Word-permanence in dreams?

Last night, I had a dream in which I received a letter from a DC. Now, in waking life, I read through everything twice as a kind of RC--I'll read it, look away and think of something different, and read it again. In my dream last night, I did just that. I read it, looked away and thought of an entirely different topic, and when I looked back, it was still the same thing! In the past, the words have always changed or looked different in some way, but in this particular dream, there was no different between the first and second time I read it. This led me to conclude I was awake (rather than dreaming), so I stayed non-lucid. After waking up, I was severely disappointed. :(

Anyone have any similar experiences with dreams? Is it going to be permanent (in that future dreams will also have word-permanence like this)? I really hope not. :?

I have had some dreams where I'm chatting in the DV chat, and the messages on the screen are the same every time I look at them. I think it depends on how significant the words are in your mind. If they're not important, your mind won't be bothered about keeping them the same.

ShockWave.

I'd say it's still good to read things twice, but definitely don't rely on that as your only method of reality checking. Keep it varied, that way you're less likely to disappoint yourself :)

Normally I would say if you expected it to be the same then it would be the same... maybe you had some doubts in your head? Sometimes RC's don't work because your subconscious just says so to keep you from being lucid. For example, you could turn on a light switch in a dream and it would work, because in reality, light switches usually work. Same thing goes for letters and words, they don't usually change in reality.

Like TeaSea said, use a variety of RC's instead of one. The first RC I usually do is stop and ask myself how I got here. If I can't remember anything, I then do a finger count and a nose plug RC.

No reality check seems to be 100%. Reading seems to work more often than most, for me.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I do vary my RCs, but that one's probably the most frequently used due to the large amount of words I read per day--whether here on DV, at school, in books, emails, texts, etc. I perform the "How did I get here?" RC every time I arrive at a new place. I think maybe the words stayed the same due to some subconscious doubt of some kind...Who knows. Whenever I do my RCs, I make sure that I'm positive that it's possible that I could be dreaming before doing the RC(s).

I just thought it was really odd, as that had never happened before. Even times that I just did the RC without believing in it (back when I first started trying to LD--I'd just go through the routine without truly believing it, which is probably why I had a lot less LDs then than I do now--or maybe it's just experience), it would work--the words would change or appear different in some way.

Again, thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.

Yeah I like technique of asking yourself how you got there in the first place. I think I will try that some time, that sounds super effective. It makes you think logically which should make you more lucid.

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Originally Posted by pepsibluefan

Yeah I like technique of asking yourself how you got there in the first place. I think I will try that some time, that sounds super effective. It makes you think logically which should make you more lucid.

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It works wonders. In my dreams, I typically go from one place to another, with minimum or no travel time in between. Of course, it doesn't work like this in real life, so if you ask yourself how you go somewhere and only know that one second you were one place and the next you were some place different, then you must be dreaming. :)

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Originally Posted by ShockWave

I have had some dreams where I'm chatting in the DV chat, and the messages on the screen are the same every time I look at them. I think it depends on how significant the words are in your mind. If they're not important, your mind won't be bothered about keeping them the same.

ShockWave.

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Exactly. You also need to expect them to change or try to influence them to change when you look away. For me personally, this RC has never failed. I do it on a digital wrist watch or on an alarm clock, and the only time I failed to become lucid are the times I believed that the device is malfunctioning.

The "finger through palm" RC has failed me several times, and therefore I don't use it anymore. My mind really recreates the exact feeling of resistance as my dream-finger presses against my dream-palm. The "plug your nose" RC feels uncomfortable to me in real life, because I don't like the feeling of not being able to breathe through my nose, plus it just looks plain stupid if there are people around you.

As far as the "ask yourself how you got there" RC, I never tried it, but my dreams are usually full of false memories, so that my mind would probably always be able to fill in the gaps.

So for me personally, the "reading" RC is foolproof, if done correctly.

Jakob

This RC have never worked for me - text is always stable in my dreams, no matter how many times I look away and back.
I agree with ShockWave - it can depend on how important words are for you. For example, I'm a huge bookworm - stable text is understandable in my case.

I'm actually glad that it is like that, I plan to use it in the future to study and read in lucids - I know people do that.

But I get your disappointment - so many missed lucid opportunities.

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Originally Posted by MischiefManaged

I'm actually glad that it is like that, I plan to use it in the future to study and read in lucids - I know people do that.

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Woah! That's an excellent idea! The only problem that I see with this is that you'd have to already have the text memorized (either consciously or subconsciously) in order to read it in your dream...otherwise your brain has no where to pull the information from. :P But as a study tool, I think it could be rather useful...I'll keep that in mind and try it next time I have a dream with a book in it.

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Originally Posted by MischiefManaged

This RC have never worked for me - text is always stable in my dreams, no matter how many times I look away and back.
I agree with ShockWave - it can depend on how important words are for you. For example, I'm a huge bookworm - stable text is understandable in my case.

I'm actually glad that it is like that, I plan to use it in the future to study and read in lucids - I know people do that.

But I get your disappointment - so many missed lucid opportunities.

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Once again, expectation is key. As I've said many times, for me personally, text in my dreams is always UNSTABLE.

When you see the word "Dreamviews" in a dream for example, don't look away and back expecting it to say "Dreamviews" again, but influence it to change into another word. Also, the meaning of the word is important, that's why the RC with a digital clock is the one that works best for me, because it involves random numbers. The numbers I see have no significance, for example 01:27. I look away and back, expecting them to change, and they do.

Like I said before, the only times I failed to become lucid with this RC is when my mind tricked me into thinking that the watch/clock is malfunctioning.

But to each his own. Do what works best for you.

Jakob, I agree. But my expectation for text being stable was formed on the subconscious level because of the fact that text and words are important for me. Do you know what I mean? I didn't force myself to expect it. But in the beginning, when I just started out with lucid dreaming I was performing this RC correctly - I expected the words to change, because everyone was saying that it's a reliable RC and I didn't have much experience with RCs, so I had no reason not to believe what other more experienced dreamers were saying. But this RC never worked for me even once.

Numbers, clocks, on the contrary, are a great RC for me - I don't even have to look away - I expect them to change and they do instantly.

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The only problem that I see with this is that you'd have to already have the text memorized (either consciously or subconsciously) in order to read it in your dream...otherwise your brain has no where to pull the information from.

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Subconsciously for reading and both consciously and subconsciously for studying :)

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Originally Posted by MischiefManaged

Subconsciously for reading and both consciously and subconsciously for studying :)

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Indeed. I'm for sure trying this out in some way or another next LD. :)

Good luck! Make sure to let me (us) know how it goes :)
I personally am not that good at lucid dreaming yet, so I'm not doing it any time soon. There are few skills that I need to develop dream wise in order to start experimenting with this. I keep that in mind as one of the most advanced tasks and eventually will get to it :)

Very interesting, reading in dreams is still something that interests me. I once read a really interesting article about space in a Nation Geographic in my dream... I'm sure the information was all wrong but it was formatted nicely and read like a real article... how my mind pieces that together so fast is beyond me. Subconscious is too scary.