“DREAM HACKERS”. THE RELIABILITY OF LUCID DREAMING
Eugeniy V. Safronov
Folklore: structure, typology, semiotics 2020 DOI: 10.28995/2658-5294-2020-3-3-66-83 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Participants of the Dream Hackers online forum |
| Topics | Dreaming Lucid dreaming |
| Key findings | Dream hackers' practices of mapping lucid dreams and reporting talismans and physical marks blur the line between dreaming and wakefulness, questioning the credibility of reality. |
Abstract
It is difficult to assess recollection of dreams by reliability of what happened despite the fact that the opposition “reality – dream” is considered a cultural universal. Such a task grows even more complex as one turns to recollection of so called lucid dreams. The article covers different types of messages published on the Dream Hackers forum. That online community is the largest Russian-language platform for publishing such texts. The dream-hackers believe that it is possible to control the dreams, create maps of the dreamed places and objects common for different dreamers and jointly experience dream plots. Among the stories of the forum participants one may find the stories about the so-called “talismans”, or, the specific objects that can be transferred from the dream to the material world, as well as the mentions of the different marks left on the body of a dreamer after waking up, such as scratches, wounds etc. Such beliefs blur the line between the dreaming and the wakefulness and question the credibility of the reality itself. Furthermore, the article analyzes the basic functions of the mapping of “lucid dreams” mapping. The most important of the functions is to increase the “awareness”, in other words, to achieve the key state of consciousness for the dream hackers.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on lucid dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-Level Control in Lucid Dreams Adults who experience at least one lucid dream per year | 2020 | Qualitative study | n = 107 |
| Dreamers as agents making strategizing efforts exemplify core aggregate of executive function in non-lucid dreaming Archived cross-cultural dreams | 2012 | Qualitative study using grounded theory | |
| Lucid music – A pilot study exploring the experiences and potential of music-making in lucid dreams. Musicians who reported lucid dreams involving playing instruments and singing | 2018 | Qualitative study | n = 5 |
| Exploring the range of reported dream lucidity Participants who implemented mnemonic training lucid dream induction methods at home | 2021 | Observational study with qualitative component | |
| Methods of Exploring Transpersonal Lucid Dreams: Ineffability and Creative Consciousness | 2020 | Mixed methods (quantitative, phenomenological, art-based inquiry) |