Well today I want to talk about lucid dreaming. What is lucid dreaming? Well it can vary to each person. It gives you the sense if controlling an alternate demension. Since DMT is released in your body during REM sleep, it's no wonder we have such bizarre recollections of our dreams. I haven't been fortunate enough to overcome my lucid dreams, although I have became somewhat enlightened during a few. As I become lucid, and I'm aware I'm dreaming, things become awry. I can never stop this part. People give me bad stares, I cant run or scream, it gets ugly. Now, what does it mean to you, to be enlightened in a dream? Do you all feel like you're becoming rendered powerless in real life? Enlighten me. Maynard james keenan once said, "if you're looking for the meaning of life, you won't find it through others, there's no collective meaning. You must discover what you're looking for. Will you ever get the answers? I don't know.."
I'm befuddled. If you know you're dreaming, why do you care about the bad stares? I've often had a nightmare, abruptly realized I'm dreaming, and rejoiced in the fact that the nightmare situation is no longer real. I've had lucid dreams as long as I can remember, and I've always treated them as pretty much my own private amusement park, where I can do whatever I want without consequences. The only flaw is that I can't make my dreaming self stop trying to "edit" the setting. I know that that doesn't work--the fragile reality of the lucid dream doesn't stand up to the amount of inspection that is required to edit it. But while my waking self knows that, my dreaming self can't seem to remember it. I keep trying to, for example, turn a suburban street into Middle Earth, one by one editing out the power lines and the cars, and they either pop back into existence or the whole setting collapses. The same when I try to make a dream person say and do what I want; the person tends to change form or disappear entirely. An enjoyable lucid dream seems to require that I skate a very fine line between belief and disbelief, and my control freak dream self just won't accept that. It was a lot more fun when I was a kid and just knew that it was OK to walk into a store and eat all the candy.
I don't know how you can do so much in your dreams. There has to be a reason why you can and I can't. And I care that people give me stares because I'm afraid they'll do something scary and I won't be able to control it. It's a frightening experience. I do have a few lucid dreams but as soon as I become lucid, I either wake up or the dream gets scary.
It occurs to me that my lucid dreams, when I was a child, more or less started where yours are stalled. I believe that my lucidity used to start in a really scary dream, and I just used it to try to wake myself up. But I have a pretty clear memory of some dream where a monster was chasing me through the house, and I faced the thing, on the logic that it can't hurt me because it's a dream. It turned into a sort of comical cartoon monster, with a dismayed expression, and went away. So I'd suggest facing up to the scarey. It may take a good long while for that waking-brain logic to get to your lucid-dreaming brain, because "lucid" seems to be a relative term. I know that I'm dreaming in these dreams, but I'm often a little fuzzy about where I live, or whether I'm still in college, and as I said I can't seem to remember to stop trying to adjust the dream. The best strategy for me would, I think, be to revel in the fact that my actions have no permanent consequences, but make no effort to control anything other than my own actions. But my dreaming self, so far, hasn't gotten the memo.
I tried to learn how to have lucid dreams a few years ago. A bunch of websites recommended keeping a dream journal, so I did. It actually increased my dream memory pretty dramatically. It was sort of enjoyable, but I gave up after a month or so. I oughta try again sometime. It sounds really interesting. Like a legal, bodily counterpart to hallucinogenic drugs.
I actually did have a dream where I eventually realized it was a dream, though. And then I woke up immediately after.
Just saw this thread. I have been able to lucid dream all my life. In fact, up until the age of about seven, I thought everyone could. I'm a bit of a control freak anyway... and, I also have bipolar... not sure what that means in the grand scale of things. I don't have nightmares; any time I feel my lucid dream taking on a sinister tone, I simply change it. It's that easy. I don't like the hue of the tree on the horizon, I simply swop it out for a more appealing colour. I can also quit the lucid dream and go freestyle with merely a thought. The whole time I'm dreaming I have an awareness of my body lying in bed. The dream feels more like a holographic projection I can walk into and change at will, or not. I tend to think of my lucid dreaming as a bonus... but then again, there is always the fear that I might start to believe that my lucid dream is in fact reality and lose myself. Lucid dreaming doesn't quite feel like psychosis but I can see how the two could become confused. It hasn't happened yet, so I'm hopeful it won't.
You know, since some people can lucid dream so easily while others struggle with it, I have a feeling it says something about your real life soul/spirit. Maybe those who are stable financially/ socially are more prone to have lucid dreams.
