Oh no, the secret is out!

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It's something that is out of the ordinary and sets you apart.

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It gets quite annoying sometimes when your friends all start talking about how lucid dreaming is so awesome and stuff, and you'll feel indignant because for weeks, months, years even, you've been doing the exact same thing they were talking about. And if you try and join in and be cool about it, they'll look you up and down and sneer, "What do you know?"

It's like the same with songs on the radio charts. And your favourite artists etc.

Hmph. Not to sound like a schmuck, but lucid dreaming isn't some secret gift that a select few are born with. It's a skill that can be learned and improved, so saying we're part of a special group is like saying people who can woodcarve are a limited group and we don't want everyone learning woodcarving cause it would lessen our experience.

And I feel any time you use a phrase like "I'm smarter/better/more driven than everyone else because of XXXXX" you're treading into dangerous territory. Or to put it in Tyler's terms: "You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else." :cheeky:


Lol- maybe I'm just old. I remember in high school getting mad when some "poser" would be wearing a Radiohead shirt. Cause...like...that's MY band, and you can't listen to them!!! We'd even do stupid things like quiz them about band members and release dates, stuff that had nothing to do with the experience of listening to a great song and enjoying it. Now it doesn't matter to me if EVERYONE likes Radiohead or no one likes Radiohead, because when I put on one of their CDs the things I feel are in no way effected by anyone else. It's a personal experience.

Sorry if that sounds grumpy. I just hate to see that greedy part of us rearing up under the guise of "protecting the club" or "keeping things special." If LDing is a good thing, and somehow improves us, then I see a pretty lousy world that could use some improvement too.

This is the most awesome article I have ever read.

I'm going to have to disagree with those of you that want to keep lucid dreaming to yourselves. I think lucid dreaming has been shown to be something that is open to all of humanity, and I think if it is something that every one had easy access to (I think it should be taught at schools, sleep and dreaming is such a huge part of our lives, after all) that it would help so many people connect with an inner self, an inner spirituality, and pay back real huge dividends in the waking world. :)

This is the most awesome article I have ever read.

I'm going to have to disagree with those of you that want to keep lucid dreaming to yourselves. I think lucid dreaming has been shown to be something that is open to all of humanity, and I think if it is something that every one had easy access to (I think it should be taught at schools, sleep and dreaming is such a huge part of our lives, after all) that it would help so many people connect with an inner self, an inner spirituality, and pay back real huge dividends in the waking world. :)

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Originally Posted by .Val.

I'm going to have to disagree with those of you that want to keep lucid dreaming to yourselves. I think lucid dreaming has been shown to be something that is open to all of humanity, and I think if it is something that every one had easy access to (I think it should be taught at schools, sleep and dreaming is such a huge part of our lives, after all) that it would help so many people connect with an inner self, an inner spirituality, and pay back real huge dividends in the waking world. :)

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Nicely put (and nicer than I managed :cheeky: )

It's a good thing for people to focus inward every once in a while. It's a good thing for people to be able to live out their dreams (literally) and have fun with an apect of conscious that takes up 1/3 of our life. I want everyone to lucid dream, to take the red pill. In Platonic terms, it's not enough to free yourself from the cave of shadows. It's better for a philosopher to go back and try to free the other people still chained to the wall.

i am a fence sitter on everyone knowing about lucid dreaming

if lucid dreaming became mainstream, there would be more research, so we could possibly have long lucids, better lucid techniques and even with enough research we could record our dreams :O :D!

but it also have its disadvantages bullying could become quite a problem (haha, you cant lucid dream! ect ect) i also enjoy having something that not many others can do (and it is kinda funny looking at peoples faces when i talk about it and they don't understand)

I'd prefer it to stay unnoticed. LDing's like my own little piece of paradise that I don't have to share with everyone! :P I also like being able to do something that's mysterious, or unknown, to other people.

This is an interesting thread.
Firstly, Guessadoodle I understand how you feel, not exactly with LDing but in general for example: (the most recent time I felt like this) When I was at the sea in Italy. and all the kids and even adults were getting all excited by how big the waves were, (because they're usually tiny at the sea) they were all screaming and such and In my mind I'm thinking ''you call that a wave, thats nothing''? Or when in class a few years ago my teacher showed us the program kahootz. It's a feeling like 'This is my program, I already know how to use it'.

Hey Radiohead was my band! But I think by now everybody has to share them.

