Thread: Succesfully Reading In Dreams.

I've read in both lucids and non lucids. It's not really too difficult. The only thing is that usually the second time you look at something, the words completely change.

Also alot of the time switches don't work or any other device. Guns and cars seem to work all weird too. When lucid you have to really concentrate to get them to work.

mez, I agree 110% with you. It's kind of ironic that we've put these "handicaps" on ourselves. People wouldn't be so frustrated if they would just believe they could do something, rather than read a failed attempt on the forum and come to a wrong conclusion.

Originally Posted by Sean999

mez, I agree 110% with you. It's kind of ironic that we've put these "handicaps" on ourselves. People wouldn't be so frustrated if they would just believe they could do something, rather than read a failed attempt on the forum and come to a wrong conclusion.

tottally agree.

Originally Posted by NeAvO

...The only thing is that usually the second time you look at something, the words completely change.

Also alot of the time switches don't work or any other device. Guns and cars seem to work all weird too. When lucid you have to really concentrate to get them to work.

tottally disagree.

Ive experienced reading something, looking away, looking back and reading the exact same thing. If you're brain created what was initially there it can KEEP it there if you WANT it to. Same as ANY other part of your dream environment... When im lucid if i look around my dreamscape, it remains the same... sometimes peices of it will sporadically change but the point im trying to make here is that it doesnt have to.

I've used a DVD player in a dream before. Worked like a charm. The TV did just display some weird shit but thats to be expected I guess... although it's probably easily possible to watch a video on a dream tv that you're very familiar with.

Your mind can create a fully 3D, multi-sensory world and everyones trying to tell me It doesnt know how to turn on a light switch? BS.

The reason these things behave erraticlly is the amount of data you have about them is either limited or there is too much data to synthesize at once. That being said if you look at the amount of complex detail present in any dreamscape, the powers of your mind are enormous.

I've read in several lucids, its not impossible.

I haven't read the book myself but doesn't EWOLD by Stephen LaBerge (the proclaimed "bible" of lucid dreaming) have a list of reality check techniques which are what is accepted by the masses today? Time and literature, etc?

Perhaps the handicaps of everyone now come from the handicaps of the pioneers of this art.

I had a non-lucid dream last night where I was using a DOS prompt on a computer and executed a program on it. Why my mind wanted to use DOS i have NO idea but i found it quite funny because its entirely text based. Just a bit of a tongue in cheek post.

I agree AR... just read what LaBerge has to say about P.D Ouspensky in EWOLD.

Ok so then, if everything works in a dream then what if we think that EVERYTHING in the dream is just like real life so, all of our prescious reality checks will not work anymore. How would we even get lucid again?

light switches dont work in dreams. That's the only thing I know. After having an FA, i was reading my george carlin book there and my dream ended up making an exuse for why the lights dont work. In the book it said something like
'you know how both the democratic and republican parties disable your lighting during the night until a bit after you wake up so you'll vote for them? I know a way around that: Use the bathroom light.'
I got up and went to the bathroom, and low and behold, it didn't work. I tried the downstairs one, and it didnt work either.
But i DID become lucid in the dream, but that was because when i tried yelling at my sister my voice got cut off, which is a common dream sign for me.
Ok i went a bit offtopic there. My point is some things work for others, but light switches almost never work. You gotta use magic or something.

Originally Posted by acodemaster

light switches dont work in dreams. That's the only thing I know.

Rephrase that to "light switches don't work in MY dreams."

I'm telling you. All these limits are self imposed.

And since you can create a world where those reality checks don't work, you can create your own reality checks as well.

Originally Posted by mez

tottally disagree.

I weren't saying you were wrong or anything, I was just stating what tends to happen in my dreams/lucids. NOt everyone's minds work the same. Some people can read novels in books where as others have tendancy to look at something and then have it change later.

I wrote in some other thread that reading in dreams works fine for me. I recall a dream I had not too long ago about my boyfriend sending me a love letter and I can still visualize the words on the paper. I won't divulge the details because it was a little R rated ;P

I do think that all of the dreaming restrictions are self imposed. Like it always surprises me how many people have trouble doing things like flying. I was flying in my LDs before I even knew what LDs were. I think I'm lucky that I started having them before I started reading about them, otherwise I might be having the same doubts by reading other poster's problems.

And of course if we realize restrictions are self imposed, our reality checks will no longer work! Mine never do which is why the vast majority of my LDs are from various WILD techniques.

