Unreal Realities

My biggest problem with attaining lucidity frequently is the strange realities I enter in the dream world. If the dream world was almost exactly like the waking world, I would probably be lucid every night. However, my dreamscapes can take on very strange forms.

Sometimes I think I am watching a tv show. I see the characters interacting just as they normally do. Since shows can be very strange, I dont think anything is off when something strange happens. I dont have a body in these dreams. I dont even know that I exist since I dont interact with the characters. I merely observe. I cant do reality checks because of this.

Sometimes I believe I am playing a video game. Although I can interact with the environment, I cant do my usual nose-pinch reality check because you cant do that in a video game. I can only sem to do things that are possible in the game. Of course if I was lucid I could change that but I cant attain lucidity while in a videa game.

Sometimes I start thinking in the dream and there is no world, just thought processes and memories. I never think I am dreaming during this because it is happening constantly.

Is there any way I can become aware of these situations while dreaming, or is there a reality check that will work during these situations? I often get stuck in these unreal dreamscapes and I cant think of a dream control method that will make the dreamworld tangible so I can become lucid.

I know what you mean, I get those from time to time. They're a pain in the ass, because there's barely anything to get lucid off! It happened one time though, I was playing a first-person-shooter, and I wanted to change the effect of gravity so I could run and jump great distances, just for the fun. Luckily in this game that was actually possible, and I started zooming about. With it being a first person shooter, it was like it was actually me doing the flying, which actually turned me lucid.
That was a one-off though, I think.

The reality check that would probably be best for you would be attempting to remain generally 'aware'. This is simply questioning whether or not you are dreaming, and observing your surroundings and state of being as often as you can. Eventually you should come to recognize the "dream feeling" that will be absent when you perform this 'awareness reality check' in waking life.

There's another one I read about recently that you might try. Instead of pinching your nose, just hold your breath. Then, try and breathe through your nose. In both situations you're blocking your airways, so this should work just as well as the nose pinch.

If you haven't seen them, there is a list of common reality checks at the very bottom of the Reality Check Tutorial Page, in the tutorial section of the website. You may find one of them useful.

I do have awareness in my dreams. Almost all of my lucid dreams have occured from me just knowing that I am dreaming. If I am aware enough to think about doing a reality check I am aware enough to know that im dreaming. However, I can only be this aware if the dream world is tangible enough to be close to reality.

I honestly cant tell the difference between a tv show or video game in a dream or in reality. tv shows and video games often have gaps in memory and awareness. If I watched a tv show right now, I couldnt prove that it wasnt a tv show in a dream because I have no way of influencing what happens in the show. I could frequently become aware of my body outside of the show and use that to perform reality checks, but I have never had a dream watching a tv show where I had a body. As you know, you can get very distracted by what is happening in the dream world. This is how you lose lucidity in the first place. Tv shows and video games are meant to be distracting by nature. This is where the problem lies.

I may be misunderstanding your wording(and I'm sorry if that is the case) but you are either saying that you sometimes don't get lucid because you encounter situations that are uncomparable to your waking life experiences, or you sometimes don't get lucid because you cannot perform reality checks, as you(or the world around you) lacks form, correct? If that's right, then yes, I recommend the awareness reality check. I meant that you should try to constantly question whether or not you're dreaming(in reality) rather than performing manual reality checks in response to something(every time you see a tree, every time you walk through a door, etc.). This is so that even if you encounter unfamiliar situations in dreams, you will still question your state of existence.

Rereading over your post, it may be that you're asking how to confirm lucidity once you suspect being in a dream. If you can't reality check, try experimenting with some lucid abilities- they can be accomplised with your mind rather than physical force, so it shouldn't matter if you lack form or not. Or once again, become attuned to the "dream feeling", if you are ever able to pick it up.

Thats a great idea. I can perform a reality check by trying to alter the environment around me with my mind. If I cant, then im awake.

About misunderstanding my post, I was saying that I am usually conciously aware that I am awake, and I usually attain lucidity by becoming aware that I am dreaming, not by performing a reality check. But, most of my dreams are so uncomparable to waking life, that I havent found a way to become lucid in them. Although in waking life I frequently perform reality checks and I am usually aware that I am awake, I break this routine in my dreams because I never do normal activities in my dreams.

