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The Non-local Mind:               Mutual Lucid Dreaming                                    by Richard Stammler            © Rich Stammler, 2008       What is the physical evidence of dreaming? All of us dream and from outward appearances we dream at all ages, and our domestic animals also appear to dream. The evidence for that is the presence of rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep. As depicted by electroencephalograms (EEG), humans tend to follow four distinct phases of sleep and it is the transition between stage three and four sleep as defined by brain waves that REM activity occurs. If the individual is awakened during this period they will always report a dream, including those people who say they never dream, or, more correctly, never remember their dreams. There are non-REM dreams but the most vivid and most reliable indicator is REM sleep.      Stephen LaBerge developed a process during his doctoral program at Stanford to experimentally interact with lucid dreamers. Through this process he was able to verify that the phenomenon is real and that it can be scientifically examined. In the laboratory, experimental subjects in REM sleep (and obviously lucid) gave signals with their eyes by moving them in a prearranged pattern. Thus, “The prearranged eye movement signals appeared on the polygraph records during REM, proving that the subjects had indeed been lucid during uninterrupted REM sleep.”1      So lucid dreaming can be indicated and proven in the laboratory setting, but what is it?      In the lucid dream you look around and realize that the whole world that you’re seeing is all something that your mind is creating. It tells you that you have much more power than you’d ever believed before - or dreamt - for changing the world, starting with yourself. In the lucid dream you look around and realize that the whole world... is all something that your mind is creating.2      The key aspect here is not only this awareness but also that in your lucid dream one can change the dream content nearly at will. LaBerge says that about 20 percent of the population spontaneously engages in lucid dreaming (although this may be very infrequent) and many can be taught to do it.      Without going into a lengthy discussion about the activity of dreaming and what it really signifies and “where” it occurs, there is the interesting activity of mutual dreaming and the subject of this discussion, mutual lucid dreaming. There are extensive reports in the literature describing mutual dreaming. People have correlated dreams where the dream content appears to be shared. Now, there are many possible explanations for this behavior and some of the explanations may make this an unremarkable event. Those are occurrences such as an important event in a family, like the marriage of a child, which naturally commands the attention of the family members and therefore results in correlated dreams. It is expected that members of that family would be focused on that event, which translates to the dream state in two or more of the family on the same night.      Mutual lucid dreaming is a bit more interesting and supports our thesis of the non-local mind. Robert Waggoner, a friend and author who is a frequent lucid dreamer reported the following: Lucid dreamers have recounted a number of likely mutual encounters in the dream state. Sometimes by design, sometimes by happenstance and sometimes by deep longing intent. I recall once, when Ed phoned and asked me about my dreams last night, then concentrated on one dream. As we discovered the basic corresponding elements, he began to identify the gender and seating placement of the people at the table I sat at in the dream! “How do you know that?” I gasped! He quietly replied, “Because I sat to your left, lucidly aware.” 3      What Waggoner calls a mutual lucid dream, psychologist Stanley Krippner calls a shared dream which he defines: “A second type of collective dream is the shared dream in which two or more people dream of each other in a common space and time, and independently remember similar surroundings, conversations, and interactions within the dream.” 4      There is a significant body of anecdotal evidence for correlated dreams and mutual dreaming.5 Additionally, there is other evidence that we are not always alone in our dreams. Not all our dream characters are manufactured by us.6      Recently efforts to create an objective assessment of mutual lucid dreaming resulted in a protocol that will provide remarkable new understanding, perhaps disquieting, of the nature of dreaming itself. That protocol has two accomplished lucid dreamers create a code word that is only known by that particular lucid dreamer. The code words are exchanged during the lucid dream in which both parties achieve lucidity. Upon awakening, the dreams are recorded including the exchanged code words, without consultation between the two dreamers. Again, without consultation between the two dreamers, the recorded event is sent to a referee who ascertains the similarity of the dream content and, most importantly, that the code word exchange was accurate.7 I believe with the evidence and near misses already reported in the literature, this instance of verified mutual lucid dreaming will happen soon.      When it does it will be give further incontrovertible evidence of a non-local mind, not to mention profound implications on the objectivity of the dream state. Furthermore, what are the implications to those dream characters that represent our friends, or, deceased relatives and acquaintances? If the dream has this type of objectivity, where is it happening? What does this say about the reality of space and time since these are so fluid in the dream state?       If you want to work on this some more – call me. ___________________ 1 LaBerge, S. (1990). Lucid dreaming: Psychophysiological studies of consciousness during REM sleep. In R.R. Bootsen, J.F. Kihlstrom, & D.L. Schacter (Eds.), Sleep and Cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association (pp. 109-126). 2 LaBerge, S. 2004. Lucid dreaming: A Concise guide to awakening in your dreams and in your life. Louisville, CO: Sounds True. 3 Robert Waggoner, Not yet published manuscript on lucid dreaming. 4 Krippner, S., Bogzara, F. & de Carvalho, A. P. (2002) Extraordinary dreams and how to work with them. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. 5 See for example, Magllon, L. L. (1997). Mutual dreaming. New York: Simon and Shuster. And Kellogg III, E. W. (1997). "A Mutual Lucid Dream Event," Dream Time, 14(2), 32-34. 6 Tholey, P. (1985). Do dream figures present a consciousness of their own? An experimental phenomenological study using lucid dreaming. Gestalt Theory, 7, pp. 29 46. 7 Kellogg, E. W. III, Magallón L. L., & Waggoner, R. G. (1999). A Lucid Mutual Dream Protocol, Retrieved 20 February, 2008 from http://www.asdreams.org/documents/1999_kellogg_lmdp_protocol.htm