I also understand what you mean Puffin, And I agree. I actually would feel too shy/crazy to share the Idea of LDing with my friends... but at the same time I agree with .Val. that everyone diserves to know what it is, and actually I favour the idea of making LDing mainstream - that would be a better than all else.

Trust me, lucid dreaming will not get popular, people will try but after a few days, they will give up and forget about it forever and ever. Maybe some of the people will research it and try it but only a hand full will keep trying.

I like buckybadger's post.

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Originally Posted by .Val.

I'm going to have to disagree with those of you that want to keep lucid dreaming to yourselves. I think lucid dreaming has been shown to be something that is open to all of humanity, and I think if it is something that every one had easy access to (I think it should be taught at schools, sleep and dreaming is such a huge part of our lives, after all) that it would help so many people connect with an inner self, an inner spirituality, and pay back real huge dividends in the waking world. :)

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Originally Posted by Puffin

I'd prefer it to stay unnoticed. LDing's like my own little piece of paradise that I don't have to share with everyone! :P I also like being able to do something that's mysterious, or unknown, to other people.

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I think these two posts stated the two main positions on this subject pretty well. I personally cannot really decide which I would like better. On one side, it's quite selfish to think that others shouldn't have access to it, and higher popularity also would lead to more research in the area. On the other side however, I don't know ANYONE else who knows about LDs, and I have never talked about it to anyone (mostly because I fear being the "strange guy") and in the past 5 years or so that I know about it, it became like a secret I kept to myself that I don't want to give up after all that time. And of course, it's also cool to know something that very few other people know ;P

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Originally Posted by Puffin

Lol. It's really too bad that there's only a tiny part dedicated to "lucid dreaming". And even then, it says it "may" be a real thing instead of actually confirming that it's real. :P

But if the person reads most of the page, they definitely might look further into it.

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Lol like this random post from some Catholic that thought lucid dreams were evil and only children had them, I really lol'd.

The more the merrier. Bring 'em on! Hopefully we can dispel some of the bad information out there about dreaming.

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Originally Posted by Velzhaed

Sorry if that sounds grumpy. I just hate to see that greedy part of us rearing up under the guise of "protecting the club" or "keeping things special." If LDing is a good thing, and somehow improves us, then I see a pretty lousy world that could use some improvement too.

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I have to say, this is a good point. Of course, there is a flipside. The bad people in society can use it to do bad, not good and think of new ways to do bad things, etc. etc. There are always bad points. I will also bring up an example. I have just read Brave New World and at first, I thought it would be a great society in the book. However, as I got deeper into the book and read about the flip side, I realized it was bad. There is also the phrase, be careful what you with for. There may be some bad things about everyone knowing that would absolutely destroy something that we all value. I am not giving specifics, because I do not know what it may be.


To those who say that keeping it to ourselves is greedy, I agree. I admit that my desire for it to be hidden is out of greed. I believe that lucid dreaming requires a lot of spiritual work on yourself before you can do it properly and consistently. If the masses find out, they will probably research new ways of Lucd Dreaming and then it won't be as fulfilling, knowing you achieved a huge goal that you have through hard work. It would be a quick fix. And that is certainly not going to be fulfilling. I will go back to the Brave New World example. People in that society were leading superficial lives because every one of their desires and needs was met immediately and they had no real fulfillment. I believe that is what may happen if LDing becomes mainstream.

I also agree with Val and what Vlezhaed said about the philosopher. I think that is true and enlightened tend to want others around them to be enlightened. However, I am not yet "enlightened" and so that is probably one reason for my not wanting everyone to know.

I hope all of that made sense

Firstly Motely, that was a very well put out post. Reasonable on both sides, I have to learn to write that way for my history essay later!

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If the masses find out, they will probably research new ways of Lucd Dreaming and then it won't be as fulfilling, knowing you achieved a huge goal that you have through hard work.

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I couldn't agree more to this. I can already see the future where everything is done by technology and at a snap of the fingers, perhaps not only lucid dreaming but everyday life, hence creating world of laziness. There would be no sense of achievement like you said, Motely.

so I suppose an article on yahoo suddenly gives everyone the ability to lucid dream?

It's not that big of a deal...

I wonder what evil someone can use lucid dreaming for. Do you think it's possible to steal ideas from someone in a dream like Inception?

