

The Oneironic-I A theory of how one’s sense of self continues and changes during lucid dreams.
Origins of Oneiros • The ancient Greek work for dream was “Oneiros”. • In Prometheus Bound, the ancient Greek philosopher Aeschylus called the art of dream interpretation “Oneiromancy”. • LaBerge a modern day lucid dream researcher calls explorers of the dream state “Oneironauts”.
Most writers focus on the “self-concept”, “self-esteem”, personality traits or the self in a reflective, subjective manner. Sense of self as overlapping memories. Sense of self as a bundle of perceptions. Sense of self as a narrative structure and story. Sense of self as a collage of socially conditioned intepretations. What is Self? .
Dan’s working definition of an Oneironic-I or self • Derived “duplex notion of the self” from William James and George Herbert Mead. • with the “I”, the self as observer, AND • with the “me”, the self as the observations of that observer.
Lucid dreaming is… • Being able to consciously recognize that you are dreaming while you are dreaming • Once aware you are dreaming, acting to consciously control and change the context & characters of the dream in real time • And why? Its an exhilarating experience, travel to exotic locations, meet interesting people, do things you couldn’t when awake
Yes, you are asleep when you are lucid dreaming! • LaBerge’s PhD dissertation (1977) at Stanford empirically verifies a dreamer can be lucid while asleep. • How so?
The researchers say…. • Green (1968) - lucid dreams are accurate imitations of waking life. • LaBerge (1988) - dreaming of doing something is equivalent to actually doing it. • Moffitt (1988) - we dream to find out who we are. • Wolf (1994) - we dream so that a sense of “I” manifests.
Your lucid dreaming self is an extension of your waking self. Lucid dream research suggests that one’s sense of self extends across a continuum of conscious states. In lucid dreams you have: a self-concept, reflexivity, memories, perceptions, narratives structures and socially constructed realities
And so The Oneironic-I is…. • a self-perceived continuity in the sameness of the person, The “I”, the lucid dream OBSERVER. • a self-perceived continuity in the person’s self attributes, The “Me”, the lucid dream OBSERVATIONS.