A Tale of Two Minds

By: Jerry A. Greene

The "two minds" that exist in our brains are forever on a
see-saw. Besides being facinating, understanding how theses "minds" work, will make it easier for your to achieve the lucid dream state..

Question Reality
We don't tend to question our daily lives with thoughts of, "is this real, or a dream?". Because our dreaming lives are made up of a model of the real world, most of our dreams are rather passive. It's amazing how well the human mind can create a world inside of us, to the point that it tricks us into thinking that it's real.

Since we don't question our world during the time we are awake, we don't go about questioning things in our dreams.

If you think back to the scariest of nightmares you have ever had, they certainly seemed real while they were happening. You then woke up and realized afterwards, that it was just a dream. You might have wondered.Why don't we question it when it's happening and why can't we tell the difference?

Can you imagine how different nightmare would be if you had stopped to ask yourself if what was happening was real, or not? (You may also be interested in "Overcoming Nightmares")

The Two Minds - And The Science of Lucid Dreams
We have two distinctly different thought processes that are working in a constant see-saw type balance. Both are always present, yet one is out front more than the other at different times in our day. Psychologists call them the objective (concious) and subjective (unconsious) minds.

The objective mind is the part of our brain that is responsible for all of the information that comes in through our 5 senses and processes that information through reasoning.

The subjective mind is responsible for storing the information (received by the objective mind) in our memory, filtering our experiences through emotions and is also where our imagination happens to lie.

While we are awake and active, we tend to use our 5 senses on a constant basis and are always making judgments based on what is being presented to us. Therefore the objective mind is in control while the subjective mind sits back and absorbs all the processed information. Although this is true for most of our time awake, at times the subjective mind takes over. Some times it gets there on its own, in other times it has to be directed that way. One example of forcing the subjective mind to be more prominent is in the state of hypnosis. (The state of hypnosis and the induction of lucid dreams share similar aspects of the brain, but act in reverse order...more on that in a later article.).

In contrast to this, while we go to sleep, our brains turn down our sensitivity to the outside world. Not completely. after all, how would we wake up when the alarm clock goes off, if we didn't have some sort of alertness to the outside world? In this case, as the objective mind becomes passive, our subjective mind is able to come to the forefront. It starts to sort through the information that it received during the day and allows this information to be stored as memories and experiences. While doing this, we experience a dream.

Now that you have a basic understanding as to how these 2 minds work, let me explain to you how they see-saw while we are actually awake.

See-Sawing Minds
You get into your car to take a drive to the store. You know where the key goes because you have put it in the ignition hundreds if not thousands of times...so you don't think about it...your subjective mind, based on memory, puts the key in and turns the ignition, expecting the engine to start...again, you don't even notice that you are doing it, until something not-normal happens.

Let's say that the engine doesn't turn over. Your objective mind immediately springs forward and tries to figure out what's going on. After a few moments of trying to figure it out, you realize that the lights were left on and that the battery is dead. Perhaps you were distracted when getting out of the car...

You think about your last time in the car and oh yea, you were singing along with your favorite song on the radio and was completely not thinking when you got out! Most of the time, you turn the lights off without thinking about it (again, something the subjective mind does automatically), but this was your favorite song and it had your subjective mind so emotionally wrapped up, that you just didn't even realize that you had left the lights on. Can you see how both minds were there all along, but working in different ways? Your objective mind is doing all of the "thinking" while the subjective mind is doing all of the automatic stuff.

Let me give you one more example...

Can you remember a movie that was really sad and you could not help, but start crying?

Do you remember what part of the movie that was in?

Most likely, it was way into the movie, but do you know why?

Well, let's say that you got to the movie theater with some friends and sit down after purchasing the tickets. You're talking with your friends just before the movie...something which is very active. (Your objective mind is working constantly throughout the conversation).

All of a sudden, the lights go out and the coming attractions come on. Loud bass and interesting sounds come from the speakers in pitch black darkness, trying to play to your imagination and emotions. You immediately become saturated with excitement and get immersed into these short previews of upcoming movies. But...Have you ever cried during a sad moment in a preview??? Most likely not, unless you really are an over-emotional person. You haven't yet shaken the objective mind's control. It is still thinking too much, saying things like "Oh, that movie looks really good, or I can't wait to see that, or that looks too scary" you know....stuff like that.

But then, as in like a completely new beginning to life, the feature presentation comes on with fanfare and your objective mind says to itself, "okay, now I can relax and let the subjective mind enjoy the show. You should be safe in your seat, since not much should physically happening to you". This is based on your past experiences at other movies. Nothing weird should really happen to you, unless someone causes a problem in the theater, or there is an earthquake, or something. But just in case, your objective mind sits waiting, almost asleep, but alert enough that if danger presented itself, you could spring up in an instant. But for now, the movie is for your imagination...your subjective mind to enjoy.

You gradually loosen your grip on reality, as your objective mind recedes into the darkness and you start to absorb the story as if it were real. Your imagination and subjective mind starts to synchronize with the story and it starts to "feel" real. Just like a dream.

I want you to think about this...When scenes go from day to night in a split second, do you think anything of it? Of course not..it happens in all kinds of movies and tv shows...again something that you have experienced thousands of times before...why would that be weird? After all, don't they need to do that in order to make time pass? Otherwise, the show would probably get boring real quick if it were in real-time.

Yet, if this time-shifting happened in real life, wouldn't you suddenly think "wait a second!"? That's because your objective mind springs forward to take control in an instance when something that doesn't seem right, based on previous experience, presents itself in a moment in which the subjective mind was in control....and this is exactly what happens to create a lucid dream.

Just the fact that you have now read this article, may cause you to experience a lucid dream without any further knowledge of how to do so. I have talked with many people that have experienced a lucid dream on the first night they heard about it. Now, with the proper understanding of how it works, your mind is fueled up and ready to start questioning reality!