It seems as if my dreams are trying to keep me non-lucid. I used to have a reality check where I would remember what happened since I woke up in the morning. In that time period the number of false awakenings I had dramatically increased. I even stayed in Australia for a week and experienced full days and about six false awakenings in one dream. When I use the nose pinch reality check, my dreams come in a form where I dont have a body, or I cant use my body to do a nose pinch reality check. I had many dreams in which I was in a video game even though I dont actually play video games.

Ill try to conciously change the environment as a reality check. Do you know any simple ways to change the environment without much mental effort?

Unreal realities: an oxymoron.

Anyway, Higurashi is right, be more 'aware'. During the waking life, cultivate the lucidity you want in dreams by looking at waking life as a dream or an 'unreal reality'. The reason that we don't question the reality of dreams is becasue we don't question the reality of waking life. Try a meditation practice. Try WILD or VILD or both at the same time. VILD=visualization induced....

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Originally Posted by bengron

Thats a great idea. I can perform a reality check by trying to alter the environment around me with my mind. If I cant, then im awake.

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That sounds good. Try and maintain awareness a little while even if the attempt fails; though it's only happened to me a handful of times, sometimes you may not get the hint even if the reality check is successful.

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About misunderstanding my post, I was saying that I am usually conciously aware that I am awake, and I usually attain lucidity by becoming aware that I am dreaming, not by performing a reality check. But, most of my dreams are so uncomparable to waking life, that I havent found a way to become lucid in them. Although in waking life I frequently perform reality checks and I am usually aware that I am awake, I break this routine in my dreams because I never do normal activities in my dreams.

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Oh, I see what you're saying. Thanks for clarifying :content:

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It seems as if my dreams are trying to keep me non-lucid. I used to have a reality check where I would remember what happened since I woke up in the morning. In that time period the number of false awakenings I had dramatically increased. I even stayed in Australia for a week and experienced full days and about six false awakenings in one dream. When I use the nose pinch reality check, my dreams come in a form where I dont have a body, or I cant use my body to do a nose pinch reality check. I had many dreams in which I was in a video game even though I dont actually play video games.

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That's interesting. I've had similar feelings recently, but this is stranger than anything I've experienced.

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Ill try to conciously change the environment as a reality check. Do you know any simple ways to change the environment without much mental effort?

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The quickest way I managed to alter the dreamscene was by first thinking about what I would want it altered to while I was still in waking life. Then, during the dream, I would simply will it to be that way and it would change. Most of the time it was easier if I closed my eyes(and visualized) while doing this: I guess it's simpler to make something out of nothing rather than morphing something that already exists.

Last night I decided I would take a break from trying to become lucid for a week or so to see what happens. My dreams have immediately become much more tangible. Last night I had very normal dreams. I think my subconsious is much smarter than my concious mind.

I might start a thread in the dream research thread experimenting with trying different forms of reality checks and methods and seeing what form my dreams come in to try to prevent me from becoming lucid.

What do you do before bed? If you spend your evenings watching television and playing videogames, then yes, those environments will seep into your dreams. You could reality check when nonsensical things happen while you watch tv/play the vidya at night.

Also, I like your signature.

I have the same problem! I was actually going to post about it. I have these dreams of living on another planet, far away, of alien invasions, etc. And the problem is NOT that I cannot PERFORM a reality check. It's that it never OCCURS to me to do one. It never occurs to me none of this is real. In my dreams I've seen things so surreal I can hardly grasp them when awake again - and yet, in my dream I accept them unquestioningly. A levitating city? Ok... A little tree-like creature climbing a gigantic, mile-high tree, reaching the sky as if it were a ceiling and crawling across it? Upside down! Sure, why not?! It's when I'm in some familiar place and notice something off about it that I go lucid. Most of my LD's take place somewhere around my hometown or my own place. But when I'm on a little planet on the outskirts of the universe, it never crosses my mind that I shouldn't be there. How do I learn to question the reality in an unrealistic/surreal environment?

P.S. I like Bengron's sig, too - it reminds me of one of my favorite "space dreams", the planet and the buildings had the same color.

a lot of my dreams have been like that. I often have dreams where I don't have a body and am playing a game or am just watching a scene without having a presence of my own. I only recently have tried to be more aware of reality all the time recently, and it seems it has slowly started to enter my dream consciousness.