For Colored Girls: A Movie Review

Director: Tyler Perry

I never saw the play, “For Colored Girls…” when it came out in the seventies, and I have not read Ntozake Shange’s book adaptation, so I am judging “For Colored Girls” solely on its merit as a movie. The movie was adapted from the play, and it is centered around the trials and tribulations in the lives of seven black women who are all –for the most part– aspiring in their own way to better themselves. They come from various stations in life, mostly poor to middle-class, but they are all united by their african American ancestry, and the challenges that they must overcome. And while the struggles that Shange’s characters go through certainly are valid and reflective of the experience that many black women go through, I think that her overall perspective is a bit skewed in that she presents the black male as the source of ALL their problems. Even in the character of Jo (played by Janet Jackson) an educated, very successful black business woman who runs her own company (with a cold iron hand), we see that the only problem that stands in her way is her husband Carl, played by Omari Hardwick, who is not as successful, and somewhat of a leech who is harboring a very dangerous secret that could destroy both of them. The issue/challenge of being a female CEO, or even of being African-American in a caucasian male-dominated playing field is not addressed at all. Unfortunately there is only one black man in the movie, For Colored Girls, who comes off as anything more than a dog, and that is Hill harper who plays Donald, the supportive husband of social worker,

Donald (Hill Harper) comforts wife, Kelly (Kerry Washington).

kelly (played by Kerry Washington). Never-the-less, For Colored Girls is a very interesting, and well executed movie overall.
The Play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf (wheeew) had a very experimental format (Ntozake Shange refers to it as a “Choreopoem” in her book adaptation) wherein seven woman who are each designated by a color of the rainbow tell their stories by reciting a series of poems, and at the end they bring their stories together in a ritualistic female bonding. Now the movie itself tries to mix straight story and dialogue with individual poetic recitation. And for the most part, this style of delivery works, but there are a couple of glaring exceptions where the switch between dialogue and soliloquy just doesn’t work at all, and ends up dragging the movie down. This is most evident in the case of the character Nyla, played by Tessa Thompson. Nyla is a young teenager perhaps 17. She is a very talented dancer who takes classes at a local school. Early in the movie there is a scene where she and a group of other students are sitting around doing warm-up stretches at the studio before the teacher (Anika Noni Rose) arrives. They are

Ntozake Shange's book adapted from the play.

laughing and joking and talking about “boys’” the way you might expect teenage girls to do. Then at one point, Nyla launches into her soliloquy, and she drones on for a good six or seven minutes about having a sexual experience with five brothers at the same time on the night of her high school graduation prom. She stretches and bends, and her body arcs with pleasure as she recounts the experience to her captivated peers who giggle and make snide remarks, but the content and duration of her speech seem too heavy and drawn out for her to carry as a soliloquy. I don’t know whether it was the content of her soliloquy, or her delivery, or the way it isolated her from the other actors around her and the scene itself; but it came off as very sluggish, and I found myself not particularly caring about what she was saying, and waiting for her recitation to be over. I do not mean to say that Tessa Thompson did a bad acting job, because that was not the case at all. Throughout the rest of the movie you can clearly see that she is a talented actor. But perhaps her soliloquy would have worked better if it were totally removed from the scene some how. Classically when you have a soliloquy in a play, either the actor is alone, or there is a spotlight on the actor while the other actors are shrouded in darkness.
Now, at the other end of this spectrum was Lorretta Devine, who plays the character, Juanita. Juanita is a mature black woman who spearheads an outreach program for the women in her community. She wants to empower and educate women on issues of sexuality, AIDS, motherhood, employment, etc. But even as she reaches out to help other women, she

Juanita (Lorretta Devine) hears yet another excuse from boyfriend Frank (Richard Lawson).

