The Dream Catcher
Why does the researcher who pioneered the study of lucid dreaming face a future in academic exile?
STEPHEN LABERGE APPEARS SUDDENLY, slipping out from behind a partition at the back of the room, like the Wizard of Oz emerging from behind the curtain. “So the first big question we face,” he announces without preamble, “is what is this reality?”
It’s opening night of a workshop called Dreaming and Awakening, which LaBerge leads at the Kalani Oceanside Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. LaBerge, who is 66 years old, is the main attraction—the reason we’re all here. He’s the founding father of the science of lucid dreaming.
If you’ve ever been aware that you are dreaming, but remained asleep, you’ve experienced a lucid dream. Some people claim to have had one at least once, if only briefly—usually just before waking up. With enough practice, say proponents like LaBerge, lucid dreamers can rescript their nightly narratives as they please. According to one recent study, the newly initiated most often use lucid dreams to satisfy sexual appetite or aeronautic fancy. The more experienced, though, claim to be able to create art or acquire…
