Lucid Dreams

In other words, it's the name given to dreams that we are conscious of, that we can control and direct. Our original and creative film, directed and written by ourselves, shot with a zero production budget. What a wonderful freedom, what a wonderful superpower, right?

Research generally indicates that lucid dreaming occurs most often during childhood and adolescence. While its higher prevalence among people under 20 might seem to support the idea that many play spaces are taken away as we grow older, this age limitation should not diminish the hope of mature adults who manage to maintain healthy spaces for play throughout life. Many independent films worthy of an Oscar could very well be made outside the world of dreams. At this point, I want to remind you that the plots of the best films vary tremendously, there is no single formula that determines whether a film is successful or unsuccessful, and cinematic criteria are highly diverse.

Now, for those who have never experienced a lucid dream or believe they never will, let us return to the phrase being able to maintain healthy spaces for play. If someone in my twenties had asked me what this meant, it would have been difficult to answer. My mind would have wandered to secondary meanings, after all, play meant excitement. The realization that play can mean pure happiness for a child, sometimes creativity, sometimes discovery, came to me in my thirties through the process of revisiting many concepts I had once learned, this time deliberately turning my mind into what Locke called a blank slate. As the saying goes, time flies faster in childhood and youth, and perhaps that is why we rarely pause to examine these concepts at that age.

In our personal life schedules, the enlightenment points, the times when we examine life's troubles and delve into new discoveries, may not all coincide. But if we accept that human developmental stages are universally similar, and that young adulthood ends at 30, I think we can understand why this new era we've opened between 30 and 65 offers a much richer avenue for personal development than the previous one. It's not a myth. Perspectives change, life's troubles shift, and our ingredients diversify. Some expire, others spoil. Naturally, the soup we make doesn't taste the same; we end up with a completely different, new recipe.

When my teacher, Beliz Güçbilmez, whose insights I deeply value, reminded us of Kierkegaard’s quote, life is lived forward but understood backward, I remember reflecting on this remarkable observation at length. Unlike in a movie, we do not watch an hour and a half of flashbacks showing how the main character became who they are. In real life, life moves forward, not backward. There is always a next moment. Naturally, new experiences are constantly added as long as we breathe. In a film, however, when the curtain closes, everything ends.

Unlike lucid dreaming, real life also involves responsibility. When we dive too far into imagination or take actions without careful thought and calculation, there is no rewind button. The soup can easily be spoiled. That is why, as we age, we tend to choose our words carefully, select friends more thoughtfully, and nurture our existing relationships with greater attention.

That's why it's crucial to understand what truly makes us happy; to choose our interests, the places, people, and activities that bring us peace, and the people who will accompany us in the countless games we'll explore for the rest of our lives. To understand the impact of our choices, I suggest approaching life through the allegory of lucid dreaming. By cultivating awareness, we can navigate the flow more effectively. Even if some scenes are unplanned, we can step into a lucid dream each day, guiding events with conscious actions. If we miss our chance today, we can choose to move closer to the scenario we imagined in tomorrow’s dream.