I don't believe shared dreaming is possible. But I'd love if I could be proven wrong.

I saw a post on Reddit from someone whose friend told him she would visit him in a dream, and that night he had a very vivid dream about her. He said the next morning, before he even brought it up, she was telling him every detail of the dream from her own perspective. And I don't think this could have been a case of manufacturing false memories, as he said he actually had those details in mind before he spoke to her. And she seemed to remember specific conversations as well. There's always the possibility that he's lying about the whole experience, but I've been messaging back and forth with him for a while and he seems very sincere; he doesn't seem like he's lying at all.

I know there's many people here who believe in shared dreams, and many people who claim to have had them. And I know that, on the off chance it is real, it's not something that's impossible unless both people believe it's possible, as the guy I was talking to didn't believe in it either until it happened to him. So that means that if shared dreaming is real, it's something that can be proven to a (soon-to-be-ex-)skeptic through a firsthand experience—the guy I was messaging can attest to that. Unfortunately, however, he hasn't been able to get in contact with the person he told me about, even though I'd love to talk to her about it myself.

Now I'm a skeptic myself. I know that the mind is a very mysterious thing, but all scientific evidence says it's contained entirely in the human brain, which is bound by the laws of physics. And those laws of physics don't seem to provide for any way for one brain to communicate with another through any non-physical means. Furthermore, if shared dreaming is possible, it's something that would be possible to prove scientifically under controlled conditions.

But after seeing so many posts (even knowing they could very easily all be trolls, no offense to anyone who isn't trolling) from people who claim to have firsthand experience that proves to them there's no way it didn't happen, I'd be lying if I said I was 100% certain it was impossible. If I was, I wouldn't be posting this, and I wouldn't be at all interested in those posts. And while my strongest belief is that it simply isn't possible, I'd certainly love to have that belief proven wrong. After all, if shared dreaming were possible, that would be really cool, and a lot of fun.

So is there anyone here who thinks they can prove to me that it's possible? Not by presenting anecdotal evidence, but rather by somehow visiting me in a dream. I don't think it can be done, but if what I've heard from the people who do believe it's possible is true, then proving it in the way I'm suggesting is something that can be done.

Anyone think they can do it?

I tried and met close people for a few times... no confirmation yet. But for example Man of Shred or Walking Nomad stated to be able to share their dreams. Maybe people need to be really close to manage this feat. Mine targets were really close, but they are not trained to achieve lucid dreaming.

I have achieved this with my partner one time. We both did the wild technique with galantamine. I remember being transparent vibrating and bicycling my disembodied legs, kinda of toying around with getting up and exploring the dream version of my room. Then I heard someone move from the opposite side of our bed and stomp around our master bed room as if they were looking for something. At the time I assumed it was my partner I was hearing and that she was successful in separating. So when I woke up and she woke up I didn't say anything I just let her describe the feeling of walking around the room in a lucid dream state and how she was specifally looking for a target we discussed before we went to sleep that morning. Lol.-namaste

My advice would be to not ask if it can be proven to you, but to go out and see if it can be proven yourself.
Armchair scepticism can only take you so far. Eventually, you will have to heed the call to adventure and seek the answers on your own.

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Originally Posted by VivianVector

My advice would be to not ask if it can be proven to you, but to go out and see if it can be proven yourself.

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What do you mean?

Shared dreaming is a bit hard to explain, my friend.

I'll be entirely honest with you: I kind of thought it was crazy. I really did. I mean, I know - and have done - lucid dreaming is a real deal. And the one time I was lucid in a dream, I was having the time of my life. And then it turned into a shared dream.

And I freaked the fuck out. I did the whole, "clap my hands over my head and start panicking" because there was something in my head thatshould not have been there. But the person - a stranger, too - calmed me down.

We had a conversation. I conversation I don't exactly remember. But they showed me how they used a knife to cut across "dream plains" and go from place to place. And they'd accidentally wound up in my head. To demonstrate, they said they had somewhere to be, and sliced a tear in the air and disappeared through it.

My dreamscape was a snowy glen. The world beyond that tear was a metropolitan, sci-fi city.

I wish I could tell you that we had crazy adventures and lived a lifetime in that dream. But I followed them out of curiosity, and as soon as I stepped through that hole, my lucidity was lost in a heartbeat.

It's weird. I woke up wondering what the fuck had happened. I didn't actively go looking for a shared dream, it kind of just fell into my lap.

But there's quite a lot that science can't explain yet. If our brain is trapped inside of our head, why can two people share the same exact dream? How is lucid dreaming a possibility? Maybe in time, science can explain it. I fully believe that it can. It's good to be a skeptic, it's how science progresses.

Wrapping up my ramble, I guess what we're trying to say is dabble in lucid dreaming. Have you?

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Originally Posted by lowfoam

How is lucid dreaming a possibility?

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Lucid dreaming is a possibility because we have access to memory during our dreams. This memory allows us to recall what a dream is during our dreams. When we connect this recall with our awareness of the dream itself, we're able to conclude what we're being aware of is a dream.

How shared dreaming might be possible, I don't know.

Scientifically speaking I'm not quite sure of the jargon behind it all. Or even studies in the matter.

But just ask people like my mother. Lucid dreaming is 100% not possible and I'm obviously faking controlling my dreams. :D

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Originally Posted by lowfoam

Shared dreaming is a bit hard to explain, my friend.

I'll be entirely honest with you: I kind of thought it was crazy. I really did. I mean, I know - and have done - lucid dreaming is a real deal. And the one time I was lucid in a dream, I was having the time of my life. And then it turned into a shared dream.