Hmm... not quite sure why you would make that leap. In my own own case, being as the shrinks put it, 'non-compliant' (meaning I don't as a rule do their drugs) I am not thought of as a stable individual, and my refusal to do just that has recently made my financial situation very difficult. I regularly have to choose between whether I feed my animals, or fed myself. (They win every time. Of course, I could give up my internet connection, but if I did that I'd be even more socially awkward than I am. I spend a lot of time alone.) I'd be more inclined to believe, since lucid dreaming is not something I taught myself/was taught, that in my own case it has something to do the the hard-wiring of my brain....like I say, I've always been able to do it.
On the odd occasion that I realise I'm dreaming it comes with the desire to wake up. It doesn't occur to me to try anything else until I've woken up. Sometimes I try to wake up and dream that I've managed, then after a few seconds I realise things aren't quite right and I'm still asleep. Then I start trying to wake up again. Eventually I wake up. It's a particularly disappointing experience when it turns out to be the middle of the night and I didn't need to wake up for hours.
You know, I get the "waking up to still be dreaming" too. As a matter of fact, it happened to me last week. That's when I become lucid, but instead of doing anything, I just want to wake up. In a sense, I don't really know if I have full control either.
I don't know if I lucid dream exactly, and I'm not sure where they stand scientifically speaking, but I do have incredibly vivid, strange and detailed dreams where I sometimes feel that the dream is happening regardless and I'm just passing through- if that makes sense. I don't mind, occasionally get pretty good ideas from them.
Hey, You've hit the nail on the head with what I've read about and experienced in part regarding lucidity in dreams. It is a very fine line between consciousness and unconsciousness. You have to be aware enough to at consciously, while maintaining the illusion of the dream reality. For some it comes naturally, for others a little work is required. It's basically like you must become immersed enough in the dream to be engaged and relaxed, but detached enough to be aware that it is not the same as waking reality and that you are creating every aspect of it on some level.
Yeah, most of my dreams end up like that, and I usually take the opportunity to have fun. To anyone trying to prolong their dreams: If you start to have trouble seeing things in the dream, it may be because you're starting to open your eyes in real life. It's weird, but when I physically try to close my eyes, things become clearer.
I sometimes hallucinate right before I fall asleep. I get colorful closed-eye visuals that feel sort of distant but are much more clearly formed than ordinary mental images.
Speaking of lucid dreams, guess who had one last night? And it was awesome! So many creative moments and inspiring visions. So many worlds to hop through. I think one of the most amazing moments was when I actually vocalized my lucidity to other dream characters. I was somewhat aware of my dreamer status, but when someone asked me how I could do the amazing things I was doing (i.e. flying, growing plants, using telekinesis, making animals talk, etc.), my answer prompted my inner creative eyes open for a moment and everything changed up on me. I said to this character, "Because I am not like you. I am the dreamer and this is where I play and create." It was like a rush came over me and I was transported out of that scene and into an expansive 360 view of the cosmos inside my head and I could go anywhere and do anything.
I've only ever gotten that far once, and never again. It's something that fascinates me though, and I touch on it a bit in my newest WIP.
Yeah, you know, it's strange. I've been interested in lucid dreaming since I was 14. Every time I get the sense of control in dreams, I just get scared it'll turn into a nightmare so I scrub my eyes until I wake up. That's not real control, so maybe some people aren't capable of full control.
In most of my dreams, I seem to have some underlying knowledge that I'm not awake, but it doesn't always blossom into full lucid dreaming. I'll make little adjustments to the setting, or take a person out or add a new one in. If I'm in danger, I'll add some sort of escape route, or make it so someone can't see me. I know I'm the one doing it, but I don't fully realize that this isn't the real world I'm moving around in. When I do, for some reason, the only thing I want to do is start flying. I have no idea why.
Yes! Flying! Except my flying in dreams is always terribly unsatisfying. I remember reading somewhere that you can't experience a sensation in a dream that you haven't experienced in real life (which makes sense), so I suspect that to improve my dream-flying I'd have to go hang gliding once in real life, or something.
I don't think I ever truly fly in my dreams. I soar, I glide, I flap a little, but I'm always tethered to something. I always wonder if this is my in-dream attempt to not lose myself, to literally not get carried away? Last time I was flapping around while attached by a huge length of bungee cord to the spire of a Gothic cathedral. ETA... Oh yeah, and I looked about as graceful as the tutu-wearing hippos in Disney's Fantasia.
I don't usually get that far flying either. Mostly just float up to about twenty or thirty feet and try to stay there. By that time I probably have just a few minutes before I start to wake up, or the dream changes. Thankfully, though, nobody is ever around to see my graceful impersonation of a bird. Or a tutu-wearing hippo.
I used to dream of werewolves but as I got older and thoroughly embraced that werewolves are fantasy, the dreams were less scary even when I couldn't control it because I knew I was dreaming. Once you realize you're dreaming the next step is taking control. Lucid dreaming may be good for learning about yourself and for entertainment but not more than that.
