The Ethics of Dream Control

Sorry for a kind of newbie-esque question. But I notice you guys have a real emphasis on going lucid. I'm really impressed by what you can do and I want to explore the possibilities of it.

On rare occassions I do make requests for specific dreams. For instance, I have in the past asked for dreams about specific life problems or political issues. But flight, magic and all that has always been secondary to me for using dreams to get emotional closure, examine my thinking and refine my philosophy.

In dreaming I believe the subconscious mind has a chance to express itself. There's some value in that free play. I want new dream powers primarilly to give my subconscious new toys.

How do you balance the desires of the conscious mind and the needs of the subconscious? Is one more important than the other?

I balance them by giving all of them a different dream world to stay. And their importance is based on the user.

Do what you want to do more. Even when you are a lucid expert, your subconscious has 90% of the say in dreams (nobody is lucid all the time! Even when they are lucid, the subconscious still influences the dream). Your subconscious has the chance to do stuff all the time in dreams. Go for your goals first--I'm sure your subconscious won't mind.

even when you are lucid, its not like you(your conscious mind) plan andplot out everything that happens and how things react. your subconscious still creates the dream. its just mixing in some consciousness can influence your dreams in a different way. you dont need to find a good mix of the two, you can have both! just when you are lucid, still pay attention to the dreamworld that has been presented in front of you. travel places and go to where the people are at (DreamCharacters) and see what they have to say...

you really shouldn't care anyway since chances are your not lucid dreaming every night.

While this doesn't answer your question, it does fit with the topic.

I will joyfully beat the living crap out of anything in my dreams, but can't bring myself to beat up kids, no matter how evil they are.

I try to avoid beatig the shit out of too many things in dreams. Its not how I want my brain to think. I do occassionally get into interesting fights though.

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Originally Posted by Abra

Do what you want to do more. Even when you are a lucid expert, your subconscious has 90% of the say in dreams (nobody is lucid all the time! Even when they are lucid, the subconscious still influences the dream). Your subconscious has the chance to do stuff all the time in dreams. Go for your goals first--I'm sure your subconscious won't mind.

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As a natural (some one who LDs nearly every night without doing anything to cause it) I completely agree with Abra. Even though I'm lucid my subconscious runs the show. And a lot of the time I don't try to change anything about the dream.

However, when I have a specific goal to explore in a lucid dream I find my subconscious to be not only willing to allow this exploration, but down right helpful. There is no moral dilemma in my mind when it comes to exercizing control in my dreams.

When it comes to general mayhem in a lucid dream -- killing DCs, destroying stuff, making the DCs miserable -- I try to only wreak havoc on DCs that "deserve it." Mainly those that attack me or others (violence of some sort seems to be a common theme in many people's dreams). However, I have occasionally gone against this "moral" stand point for various reasons. Most people feel any kind of antisocial behavior is always okay in lucid dreams because it is a dream, and therefore not real. Unless I have a specific goal in mind, I prefer to be kind to my DCs and their world, as they are manifestations of my subconscious. And I'm good friends with most of them.

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Originally Posted by apachama

I try to avoid beatig the shit out of too many things in dreams. Its not how I want my brain to think. I do occassionally get into interesting fights though.

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for some reason i read this post as

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Originally Posted by apachama

I try to avoid being the shit out of too many things in dreams. Its not how I want my brain to think.

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o_O

But i concur. with both the actual post and how I originally had read it.

Normally when I'm lucid, I just lay back and see what happens. I control myself, but let my imagination lead the way.

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Originally Posted by seeker28

As a natural (some one who LDs nearly every night without doing anything to cause it)

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First off, I'm jealous, lets just get that out of the way. ;)

Out of curiosity though, do you get anything similar to sleep deprivation when you are Lucid for prolonged periods of time? (Consistant Lucid Dreams every night for a week, for example)

I've always wondered if you can take it too far, (outside breaking a healthy sleep cycle).

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Originally Posted by CourtingTheUnknown

First off, I'm jealous, lets just get that out of the way. ;)

Out of curiosity though, do you get anything similar to sleep deprivation when you are Lucid for prolonged periods of time? (Consistant Lucid Dreams every night for a week, for example)

I've always wondered if you can take it too far, (outside breaking a healthy sleep cycle).

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Some naturals don't have non-lucid dreams. In other words, they are lucid in every dream. And they seem to be fine, no sleep-deprivation-like problems.

For me how lucid I am or how often I am lucid has no effect on how rested I feel. It is how stressful my dreams are! If I spend all night scared or angry I will be less rested in the morning.

That was my thought. When people that haven't had an LD before talk about sleep deprivation it's mostly a myth. Glad to have it debunked!

I would love to have LD's nightly lol, for me they just don't happen often enough.

Thats my fault though, I don't do enough dream recall stuff, and since my son was born my REM cycles get disrupted alot, (he's 10 months, so I wake up when he wakes up give or take), and work is pretty intense right now so when I wake up I am immediately thinking about work or taking care of my son.

By the time I actually relax most of my night's dreams have been forgotten, so I guess I'm going through a dry spell. The last LD I had was probably 3 weeks ago, and the last vivid, meaningful LD was months ago.

But meh, I'm working on ending that right now. :)