74 Nick Atlas
upon one another. This type of ontological distinction has traditionally
subsisted by way of a society’s mythopoeic structures (guiding myths and
associated rituals) (Laughlin, 2011). Historically, myth and ritual not only
shaped the way people and cultures dreamt but also influenced their ethical
and existential concerns and rippled throughout their daily lives and
activities.
Polyphasic cultures view exceptional experiences as the embodied
reification of myth that upholds a virtuous society, places the individual in
the cosmos, assuages fears of death and provides a sense of life purpose
(Eliade, 1971; 1975; Laughlin, 2011). It has been suggested that such
ritualized practices and structures are desperately missing from our
contemporary Western (and increasingly global) monoculture (May, 1991),
replaced instead by second-hand, scientific ideology. Hence lucid
dreaming—ostensibly, a substance-free method of inducing exceptional
experience on par with psychedelic experience—and the experiential
lessons it imparts may be invaluable assets in our intra-and-interpersonal
pursuit of meaning and wholeness. Correlatively, the recognition and
potential replication of lucid dreaming in laboratory settings may
ultimately lend itself to a wealth of neurophenomenological discoveries
that further refine our understanding of dreaming, the self, consciousness,
and human flourishing.
In short, science and, subsequently, contemporary psychology
textbooks, excel in transmitting ideologically-driven information that, in
most cases, the reader has no way of contesting and must accept (and,
likely, regurgitate on an examination) at face value. Likewise, the
information that is presented necessarily furthers the goals of the existing
scientific paradigm, or, normal science (Kuhn, 1970). Meanwhile, there is
little to no emphasis placed on self-discovery, particularly in relation to the
first-person experience of consciousness. An experiential approach to
studying consciousness, where students learn to see for themselves, could
potentially shake the foundations of psychology, yield tremendous insight
into marginalized areas such as dreaming and non-ordinary, transpersonal
states, and instill in students a deeply embodied appreciation for
psychological life and its myriad mysteries.