In meditation, instead of the breath you can use your thoughts as an object to observe dispassionately. I believe we all have what this author is describing, basically language based thought that we have no seeming conscious control over (I would argue all of our thoughts). We can just sit back and watch the show. My sense is that some people see this more readily than others and are more sensitive to it, probably good correlation with different types of artists. For me personally, it took a while to see this for the first time, but it was a revelation and completely changes your perspective on what/who you think you are.
In a lucid dream you know you are dreaming. Recently I discovered that just because I am aware that I am in a dream and my actions do not not have real consequences, the feelings connected to the actions in my dream remain real. In my dreams, and awake.
