Ten years ago, when lucid dreaming was less commonly known in the UK and Europe, I used to hear this question a lot when I spoke at conferences: Is lucid dreaming dangerous? My audiences in those days were an eclectic mix of academics, writers, dreamers and professional therapists, but this particular question often came from psychoanalysts with a strong Freudian perspective. Freud was aware of lucid dreaming but it never got more than a footnote mention in his literature.
Is it safe to wake up inside a dream? In this video clip taken from lucid dreaming talks I gave at the Dream Research Institute in London, I consider the question seriously and then playfully, through a poem entitled “The Dangers of Lucid Dreaming” which explores the ‘danger’ of waking up to one’s deeper self and the mysteries of the dream world.
