The Erratic Oneironaut - Issue #74
The Increasingly Erratic Newsletter of the Mortal Mist Community
Date October 25, 2011)
Of Golf and Lucid DreamingI used to love playing golf. It was one of those things that I could never quite get, but the pursuit brought just enough tiny successes and even tinier progress that it kept me engaged. Getting out there and hitting the ball isn't hard, but doing it and achieving anything even close to par is elusive and very challenging. Grooving and maintaining a swing and being able to adjust it to deliberately hook or slice, use the full range of clubs and hit through all the varied terrains and slopes is a Sisyphean task if there ever was one. I haven't even mentioned putting - and won't.
And yet. . . I loved it. Until I tore the rotator cuff in my right shoulder. (I didn't even do it golfing, but rather lifting a huge aquarium into a shop loft for storage.)
For me, and I suspect for many others, Lucid Dreaming shares all of those endearingly frustrating qualities of golf. I've been working at it for a long time now, and if any progress has been made it is negligible at best. (More realistically, I have actually digressed.) Instead of the golfing greats, we have our share of lucidity masters around here who prove that achievement is within human capability. Rather than the gods of golf like Nicklaus, Watson, Palmer and Travino, we have our
Luminous, Naiya, Kar, mentalenforcer and many others. Unlike the greats of golf, we have immediate access to these and more of the greats of Lucid Dreaming right here in The Mist!
In spite of the fits and starts, the impossibly straight drives directly into ponds instead of the usual slices that would land sweetly around doglegs and the divots that fly further and land more accurately than chipped balls, combined with wind, rain, biting insects and sweltering heat, I adored being out on the golf course.
In spite of frustratingly irregular and unpredictable lucidity and recall along with erratic control once becoming lucid, I remain absolutely absorbed with Lucid Dreaming - a fascination we all share here.
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A gathering of werewolves for Halloween...(from
AspirationRealized)
Since its nearly Halloween, I had the idea to have another mafia/werewolf event soon to honor the holiday. The game fits the concept of Halloween perfectly and it'd be a great way to bring in the Halloween spirit (thats right, if Christmas has a spirit then damn it, Halloween has a spirit too. And its more ghostly) along with some spooky dreams (thats right, I used the word "spooky". Does it feel like Halloween yet?).
My current idea is to have it be a one night event with a game in chat with (hopefully) many players and a unique role configuration to add to the theme. I don't have a date concrete in mind but it should be a little before or after the actual day of Halloween so its not stepping on the toes of whatever you already have planned. I am sending this "blurb" to gauge interest in this, so PM me if you would like to attend such a thing and I'll see if we can get the numbers. If you have any suggestions (a thread game instead, roles, etc) you can also let me know.
(PM AspirationRealized with ideas and questions.)
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Psiber Dreaming Conference 2011Another Psiber Dreaming Conference has come and gone - the 10th. Due to the graciousness of Ryan Hurd and Jean Campbell, I was permitted to roam the virtual halls of the conference this year. It was quite a treat.
The conference is a virtual gathering of the top theorists, explorers and research involved in all aspects of dreaming. After a friendly open house where people got to know one another a bit, two papers per day were presented on topics ranging from updates on psychological research to technique development to shamanic, cultural, artistic and spiritual influences and interests. A variety of activities and contests ran throughout the conference, and
LD4All sponsored a portal for questions and answers about Lucid Dreaming.
Mortal Mist was well represented, with
Luminous presenting a paper about
Growing Up As A Lucid Dreamer,
Naiya's involvement with a shared dreaming experiment and
Ryan's paper on
Lucid Immersion.
Perhaps next year we can find a way to have a more substantive presence for the Mortal Mist community itself? At the very least, we certainly have areas of exploration and expertise here that would serve well being presented at the 2012 conference.
Thank you,
Ryan and
Jean, for the opportunity to attend and be part of this event!
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October's Lucid ChallengesThis month's lucid tasks will be the same as last month. Next month we will carry on with a new set of tasks. Any badges that were received last month will stay in effect for the rest of October, and awards from the September challenges will be granted upon completion and last until the end of November, at which point the November challenges will continue.
Basic Challenge: Swim through money like Uncle Scrooge, or complete your own personal task.
Intermediate Challenge: Find a DC and wake them up.
Advanced Challenge: Explore a pyramid.
October's Monthly Meeting Place - A Strange HousePlease record all of your visits to A Strange House
Here:
Making it to A Strange House while lucid and talking to a person or ghost there will earn a Gold Award. Making it to A Strange House while lucid but not talking to anyone there will earn a Silver Award. Making it to A Strange House in a non-lucid dream will earn a bronze award.
From around the Mist:
Closing ThoughtsThe occasional birdie, 40 foot putt or sub-90 game kept me coming back to the golf course. Seizing those occasional moments of magical power and control over my entire universe, along with the alluring sense that much remains to be discovered about this amazing human ability, keeps me excited about achieving my next Lucid Dream.
Perhaps I'll see you there!
pj
CARPE NOCTEM
