What would you do if you became lucid in waking life?

[Wisher]

What would you do if one day you became lucidly aware in waking life? Say it catches you in a moment by surprise like your first lucid dream and you can exercise the same level of control. What would you do if the world of your waking life became a dream except now there is no place to wake up to?

[Sivason]

From Ram Dass: "Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water." It is not a very exciting answer, but this is what happens. You 'wake up', or you 'see through the veil of Samsara' and you can now understand amazing things and realize 'truths,' but you still will have to get up and feed your body. Becoming 'lucid in life' opens doors to developing yogic powers, but they are not granted as part of it, merely, you can 'see' why they work now that you understand this is a dream. Even then, the powers are subtle, and while improving your life, you still have to live within that dream. You can live a more peaceful life, a more interesting life, and you can explore more mystical things, but you still should brush your teeth and get exercise.

[Wisher]

Well, I may as well respond to my own Question. I was thinking if I was raptured into a Lucid awareness in waking life and I had full dream control, I would experience first fantasies that would normally be either extremely lavish or even impossible in waking life. The life of a billionaire first, then transcend to intergalactic/dimensional, travel. Explore lost cities like Atlantis and such fulfilling every desire I could imagine. Especially including a gigantic pet dragon. After all my fun I would probably explore experiences beyond the wildest reaches of my imagination and see what there was to discover.

[Sivason]

Oh, I mis-understood. You are not talking about realizing it is a dream, but about having fantastic powers. Perhaps in that case I would look into making the world a better place. You are not clear on how much control I would have. If it is only enough to change what I focus on, or if I can just will things, like hunger no longer existing in children. If I can only effect what I focus on (say super hero powers vs god powers) I would like to rescue any person held captive one at a time. You know, abused child sex slaves and so on. I would create a mirror that shows me anything, like where the nearest sex slave is. Then it would allow me to step through and rescue them. After rescuing everyone in that setting, I would have the mirror show me an hour into the future and I would punish rapists mere seconds before they penetrate. I would let them get that far so the world knows they were guilty and why they died. The punishment would be a sudden rupturing blood vessel in the brain. Anytime I got bored of this I would look through the mirror and have it show me hungry people. I would make food appear in some wonderful way, such as catching fish non-stop as long as they tried (big fish as fast as they could pull them out). If you are suggesting I would gain god like powers, then here are a couple things I would do. I would make grass a good healthy food for humans. I would make all barren soil fertile again. I would make it impossible to commit certain crimes. Simply, from that point on if a person over 18 attempts to have sex with someone under 13 there head would shrivel to the size of a base ball. Violent rapists would have their parts become infected with a rotting disease as soon as they pulled out their junk (they would be unable to continue). I would invent new plants that can grow any where. They would have fruit and some of the types would be meat containing pods. They would form small melons full of stuff that tasted exactly like chicken or beef and had the same protein but only omega 3 fats. I would create a world on a moon somewhere that was a hard existence similar to what Eskimos have, and anyone who was clearly evil would be transported there to live together. I would get rid of certain pests that spread disease. Mosquitoes would become just some type of fly like creature no longer biting. Sharks would have a sense of smell take made them utterly repulsed by the presence of humans. I would make pregnancy only happen to women over 18 who want it to happen.

[Wisher]

Sivason remind me not to anger you if/when you become all powerful. I like your approach of justice. You almost sound like a superhero. After becoming lucid I imagine I would go on countless journeys and adventures with a large crew of Dream Characters I meet along my travels. Our journeys would be surreal and fantastical. Most of all rockin fun. Aside from adventures like those, I feel like I would do things that made no logical sense and could not quite be described in words. I can see myself compressing into a finite point and expanding over the course of the universe. I could end up compressing too tightly and making a hole in space-time falling through into another dimension. There would just be so many mysteries and possibilities to explore

[Eonnn]

I had a moment like this the other day. I looked at the sky and saw the clouds moving really fast. It looked beautiful but they were moving so fast I did a RC just in case. It made me wonder where would we wake up to if waking life is just a dream. Perhaps we are in a coma and will wake up in a different reality that seems like a parallel dimension.

[Wisher]

I had a moment like this the other day. I looked at the sky and saw the clouds moving really fast. It looked beautiful but they were moving so fast I did a RC just in case. It made me wonder where would we wake up to if waking life is just a dream. Perhaps we are in a coma and will wake up in a different reality that seems like a parallel dimension. Yes Eonnn more and more I consider waking life to be a nonlucid dream

[Forg]

Yes Eonnn more and more I consider waking life to be a nonlucid dream Does that make this a semi-lucid, then?

[OneMoreDreamer]

Everyone else seems to be taking this answer so seriously! I would probably do a lot of the things you do in lucid dreams, such as flying, teleportation, and exploration. The only problem would be that unlike dreams, there is no waking up, so you have to face the consequences of your actions. So annoying dream characters could come with a price you don't have to pay in dreams. Also, in a dream if you fall when flying you could wake up or the dream might change so that you never hit the ground. But if there was no place to wake up to and you only have the skill level of your first lucid dream like you said, you might not be able to save yourself. So basically it would just be a regular lucid dream but with consequences.

[Wisher]

Lol! OneMoreDreamer, yes this was intended to be a fun question but I also enjoy the philosophical discourse as well Interesting about the consequences! I imagine if something terrible happened in one dimension I would try to teleport to another to avoid dealing with it. Unfortunately in a lucid life like this one they may have the power to chase me through the realms. A lucid life would be so much fun

[Sivason]

I think ONEMOREDREAMER's point is that if it was like a normal LD, you would not have great control. Getting lucid does not equal having control.

