Gary Lachman on Precognitive Dreams, Hypnagogia, Hypnopompia, and Fourth Way Teacher Maurice Nicoll

In this May 2024 interview with author and lecturer Gary Lachman, we converse about dream related liminal states and experiences, hypnagogic and hypnopompic states, the phenomenon of precognitive dreaming, the practice of dream journaling, as well as meaningful coincidences, synchronicity, consciousness itself. He further discusses his new book ‘Maurice Nicoll: Forgotten Teacher of the Fourth Way,’ and the broader times and context of Dr. Maurice Nicoll’s encountering the thought of Carl Jung and George Gurdjieff.
Gary Lachman is an author and lecturer on consciousness, counterculture, and the Western esoteric tradition. His works include Dark Star Rising, Beyond the Robot, and The Secret Teachers of the Western World. A founding member of the rock band Blondie, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. He lives in London. His website is at: www.gary-lachm...
His Books can be found on Amazon at: www.amazon.com...
His new book, ‘Maurice Nicoll: Forgotten Teacher of the Fourth Way,’ is available in the USA starting June 2024 and can be ordered at: www.amazon.com...
During the interview we also discussed his prior book, ‘Dreaming Ahead of Time: Experiences with Precognitive Dreams, Synchronicity and Coincidence,’ which can be ordered at: www.amazon.com...

[@valstrain2019]

Fantastic!! Fascinating!! Love Gary Lachman. Thanks for posting!!

[@daviddarby9631]

Great subject and a great person to talk about it with. Thanks!

[@mcdramabear]

I’m glad the algorithm brought me to this channel. It’s great to see another brother talking about this topics in a sober/non-“tinfoil-hat” manner is very refreshing. There’s a fine line between talking about these things phenomenologically and going all the way with creating theories / beliefs / dogma around them. I definitely follow Gary’s work and appreciate his ability to bridge these different realms together. As a software engineer, I most interested in these topics as technologies. I’m most concerned with how to use these things to live an optimal life. Why they work or the larger meaning behind them are many times pointless to dwell on; because it’s in attempting to answer these questions where conflict happens.
When he mentioned that he tends to wake up when the sunlight hits him in the morning and then he goes back to sleep. It is during those periods when he tends to lucid dream / experience hypnagogia. I completely concur with this. I tend to get up very early for morning meetings. After the meetings, I will take a nap in my recliner in my office. I tend to have very vivid dreams and can sometimes experience lucid dreams in this state. It happens very often. So this might be a formula for others who would like to experience this. Get up early in the morning, do some light mental work for 30min to 1 hour; then try going back to sleep, maybe in a different position than you normally sleep. Possible siting up or in a recliner. This is a variable to experiment with. But I get a high rate of success experiencing hypnagogia / lucid dreams by doing this. This is also similar to a formula presented in “The Phase” by Micheal Raduga.
Anyways, thank you for this interview and I’m looking forward to more. Cheers!!

[@bridgingminds7512]

Thank you for the kind words, I like exploring seemingly fringe topics in a balanced sober way. What you mention about using things to lead an optimal life is an interesting thought. There's the idea of constant testing and debugging in software design and using frameworks and perhaps that's a fitting metaphor for so much in life too.
I like your formula, and thanks for sharing it. It's interesting over the last three weeks I'm getting more interesting hypnagogia like experiences simply naturally occurring in the early morning after briefly waking up. a couple of times I got frustrated with my wife for waking me up, whatever I was seeing was better than TV!
It's funny, years ago my dad used to have a chair he would recline in, a couple of times he told me he fell into a light trance and had out of body experiences. That always stuck with me as a boy.
Thanks again for commenting and thanks for watching !

[@alistairjakobsson1506]

Just saw it go up haha. Will be on my listening list tomorrow!

[@hommedetowne4253]

You're quick on the draw ! Hahaha

[@Attijjany11]

I'm going watch this video when am less busy for sure 😊

[@bridgingminds7512]

Hope you enjoy it

[@markhazelton]

Baldwin made his feature film debut with a minor role in the 1987 comedy-mystery Forever, Lulu. Deborah Harry played Lulu...

[@bridgingminds7512]

I didn't realize that, I should look up that film.

[@anamariatiradogonzalez]

Una escena, una habitacion. No es as. Ni. Jsja. Con o sin laze

[@khalidkhatri100]

I guess what he is referring to his kareen. This would be forbidden in an Islamic sense. We make our kareen weaker by following the sunnah and putting more barriers in between us and the Jinn world, Instead of actually trying to find ways to lift those barriers.

[@khalidkhatri100]

May Allah protect us from all the fitnas that are subtly trying to invoke us do any experiments that may be categorised as trying to communicate with the Jinns.

[@khalidkhatri100]

The whole point of ‘Auzu billahi minash Shaitan rajeem Bismillah rahman rahim’ is asking for refuge with Allah from Satan

[@bridgingminds7512]

It's not necessarily the Qarin that is being referred to. Hypnagogia is a natural state that everyone experiences in sleep. While I personally believe that someone may be more vulnerable to Jinn in those states, that's not always the case. As a practicing Muslim that's why I recite shahada and try to make wudu before sleeping as this may be protective.
But it is an error to assume that everything experienced in hypnagogic states s from the Qarin or Jinn, there are a lot of Khurafat (superstitions) that are often taught to people about these matters that don't necessarily follow. The actual states Gary describes are simply common human experiences that people have had for thousands of years on the threshold between sleep and wakefulness.

[@bridgingminds7512]

Yes.

[@bridgingminds7512]

And just to be clear I am not being dismissive at all to your comment, you made a good point, and the question of the Qarin and the Jinn is a very important and interesting matter that future interviews with others will address inshallah. There IS an aspect of the human sleeping state and the threshold to sleep that, from our shared Islamic teachings, does render someone vulnerable to the influence and attack of negative forces of various sorts. However it's a mistake to assume off the bat that what someone is experiencing necessary is of such a matter. I have personally been exploring the hypnagoggc state and liminal mental states since about 1989, when I was a teenager, these matters are more complex than many people realize, and more nuanced. Thank you for replying and watching, and Jazak Allah Khayr.