Lucidity/Realism/Awareness/Consciousness/ADA -- Question

[gTimeJohnny]

I've been lurking for a while and I've had 9-12 lucid dreams so far, and I've made an observation. It seems like there's a clear connection between how "lucid" you are and how "realistic" the dream world is, I'm not sure if it made sense, so let me explain what I mean. The first time I had a lucid dream it only lasted for a minute, and even though I was lucid, I was still not in the same mental state as I am in waking life. I did dumb stuff, and even though I knew I was in a dream, I had a hard time remembering stuff from waking life, and I generally felt like I was really really tired and drunk. This seemed to affect the world too, as stuff was very blurry, I couldn't hear sounds, couldn't feel wind, and all other small details were generally gone. The same patterns tend to repeat over simlar dreams However, when I do WILDs, I tend to be as aware and conscious as I am when I'm awake. I can mostly remember goals and interests I thought of beforehand, and I almost never "fall out"/ become non lucid. This has had a clear effect on the dream world for me. Yesterday I had such a lucid dream (WBTB WILD) and as soon as I was sure I was dreaming I went over to a plant close by to my "spawning area", and I closely observed it. Surprisingly, the plant was ultra real. It was on of the leaf-plants that you use as a spice( don't know the name), and it had every quality you'd expect. It had pores and wrinkles on its leaves, thin hairs on its stem, it had a distinct smell, and when I rubbed it against my face I became wet where I rubbed it. This is consistent with all the dreams I've had so far, but I haven't checked it with anyone else, so please tell me if this is a well known phenomena, or if you've experienced the same. As I said before, first time posting, so don't be harsh if I misunderstood anything!

[AlexTheDreamer]

What do you mean by realistic dreams. If your talking about dreams that appear to be more clear and vivid, then that would make sense because you would be more aware in a dream like that.

[dolphin]

gTimeJohnny! The connection here is not between lucidity and realism but rather between awareness and vividness. The more you're aware of during the dream, the more full, or vivid it seems. More lucidity does not equal more realism. If this were the case, then non-lucid dreams could not be realistic, which isn't true. Lucid dreams can be non-realistic as well. More vividness also does not equal more realism. For example, if a dream is vivid, unrealistic things such as dolphins flying around your house can still happen. The realism of a dream depends on what you're subconsciously expecting to happen, not on how much you're aware of. As far as you being able to remember things better when lucid, that's a result of better internal awareness, not external awareness. External awareness makes the dream vivid, while internal awareness helps you remember things. More external awareness does not equal more internal awareness. If this were the case, then all vivid dreams would be lucid, which they aren't.

[AnotherDreamer]

So focusing on increasing your internal awareness while in a dream can lead to greater external awareness, since you can then remember to focus on the details of the dream world to make them more vivid, by creating those details with your attention.

[LucidDreamGod]

Welcome gTimeJohnny, I've got to ask. Are you a fan of the drunken peasants, or are you actually the gtimer of the tech age himself? I've been trying to figure out how to have vivider lucid dreams for a long time. From most of what I've gathered there is some kind of connection between dream control and vividness as well. As in the more you try to directly force control on your dream the more it breaks down. Also vivid dreams seem to be harder to control.

[FryingMan]

Far be it for me to tell a LucidDreamGod how to increase vividness , but in my experience, it is all about attention. Pay active attention to one's experiences, and vividness of experience both in the present moment and the memory of it is the result.

[RelaxAndDream]

i would back up fryingman here. when concentrating on a detail the detail gets more detailed ;P in tonight's lucid i got lucid and the vividness was pretty dull. i approached a woman and looked into her face and with every second the face got more and more detailed until i could see every wrinkle and every nuances. same in a later lucid that was not too stable or detailed. i started to fly right over the ground and chasing a guy and because i payed attention to the feeling of motion i could "see" how the details of the dreamscape increased linear. and i agree with dolphin. how vivid or detailed a dream is has not necessarily to do with the lucidity grade because even though the details increased the lvl of my lucidity was pretty low, especially in the second lucid... after waking i had to notice that it was completely senseless stuff i did even though i was lucid and i agree also with anotherdreamer when you can increase your lucidity you get more and more your "waking self" and therefore will remember your goals, for example to pay attention to your dreamscape and to details and therefore automatically increase vividness. when setting goals just "paying attention or looking around or examine an item" sounds boring on the first look but can be a very interesting and worthy experience!

[Valis1]

The Lucid dream state like any genuine Neurological-Psychological state consists of a constellation of self-contained but also interconnected brain systems, a states durability is the result of a natural affinity these regions have with each other, the result of evolution. Another way to explain it would be to say these systems when mutually exited have a tendency to lock into a reciprocating feedback loop and this mutual 'gravity' if you will is why a true state can not only last for a long time, but when it has a great deal of 'momentum' it can be very difficult to break up. This is relevant to the question because it shows that the characteristics of the lucid dream state, specifically its experiential aspects are distinct lines of activity or inactivity, whichever the case may be. This incongruity between awareness and perceptual clarity is a good example of the kaleidoscopic nature of the lucid dream state. From what others have said and from what I have also learned from experience is that visual clearness and ones level of awareness are not intimately related, you can not tell what the other is doing by what the other is or is not doing. But they are certainly not wholly isolated from each others effects, I have noticed that generally speaking a highly lucid state is more likely to contain high visual acuity than a low level lucid dream, but one does not imply the other.