Thread: Creating false memories + time skipping

I don't think you can intentionally create false memories, but you might be able to create an environment that welcomes them.

Memories must be believed by you to be true representations of your past, so any false representations you might create would by definition not be believed as real by you, so they'll never quite make the grade as real memories. So you will never quite accept any false memories you create. However:

You could arrange situations in your dream that invite your unconscious to create believable false memories for you. If you lucidly try to remember, say, deeper historic details of the dream scene or situation you are in, seeking background that was not originally there, your unconscious might add memories to flesh out these details, which in turn might make your dream seem like it has lasted far longer than it really did.

For instance, say you are driving in a car with a new DC friend who you lucidly know is a stranger: You could strike up a conversation about how the two of you met at the truck stop a few miles back, and how your new friend's story convinced you to give her a ride to the next city. In the ensuing chat, your unconscious might flesh out your plot insertion by adding a memory of your time in the truck stop -- and that added false memory contributes percieved time to your dream. (This fleshing out happens all the time in NLD's BTW; which is one reason it is possible to awaken from a NLD that feels as though it lasted for days or more).

[I hope that made sense; it sounded a lot better in my head, and I don't have time right now to expand the thought]

Yeah Sageous I completely agree. The "Fleshing out" thing has happened in all of my NLDs. It's like when were unconscious our mind is completely open to them, and suddenly when we become lucid that changes.

I've had a few NLDs that have felt like they lasted a full day or even more.

That's interesting. So if you're a bit clever you don't even that much skill to do this, you just need to remember your "plan" on how to let your mind create false memories.

^^ Yep.

Sageous thats a strong argument,

I would say it is possible to consciously create false memories. Knowing that I created the memory may not take away from the realness of it. To experiment you might try saying in a lucid dream 'Create my past as a penguin' and see if you remember ur penguin family and neighborhood. It is just a question of how well you will immerse yourself in ur creation. You can also set the initial history of the dream and then enter into it, getting lost in it more easily than if you edit it as you go.

^^ I'm not sure that will create false memories that seem valid, Wisher:

Sure, you can certainly create a background story for your particular dream, and your dreaming mind, if properly nudged, will create that history for you. But all the while you will know that history is just a story, and that the "memories" it presents are of your own recent invention. They will not feel like genuine memories, like you were actually once a penguin, which is what a false memory would need to do. In other words: Yes, you can create entire worlds with complete histories in your lucid dreams but you, as their conscious creator, will know that you just created them, and that you are not actually remembering anything from your past. False memories, in order to seem valid, must feel like they definitely represent events from your past.

However, if you set up a penguin neighborhood in a Here & Now context, and stay in it for a while, you might find yourself remembering things about your penguin past or, more likely, remember previous dreams about being a penguin, even though those dreams never existed. In other words, if you instead were to say "Create my present as a penguin," and are successful, you will likely find yourself remembering things about your penguin past that feel like real memories.

So I guess what you suggested is very close to what I suggested, because I think your creation command, and the attitude driving it, only needs to be put into a present tense. This way your conscious activity is focused on a context of "present" in your dream world, and the stuff from the past that your dreaming mind uses to unconsciously flesh out that context might seem like memories.

Ehhh I gotta say thats a really good argument.

So consciously making memories and having them feel genuine at the same time, its naturally opposing ideas. Like asking can u be lucid and unconscious at the same time. Well, maybe it's possible from a different dimensional viewpoint. Like how impossible geometric shapes are possible on 2D sheets of paper.

Hmm.... a simple way to say that is, what looks impossible in 3D space is maybe possible in 4D space. This feels like a cop out though because then whatever anything is possible as long as we shove the problem into 4D space (whatever that is).

But yea can you be lucid aware and lost in the dream at the same time? I think its possible but I can't prove anything XD

Originally Posted by Wisher

But yea can you be lucid aware and lost in the dream at the same time?

Sure. You can be lucid -- know you are dreaming -- without any real access to memory.

If you cannot access memory, then you can indeed get lost in the dream: you will know that everything is "just a dream" while at the same time not know where all this stuff came from, or that the "histories" you are being shown contradict the things that you normally would remember really happened. This lower-level of lucidity is probably the most common form, so this sense of getting lost in the dream probably happens all the time. Also, this level of lucidity sort of precludes consciously creating any histories, so there would be no need (or ability present) to convince yourself of false memories.