WHY? LucidDream WHY?

Personally, I believe that (at least some) dreams are more significant than "random brain firings". There seems to be an agreed upon answer to the question, What is lucid dreaming? What about WHY is lucid dreaming? Everything has purpose. What purpose does lucid dreaming serve?


If purpose here is important to you (that is you believe there is a purpose and you'd like discover it) I would very much like to talk with you. I have my own theory as to why......but it is a theory. I need others, with their own theories and experiences, to help me discover the truth.




Y! = eyesofthemirror

To have more fun than you could possibly imagine....duh

Dreams are used to train your behavior in various situations - that's why you don't normally have control over it. Lucid dreaming is just bypassing that restriction.

Dream characters have more depth than I first expected. They continue to surprise me. It is as if they are aware as I am, but I am unconsciously controlling them. This gives my dream characters their complexity, I think.

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Originally Posted by Abra

Dream characters have more depth than I first expected. They continue to surprise me. It is as if they are aware as I am, but I am unconsciously controlling them. This gives my dream characters their complexity, I think.

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They are technically objects, as I can usually totally control them. But when I don't want to be a pupetteer, I program a specific behaviour for every character. However, this cannot be trusted. Why lucid dream? To enjoy yourself.

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Originally Posted by mustbe18

To have more fun than you could possibly imagine....duh

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yes...that seems obvious, but why is it possible to do this? Why is it possible to fulfill all our heart's fantasies in lucid dreams?......What effect does fulfilling fantasies in lucid dreaming have on our waking life? or state of mind or being? Why it is even possible to lucid dream? What purpose does it serve us? If it solely exists for our pleasure, ...is this to suggest waking life is inherently more selfless in nature?

I don't think being able to initiate lucid dreaming makes anyone more special,...it just means that they know how to do it....right? so does it matter if people know how to lucid dream or not? What benefits are there besides the obvious?

Does lucid dreaming benefit your waking life? If so, in what ways.

My theory on the purpose of lucid dreaming is the lack of one. I don't think lucid dreaming has a purpose whatsoever, but is instead an unintended possibility of dreaming. The vast majority of people don't lucid dream on a daily basis, and for most it is very difficult to learn.

Psychologists have argued about the purpose of dreams for years. No one knows for sure why we have them.

ALL dreams are more than random brain firings. The concept of schemata provides that nothing that happens in your brain is truly random. It states that one idea or thing is linked to another. This explains the strangeness of dreams by saying the odd scenarios you find yourself in are a result of those links being used in unusual orders.

I think one you start LD'ing for awhile, you start to see the similarities of both the waking world and the dream world. I believe, in the waking world, people are too cautious about their daily lives. So many people are driven by routine, feared by anonymous change and infected with boredom. The great part about dreaming is that we have so many options. It's only a matter of time before one realizes that life is also about having those options and taking advantage of them. Seizing the each moment with such perfection, such pure potential. I may not be able to fly in the waking world but there are still unlimited choices at my disposal, at every second of my existence.

It was hard to see that at first, or even to remember it from time to time.

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What about WHY is lucid dreaming?

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I've wondered that myself. Personally, I think one of two explanations is correct. Either lucid dreaming is a byproduct of evolution, or else it is the gateway to another dimension - the beginning of a process that ultimately leads to a completely new conception of reality.

I think I have lucid dreams but don't want to control them...i love dreaming so much, its so crazy, I like to see whats going on inside my head, instead of trying to change it to something else. I beleive our dreams tell us something and I think dreams aren't meant to be controlled.

thanks for all your thoughts; some interesting ones indeed. Perhaps your on to something luv2dream....though lately I've been acknowledging the benefits of lucid dreaming in my waking life. Smcmaho - I like your observation, it is certainly a good thing to keep an awareness of our abilities...and choices. If you have any further thoughts - keep em comin

Our subconscious control out dreams, but we can effect them some what.

We can participate in them and change things.

However if you try to put too much effort into it, the dream fades most of the time. The trick is to let your Sub Conscious do most of the work, you just sit back for the ride :D

i think the purpose is that we waste 1/3 of our life on sleep, if we control our dreams, that means we use a lot more of our life on living it. it also lets you do things which you just wish you could do in real life e.g. when ever i see a really cool film. i would be able to do it in my dreams like iron man etc.

