62 Nick Atlas
consciousness itself, nor to disparate or applied perspectives on
consciousness. Consequently, the implicit biases of materialistic science
are reinforced (Kuhn, 1970).
For example, in their section, “What happens to consciousness during
waking and sleep?,” Cacioppo and Freberg (2016, p. 199) state that
“Varying states of awareness can be described using electroencephalogram
(EEG) recordings, which provide a general measure of overall brain
activity” (p. 202). While technically correct, the authors have defaulted to
the neuroscience of consciousness and neglect to mention that varying
states of awareness may also be described by way of qualitative, self-
reporting and other subjective, introspective practices such as mindfulness
meditation (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). The message to readers is clear: the science
of psychology is synonymous with the observation of behavior, be it
physical action or neural mechanics.
The same authors begin their discussion on dreams by proclaiming,
“From the earliest times in our history, people have searched for the
significance and meaning of their dreams” (Cacioppo and Freberg, 2016, p.
209). The authors go on to cite the ancient Egyptians, who “believed that
dreams predicted the future,” as well as Freud, “who argued that the
unconscious mind expressed itself symbolically through our dreams.”
Rather than exploring this topic that, admittedly, has captivated people for
eons, the authors quickly pivot. “These are interesting ideas,” they
conclude, “but what does science have to say about dreaming?” The
authors then proceed to devote two additional paragraphs to the ways in
which dream behavior correlates with brain activity and physiological
arousal.
Unlike Meyers and DeWall (2015) and Pastorino and Doyle-Portillo
(2016), who make no mention of lucid dreaming, Cacioppo and Freberg
(2016) define lucid dreaming as a state in which “dreamers become aware
that they are dreaming and may use this awareness to control or direct the
content of the dream” (p. 210). Unfortunately, their definition is inherently
flawed (Atlas, 2017; Hurd, 2012)—the popular notion that lucidity is
synonymous with dream control is a distinctly Euro-American ethos.
Furthermore, the authors expediently reduce this quirk of consciousness to