Remee Mask Makes Lucid Dreaming A Reality

Greek philospher Aristotle was one of the first humans to ever study and attempt to define dreams. Aristotle believed that we lost all ‘common sense’ of what is real while we dreaming, allowing us to have indescribable visions in our heads. He was one of the first people on record to describe lucid (controllable and seemingly real) dreams, saying that “often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.”

Buddhism’s take on the issue predates Aristotle though, and those who practice this religion have consistently sought enlightenment through lucid dreaming. A main tenet of Buddhism is to follow the eightfold path; and one leg of that path is referred to as Right Mindfulness. Buddhist individuals must contemplate their state of mind, and state of phenomena in order to find reality; but how can I control my dreams without becoming Buddhist?

Some individuals have the natural gift of lucid dreaming, others create dream logs to train their minds to tell the difference between realities, and still others claim that vitamins or special herbs give them this ability. What about the rest of us? If we could control our dreams, we’d be able to do anything the mind could conceive. In theory, we could get our fantasies, sins, and hearts desires out of our system in a private way that puts no one at harm. Could lucid dreaming save lives? A relatively new start-up is aiming to bring lucid dreaming affordably into our rooms at night.

Friends and inventors Duncan Frazier and Steve McGuigan have studied the phenomenon of triggering consciousness in dreams, and they think they have a concept that will open up dream control to a whole new contingent. The idea, the Remee mask is “a specialized sleep mask, you put it on before you go to bed and with practice and determination, it should help increase the number of lucid dreams you have.” The concept is rather simple: the mask uses adjustable LED lights that are too dim to wake you, yet bright enough to appear in your dream and provide consciousness in your subconscious. The Remee mask is not automatically triggered by rapid eye movement (REM) like a more expensive rival product, but the trigger times and LED brightness are fully customizable from your PC. The founders cite extensive research, and determined that an array of red LED lights powered by a small watch battery would safely penetrate the eyelids in the perfect manner to achieve the desired effect.

The Remee lucid dreaming mask was another project that was offered on the innovative crowd-funding website KickStarter.com. The mask received an incredibly positive response. Hoping to get $35,000 to get the project up and running, Frazier and McGuigan were greeted with over $570,000 of capital! Though the special deals offered by KickStarter are now gone, you can still preorder your own Remee mask for less than $100. Delivery of the final product is expected in July!

Could this simple invention help the handicapped to consistently experience a world that’s been cut off from them? Will the Remee mask provide a release point for everything we’ve got pent up inside? What if these thoughts and actions somehow spilled over into reality? Could it drive us insane?

Over the history of time, a very small yet fortunate group of people have been able to control their dreams; will this project live up to the hype and open up the dream world to the masses? If so, will people ever leave their beds again?

Bitbanger Labs

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