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Originally Posted by eyesofthemirror

thanks for all your thoughts; some interesting ones indeed. Perhaps your on to something luv2dream....though lately I've been acknowledging the benefits of lucid dreaming in my waking life. Smcmaho - I like your observation, it is certainly a good thing to keep an awareness of our abilities...and choices. If you have any further thoughts - keep em comin

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I noticed your signature. if you are into karma/rebirth you could use lucid dreams for training, since how could you possibly be able to become lucid during death without practicing with dreams first?

I don't think lucid dreaming has one universal purpose. I think that the purpose is up to you.
Some may use it as an outlet to vent their anger or other built up emotions, to seek guidance from their spirit/dream guide, to better themselves spiritually, or just to have shit loads of endless fun. It's really up to the dreamer and how they decide to utilize their ability.

Why is lucid dreaming possible? I'm not really sure. I guess it just is. Why is it possible for us to breath or to walk? Because we have lungs, oxygen, limbs, the ground, gravity, etc. All the required parts are there and so it is possible. For dreaming we have our brain, mind, and consciousness. So that just makes it possible.

Other animals dream, such as whales and dogs (many of you have probably seen your dog twitch and whimper while asleep). The reason they wouldn't be able to lucid dream is because they don't have the same level of consciousness as us. So I suppose it's that which makes only us able to lucid dream. We can recognize and understand what a dream is and what it isn't.

Did you know that baby platypuses, while developing and growing, have seven hours of REM sleep every night? Lucky bastards.

so you mean it could be possible to lucid dream when you die? that would be awsome, living for eternity doing anything you want, you could even still be with your freinds and family, maybe when you die you share dreams with everyone else dead, then you truely woule be with them. maybe lucid dreaming when dead is what heaven is.

wow, all these posibilities, im exited already and ive still got like 60 years left!

Maybe it's for balance. There's light and dark, up and down, good and bad. Perhaps reality, bound by certain rules-like gravity-where we have little control over what the things around us do. Then, to have an opposite and balance, there's dreams, where we have control and anything can happen-no rules. Though only in lucids you have control.

It doesnt need a purpose for it to exsist, it could be anything or nothing at all.

Does life itself even surve a purpose? Sure you might have your own personal view on it but do you actually have physical knowledge of the purpose of life?

Perhaps lucid dreaming doesnt serve much of a purpose right now because its still evolving, maybe it'll grow into something much much more in the distant future or nothing at all.

I tend to think of lucid dreaming as a way for my brain to expand my thinking and explore my creativity. Dreaming without lucidity also...same deal.

It's almost like your brain is stringing stuff together in a strange way to give you perspective beyond your normal range of thinking. Sometimes this is seriously awesome as I'll wake up with a solution to a programming problem or thinking about some new hobby I should try.

Google around for dream inspired inventions...you might be surprised.

I've also noticed that things I'm stressed out about tend to show up in my dreams...as if my brain is trying to use this "out of the box" perspective to give me a solution I wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

Specifically for lucid dreaming makes all of this more interactive.

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Originally Posted by goodkat

It doesnt need a purpose for it to exsist, it could be anything or nothing at all.

Does life itself even surve a purpose? Sure you might have your own personal view on it but do you actually have physical knowledge of the purpose of life?

Perhaps lucid dreaming doesnt serve much of a purpose right now because its still evolving, maybe it'll grow into something much much more in the distant future or nothing at all.

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This is true as well. Nothing really has a purpose, we give it purpose and a social function. Our heart is simply a bunch of proteins and tissues put together that can pump blood. But then we give it a purpose/social function: it's good for keeping us alive.

Lucid dreaming could be the same way. Dreams are just our brains sorting thoughts through the night, with no real logical order like in waking life. Then lucid dreaming is simply us realizing that we're dreaming. But we can give it a purpose: to vent, to have fun, to solve problems.

Lucid dreaming just has more variety among purposes than the heart example.

