DREAMS | PSYCHEDELICS
The Unspoken Prohibition of the Mind
The societal stigma around dreams and psychedelics
What if each night as you went to sleep you could go on an adventure? What if we could actually make use of those parts of our lives we spend asleep? What if we could be fully aware in the dreams that we have? It might sound strange or futuristic, but it’s something we’re all able to do. It’s called lucid dreaming.
One of the strangest aspects about lucid dreaming is how poorly understood it is. Most of the time that the subject is brought up, few people will even understand the meaning of the term. Even once people are brought up to speed though, they typically still fail to understand the value of these experiences.
For the past year now, these lucid dreams I’ve been having have completely changed my understanding of consciousness. They’ve changed even my thoughts on the idea of a life after death. I wake up many mornings now with an overwhelming sense of awe at the bizarre events I’ve just experienced.
And yet… this isn’t a subject that people are receptive to. Each night as we go to sleep, we go on fantastical adventures through the murky depths of our subconscious minds. We go to a world that’s bursting at the seams with forgotten memories and dire symbolism. We foray through a universe of unbridled creation. But by and large, people don’t care.
I can design a world each night, but I can’t go and tell my coworker about it. I can fly off into the trees as free as a bird, but it won’t land me that job I’ve wanted. I can have conversations with lost loved ones; I see them and I spend time with them. But when someone asks me what I did this weekend, these experiences are hardly anything that people want to hear about.
When the subject of dreams comes up, why is it that we’re so hard-wired to tune out? I think that the stigma around psychedelics provides a lot of insight into the relegation of our dreams.
Since as early as the 1950s, it’s been scientifically understood that psychedelics may play a valuable role in the treatment of a wide array of mental and physical disorders. But getting these substances to a point where they’re legally accepted demands far more than simply proving their utility. LSD and psilocybin, known more commonly as magic mushrooms, have both faced challenges on their pathway to legalization.
In the 1960s and 70s, the rising use of psychedelics opened peoples’ eyes to the utter depravity of the war in Vietnam. It’s no coincidence at all that the government began its war on drugs when the ways that these mind-opening experiences could affect our thinking on a societal scale became clear.
The appeal of a powerful lucid dream is remarkably similar to the appeal of psychedelics. Within these dreams, we have the ability to physically confront our struggles in life. The experiences can be spectacularly therapeutic and nothing short of awe-inspiring to awaken from. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that lucid dreaming is a talent that people can simply develop, but that so few would ever try.
What if each night as we went to sleep we could control the narratives of our dreams? What if when we wanted to, we could have vivid conversations with the people we’ve lost? What if we could visibly confront our deepest fears and turn them to bunnies? Would it change our perspective? Would the gaping mysteries of our minds trivialize our crushing routines?
Dreams are an innate feature of our consciousness. It’s easily forgotten that they’re more a part of us than our jobs, taxes or cellphones. That dreaming is a part of being alive is no random accident. Our dreams are… well… us. To ignore them is to squander the innate paint brush of divine creation.
It’s true that no one has ever declared a war on dreams. But just because there are no guns being fired or laws being imposed doesn’t mean that there’s not a battle taking place. It’s a battle between stifling monotony and limitless creation. The very lives we lead are subtle acts of war against our creative spirits.
We’re still allowed to dream. We’re just living in a world that allows less and less room for dreamers.