[INTRO/DC-1] Vester's Workbook
OK so, first of all as I am unsure as to what exactly to put in and this here contains a hell of a lot more comments than my normal DJ, I am working hard on WILDing atm so I will put special attention and analysis into this progress currently if that is fine by everyone.
Here are all my dreams and reflections as they have occured over the past 24 hours.
18-08-10 Prior to the DVA I was having recurrent fragmented dreams about the upcoming class and forum activity. A lot of lucid people seemed to pre-cginitively reply to my thoughts and trying to help me get lucid. I kept falling behind in the class. I was aware that I was dreaming although repeatedly I woke up before getting into the dream(s). Each awakening and attempting going back to sleep kept returning me to the starting point, I reality checked it all and I was indeed awake. The residue was depicted by the forums and IRC.
I don't count these, but I want to get the descriptions on paper to clarify my understanding on levels of awareness. Were these dreams somehow level 0.5 or just too much involvement with hallucinations? I have not mentioned these types of dreams prior, but in order to increase awareness and potentially get help on how to get past this I think it is about the right place and time to describe the phenomena. These fragmented dreams and continuous awakenings have severely disturbed my pre-WILD sleep for the past 3 days (since I had my WILD experience) and they have been the source of much frustration. However now I am a bit more aware of the details that are disturbing my WILD preps instead of just assigning blame to lack of sleep. Could me starting to work again remove the focus I have had on dreaming as I feel somewhat pressured by it?
Before going on to detail the post-WILD attempt dreams I on this date I will briefly describe the pre-sleep (although I attempted to WILD directly) dreams of the nightfall of 18-08-10 (The above were during night time) as there seem to be similarities to be explored.
18-08-10 Pre-WILD dream. I was in a huge gunfight watching over Sam and Dean Winchester (aye I had indeed just watched a couple of episodes of Supernatural, so there is the residue source). In a similar fashion to the IRC/DVA descriptions the dream kept resetting, although there is a minor improvement in the fact that I didn't actually wake up in between. I kept switching from Sam to Dean and kept telling them “I am remote viewing this!”(I was aware it wasn't real) every reset would include the wave of demons coming in attacking from further away from the opposite side. Call it demon juggling if you wish.
What I became aware of after waking up, when I gave up on entering a more stable version of the dream, was that I was solidly convinced that there were two mes. This was difficult to shake even when I tried WILDing again. I know I am supposed to sleep prior to the attempts, but somehow can't seem to help myself to just try another time. This might be good or bad and I could really use some input on this.
18-08-10 Post DVA dreams. I was on a boat either the one the dream was centred around or a different one in close proximity. On the boat in focus (a cruise ship of a kind) there would be a lottery where the lucky winner would go to see the bridge of the ship. The person whose name was called would have his name in purple (IRC type interface). In some way a plan had already been plotted about what we had to do if my name was called, although I only knew of the plan, none of the details. Eventually my name was called and I went to the bridge, where I sort of transformed into IRC interface (try conceptually and imagine this, cause it makes MY head hurt ^^). Through the interface I saw that I had 90.000 credits that had to be distributed wether by giving them to bidders or winners, however I had no idea on how to do this and a queue (in the interface) assembled. At this time I saw some detailed 2D drawings of the ships course and relative position to the harbour, although the plans were drawn on paper they kept updating themselves regularly. We were close.
There was a shift in the dream and I am now part of a group of 4 or 5 all dressed in black. The boat still figures vaguely, but only in the back of the mind and I have no idea as to the connection to the current state of the dream. We have an elderly leader who is instructing us to go and learn some old school fighting styles, although I tell him it is obsolete compared to what we now know (I would love to know what it was I in fact knew!).
There is another shift and now I am assisting Stan from Southpark in planning and executing the murder of someone. We dress up in a donkey costume and I conceal a knife up my sleeve prior to putting the outfit on. Just before the act I wonder if I can even access this knife within the costume, so I check if it is still there and find out that I can pull it from where it is. Then I stand and repeatedly stab a stuffed version of Kyle, and although I know he is stuffed it feels like killing all right (NB: I don't know how it feels to kill someone IRL ^^).
As to the assignment:
Residue: Primarily takes the form of obsession to IRC, forums and Supernatural however there could also be some remote residue in the boat experience connected to Serenity's descriptions of Moon Sailor, as I had an image of a ship while reading about it in the chat.
Faulty logic: I can kill stuffed cartoons, no really they DIE although I know (even at the time) that they were never alive. Real time updates on 2D paper, yeah right! Not sure if this counts as faulty logic, but the fact that I can exist as a chat program is certainly off the rails!
False Memories: Not as such in the above mentioned dreams, although this is why I asked if these can sometimes take on a deja vu quality. For instance I am aware that a plan has been set in motion in the event that my name gets called. I recall knowing about the historic site midway on the train travel, although it doesn't exist. In general I remember that there is an idea, but I never focus too much attention to what the idea actually is (I am sort of like that IRL, so might be worth training on recalling details of ideas to increase the possibilities of detecting signs).
