Thread: Losing Lucidity Through Adaptation

During a dream last night I suddenly became lucid; and since i hadn't been in such a while, it came as such a surprise to me that i couldn't think of anything to do at first. I was trying to change the environment but it didnt work. All I remember now is flying around for a bit, then my dream changed and was totally different and it doesn't seem in retrospect like I was lucid anymore during this second part. In fact, when I awoke, at first I forgot that I had ever been lucid at all because it was the second part of the dream that was still in my memory. I can't remember how I shifted from lucidity into some other dream! But now that I think about it, I remember being in control in the second dream; so I guess I retained control but forgot that I was dreaming.

Now, I have a theory, though. Perhaps some of those more experiences LDers can answer it. Is it possible that I felt like I "lost lucidity" because I merely became used to the environment I was in? I mean, when you're awake in the "real world", you aren't always thinking "hey, I'm awake." You don't need to always consciously verify that you're awake - you just know (although during the waking hour, I find it helpful to always ask myself if I'm dreaming). So wouldn't the same effect apply to when you're "awake" inside your dream? After you've realized that you are lucid, do you ever forget that you are lucid, and it just becomes known and unnecessary to constantly re-confirm? Or is constant reminding and re-confirmation of your lucidity crucial in maintaining lucidity? I know that lucid dreaming, by definition, is knowing that you are dreaming, just as lucid wakefulness is knowing that you are awake. But isn't an inevitability of waking in a dream forgetting that you are awake in the dream, just as the same is true of waking in the real world? Or is forgetting your lucidity similar to slipping into a real-world daydream?

It might have been because, like you said, you couldn't think of anything to do. I know in my LD's I always have a set purpose in mind, and I'm starting to think that's what is keeping me lucid in the first place. I'm almost positive that if I wasn't keeping a clear thought in my mind of what I wanted to accomplish I would simply lose my lucidity. At least at this point; I'm quite rusty. D:

Originally Posted by kayman

After you've realized that you are lucid, do you ever forget that you are lucid, and it just becomes known and unnecessary to constantly re-confirm? Or is constant reminding and re-confirmation of your lucidity crucial in maintaining lucidity?[/b]

You're on the right track. Most people require frequent reminding and/or much focus to maintain lucidity.

You are awake (or at least not in a dream) most of the time. So, logically, you normally assume (correctly) that you're awake. Your mind can wander, daydream, etc, and when you snap back to reality, it's "understood" that of course you're awake. This conditioning carries over into your dreams. If you lose focus and let your mind wander too much, eventually you will revert back to assuming that of course you're awake. Goodbye lucidity. The key to maintaining lucidity is to get rid of this conditioned assumption. (It would probably not be wise to usually assume that you're dreaming .) This is one of the main techniques taught by the Tibetan Dream Yogis: constantly reflecting on the dreamlike nature of reality. In fact, they refer to waking life as "the waking dream," as opposed to "the sleeping dream." (edit: just noticed that you referred to the waking dream in the title. you must be familiar already with this )

Originally posted by some website I found on Tibetan Dream Yoga
Daytime Practice :

During the day, practice these four points:
• Contemplating the body as illusory and unreal
• Contemplating the mind and mental activities as similarly insubstantial
• Regarding the world and all phenomena and experience as dreamlike, insubstantial, impermanent, and unreal
• Recognizing the relativity and ungraspable quality such as time, space, knowledge, and awareness

Reminding ourselves of these four truths throughout our waking hours helps to dissolve the barrier between the dream of life and the sleeping dream. As we become more adept at these practices, we begin to regard our nighttime dreams as continuations of our waking dream and we learn how to bring habitual awareness to both.

Also, check out this thread, which is essentially the same concept with another name:
http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/inde...howtopic=26868
I highly recommend reading the introductory post (the subsequent posts are mostly just people submitting their personal information).

And yeah, you could easily compare losing lucidity to slipping into a real-world daydream. Hope I have provided you with some quality information/advice, any more questions just post 'em

Thanks for the advice and insight, DuB!