Lol wow this thread has gotten quite a few posts. Id just like to say that I totaly don't want to keep lucid dreaming a secret I want as many people as posible to take advantage of their dreams and not waste their lives. Of corse I still think lucid dreaming is more fun when it is a rare skill that not many people know. Learning obscure abilitys has a novelty in and of itself but that dosn't mean we should be selfis and keep others from enjoying something. I was sort of kidding in my OP I didn't really have time to write something then and was curious what dream views would think about yahoos article.

Well I have one friend at school who i talk to about LDing a lot and he agrees with me that it shouldn't be mainstreem. For two reasons. One he thinks it can be dangerous if not used wisely (bs in my opinion) and also it wouldn't be special anymore.

we experience an awarness of life that others don't. I would love for others to be able to have the same thing but just the fact that some people don't believe it's even possible then all who won't try it DON'T deserve to use it.

Hah thanks a lot, guessadoodle! I am still under the influence of writing my first essay for English for my summer reading, Brave New World and so I wrote like that as a side effect....

But about the evils- I dunno... Maybe like inception, maybe planning out a robbery or assassination over and over and replaying it and rehearsing until the day of the heist comes... Maybe learning to count cards and then going to Vegas and bankrupting them :P

The possibilities are endless...

Hah thanks a lot, guessadoodle! I am still under the influence of writing my first essay for English for my summer reading, Brave New World and so I wrote like that as a side effect....

But about the evils- I dunno... Maybe like inception, maybe planning out a robbery or assassination over and over and replaying it and rehearsing until the day of the heist comes... Maybe learning to count cards and then going to Vegas and bankrupting them :P

The possibilities are endless...

Learning to count cards might be a little difficult in a dream because I have played cards in dreams before and I have seen multiples of cards come up. Then I get mad at my friends for cheating because I dont realize that im dreaming because it is such a normal occurance to play cards at school.

Yeah, I agree, bad example. I didn't thi9nk of all of those faults...

Though you could do the other thing. Play out different scenarios until you find something close to what might work best.

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Originally Posted by Velzhaed

Hmph. Not to sound like a schmuck, but lucid dreaming isn't some secret gift that a select few are born with. It's a skill that can be learned and improved, so saying we're part of a special group is like saying people who can woodcarve are a limited group and we don't want everyone learning woodcarving cause it would lessen our experience.

And I feel any time you use a phrase like "I'm smarter/better/more driven than everyone else because of XXXXX" you're treading into dangerous territory. Or to put it in Tyler's terms: "You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else." :cheeky:.

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I dunno, I don't think he's saying that this community is unique in the way that we all are special because us, and us only, have the ability to Lucid dream... I think what he's trying to say is that while everybody can Lucid Dream, they are few that would care enough about it, to pursue Lucid Dreaming in the way most of us here do. I also think that not everybody cares as much as most of us about discovering things such as LDing or discovering yourself, which is probably why this community is so similar.

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Originally Posted by Velzhaed

And I feel any time you use a phrase like "I'm smarter/better/more driven than everyone else because of XXXXX" you're treading into dangerous territory. Or to put it in Tyler's terms: "You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else." :cheeky:.

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You do delve into dangerous territory but that doesn't mean it's not worth being in.. If you are more driven than the people around you and you realise you don't appreciate or enjoy some of the mundane and unimportant things that your friends talk about, than I think you can say: you are more driven or (Arguably) better or (Extremely questionably) smarter.. (But that stops at a point until you become arrogant)

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Originally Posted by buckybadger010

On another note, I think DV'ers are, by nature, a step ahead of the people around them. Lucid dreamers are not passive people. We have determination and willpower, and LDs or not, these characteristics are the things that get us ahead in life. I think LD'ing is an excellent use of these resources and may have extra benefits, but the people that take the time to work on lucidity are people that are already moving up in life.

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I agree, but I disagree in the way that, being a LD'er doesn't automatically make you what you described... Just like being what you described doesn't mean your a LD'er... And so LD'ers probably aren't by nature a step ahead of people but instead through chance.. Most of us here do have determination and willpower, and most of us are interested in the way our minds work which is probably what leads her here to this very topic...

Self Discovery..

I like this post, PXUmais. Those were some verygood points and I especially agree witht he last one. I mean it's not that we are better by default for doing this sutff, it's that we posess the character traits needed to suceed at this stuff and that is what makes us better in some ways.