Will keep detailing these aspects of my dreams until next class.. sorry for the boring read:eek:
Summary of INTRO-DC1 - Assignments
Here I will summarise and add to my answers on the assignments. It is a wall of text and much of it has been written down previously in the thread, primarily aimed at giving Serenity an overview of my assignments.
Assignment: Go through your dream journal and analyse where the content of your dreams comes from. Is it mostly day residue? Do you notice a lot of false memories or faulty logic in them?
Day residue comes in a couple of forms for me, one is visual effects that tends to have little or no bearing on the actual meaning of the dream. However this might be worth noticing, as there is a fair amount, which means that increasing the frequency of awareness checks throughout the day could lead to more DILDs.
Day residue can also take the form of reflections I do over how I live my life (I constantly do this, and I am starting to see dreams centred around these reflections) An example is the principle of Vox Veritas Vita (speak the truth as a way of life) Recently I have noticed that I in non-lucids passively challenge myself, by putting myself in situations where lying seems an easier way to go.
False logic, probably my bane, I accept everything for what it is, for instance just this night I was hiding behind a wall, but I could see through it. I actually thought at one point, oh good I will just hide behind this brick wall and see when the other shooter is distracted. Another example, I was recently jumping down through 3 -4 levels of bathrooms, that had a hole in the floor against the fursthest wall, on the next level down I would stand on the sink (Where the hole in the floor had just been).
I am however seeing, after having attended the class, that I become suspicious more frequently, but I need to improve on stopping and taking in the soroundings IRL and perform some RCs. I had a WILD fail to DILD the other night where I was in the underground in the setting of a movie (just having verbalised and written down the dream signs, TV Shows, Trains, I was very suspiscious, but it was when I walked up and out of a door that led me inside a moving train that I decided I was dreaming (recognising false logic)) I didn't even have to RC after this realisation.
False memories take the shape of deja vu for me, just an inherent knowledge that I know that I know why something is happening, don't even bother going into the details, hopefully my focus in awareness check ups will help me to question what I know/why I know it.
Assignment: Go through your dream journal and see if you can notice any reoccurring signs that are popping up. Make a list!
Bonus marks: Find out which sign occurs the most and incorporate reality checking to the sign into your daily routine.
Old Work - Being in a situation working in marketing/sales - Unsure about how to RC this one, It was a different country, different people and a different me
Friends from old times (work in England, Schoo, High School) - RC them when I encounter them on facebook
Being in Hornslet - The town in which I grew up - Have increased the frequency of RCs when thinking/being there
Naked in public spaces - RC when having shower, going to the toilet or anything to do with nudity.
Trains/Traveling - RC whenever I see elements associated with these things
Spirits and Ghosts - RC when thinking about paranormal stuff (I do that a lot)
TV Show Settings - Increase awareness when watching, RC frequently.
Agrression/Aggressive actions - RC whenever I think aggressively/angry
Electrical storms - RC whenever there is a bad wheather (Have decided to try and engage a storm in conversation!)
Smoking - Having stopped smoking I now RC everytime I feel an urge to roll/smoke a cigarette
Since starting the class I have had a DILD from Trains/TV Shows, I have been very suspicious about why I have been smoking in my dreams, but not enough to induce.
Assignment: Review your current sleep schedule. Taking what you know about DILDs and WILDs, which technique would best work for you for inducing lucid dreams?
Bonus: Knowing this, you may want to look into signing up for that specific course when it’s offered next
I am currently working a 90 day WILD project with 1-2 attempts daily (bar weekends as these can get messy ^^). Will definetely want to sign up for courses that offer advice on this. I will carry on my own private project so I can develop a deeper understanding on how I work, which will be very helpful preparation for any course on WILDs.
In the mean time I am increasing awareness checks (maybe I should state that these are moments where I stop, look around, especially at edges of buildings and details of signs, trees bushes everything really, just take half a minute to scrutinize the details of my suroundings) to improve my odds of DILDing.
Assignment: Think of 2-3 goals that you would like to accomplish. They could be anything! If you need some inspiration, check out some tasks from the Task of the Month forum. How would you attempt each goal?
I have already prepared a list of goals
Ask a DC my dream name (in progress, not sure I understood what she said)
Contact my dream guide (Not attempted)
Contact my Spirit Guide (Not attempted)
Learn to WILD (In progress so far I have 2 successes out of 16 attempts, 3 if you count the failed WILD to DILD)
Meet the woman whom I asked my dream name, and later tried to date, again. (Not Attempted)
Find the Siberian Huskie again (Not Attempted)
I have actually had a shot at August's Task of the Month and completed the basic one, I did manage to summon a unicorn, but she took on human form before I could ride her, I piggy backed her, but she wouldn't shift back into unicorn form again after I called her a beautiful horse.. see details here..
Failed WILD to DILD - > attempts at TOTM (although August is almost gone) - Dream Journals - Dreamviews Lucid Dreaming Community & Resource
That concludes my writeup of the assingments for the class, it has been wonderful to share the late night hours with all of you. As for you Serenity I will take some time to provide some propper feedback =)