Who was the first person to use the term, ‘lucid dreaming’?
For decades, lucid dreamers have accepted the idea that Dutch scientist, Frederick van Eeden, coined the word ‘lucid dream,’ since it appears in his 1913 contribution to the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. There, van Eeden remarks that he had 352 lucid dreams between 1898 and 1912 in which he felt able to “direct his attention, and to attempt different acts of free volition” while consciously aware of dreaming.
Yet, some lucid dream investigators wonder if the Frenchman, Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys deserves some credit for first using the term ‘rêve lucide’ in his 1867 book, Dreams and the Ways to Direct Them: Practical Observations. Lucid dreaming author, Daniel Love, points out only a portion of Saint-Denys’ book has been translated into English. However, a full reading of the book will show that Saint-Denys experimented deeply with lucid dreaming, and probably influenced later investigators, like van Eeden.
Love and his team hope to translate and publish all of Saint-Denys’ book into English. They feel Saint-Denys’ pioneering book is a “lost masterpiece” as well as “the world’s very first book on lucid dreaming.” A translated version would allow lucid dreamers to read some of Saint-Denys first lucid dream experiments and the techniques he developed to become lucid and explore the dream state. Many of these same methods are being rediscovered by the latest generation of lucid dreamers.
While Saint-Denys used the term ‘rêve lucide’ at various times in the book, Love notes that it often referred to the dream’s visual sharpness and memorable aspect, which sometimes serves as a pre-lucid prompt to realize that you are dreaming. Saint-Denys primarily used the term, “aware of my true situation” to indicate he realized within the dream that he was dreaming. As an example, Love points to a passage in the first five pages where Saint-Denys writes, “d’avoir souvent conscience en dormant de ma situation véritable…et de garder par suite assez d’empire sur mes idées pour en précipiter au besoin le cours dans telle ou telle direction qu’il me convenait de leur imprimer.” This translates as: "[I developed the faculty] of being often aware of my true situation while sleeping…and therefore keeping sufficient control of my ideas to guide their development in whatever direction suited me.”
Frederick van Eeden definitely knew of Saint-Denys work and mentions the French book to critics, who doubted his ability to become lucid in a dream. Love wonders if van Eeden, consciously or subconsciously, became influenced by Saint-Denys book and use of ‘rêve lucide’ and ultimately settled on ‘lucid dreaming’ as the descriptive term for this unique state of consciousness. Thus, Saint-Denys may have coined the term, lucid dream, which van Eeden later “polished and refined,” according to Love.
What do you think?
Does Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys deserve all the credit for coining the term, lucid dream? Or does van Eeden? Or should they share credit for introducing and developing the term, lucid dream?