I have finally watched Inception and was very disappointed. I mean, we all dream, every night. So why when it comes to filming a movie in a dream setting, the film-makers invent some kind of virtual reality that has very little in common with dreams? If they wanted an unusual setting for an action movie, where the characters can bend reality rules, they could use more imagination.
However, the movie actually pictures some lucid dreaming techniques quite accurately. The one that drew my attention was the use of a totem.
What Is A “Totem”
In the movie, “totem” is a small object with certain unique feature that would be absent or distorted in a dream. The main character, Cobb, uses a spinning top to determine whether he is awake or dreaming: in a dream, it would spin endlessly, which is impossible in the waking life.
It appears, I’ve been using a similar technique for a while, even before I saw the movie. I always take with me a small book of Edward Lear’s poetry (a great reading for any dreamer, by the way) to kill all that time on my way to work.
Once I was dreaming about waiting at a bus stop. As usual, I opened the book but couldn’t read a word. The pictures were moving and the text was constantly changing. Then I realized that I’m dreaming.
The inability to read is one of the most common dream-signs. The reason is that the function of the left brain hemisphere, responsible for speech and logic skills is passive in the dreaming state. So reading is a great dream check, but written texts are not always available.
A totem, on the other hand, is an object that is always with you, and so you are more likely to have it with you in a dream.
How to Choose A Totem
A totem should be rather small, so you don’t have a problem taking it with you anywhere. It cannot be your mobile or iPhone though: we are too used to these objects to pay attention to them in a dream. Besides, they tend to function more or less normally even in the dreaming state, so it is hard to tell the difference unless your level of awareness is already high.
A totem has to posses a feature that would change or be absent in a dream. Such as a top would keep spinning or a book would be unreadable. You have to decide whether the feature is prominent enough for you to notice a change.
Make a habit of having your totem with you and check it often. I usually do so every time I make reality check. We are unlikely to bring objects from our dreams, but we can take anything into the dreams with the help of conditioning.
The use of a totem is not, strictly speaking, a unique lucid dreaming technique but a variation of other mnemonic methods we know. Yet it may be very helpful, especially when other tests or techniques fail. The laws of the Dreamland aren’t constant, and we can’t always count on the same set of rules. In that case, it is good to have an additional reference point for a reality check.
At the same time, some people suggest that an item we know well will appear and behave in a dream just as it does in our waking experience. That is, as we know and expect it to be. In my experience the method worked – I had several lucid dreams induced by my “totem”. On the other hand, it could work because I used a text as a dream-check, and reading is an almost 100-percent-sure test for dreaming.
As most of lucid dreaming techniques, it is individual. You wouldn’t know until you try.
Let us know how it’s going! Good luck!
