks of a conscious mental state visible for the first time.
http://www.mpg.de/5925490/meta-consciousness-brain
I am a person who is pretty aware of feeling states. This has been my entry into dreaming. It is part of my path and interest to work with feelings and be aware of my inner processes real time. When done in dreaming it leads to enhanced dream awareness and can lead to lucidity.
Thus, makes sense to me it is more about the meta part than about the cognition part. But to put full focus on something that leads to the meta is it seems desirable. Meta+cognition it seems is a good choice .