herself must deal with the issue of needing a man in her life in order to validate her worth as a woman.
Now, it may have been the luck of the draw, but Devine’s transition from dialogue into soliloquy was damn near flawless. She totally enraptures you with the heart-felt portrayal of her character, and she manages to pull off her soliloquies without isolating the other actors, or the audience.
Other notable performances were given by Woopie Goldberg, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, and kimberly Elise.
Whoopi Goldberg plays Alice, the religious fanatic mother of Tangie and Nyla. Her character is not quite what I am used to seeing from Whoopi. When she is not being intentionally funny or satirical, Whoopi’s characters are usually even keel and serious-minded; sometimes espousing great wisdom. But Alice is quite loony, and not in a funny way. She is the extreme of all those black, church-going, Good Book-thumping, holier-than-thou

Tangie (Thandie Newton) is chastised by her mother, Alice (Whoopi Goldberg)

condemnationists who see Satan’s work everywhere around them; the type of person that becomes thoroughly submersed in God and religion in order to bury the darkness that they feel within themselves.
Alice’s daughter, Tangie, is an emotionally numb and uncaring nymphomaniac whose self-esteem is intimately linked to her ability to lure men into her bed and then discard them. She is afflicted with the perspective of the stereotypical male. Tangie is portrayed convincingly and unapologetically by Thandie Newton. There is a visually stunning scene where Tangie faces-off

Tessa Thompson as Nyla

with her mother and has a revelation about her life. She is sitting on a wooden chair scantily clad in a peach-colored robe. She is slightly hunched forward, her hands resting on her knees. Her legs are open, and her feet are planted solidly on the floor. She is emotionally, mentally and physically spent, and the scene is very much reminiscent of a Lawrence Jacob painting. Here Newton and Goldberg, who is sitting exhausted on the floor behind her to the right with her back resting against a wall, do a sort of double soliloquy, a two-person poetic recitation, which is an interesting idea in theory, but doesn’t pan out quite well–Whoopi’s part is a bit weak. I like Whoopi Goldberg as an entertainer, but I am not a huge fan of her acting.
Phylicia Rashad plays nosey neighbor, Gilda. She is the one who brings wisdom to bear on the drama and proceedings in the lives of the various “colored” women. Rashad actually plays the role that I would have expected to see Whoopi playing, and she plays it with a well-seasoned ease.
kimberly Elise gives a spectacular performance as Crystal, the physically abused mother of two very young children who works hard and tries her very best

Crystal (Kimberly Elise) sees the light.

to hold-out and keep her family together, hoping that her alcoholic, total loser-of-a-man (played by Michael Ealy) will “come around” and be the man that she believes in… but she learns too late that there comes a time when we have to stop holding our breath.
And last, but not least, I have to say a bit more about Janet Jackson in this movie. Miss. Jackson, as mentioned earlier, plays Jo. First of all, Jackson’s soliloquy was the highlight of her whole performance; as well a soliloquy should be. The camera just zoomed right on into her face, and her gorgeous hunk of a husband Carl (played by Omari Hardwick) whom she had been talking to, was totally left out of the frame. The rest of Miss Jackson’s performance; however, particularly that of high-powered CEO, left a bit more to be desired. Now it is quite possible that I was distracted by the bizarre feeling that Michael Jackson’s ghost was lurking behind almost every shot of Janet’s face. It was almost like looking at a female version of Michael. The stoic and almost

Jo (Janet Jackson) with husband Carl (Omari Hardwick).

androgynous appearance of Janet’s character certainly did nothing to distract from this bizarre perception. Jo comes off as an emotionally distant and alienating woman, very uptight and a bit of a bitch. In the beginning, she does not relate well to other –less successful– colored women, or the struggles that they may face. Her whole attitude is “I had the same challenges as a black woman that they did, and I managed to become successful so they should be able to do the same.” When Juanita (Lorretta Devine) comes to her seeking funding for a community project, Jo’s reply is very much, I gave at the office.
The women portrayed in For Colored Women have a variety of tumultuous issues to deal with that run the gamut from rape to abortion, to HIV, to bad relationships and religious fanaticism, and a mother’s worse nightmare. But by the end of the movie, these women begin to see the light beyond their trials and tribulations, and they begin to find strength and solace in the powerful bond of sisterhood that unites them all.

from left: Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson, Kimberly Elise, Phylicia Rashad, Lorretta Devine, Tessa Thompson and Thandie Newton

In spite of its negative portrayal of African-American men, I would still recommend seeing the movie For Colored Girls. It has a very unique and creative delivery, and lots of good performances. I love poetry in general, and I will definitely be checking out the book. Let me know what you think!

