When I met Professor Griffin of the Oxford University philosophy appointments board I did not attempt to conceal my bitterness at the fact that the book on lucid dreaming, which I had written under duress because I had no other way of advertising my need for funding to do laboratory research to force my way back into a university career, had provided academics around the world, already safely on career tracks, with an advantageous area of research. He hastened to defend them for doing nothing to improve my position by saying that once a piece of work had been published it was free to anyone to work on it. And of course there is no law asserting that anyone should recognise the socially disadvantaged position of someone else, or do anything more than is strictly prescribed by law to help them. But spontaneous decency is not illegal, even where not socially prescribed.
I was, in my grievous and destitute position, very embittered that it did not occur to any of those who worked on lucid dreams, salaried as nearly all of them were, to send me money to relieve my unsalaried position. If each of those concerned had sent a contribution of £1000 per annum my position would have been significantly improved and by now I would probably have been able to publish enough research to force my way back into a university position. It is not too late for my position to be relieved in this way, in fact the urgency that it would be has only increased with the decades of delay.
So I am appealing to anyone who has derived advantage from lucid dreaming, either as a field for academic research or a topic of personal interest, to contribute either a lump sum towards the £1.5 million which I need to set up a fellowship at an Oxford college with the stipulation that I hold it for life in the first instance, or to contribute not less than £1000 per annum towards the running costs of my research institute and my personal salary.
I address this appeal particularly to the following, who are known to have made use of the concept of lucid dreaming in their careers.
Stephen
LaBerge D.E.
Hewitt
Jayne
Gackenbach A.A.
Sheikh
Charles Tart Robert
D. Ogilvie
Jane
Bosveld Harvey
J. Irwin
Wynn
Schwartz Mary
Godwyn Alan
Moffitt
Alan
Worsley W.
Dement Robert
Hoffmann
Harry
Hunt (H.T. Hunt)
B. McLeod Janet
Mullington
Keith
Hearne (K.M.T.) W.
Greenleaf Sheila
Purcell
Gayle
Delaney B.
Kediskerski Ross
Pigneau
Patricia
Garfield L.
Levitan Roger
Wells
K.
Kelzer L.
Nagel
G.S.
Sparrow V.
Zarcone
C.N. Alexander L.
L. Magallon
R.
Boyer Judith
R. Malamud
D.
Orme-Johnson B.G.
Marcot
D.
Armstrong-Hickey T.
Neilsen
Susan
Blackmore C.
Sawicki
Fariba
Bogzaran K.
McGowan
A.
Brylowski P.D. Tyson
M.L.
Lucescu D.B.
Jenkins
O. Clerc K.P.
Vieira
J.
Dane R.J.
Small
Morton
Schatzman Robert
F. Price
Peter
Fellows David
B. Cohen
Peter
Fenwick H.
Reed
Gordon
Halliday
J.
Adams D.S.
Rogo
S.
Stone Paul
Tholey
A.
Baker M.
Walters
D.
Foulkes Robert
K. Dentan
R.
Cranson F.
A. Wolf
R.
Curren J.
Wren-Lewis
D.
Davidson Elendur
Haraldsson
P.
Maxwell
S.
Hammons
N.
Heilman
S.
Boyt
B.
Shillig
Thomas
Snyder
K.
McKelvey
B.
McWilliams
R.
George
B.
Rodenelli
L.
Rokes
C.
Sachau
J.
Walling
George
Gillespie
Robert Van de Castle