Hey guys! I would really appreciate it if you would all take a look at one of my short essays for the Stanford supplement. Tell me if there are any parts that don't seem to flow or aren't written as well as they should. Thanks!
Prompt: Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
Subject: Lucid Dreaming
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In 1980, Stephen LaBerge of Stanford proved the existence of a rare sleep phenomenon and changed the study of oneirology forever. Lucid dreaming, a situation in which an individual consciously realizes that they are experiencing a dream, is one of the most fascinating happenings that can occur as one rests. This state of mind has inspired me, both in my thought life and my writing, as it is an order in which anything is possible.
While taking part in a lucid dream, participants may be faced with many positive aspects of this condition. For instance, in a normal dream, we are convinced that our visions are reality. Thus, should you encounter a ravenous monster in your sleep, you would be overcome with anxiety as you attempt to escape the creature for fear of your life. Yet in a lucid dream, you could just as easily befriend or enslave this beast. Lucid dreaming allows a sense of security in that the dreamer knows that there is no actual danger in such an occurrence. Given a chance, at transcendence we gain the ability to alter that which we normally could not. It is this freedom which makes the idea so inspiring to me.
It is as Francis Church said in his famous editorial, "There is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man could tear apart." Yet what happens if we do not attempt to shed this curtain? What if we merely accept it, close our eyes, and allow ourselves to fall through it? Where then shall we find ourselves? In lucid dreaming, by accepting this invisible world and seeing it through the mind's eye, we allow thoughts to collide and visions to appear. We allow new worlds to form within our heads which we may freely manipulate. No longer bound by the laws of reason and logic, we are allowed to take part in the ultimate form of escapism.
Prompt: Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
Subject: Lucid Dreaming
---
In 1980, Stephen LaBerge of Stanford proved the existence of a rare sleep phenomenon and changed the study of oneirology forever. Lucid dreaming, a situation in which an individual consciously realizes that they are experiencing a dream, is one of the most fascinating happenings that can occur as one rests. This state of mind has inspired me, both in my thought life and my writing, as it is an order in which anything is possible.
While taking part in a lucid dream, participants may be faced with many positive aspects of this condition. For instance, in a normal dream, we are convinced that our visions are reality. Thus, should you encounter a ravenous monster in your sleep, you would be overcome with anxiety as you attempt to escape the creature for fear of your life. Yet in a lucid dream, you could just as easily befriend or enslave this beast. Lucid dreaming allows a sense of security in that the dreamer knows that there is no actual danger in such an occurrence. Given a chance, at transcendence we gain the ability to alter that which we normally could not. It is this freedom which makes the idea so inspiring to me.
It is as Francis Church said in his famous editorial, "There is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man could tear apart." Yet what happens if we do not attempt to shed this curtain? What if we merely accept it, close our eyes, and allow ourselves to fall through it? Where then shall we find ourselves? In lucid dreaming, by accepting this invisible world and seeing it through the mind's eye, we allow thoughts to collide and visions to appear. We allow new worlds to form within our heads which we may freely manipulate. No longer bound by the laws of reason and logic, we are allowed to take part in the ultimate form of escapism.