I give For Colored Girls 3 1/2 hits:

Ten Haiku

Diaphanous clouds Diffuse the soft light of your Creamy white fullness Always stay with me Even as you drift away Into other dreams Sweet sauce on my lips I am stuffed to my limit And, ooh, so thankful Old man winter, please Give up the ghost already Go into the light! Cast through bedroom shades Just before dawn, moon shadows Dance on barren walls	Here, he passed me by… Tell-tale blood drops washed away By tears from heaven Unprecedented Change is inaugurated. Hopefully not too late. Faces now and then Again in time, take us back… Now, then, where were we? Chocolate cordials Melting lover’s hearts away… Sweetness fills the air How lovely she is; Slither of brilliance against A cobalt blue sky

These are a few haiku that I have written over the course of a year. My favorite one is “Chocolate Cordials.” I like them all for various reasons, but I think “Chocolate Cordials” captures the essence of haiku more fully than the others. I wrote it for Valentine’s day. One of the main ideas that haiku strives for is the economy of words. Because of their confined structure, it is essential that haiku express the most thought or feeling with the fewest words possible. Also important is imagery. Haiku should evoke visual imagery that stays in your mind after you read it.
In addition, classic haiku usually gives give you a sense of season or nature. And of course, our modern (western)version of the Japanese haiku is typically composed of three lines of five, seven and five syllables.
Haiku capture a fleeting moment; a sensation or experience, an emotion or sentiment that might otherwise be forgotten in the course of a day.
Another of my favorites is “Cast Through Bedroom Shades.” It captures a very poignant visual, and plays subtly on the emotions. For me it evokes a sense of longing.
I wrote “Sweet Sauce On My Lips” partly for fun. This was my Thanksgiving Haiku.
Haiku is a very interesting form of poetry. It may seem very simple, and perhaps elementary at first, but the more you work with this form, the deeper you get into it, and the more it challenges you.
Anyway, let me know what you think of these, and feel free to leave some of your own Haiku here!

The Art Of ‘Inception’

Director: Christopher Nolan
…life is but a dream… within a dream… within a dream…
Leonardo DiCaprio is going off the deep end. First Shutter Island, and now this. Inception, much like Shutter island, is an exploration of the boundaries of reality. But while Shutter Island used personal identity and psychosis, Inception hits us from another angle; dreams. In both films, the directors lead us to question the reality of what we experience. But I must say that Inception is by far, more suave and sophisticated. It is downright ingenious. Inception goes much deeper than superficial personality, and it is psychologically sound. The Premise of Inception is the invention of a device that allows the user/s to enter the dreams of another person. This device–let us call it the Dream Machine–is ultimately used for (wouldn’t you know it) corporate espionage. DiCaprio’s character, Cobb, has been trained in the very delicate art of “extraction.” He is very adept at maneuvering through the dreamscapes of the unconscious mind, in order to get information. But while he has mastered this skill with others, he is far less successful at handling his own inner demons.
Cobb is on the run. He is a fugitive from the United States. He makes a living by taking on assignments from shady and powerful corporations dealing in espionage. When a new job offer comes along from wealthy industrialist Saito (played by ken Wantanabe) that he cannot resist, Cobb assembles an uncanny team of dreamers, each with unique abilities that will allow the team to successfully navigate

Asleep on the job: Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) watches over the dream team.

