Some Further Thoughts on Lucid Dreaming and Ethical Reflection

Abstract

Immediately following the article I wrote in the June 1988 Lucidity Letter. Lucid Dreaming and Ethical Reflection”1, Stephen LaBerge commented on my ideas in “Reply to Bulkley: A thoroughly confused picture of what ethics is all about...utterly antithetical to any sort of valid ethical position”2. From the comments he made in his essay, it seems that LaBergeand I disagree on a few points. But before I begin a detailed consideration of LaBerge’s arguments, I want to stress that debates such as these are an important way of improving our knowledge and understanding about lucid dreaming. Similar disputes emerged at the Lucidity Symposium at this past summer’s annual conference of the Association for the Study of Dreams, and while things got a little cantankerous I believe that everyone benefited from an open airing and discussion of the difficult issues involved in our studies and research. So while I may continue to challenge certain of Dr. LaBerge’s positions, and while he may continue to challenge me, I feel confident that such a debate will make positive and constructive contributions to the enterprise in which we are all engaged, namely the exploration of the experience of lucid dreaming.