The Perversion of Dreams

Last night as I lay down to sleep, my thoughts centered on visualizing a lucid-induction hallway for me to walk down as I slowly made my way into dreamland.

I visualized a brightly-lit hallway with a door at the end, a sign hanging above which said "YOU ARE LUCID DREAMING." As I approached this doorway and turned the knob, a tattoo on my right forearm reminded me, "You Are In A Dream." Then as I stepped into the doorway, I imagined a portal with the letters "LD" above it and a happy old Santa Claus look-alike ushering me into the portal, welcoming me to a dream. As I stepped through the portal, I imagined the start of my dream world.

This scene ran through my head over and over until I fell asleep. I dreamt, but what I got instead was the long corridor of a mall, a flat-level escalator leading me into a doorway which opened into the Lair of Hell, with the devil himself there ushering me into the portal to hell.

That is not exactly what I visualized! And as a result, I did not get a lucid dream, rather a very grotesque dream in which I attempted to kill the devil, which was a success, until the devil took over the body of a DC which was a dream-friend of mine -- not to mention my dream parents were 30 years younger than my real-life parents and were devil bounty hunters.

How did my simplistic visualization possibly lead into such a perversion of my original intention?

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Originally Posted by Rebelution

Last night as I lay down to sleep, my thoughts centered on visualizing a lucid-induction hallway for me to walk down as I slowly made my way into dreamland.

I visualized a brightly-lit hallway with a door at the end, a sign hanging above which said "YOU ARE LUCID DREAMING." As I approached this doorway and turned the knob, a tattoo on my right forearm reminded me, "You Are In A Dream." Then as I stepped into the doorway, I imagined a portal with the letters "LD" above it and a happy old Santa Claus look-alike ushering me into the portal, welcoming me to a dream. As I stepped through the portal, I imagined the start of my dream world.

This scene ran through my head over and over until I fell asleep. I dreamt, but what I got instead was the long corridor of a mall, a flat-level escalator leading me into a doorway which opened into the Lair of Hell, with the devil himself there ushering me into the portal to hell.

That is not exactly what I visualized! And as a result, I did not get a lucid dream, rather a very grotesque dream in which I attempted to kill the devil, which was a success, until the devil took over the body of a DC which was a dream-friend of mine -- not to mention my dream parents were 30 years younger than my real-life parents and were devil bounty hunters.

How did my simplistic visualization possibly lead into such a perversion of my original intention?

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That's quite interesting and I know how you feel. Lucid Dreaming is very tricky that technique you were using works on some and others not so well. It depends on how long your thoughts can retain the information after you drift off to sleep and how well those thoughts can transpire into your subconscious without deviation. Also I have a question for you. Did you watch any horror movies of this nature in the last couple of weeks? Or do you remember any movies that has some similarities with the events played out in your dream? The Subconscious can retain information for pretty much time indefinite and sometimes it plays out at the weirdest most inconvenient moments. I know you were being completely focus as much as you possibly can but I would suggest try to clear your thoughts a little more if possible. Your technique is good but focus seems to be the missing ingredient. Somewhere between the moment you drifted off to sleep and the moment you went into your dream something slipped and the focus was lost and the results were that terrible dream you had. Keep trying and try to be more focus think only of what you want to do in the dream and nothing else. ^.^ Good luck ^.~

I hope this helps and it was clear if not feel free to let me know and I'll try to clarify more. ^_^

Well that's an interesting theory, losing focus in between drifting off to sleep and the start of a dream. That seems like the right place for my intentions to be swirled in with whatever subconscious thoughts lay there. A few weeks ago, I watched a series about a demon bounty hunter trying to kill the devil which is where I must have gotten that whole thing. As for it taking place in a mall... that makes perfect sense. Where else is it hell on earth?!

Keeping conscious while slipping into a dream state has always been tough for me, I either give up (due to the uncomfortable feeling of the roll-over signal) or lose awareness before the dream starts. I just wonder how it is that one can keep awareness and focus throughout this experience!

Dreams serve as a contrast to waking life so they tend to twist our waking thoughts and add a dab of random craziness. It doesn't mean to give up on visualization, you still had a long vivid dream, keep trying it for awhile.