I think it was because I was a bit skeptic about reality checks to begin with. I couldn't understand why my dream brain would just "forget" something it knows to be true. Like why would it be that you can stare at your hands in an LD and your brain remembers *every single line* that you certainly can't visualize consciously, but if you look at your hands in a normal dream you'd have more (or less) fingers? I actually had a few dreams where I remember myself looking at my hands as a reality check and passing. It's incredibly frustrating that way lol.

I do have DILDs occasionally but for me to realize I'm dreaming something has to be incredibly wrong with the dream. Like speaking to my grandmother and then realizing that she's dead, or being at my old highschool or childhood home and realizing that I haven't been to either of those places in years.

I seem to remember the minute details about people, places, objects enough that I can never really use those as reality checks, I just have to notice faults in the circumstances instead. Which is actually much harder since you can't exactly practice that during the day

your RC showed that you were dreaming and you didn't notice? that happend to me to so shouldn't say that you suck, cuz i think i'm even worst. XD

I think it's Placebo. The fact that everyone is saying "Oh, you can't read in dreams" or "If you look at it again, it changes" makes you believe it. And if you believe it in a dream, it comes true.

Originally Posted by Venomblood

I think it's Placebo. The fact that everyone is saying "Oh, you can't read in dreams" or "If you look at it again, it changes" makes you believe it. And if you believe it in a dream, it comes true.

Thats exactly what this threads about venom

Originally Posted by Amelaclya

...I do think that all of the dreaming restrictions are self imposed. Like it always surprises me how many people have trouble doing things like flying. I was flying in my LDs before I even knew what LDs were. I think I'm lucky that I started having them before I started reading about them, otherwise I might be having the same doubts by reading other poster's problems.

And of course if we realize restrictions are self imposed, our reality checks will no longer work! Mine never do which is why the vast majority of my LDs are from various WILD techniques.

I think it was because I was a bit skeptic about reality checks to begin with. I couldn't understand why my dream brain would just "forget" something it knows to be true. Like why would it be that you can stare at your hands in an LD and your brain remembers *every single line* that you certainly can't visualize consciously, but if you look at your hands in a normal dream you'd have more (or less) fingers? I actually had a few dreams where I remember myself looking at my hands as a reality check and passing. It's incredibly frustrating that way lol.

I do have DILDs occasionally but for me to realize I'm dreaming something has to be incredibly wrong with the dream. Like speaking to my grandmother and then realizing that she's dead, or being at my old highschool or childhood home and realizing that I haven't been to either of those places in years.

I seem to remember the minute details about people, places, objects enough that I can never really use those as reality checks, I just have to notice faults in the circumstances instead. Which is actually much harder since you can't exactly practice that during the day

my first LD was a DILD... but in it I learned to Fly, Stabilize, WILD & Dream Chain! All before I knew even what an LD was... so I had no preconcieved ideas and I learned these things all in a relaxed environment (no pressure) which makes for very flexible maps in the brain.

I've had a reality check fail me in a dream too... but it made me laugh more than anything. The reason your "Dream brain"... "forgets" (doesnt really forget) something it knows to be true is that during REM sleep brain activity is HIGHER in most areas of the brain than it is in waking life EXCEPT for the frontal lobes (or pre-frontal cortex.. something like that) which are responsible for logical and reasoning... the frontal lobes are switched OFF almost entirely. Think about someone who has been drinking alchohol... they're logic and reasoning is inhibited, this is because the alchohol works to suppress brain activity in the frontal lobes. So as you can see your brain doesnt "forget" things it knows to be true when you dream it just doesnt have the capacity to think logically... once you become "lucid" in a dream it is switched on and hey presto you can think for yourself again and this is the main goal of reality checks... kinda paradoxical i know but there are ways to make it work.

As for the hands reality check. In my first LD i used my hands to stabilize (and even help chain) my dream. Guess what? 5 fingers each. I'd never really consider that as a reality check.

You said you just have to notice faults in circumstances but its hard because you cant practice it during the day. Not true! A lot of people when they think of reality checks they think they can only practice them while awake during the day going about their lives and that they have to encounter something unusual in order to do one. Wellllll if thats how often you do it, good luck! The brain cannot tell the difference between a "REAL" action and a "VIVIDLY IMAGINED" action... so the solution is simple... close your eyes and visualize yourself doing a reality check under some odd dream like circumstance (visualize running into a dreamsign for instance) and then you visualize your reality check "failing" because your pretending to dream here... the key part here is the next step... once "lucid" from this "virtual" reality check EXECUTE YOUR NEXT LD GOAL! This primes the subconscious which is a goal-striving mechanism to work towards ACHIEVING this goal. Its what I call an "effective" reality check.

