Page 144 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Mysteries of the Mind 125

and other sleep problems, the healing of mind Psychiatrist Ernest Hartmann of Tufts Uni-
and body—and even spiritual transcendence. versity believes that the nightmares of people
Those who teach lucid dreaming state that who seem physically healthy but who regularly
the two essentials are motivation and effort. suffer from “bad dreams” are reflecting their
Lucid dreaming techniques allow the individ- personalities rather than a traumatic past or a
ual dreamer to focus intention and to prepare present struggle with health problems. Hart-
a critical mind. The exercises taught by those mann found evidence of “thin boundaries” in
conducting lucid dreaming workshops range people prone to recurrent nightmares. In his
from ancient Tibetan techniques to modern assessment they were men and women who
programs developed by dream researchers. tended to be more open and sensitive than the
average. They were, he discovered, people
M Delving Deeper with a tendency to become quickly and deeply
Faraday, Ann. Dream Power. New York: Berkley involved in relationships with other individu-
Medallion Books Edition, 1973. als. At the same time, paradoxically, they also
Hall, Calvin S. The Meaning of Dreams. New York: tended to be “loners,” people who did not
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1953, 1956. identify strongly with groups of any kind.
Krippner, Stanley. Dreamtime and Dreamwork: Decod-
ing the Language of the Night. Los Angeles: Jeremy
P. Tarcher, 1990.
Krippner, Stanley, with Montague Ullman and Alan NIGHTMARES might be the price that
Vaughan. Dream Telepathy: Experiments in Nocturnal some otherwise healthy and untroubled people pay for
ESP. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland Publishers, 1989.
their sensitivity and creativity.
LaBerge, Stephen. Lucid Dreaming. New York: Ballan-
tine, 1986.
Lucidity Institute. [Online] http://www.lucidity.com/
LucidDreamingFAQ2.html. Hartmann developed a 138-item “Bound-
Sechrist, Elsie. Dreams—Your Magic Mirror. New ary Questionnaire” that he administered to
York: Dell Publishing, 1969. more than a thousand people, including a wide
range of students, nightmare sufferers, and
Van de Castle, Robert L. Our Dreaming Mind. New
naval officers. The findings supported earlier
York: Ballantine, 1994.
studies that suggested that many of the men
and women who endure nightmares are artistic
Nightmares
or otherwise creative people. Naval officers,
A nightmare differs considerably from a not surprisingly, most often turned up on the
frightening dream. The terror of a nightmare opposite end of the scale with rather “thick
is more intense and does not present an image boundaries.” Hartmann speculates that
or a dream sequence. Dreamers in the throes “boundary thickness” may reflect a basic orga-
of a nightmare cry out while in deep sleep. nizational pattern of the brain—one that is
They sweat, have difficulty in breathing, and genetically determined or established early in
often appear as if paralyzed. life. The general openness of “thin-bound-
In 1968 Dr. R. J. Broughton compiled con- aried” people may predispose them to creativi-
siderable evidence that indicates that bed-wet- ty, but it also binds them to a childlike vulner-
ting, sleepwalking, and nightmares occur dur- ability that leaves them at the mercy of the
ing periods of deep sleep rather than during night creatures that go “bump” in the darkness.
periods of dreaming, as the layperson often Nightmares, then, just might be the price
assumes. Bed-wetting is common among unsta- that some otherwise healthy and untroubled
ble individuals, and the sleepwalker, in about people pay for their sensitivity and creativity.
25 percent of the cases, is also a bed-wetter. The nightmare may work out the vulnerability,
Dream researcher Dr. Stanley Krippner agrees Hartmann states, especially if the sufferer
that nightmares, bed-wetting, and sleepwalk- learns to maneuver the frightening dream from
ing rarely coincide with dream periods. a place of vulnerability to a place of control.

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