the dreamscape of their intended mark; one Robert Fischer Jr., played by Cillian Murphy (who, you may recall, was Scarecrow in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight). But there is a twist, of course; this new job will not involve the “extraction” of information, it will involve what is known as “inception,” or putting an idea into someone’s mind via there dreams. Cobb and his team must plant a seed deep in the mind of their mark that will in effect brainwash him into carrying out a specific task. But they will find out that dreams, and the unconscious can be, at the very least, unpredictable at times, and that if you are going to delve into someone else’s mind and share dreams with them, then you’d better be on top of your game.
Ellen Page plays Ariadne. She is the “architect”

Marion Cotillard and Leonardo DiCaprio get away from it all as Mal & Cobb.

of the team, who’s job is to design the basic scenery or setting of the dreamscape which the mark will inadvertently “flesh out;” filling in the details with the elements and symbolism of his own unconscious mind. (It gets really deep, so don’t lose you focus yet!) Ariadne is new to the whole concept, but she is a natural. In the dreamscape, she sort of maintains the integrity of the “backdrop.”
Tom Hardy (Who played Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis) is Eames (my personal favorite). He is a master forger by trade who, in the dreamscape–as it turns out, is capable of forging much, much more than signatures. Eames can study the physical characteristics and mannerisms of a person, and then replicate them to perfection in the dreamscape. He is a natural at shapeshifting.

Ken Wantanabe as Saito with Cotillard as Mal.

Director Chris Nolan brings back another old acquaintance, Michael Caine (Alfred of The Dark Knight) to play Miles. Miles is the creator of the device, the Dream Machine, that allows Cobb and his accomplices to enter the dreams of others. He is also Cobb’s father in-law, and the one who taught him everything he knows about the psychology dream navigation and extracting information.
The acting is top-notch, and Chris Nolan has put together an interesting array actors with believable characters that you really feel for. And while Inception is basically a science fiction movie, its subject matter is loosely based on a very real phenomenon called “lucid dreaming.” A lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer is consciously aware that he is dreaming as the dream happens; a dream in which he can act with conscious volition in the same way he could if he were awake. Strange but true! There has been much scientific research done on this subject, and many books have been written about it. I myself am a lucid dreamer, and if you have been

Cobb tries to convince Mr. Fischer (Cillian Murphy) that he's dreaming.

following my blog, you may have read my article, “Lucid Dreaming: The Conscious Exploration Of The Psyche,” which sort of set the stage for this movie review. Inception plays on the darker side of the idea of lucid dreaming, but this phenomenon in itself is not wrought with peril, as the movie might lead you to believe. Learning and practicing the art of lucid dreaming is a very worthwhile endeavor.
There are lucid dreamers who have experienced “shared dreaming,” or “dream-linking.” This is when two dreamers have the same dream, but each from the perspective of their own dream “character.” This is pretty much what the Dream Machine in Inception does; it allows you to dream together with other dreamers.
It is apparent to me that Christopher Nolan, if he is not a lucid dreamer himself, has researched the subject very thoroughly, as he has created a movie with great insight and psychological depth. Inception is a work of art.

Cobb gives Ariadne (Ellen Page) a lesson in dream manipulation.

There was only one thing about this movie that I didn’t really care for; a bit of “dream splicing” that Nolan does right at the beginning of the movie. But, you’ll see what I mean when you watch it, if you haven’t done so already. Inception very easily lends itself to continuation. It is ripe with possibilities, and I think that Nolan might be able to come up with something even more fabulous for part two. I recommend this movie very highly. Leave a comment, and let me know what you think!

I give Inception 4 1/2 hits.