Originally Posted by AspirationRealized

Rephrase that to "light switches don't work in MY dreams."

I'm telling you. All these limits are self imposed.

And since you can create a world where those reality checks don't work, you can create your own reality checks as well.

short and sweet . AR is onto it here i'll explain next.

Originally Posted by Axel

Ok so then, if everything works in a dream then what if we think that EVERYTHING in the dream is just like real life so, all of our prescious reality checks will not work anymore. How would we even get lucid again?

If we can self impose limits that work to our disadvantage then we can self impose (on purpose this time) limits that work to our ADVANTAGE. Light switches "not working" in dreams is a handy limit to self impose (if you ever use light switches in your dream)... you could however choose a million and one limits to self impose in order to clue yourself in that you're dreaming. For instance you could make it so that every time you go through a door or see a dreamsign that you begin to float! Its SO out of the ordinary that you've GOTTA realize you're dreaming.

Usually in a dream the out of the ordinary doesn't suprise me. It's the ordinary that makes me do a RC usually. I have no idea why. My theory is that in dreams we have our dream logic which makes odd things normal and normal things odd, if that makes sense.

Originally Posted by mez

You said you just have to notice faults in circumstances but its hard because you cant practice it during the day. Not true! A lot of people when they think of reality checks they think they can only practice them while awake during the day going about their lives and that they have to encounter something unusual in order to do one. Wellllll if thats how often you do it, good luck! The brain cannot tell the difference between a "REAL" action and a "VIVIDLY IMAGINED" action... so the solution is simple... close your eyes and visualize yourself doing a reality check under some odd dream like circumstance (visualize running into a dreamsign for instance) and then you visualize your reality check "failing" because your pretending to dream here... the key part here is the next step... once "lucid" from this "virtual" reality check EXECUTE YOUR NEXT LD GOAL! This primes the subconscious which is a goal-striving mechanism to work towards ACHIEVING this goal. Its what I call an "effective" reality check.

Yeah I totally see what you mean, however its not really that simple. I can imagine myself speaking with my grandmother and doing a reality check all I want. If I don't dream of her it won't help me at all However, I've gotten really good at WILD so the lack of DILD doesn't bother me very much.

Someone else posted a strategy that they reality check all the time just by paying attention to their surroundings and asking "Does this make sense?" I think this method is better than anything like lightswitches because it doesn't require that you impose any restrictions on your dream control. However, I'm not that obsessed with LD'ing that I can constantly remember to do this that often while waking

Originally Posted by Amelaclya

Yeah I totally see what you mean, however its not really that simple. I can imagine myself speaking with my grandmother and doing a reality check all I want. If I don't dream of her it won't help me at all However, I've gotten really good at WILD so the lack of DILD doesn't bother me very much.

Someone else posted a strategy that they reality check all the time just by paying attention to their surroundings and asking "Does this make sense?" I think this method is better than anything like lightswitches because it doesn't require that you impose any restrictions on your dream control. However, I'm not that obsessed with LD'ing that I can constantly remember to do this that often while waking

normally when i do those kind of reality checks I randomly do a reality check while im awake like normal and then i close my eyes and do the second one, visualizing exactly where i am. Its even recommended by the lucidity institute! The other kind of reality check you're talking about when you have constant awareness of your surroundings is like tibetan dream yoga... which in my view is the best technique EVER... if you're THAT hardcore. haha.

Good to hear about your progress with WILDs!

Originally Posted by mez

normally when i do those kind of reality checks I randomly do a reality check while im awake like normal and then i close my eyes and do the second one, visualizing exactly where i am. Its even recommended by the lucidity institute! The other kind of reality check you're talking about when you have constant awareness of your surroundings is like tibetan dream yoga... which in my view is the best technique EVER... if you're THAT hardcore. haha.

Good to hear about your progress with WILDs!

Ah yep, thats where I remember reading it

It does sound incredibly cool, however I tend to have the attention span of a goldfish so I would never remain hardcore for long Hell, I can't even really remember to do typical reality checks during the day unless I'm reading this forum

Ive been able to read in dreams too.

the only time the words change on me is if they never made any sense to begin with. if the sentences structure something conceivable as human language, I can look away and read the same exact lines again.

I've even been able to browse the internet this way. As long as the webpage in my dream made sense, I can hit the back button and everything will be the same. In one dream, I must have visited the same exact website at least 10 times before something randomly changed.