21. WHAT ARE THE BEST BOOKS ABOUT DREAMS? Dreamers are sure to disagree on this subject! Some people would prefer books from a scientific perspective; others would like a more psychological approach; still others would want a spiritual emphasis. Most of us agree that "dream dictionaries" usually have very limited usefulness. Some of the more prolific authors who write dream books include:
Robert Bosnak
Kelly Bulkeley
Gayle Delaney
G. William Domhoff
Ann Faraday
Jayne Gackenbach
Patricia Garfield
Ernest Hartmann
J. Allan Hobson
Strephon Kaplan-Williams
Stanley Krippner
Stephen LaBerge
Patricia Maybruck
Henry Reed
Jeremy Taylor
Montague Ullman
Robert Van de Castle
Marie Louise Von Franz
Your local librarian or bookstore clerk can help you locate good books. (Or visit one of The Dream Tree's book partners:
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22 IS IT POSSIBLE TO CONTROL YOUR DREAMS? Yes, at least to some extent. Dreams have been shown to be quite responsive to presleep stimuli. Some people are able to "incubate" dreams that address certain issues or involve certain places, characters, or scenes.It is also possible to develop a skill called "lucid dreaming," which means an awareness DURING SLEEP, that a dream is occuring. To learn techniques for developing this skill, consult books by Stephen LaBerge or visit alt.dreams.lucid
23. IS IT NORMAL TO HAVE A "DREAM WITHIN A DREAM"? These dreams, called "false awakenings" (or, less commonly, "nested dreams" or "recursive dreams") seem to be linked to the ability to experience lucid dreams. Some people enjoy these odd muddlings of dream life and waking reality; other people find them very disturbing.
24. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE AREN'T DREAMING RIGHT NOW? Good question. Lucid dreamers are famous for constantly "checking" reality, to see whether they are dreaming at that moment! One "reality check" might be to attempt complicated mathematical equations, which seem to be very difficult to perform in dreams (although this effect is less true for mathematicians than the rest of us.) Most people also find that text tends to shift and change in unnatural ways in dreams. So you might try reading a passage of text, looking away, and then re-reading it to see if it still says the same thing it did a moment ago.But, to be honest, this question is one of the great conundrums of history. Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu reportedly said in the 3rd century B.C., "One night I dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, content with my lot. Suddenly I awoke and I was Chuang-Tzu again. Who am I in reality? A butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang-Tzu or Chuang-Tzu imagining he was a butterfly?"