Lucid Dreaming: The Conscious Exploration Of The Psyche

A Lucid Dream, is a dream in which you are consciously aware that you are dreaming and that your physical body is asleep somewhere; or a dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming as the dream is happening.
There are people who do not believe that such a thing is even possible. They do not believe that they can be self-aware and act with volition in the dream state in the same way that they are aware when awake; in the same way that you are aware as you are reading this article right now. But I can assure you that it is quite possible, and it is an ability that you can learn to develop. I, among many others, have experienced this phenomenon first-hand. I have been having lucid dreams since I was a teenager over twenty-five years ago. I have also been experiencing a related phenomenon for just as long; the out-of-body-experience, or OBE for short. An OBE is when you feel that your consciousness leaves your physical body and is aware from a perspective outside of it, whether that perspective be in your immediate physical surroundings, of far removed from them. But, I am not going to go into OBE’s right now; I will save that for another time, perhaps. With this article, I am just going to talk about Lucid Dreaming.
There are many different techniques that can be used for inducing

Creative Dreaming by Patricia Garfield.

lucid dreams, but more and more, I find that intent is really the most crucial element, and techniques are secondary. If I give it an earnest effort, I can induce on the average, perhaps 2 to 4 lucid dreams per month. If don’t really try, I will have perhaps 1 or 2 lucid dreams per month at the most. Many books have been written on the subject of how to induce lucid dreams, and there are web sites that are devoted to lucid dreaming and OBE’s. I am not going to go into techniques here, but I will give a few resources that I have found helpful. The first book I ever read about lucid dreams was, “Creative Dreaming,” by Patricia Garfield.  I had my first lucid dream within a couple of months of reading this book.  Garfield touched on different cultures that had interesting ideas about what we call “lucid dreaming;” most notable among these were the aborigines of Australia who placed a high value on the practical use of dreaming, or what they called, The Dream Time. They were taught at a young age how to react in certain dream situations.  They were taught to always turn a negative situation around; for example, if you are being chased, you must turn around a face your aggressor and run after him/her/it, and once you confront them, you must demand a gift from them before the dream ends.  If you find yourself falling, you should not become afraid and wake up, but let yourself fall and land, and

Lucid Dreaming: Gateway To The Inner Self by Robert Waggoner

then explore the surroundings you find yourself in, and look for something that you can take back to your village when you wake up; this can be a song, some kind of art, or knowledge from a dream character that you encounter there.  Creative Dreaming remains one of my favorite books on the subject.  I am currently reading a book called Lucid Dreaming: Gateway To The Inner Self, by Robert Waggoner, which is proving to be very good so far; one of the best I’ve read in a while.  Waggoner’s book is very insightful, with lots of personal experiences, and he really seems to have experienced what he is talking about, unlike many other authors on the subject who just compile other people’s ideas and experiences and critique them as if they are authorities.  As a lucid dreamer, Waggoner is interested in evolving, and always taking his ability to new levels.  If you really want to go deeper with lucid dreaming, I would suggest a couple of books by Carlos Castaneda as well. “The Fire From Within,” and ”The Art of Dreaming,” (read in that order) are two really amazing books.  These might be a bit out on a limb for beginners, so I would only suggest them if you have already had experience with lucid dreaming. Dr. Stephen Laberge has done extensive research into lucid dreaming, and has done much to bring this area of exploration into the scientific mainstream. He discusses several techniques for inducing lucidity in his book, “Lucid Dreaming.”     
 Now, I am sure there will be some, who have never experienced a lucid dream, who will say, “Well what would be the point of becoming conscious in the dream state, even if such a thing were possible?” The benefits of learning and practicing lucid dreaming are many.When you become lucid in a dream, you are in a position to consciously access the normally inaccessible elements of your psyche, of your unconscious and subconscious mind.  In a normal dream, your experience is pretty much “thrust” upon you.  You have no conscious volition.  You cannot accept or reject, or choose dream experiences you want to have.  You cannot direct the dream in any way.  But once you become lucid; once consciousness enters the picture, it is a different ballgame altogether.  You can more or less now focus on any element of the dream you choose. You can choose to carry out an action that you decided upon while you were awake. You can bring new elements into the dream by focusing your mind on it.
Let us compare for a moment, having a regular dream with watching a TV program.  In a normal (non-lucid) dream, you are either a character in the program, or you appear to be watching it from outside sometimes.  But either way, the program is set, and normally you cannot change what you are watching or change your character within the program. But now imagine that you are consciously aware while the program is in progress — Instead of just watching the TV, or playing a “pre-scripted” role, now you can fast-forward, rewind, enlarge the image, or shrink it,

Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Laberge

or peek around the borders of the TV screen. And if you are not feeling the show at all, you can change the channel. You can watch it from “outside”, or you can directly affect the program and the other characters from within.  Action, drama, comedy, sci-fi, educational, news; you can basically go channel surfing through your own psyche once you get a feel for how it is done.
If you are an artist, a painter perhaps, you could use the dreamscape while lucid to produce your next painting.  Or, if you are an architect, you could have a building you’ve been working on materialize in the dreamscape right before your eyes.  A composer could pull the most sublime melodies from the vast creative well of his psyche and have them played out on the dreamscape.  He could start out humming a simple spontaneous tune, and the dream itself would begin adding instruments and orchestration or voices.  This has happened to me before, and I am not even a composer or musician.  But if I were, I could have remembered the music of the dreamscape and transcribed it upon awakening.  While the average artist must create his work in a linear fashion and perhaps toil and agonize over the creative details for a period of time before it is complete, the lucid dreamer/artist could have his work appear whole and complete before him in the dreamscape.  The lucid dreamer has direct access to his unconscious processes and the natural unimpeded creativity of his psyche.  He is able to consciously tap more of his abilities both creatively and mentally.  It is said that Beethoven had such genius that he could hear complete symphonies in his head, and then simply transcribe what he heard as if he were a secretary taking dictation.  Is it possible that he had developed a similar faculty to that of the lucid dream artist, but was such a prodigy that he could use this ability while awake?  Such possibilities lead one to question the nature of creativity, and ask how much we really know about our own psyche.  I personally believe that as human beings we are capable of much more than we give ourselves credit for.
I have, learned over the years that dreams in general are very responsive to the dreamer.  Once you are lucid in the dream state, you can focus your conscious attention in just about any direction, and based on your focus, your emotional intensity, and your imagination, the dream will pick-up on your intent and begin manifesting whatever idea you are focused on.  Indeed, it will start filling in the gaps, and fleshing out your vision.  It is this particular quality of dreams that lends them so well to the conscious intent of the lucid dreamer.  For those interested in creative visualization, the dream scape is the ideal setting for carrying out such exercises. You have complete access to your imaginative faculties, and you can totally immerse yourself in your visualization because there are no physical distractions. Carlos Castaneda’s “Don Juan” would say that lucid dreaming is a faculty that lies dormant in all of us, waiting for the moment that we would use it, and give it purpose.
Aside from the creative possibilities, of lucid dreaming, it can also be used for experimentation, and general problem solving, or to access elements, or memories from your unconscious mind where, it is said, a record all of your personal experiences is stored, going back to the time you were born, and beyond.  The dream state is, among other things, a reflection of the elements your mind; of your unconscious and subconscious awareness.  It is a mirror of the psyche. But for Lucid dreamers, It is also the reflection of your conscious mind in real-time, and thus can be molded to take the shape of your conscious intent or desire.  But beyond this, I believe the dream state can be used as a valid field of perception, and possibly communication.  Many lucid dreamers, however, simply use their lucidity for fun and dream adventures, and to act out fantasies that they could not, for whatever reasons, experience in their waking life.   And while fun and adventure certainly have their place, lucid dreaming has the potential for far more.

