lucid

[I had this dream < 2 weeks ago.]

INT. CHILDHOOD HOME - DAY

I dreamt I was in the living room of my childhood home. It was an overcast day.
Prehistoric, Ice Age creatures were walking on the sidewalks outside a large window
(day residue from a book I’m reading). A police officer was in the room with me. I
described the animals to him, speculating that one shaggy, tawny species resembled a
cross between a lion and a marsupial. The strangeness of this analysis led me to
consider my conscious state and triggered lucidity. I immediately recalled an experimental
task I have been planning and set to work constructing a square in dreamspace.

Since the cop was standing in the room, I chose to place him in the centre of my square.
Starting with a “westward” first segment and facing the cop, I floated my body to the left.
I felt my dangling feet lightly scrape the floor, and found it difficult to maintain altitude.

On the second segment (“northward”), I chose to remain facing “north” (i.e., I did not
rotate my body). I felt resistance to my motion in space—a common experience in many
of my non-lucid dreams when I have attempted to walk or fly purposefully. The sensation
was similar to that felt when walking through a moving train car, or down the aisle of an
airliner in a turbulent flight (i.e., trying to overcome or resist inertia). I also noticed that I
had not provided sufficient space to make the second segment the same length as the
first: the wall was too close, so I had to cut the second segment short.

For the third segment (translating my body “eastward”), I maintained my “northern”
orientation as before. As I floated, I found to my dismay that the cop was going to be in
the way. When approaching him I glanced over my right shoulder at his face; he was
watching my experiment with a puzzled expression. I decided—this being a dream—
simply to move my body through his without stopping or navigating around him. (I have
made use of this ghostlike ability before in non-lucid dreams when attempting to evade
or escape law-enforcement or other authority figures whose presence I found
inconvenient.)

Unfortunately, as I slid my shoulder effortlessly through the confused officer’s chest—
and as I watched the look of helpless consternation on his face—I found myself waking
up. The scene blackened as I slowly slipped out of dream state. As I am relatively
inexperienced, I do not know if this is the “sparkling void” lucid dreamers refer to—it
may have simply been the darkness of my bedroom as I awoke—but there did seem to be
something sparkly about it in a sense.

EXT. HARBOUR - DAY

I'm riding alone in a small ferry boat (like an Aquabus plying the waters of False Creek in Vancouver). The boat is travelling very fast; its motor races. I know without being told that the boat is under remote control--controlled by a pirate. He is kidnapping me and bringing me to the cove where he is hiding.

For no particular reason that I remember, I gain lucidity and look around at my surroundings. A firetruck is being transported--upside-down--in a barge on flimsy scaffolding.

My boat runs aground but continues racing in a straight line, its speed unchecked, on the land parallel to the water line. People are on the beach. I begin to plan how, if need be, I will defend myself from ruffians when the ferry reaches its destination.

INT. POLICE INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT

Around 4:00 AM. Straight into dream from wakefulness--WILD--I see a man seated across from me at a metal desk. He's saying something boring. The hand of my "subtle body" goes behind my back. I find this strange, as I always sleep with my hand under my pillow near my face. Once I get used to the idea of having two right hands (one real, one astral) I get down to business: I do the Waggoner thing and ignore the suit at the desk, shouting up at the sky to the awareness within the dream. I ask it to show me the solution to my difficulties with productivity at work. No answer. I ask again. Then I see a purple, rectangular window with a small, convoluted object inside--light purple with dark shadows. I assume it's my optic nerve or something in my head. (Upon waking and searching Google Images, I'm inclined to think it resembled a solitary neuron.) I gaze at it with interest, as it is quite vivid and three-dimensional. I ask what it is but receive no answer. The rectangle moves up in my vision and it's hard to keep my eyes on it--like a floater.

I awake but the vision persists for a few seconds in the darkness of the bedroom. I suspect I was just seeing hypnagogic imagery and the purple thing, however vivid, was not necessarily the dream emissary's answer. (Unless I was being shown a brain tumour that needs removing!)

This summer i had success with induction by looking at buildings in my dream environment and getting curious as to what city it was. At first i thought it resembled New York City (where i once worked) because of the sheer density of structures. But i could not recognize any actual NYC landmarks. Then i tried to see if it was Vancouver (where i was living at the time). Still no luck. Suddenly i recognized a building in my home town, Dallas, Texas (the setting for most of my dreams—simply because i lived there for so long, i suppose). It hadn't been there at first; it just popped into view. "Oh but i don't live in Dallas anymore...so this must be a dream!" I'm hoping to learn to use Dallas landmarks as dream signs. That should be efficient because, as i said, most of my dreams take place there.

This LD took place by accident in 2011 when i was living in New Jersey:

I found myself in an ambiguous space standing before a shimmering, mother-of-pearl curtain. It brought to mind those plastic strips hanging in the doorway to a cooler in a grocery store. Beyond the curtain i could hear the voices of approximately ten men speaking excitedly in an unknown language. I felt and heard a strong vibration in my head and a roaring noise in my ears. I knew that if i parted the curtain i could enter their presence and see what was on the other side. But i was scared and woke up.

Here's an example of one of my few successful LD's, this one earlier this year.


INT. KITCHEN OF CHILDHOOD HOME - NIGHT

I'm standing by the kitchen counter when suddenly i begin falling through the floor. If being in a place 3000 km away doesn't strike me as odd, having the Pauli exclusion principle fail the soles of my shoes--and the linoleum under them--fortunately does! Enough to prompt an RC. So i look out the window to try to orient myself, to see if i'm falling with respect to the entire environment or if only the floor is moving up to meet me, etc. Good example of being critically aware of my surroundings and thinking things through.

This was a satisfying success but didn't last long enough to make further use of.