Part VI: Applications Introduction

Abstract

At first consideration the notion of practical applications for something as ethereal as a dream may seem fanciful at best. Be that as it may, in Lucid Dreaming I recounted a story that is still apt: in the eighteenth century electricity was thought no more than a scientific curiosity and a practical-minded woman is said to have asked Benjamin Franklin, "But what use is it?" His reply is famous: "What use, ma-dame, is a newborn baby?" If today the same question were asked in regard to lucid dreaming, a "scientific curiosity" of the twentieth century, the same answer could justifiably be given. Nonetheless, a variety of anecdotes and observations suggest that, like electricity, the power of lucid dreaming could also be harnessed to aid us in performing a variety of tasks with far greater ease.