I have done many experiments with my lucid dreaming over the years– on my own, and with others.  I have used lucid dreaming to explore the Under World of the Shamanic cosmology. I have used it to “dream share,” which is when you have the same dream as another dreamer, but each from the perspective of your own “characters.”  I have also experimented with various concepts from Carlos Castaneda’s books like isolating “scouts” in a dream, and following them, and using the “Twin Positions” technique to stabilize the dream experience.  The possibilities for lucid dreaming are endless.  I have even delivered a message from a deceased person to a living relative of their’s – a message that although meant nothing to me, was totally understood and appreciated by the person I delivered it to.
About 2 and a half years ago, I had a very long dream in which I went to sleep and had another dream. This is what’s commonly known as “a dream within a dream.” In the second dream, I became lucid, and at one point, I woke up from the second dream back into the first dream I was having. I am not going to go into the details of the entire dream, because it would be too long for what I intended here. But I mention it, because in the first dream (in which I was not lucid) I described a technique to a dream character which would enable her to incubate a dream about specific subject. The following is an excerpt from my dream journal dated Wednesday 2/13/08:

The dream “begins” in a cafeteria, and it seems that I am in my work environment-but not like where I actually work. Anyway, I am sitting at a round table in the cafeteria, and I am talking to a black woman about dreams. She wants to know how to have a dream about a specific subject… I tell her that, while she’s awake, whenever she sees an element that is part of the dream she wants to have, in her mind, she must review the whole dream she wants to have, and at the end, say “this is a dream” – as if she were actually having it. I ask her what elements are in the dream she wants to have, and she says, a tiger, and a river. I tell her that she is not likely to see those things in her waking life on an average day [so that would not be a good element to choose]. I then ask her what the dream is about that she wants to induce, but I don’t want to pry into her personal business, so I tell her that whatever the dream is she wants to induce, she just has to be aware, while she is awake, if she sees any elements from it, and that will be her cue to review the dream she wants to induce—Now, Frank, my manager at work, who is sitting at a table next to us, says that I am talking too loud, and that I should be more quiet. I am upset by this interjection, as I don’t believe that I was being overly loud, and so I just get up in mid-conversation, and storm out of the “cafeteria.” As I walk away further, I seem to be in a house that I used to live in years ago on Sylvan Terrace in Washington heights…

Now, although I have never actually used the technique that I gave to the woman in this dream, it is still very interesting in that I am, in a sense, getting information about how to improve my dreaming skills from the dream itself. This is a great example of how dreams can be educational. And, by the way, if any of you happen to try this technique out, I would be interested in knowing what kind of results you get. The technique was not for inducing a lucid dream specifically, but it could be tailored for that result.

Lucid dreaming is an ability that is well worth developing. You can explore the dream state as a realm in itself for pleasure or personal growth, or you can use lucid dreaming as a springboard into the exploration of other “psychic” phenomena.

A scene from the movie, Inception, opening Friday, July 16th.

Now, the reason why I wanted to write this article about lucid dreaming is because, aside from the fact that it is a very personal and meaningful subject for me, Hollywood is about to drop a bomb on us! Tomorrow, Friday, July 16, 2010, Christopher Nolan’s new movie, “Inception” will be released. This sci-fi thriller is based on the premise of a device that has been created which allows the user/s to infiltrate the dreams of another person; a sort of twisted version of the concept I discussed earlier called “shared dreaming.” But in the case of Inception, this “dream sharing” will ultimately be used for the purpose of corporate espionage. Here we have dream spies who will give the term “insider trading” a whole new meaning. Word is, Inception might be the smash sci-fi hit of the summer. And although Hollywood may very well drag the idea of lucid dreaming through the muck and mire, I, of course, find the subject matter irresistable, so this is one movie I will not miss. Check back here in a few days for my review! Until then, may your dreams be lucid!

Below, are a few interesting movies that deal with lucid dreaming. If you have any other suggestions that could be added, let me know:

Dreamscape (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm St. (1984) – This is, of course, the classic horror movie, but the third installment of this series, “The Dream Warriors,” actually incorporated some very sophisticated lucid dreaming ideas!
The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988)
In Dreams (1999)
The Cell (2000)
Waking Life (2001)
Inception (2010)