To me, lucid dreaming (and dreams in general) serves a purpose as a rehearsal and training for waking life. It's very useful for reflecting on the possibilities of our lives before acting. Besides, most scientists say that we store valuable information from daily life in our brains while we dream, so dreams keep us learning and building. It's the most efficient and powerful way to visualize anything we can accomplish while we're alive, before we wake up and put our best ideas into action.

Nothing to me is just random. Everything that exists serves a purpose or once served a purpose. Otherwise it wouldn't exist.

I did it at first so I could improve my memory many times over. Since then, I have been able to improve lots of things about my life...I can usually improve my health, dexterity, lots of things. The memory thing though was the best thing I ever got out of lucid dreaming. If anyone is interested in how I did this, let me know and I'll be happy to elaborate.

SR

I think it serves NO purpose. We just can.

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Originally Posted by love2dream

I think I have lucid dreams but don't want to control them...i love dreaming so much, its so crazy, I like to see whats going on inside my head, instead of trying to change it to something else. I beleive our dreams tell us something and I think dreams aren't meant to be controlled.

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Well said, i too was in that state for a while then it just stoped now that i dont have them i want them.....I guess it's just Human Nature to want what we don't have.....:vampire:

There are many thoughts here that I have to agree with and those which I have to disagree with.
Personally, I can figure out some useful things about lucid dreaming.

You know, sometimes there are people which act in a way which makes you angry/mad?
Well *sometimes* there are these situations where you get *really* mad, and some people then may take a pillow and throw it against a wall, or cry into it.
Well... In a dream you can bomb a whole city... or just smack that guy right into the face without consequences. Or you go nuclear like Peter Petrelli in Heroes :P

Then, I had some non-lucid dreams, where I was talking to a person about things which I can't get out of my head, where I wouldn't know what to think about something, or how I should feel about something or someone... and when I woke up I remembered what that DC said and suddenly figured it all out. It helped me understand certain things about others and myself.
So I guess talking to a DC can reveal feelings and thoughts you have which somehow cannot reach the surface.
Sadly, in non-lucid dreams I hardly ever talk about things which I wouldn't know whom to talk to about in real life...
Lucid dreams can help out there...

And sure, having fun is an important thing, eh?
Training certain things, remembering or even memorizing things can be made easier when you're in a dream.
Or just ... letting the dream go on without interfering, but consciously experiencing it can be interesting, funny, relaxing, etc...

To me, dreams are either things that show you what you want, what you can't have, what to fear, or tons of other things. Lucid dreaming is like a glitch that lets you manipulate the content of it. Blahblahblah, doesn't matter, what DOES matter, is once I've got my hands on my own dreams, I'll be content if I never have a video game again. Or TV. Whoo.

Lucid dreamings purpose is meant to be so that life itself isnt too boring

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Originally Posted by DarkComrade

Lucid dreamings purpose is meant to be so that life itself isnt too boring

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Agh. I sort of see that as one of the many purposes of love.

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Originally Posted by [email protected]

Agh. I sort of see that as one of the many purposes of love.

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You lost me

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Originally Posted by DarkComrade

You lost me

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Go buy Moulin Rouge and watch it. Best movie, everrr.

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Originally Posted by [email protected]

Go buy Moulin Rouge and watch it. Best movie, everrr.

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I rarely have sex in a dream, i see it more of a waste of a lucid dream

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Originally Posted by DarkComrade

I rarely have sex in a dream, i see it more of a waste of a lucid dream

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I don't think that's what he meant.

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Originally Posted by Timothy Paradox

I don't think that's what he meant.

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It wasn't, lmfao.

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Originally Posted by smcmaho

I think one you start LD'ing for awhile, you start to see the similarities of both the waking world and the dream world. I believe, in the waking world, people are too cautious about their daily lives. So many people are driven by routine, feared by anonymous change and infected with boredom. The great part about dreaming is that we have so many options. It's only a matter of time before one realizes that life is also about having those options and taking advantage of them. Seizing the each moment with such perfection, such pure potential. I may not be able to fly in the waking world but there are still unlimited choices at my disposal, at every second of my existence.

It was hard to see that at first, or even to remember it from time to time.

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Amazing response! I agree 100%! Find total freedom in waking life as well. Make it a dream!