[Kaan]

If the question is close to "what would you do if you were god", my answer would be "nothing that sound's good, because goodness is an illusion and trying to make things better is making them worst indeed". To save the good people and punish the bad, like superman, is what humans have been doing for the beginning of humanity, but the notion of "what is good" and "what is bad" comes from the human brain. This human brain is also responsible for those "good" or "bad" things done. It's like murderers trying to judge murderers, or crazy people trying to judge crazy people. what I would do if I became lucid while awake? probably the same things I do when I am lucid, but with a "low" profile, and taking in accounts that people I met are not DC !

[OneMoreDreamer]

I think ONEMOREDREAMER's point is that if it was like a normal LD, you would not have great control. Getting lucid does not equal having control. Sivason, well that was part of it but I also meant that in the question, Wisher said "like your first lucid dream". I don't know about you, but my first lucid dream had definitely limited control. Also, when you know you are in real life, you might not have as much confidence as in a dream and therefore not have as much control. When you put that together you get very limited control and if you tried to something drastic, like jump off a building to start flying, you might find that with such limited control, you could fall and this time there would not be a chance to retry the next night like you do in a dream. I hope I didn't make that too confusing but that's what I was thinking.

[Sivason]

If the question is close to "what would you do if you were god", my answer would be "nothing that sound's good, because goodness is an illusion and trying to make things better is making them worst indeed". To save the good people and punish the bad, like superman, is what humans have been doing for the beginning of humanity, but the notion of "what is good" and "what is bad" comes from the human brain. This human brain is also responsible for those "good" or "bad" things done. It's like murderers trying to judge murderers, or crazy people trying to judge crazy people. what I would do if I became lucid while awake? probably the same things I do when I am lucid, but with a "low" profile, and taking in accounts that people I met are not DC ! That sounds very silly. It sounds like you are saying feeding a hungry baby and raping a hungry baby are morally equal and it makes no difference. Silly.

[Wisher]

That sounds very silly. It sounds like you are saying feeding a hungry baby and raping a hungry baby are morally equal and it makes no difference. Silly. FASCINATING! And the conversation takes a sharp turn towards the philosophy of lucid ethics. Is there value in morality in a lucid world? If this is too off topic I wouldnt mind another thread on the issue

[Kaan]

That sounds very silly. It sounds like you are saying feeding a hungry baby and raping a hungry baby are morally equal and it makes no difference. Silly. After such a clever analysis of my post I have nothing to add anyway.

[JadeGreen]

So given the god scenario blah blah world peace and all that blah blah I got bored with thinking about that in the second grade. Let's assume it's the 'superhero' scenario. I actually think this is a little more interesting, because my power is actually limited and it makes doing things a challenge. In my dreams I have a skill-set of recurring powers that work reliably. My most reliable powers are: Flying (using little jets of flame). This is actually pretty restricted because I find that though I have good control/maneuverability in the air I go slow and I can't usually fly more than a few miles up. I assume this is because thin atmosphere means there is no oxygen for combustion in the flame. I can also use flames to push/slide across the ground. Damage Resistance I seem incredibly resistant to damage/injury in dreams. I've crashed while flying at fairly high speeds and felt little more than a bump. Blades and bullets don't break through my skin and people try to hit me they feel like they have no strength. This doesn't make me invincible though, I have been injured while lucid before, though it is rare, and usually takes something powerful. Super Martial Arts While I don't seem particularly good at being super strong in dreams, I am still very skilled at fighting hand to hand combat. I have a sense of what other DCs are doing in a fight as if time slows down and I can predict their move. Myself I can preform flips and kicks in the air too. Sometimes this even happens when I'm non lucid. Appearance Changes This isn't quite as reliable as the others, but its one I seem to use a lot, the ability to change my appearance at will. I say its not reliable in the sense that I usually don't get the appearance that I want. Water Manipulation (Thanks Manei) My dream guide taught me to control water. I can run across the surface of lakes and control water. (See Avatar the last airbender) I haven't been able to make ice yet though I think I have controlled clouds. So given that set of powers, I would be limited, but still be very powerful. I could definitely show off at parties and stuff. Though usually in situations like this the government tries to track you down so they can study you or use you for a weapon. This is probably where the ability to change my appearance would come in the most handy. I could assume the identity of someone new every once in awhile to keep them off my trail. (So this would probably mean I'm going to have to run away from home.) I would probably become a nomad and travel the world assuming different identities. I wouldn't need to pay for plane tickets or anything, I could just fly myself to a new country/city when I got bored or the government was getting close. I would see the wonders of the world, and perhaps occasionally return home to see my family and friends. I wouldn't get involved with wars of any kind, because I don't want to be seen as someone who takes sides or sells out to the government. Once more, enough firepower can injure/kill me even when I am lucid.

[Gaea]

Spicy Topic! I'm so ecstatic about this! First, I would make the world a bit more interesting! Immortality - To live forever, and never die no matter the circumstance. I would also have no illness or disease. Worldwide Superpowers - I would make some people have superpowers, and I would be one of them. (To have fun, and not be the only one. Because it gives me a challenge.) Knowledge - Education can lead to a life of fun. Spacetime Manipulation - To edit matter and go back if I make mistakes. All I want is to have fun, it's the only goal in my entire life.