Using a Totem (Inception)

[Brunom50]

Hey guys. I was watching again Inception in the other night and i was wondering. What if we use a totem was a reality check? We make a totem for us and then observe it several times a day, just like a reality check. Eventually we will start observe them in the dream also. Maybe that can work or maybe not. Whats your toughs in this matter ?

[TwoCrystalCups]

Yes, you can. It's called training your brain and memorizing.

[PlanesWalker]

When I really think about it, the idea of a totem is a little flawed. They are supposed to help you realize your Dreaming right? But the fact that in a Dream, the totem would look and act however they wanted could make things complicated. For instance... If you had The Die from the movie, the little red weighted one, it would always weigh whatever you expected it to in the Dream. So in that case, he may not expect the die to be any different than in the Waking world when he reaches in his pocket to grab it, so it isn't. And as a result, he doesn't realize he is Dreaming. Or the top. All he has to do is expect it to drop and it will, this doesn't necessarily mean he isn't Dreaming though. They would need more than just handheld objects to tell them they were Dreaming in some instances. It is made to seem like a definite thing that always works, but it wouldn't.

[Iokheira]

I've been thinking about doing this too, but I don't think it should be the behavior of the object that makes you realize that it's a dream, because as Planeswalker said, it would behave however you expect it to. I don't know how many times objects that should be doing one thing were doing another in my dream, and I just didn't realize it. I finally decided that the totem should act as something that makes you do a reality check every time you see it, so when it shows up in your dream that is your learned reaction, thus leading you to a lucid. At the same time, you can do that with lots of things, and is one of the reasons why people keep track of dream signs. All the same the idea of a totem is attractive to me Edit: I figured out why it is attractive, an that's because I don't want to have to do a reality check every time I see my husband or want to beat someone up (which, if I did do RCs that often I'd probably have a much higher chance of having a lucid, but I'm lazy and forgetful). I also can't practice a lot of my dream signs/reoccurring elements since they exclusively show up in my dreams.

[Jabre]

I used a "totem"... it was a little figurine of a bear with quarts crystal on it... In the dream, the crystals behaved differently (it's hard to explain) and the figure was stone instead of metal. Then I became fully lucid. It helped a lot, and I discovered that all glass behaves a little differently in my dreams for some reason;glass didn't shatter. It wouldn't be a good RC though cause I can't run around in waking life smashing windows lol

[PlanesWalker]

Or can you...

[tehmuffinman]

I tried this once using a little uniquely engraved golden ring that I started carrying around often and concentrating on, as well as reality checks with the engraving. For three straight days I saw the ring in some context in my dreams: one time on my fingers, one time I dug it out of some mud in the middle of the night while it was raining, and once more I can't recall off the top of my head. After that I didn't see it again despite continuing to focus on it during the day. I have no factual basis for this but my assumption was that I just got too used to the object being around and it didn't have the significance that it did prior to the three dreams. Unfortunately I was not practiced enough at LDing at the time to recognize the ring those nights.

[thesimp]

interesting

[Sensei]

The point of a totem is that it will be the same in your dream. But if you are in someone else's dream it would be off. But you can use anything to remind you to RC. It would work. Just like Hathor said.

[thesimp]

I think I have the perfect idea for a totem now, gonna craft it over the week end if I get time, hopefully

[SzuruDusk]

I'm willing to help if at all possible! I could do wonders even if I just critiqued and gave advice. But I'll try to spread the word a bit too, and I'll put up some digital art if you'd like to see what I'm capable of. If you're still looking for music, I can compose some simple stuff with guitar and uke. ^~^; But I can make a song just like that, even one that fits the "feel" for this. I'm really full of my imagination. xD

[Cinder]

The point of totems is that they are used to make sure you're not in someone else's dream, not to check if you're dreaming.

[Iokheira]

The point of totems is that they are used to make sure you're not in someone else's dream, not to check if you're dreaming. Of course. But that doesn't exactly help here, and dream sharing isn't exactly proven...so this thread is about using something to help you realize you are in a dream, not to recreate something from the movie that won't do crap. Similar ideas, not the same. And SzuruDusk, was that in the right thread? If so, I'm confused.

[presence]

You can use a totem, but i can tell you one thing: Do not use that inception spinning top if you want to keep things easy. I remember an extremely vivid dream, that time i have not been into lucid dreaming so far. So i was there, running around in my apartment in another time, like i have been beamed back into 2002 and i saw my old bed in my room and saw that the toilet room was looking like 10 years ago, saw my parents there in the living room, and a certain feeling of the environment i had, that time ago. So i was fully awake in the dream, but i have not attained lucidity to a degree where i know that i was dreaming and i can tell you, i thought i have gone completely nuts. So i was there in my room and thought, hmm i can do this reality checks they did in the inception movie, i had no real idea on how to have lucid dreams at all at this time, so then i just imagined this spinning top and then it appeared somewhere on my desk or so... So... i spinned that thing... and thought, if it will spin the whole time, then i am in a lucid dream, if it stops spinning after a short period of time, then this shit is real. So guess what happened at the end of this story... I spinned that top and after a while it just did not spin anymore and i can tell you... i have thought that i have i nearly lost my mind, because i was conviced that this was for real now. It shocked me so much that i finally woke up. So if you start using a totem, i would recommend you, not to use a spinning top, unless you want to take your time to program it properly, so that it will work out in a dream, exactly how you expect it to work

[sramsay12]

I think using your hands is a much easier idea with a similar outcome... If you think it will work, though, it will.