Thread: ways to tell if the dream is shared while dreaming

When I have lucid dreams, involving other people in real life (usually my friends). I act as if the dream is shared. Is there a way that I can tell if these people are really dreaming with me while in the lucid dream? As in not asking them after I wake up.

You can feel their presence. It's like having your back toward the door, but knowing who walks in. You can feel them there.

Originally Posted by Moonlit_Jade

You can feel their presence. It's like having your back toward the door, but knowing who walks in. You can feel them there.

Yes. This is what I call the energy sense. There is a great book, The Sense of Being Stared At, written by a biologist that goes into this.

Hey, but what if they don't remember the dream? They could have terrible recall and you'd never know if you'd really shared the dream with them . I really want to experiment with shared dreaming, and want to learn more, but I can't seem to find many books about it. When I search on Amazon, all I get are novels and a book about Martin Luther King Jr. All great stuff, I'm sure, but not what I'm looking for. Do any of you know of books or somewhere where I can learn more?

Originally Posted by WakingNomad

Yes. This is what I call the energy sense. There is a great book, The Sense of Being Stared At, written by a biologist that goes into this.

How would you say this book was? Is it informative? Is it worth ordering, or should I just leave it be, and get my information somewhere else? I'm fascinated by these topics (the power of the mind, the paranormal, etc.) but some of these books are very shoddily written, and have made me aprehensive about purchasing them.

Try reading some stuff about the early Monroe Institute experiments. Books by Robert Monroe, Tom Campbell and all those guys. They approach it from an Astral Projection standpoint, so you have to fish through some garbage about negative energy, bad understandings of quantum physics, and different levels of magical vibration.

There were some amazing early experiments where they had two people simultaneously dreaming/APing in separate rooms, reporting in real time what they were experiencing. Anyone remember what book those are in?

Originally Posted by Bizarre Jester

When I have lucid dreams, involving other people in real life (usually my friends). I act as if the dream is shared. Is there a way that I can tell if these people are really dreaming with me while in the lucid dream? As in not asking them after I wake up.

While in the dream... Tell them they are dreaming. See what happens.

I would tell them about the dream the next day.

Ask them to do something the next time you see them. See if they do.

Give them a specific message. Something ridiculous, but easy to remember. Maybe something very visual involving symbols that are easy to latch onto.

part of the problem with asking them the next day, is this person's lack of dream recall like Kordan mentioned. Also most of my friends aren't into this, and might think I'm nuts if I asked them if we had a shared dream.

Originally Posted by Bizarre Jester

part of the problem with asking them the next day, is this person's lack of dream recall like Kordan mentioned. Also most of my friends aren't into this, and might think I'm nuts if I asked them if we had a shared dream.

Same here. My sister and I had a shared dream once (at least that's what we both believe now), but she's not interested in LDing and thinks that the concept of shared dreaming is ridiculous. So, no one to experiment with...makes it hard to find out if I can do it...grrr.

Originally Posted by Bizarre Jester

When I have lucid dreams, involving other people in real life (usually my friends). I act as if the dream is shared. Is there a way that I can tell if these people are really dreaming with me while in the lucid dream? As in not asking them after I wake up.

Easy answer would be to tell them to wake up and call you.
If you then find yourself being woken up by a phone call, you can be pretty certain it was!

Originally Posted by spaceexplorer

Easy answer would be to tell them to wake up and call you.
If you then find yourself being woken up by a phone call, you can be pretty certain it was!

Yeah, that's the best way to do it. Both wake yourselves up to ensure you both remember the dream.

But if you're good with controlling DCs or at least familiar with doing it, you should be able to spot the difference because you can't control another dreamer directly, only by directing their attention.

I had a dream many years a go where I saw my friend. I told her to tell me about it in the morning. I never actually asked her though.