And I freaked the fuck out. I did the whole, "clap my hands over my head and start panicking" because there was something in my head thatshould not have been there. But the person - a stranger, too - calmed me down.

We had a conversation. I conversation I don't exactly remember. But they showed me how they used a knife to cut across "dream plains" and go from place to place. And they'd accidentally wound up in my head. To demonstrate, they said they had somewhere to be, and sliced a tear in the air and disappeared through it.

My dreamscape was a snowy glen. The world beyond that tear was a metropolitan, sci-fi city.

I wish I could tell you that we had crazy adventures and lived a lifetime in that dream. But I followed them out of curiosity, and as soon as I stepped through that hole, my lucidity was lost in a heartbeat.

It's weird. I woke up wondering what the fuck had happened. I didn't actively go looking for a shared dream, it kind of just fell into my lap.

But there's quite a lot that science can't explain yet. If our brain is trapped inside of our head, why can two people share the same exact dream? How is lucid dreaming a possibility? Maybe in time, science can explain it. I fully believe that it can. It's good to be a skeptic, it's how science progresses.

Wrapping up my ramble, I guess what we're trying to say is dabble in lucid dreaming. Have you?

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How do you know this person wasn't just a dream character? Did you actually find this person after you woke up? Just because someone tells you something in a lucid dream doesn't mean it's actually true.

@Flan: It was like looking at a mirror.

People in my dreams are just that: hollow. Yes, I know they are a person. They have emotions, can die, laugh, cry, do things without me going, 'ha ha slave, bend to my will and do this!'

But when you look in that mirror, you just know it isn't a person. When I had my shared dream, I experienced lucidity in its fullest. Everything was mine to do with as I pleased. Imagine that you're in a box. You know every square inch of this box back, forth, up, down, side to side, inside and out - this is your dreaming space. You can make stars, recreate Star Wars - whatever you want. You can do it.

When lucid, the dream is basically your bitch, for lack of a better phrase.

But then you feel your world shiver, and you turn around and there's a person standing there. But they're not a mirror. And you actually kind of feel violated because you're like holy shit I can't control you, you're not supposed to be here, this is my dream, my head.

I wouldn't consider it a shared dreaming experience. Unless you met the person in waking life and you both confirmed your dreams, then it was just a lucid dream.

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Originally Posted by flarn2006

What do you mean?

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I mean to say, be the active investigator instead of passively waiting for someone else to prove it to you. Learning how to lucid dream, for the most part, requires active effort. Developing your dream recall takes active effort. Even if someone were to visit you, if you have not put in any effort yourself, you may not remember the shared dream at all or be able to make the most of it when it occurs.



I had a shared dream with a friend. I was staying at their house, where five other friends lived and a few other people were spending the night. The dream progressed normally enough. I had always found that I had odd dreams here. The themes and characters were not typical to my dreams, so I found them out of place. At one point, a dream character I had been interacting with 'fell' and dashed out of the room, pulled into another scene. I looked out and watched the scene as though I was looking through a fishbowl or a lens.

There were a group of mindless violent men in the scene, beating an unwitting group of people to death with fists and clubs. I saw my waking friend rush in, shaking with fear, and grab a pistol from the ground. He held it up, screaming, trying to keep the mindless people at bay.

A few days later, I was at their house again and we are all gathered outside. I recounted the dream to the entire group, but made no mention of who I saw, just that it was one of them. I did not even look at any of them as I spoke. My friend spoke up; "That was my dream. I have nightmares about zombies."
"I know. It was you who I saw." I said. I had no idea he was afraid of zombies. It was interesting that they didn't look like typical undead to me, so I felt it more as thematic with social anxiety.

I'd been keeping a dream journal for a long time, so I knew what elements felt natural to my own psyche and what felt different. If I had not found it odd, and just assumed the zombies were part of my own mental state, I would never have thought to bring up the dream with the group.

VivianVector it is pity you didn't try to exchange some information while sharing that dream

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Originally Posted by Psionik

VivianVector it is pity you didn't try to exchange some information while sharing that dream

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It would have been a good opportunity. Shame that neither of us were lucid. It has just whet my appetite to try again.

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Originally Posted by VivianVector

I mean to say, be the active investigator instead of passively waiting for someone else to prove it to you. Learning how to lucid dream, for the most part, requires active effort. Developing your dream recall takes active effort. Even if someone were to visit you, if you have not put in any effort yourself, you may not remember the shared dream at all or be able to make the most of it when it occurs.

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Any scientifically valid evidence of shared dreaming would have be able to convince people who did not experience it firsthand. After all, do you refuse to accept new scientific discoveries just because you weren't in the lab to witness them? To accept the validity of a discovery, you instead just have to read a description of the experiment and make sure its methods were rigorous enough. This doesn't change when the experiment in question is about shared dreaming. I would only believe in shared dreaming if I knew of a controlled, reproducible experiment that indicated its existence. No amount of anecdotal evidence will do.

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Originally Posted by Intet

Any scientifically valid evidence of shared dreaming would have be able to convince people who did not experience it firsthand. After all, do you refuse to accept new scientific discoveries just because you weren't in the lab to witness them? To accept the validity of a discovery, you instead just have to read a description of the experiment and make sure its methods were rigorous enough. This doesn't change when the experiment in question is about shared dreaming. I would only believe in shared dreaming if I knew of a controlled, reproducible experiment that indicated its existence. No amount of anecdotal evidence will do.

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Right, but there is no scientifically valid evidence. But if all those people have actually had confirmed firsthand evidence, it figures I'd be able to as well. And that would convince me just as much as scientific evidence.