Why bother getting lucid?

Well, here's a thought that sent me for a loop: Why bother?
Lucidity may be such an experience (or so I've heard), and it may redeem up to a third of the time I am alive (that is, the time I am asleep)...
is it anything more than me trying to have a more interesting life?
WAIT A SECOND! What if my life is already interesting?
Okay, let me rant about me for a minute while I make a list of reasons my life isn't boring [skip if you don't want to hear me being vain]:
I'm getting a full ride to college, going into music; I've already got something like three full albums of music to be recorded; I have REALLY good and true friends, some of them even want to marry me when I get out of college; I'm healthy, wealthy, and wise (thank you, Ben Franklin); I know how to do loads of great stuff like building design, electronic repair, mechanics, and pyrotechnics; I'm naturally creative, observant, and friendly; and I'm apparently telepathic with one of the aforementioned friends. [Don't bash that, please. I don't want to get in an argument over that.]

So, with all that going for me... WHY would I bother to spend time training to be lucid when I can just sing in a rock concert if I want to have a great time?

Why? Why do I bother? I've been gifted so much (by God or by luck, you can call that either way), so why am I bothering to work toward lucidity?

Why do I bother?

Why?

Because, first of all, it can help you solve problems, or invent things. You can simulate things that you can't do in real life.

Second of all, it's fun. It's like playing a videogame while you sleep.

Its like...you spend 8-10 hours every day doing nothing. Why not turn that into something productive/entertaining. And your profile says you've only been lucid once, but once you get into a habit of doing it, it takes almost no effort at all.

I mean seriouslly, you make it sound like it actually takes alot of time/effort. All it took for me was three days of checking my hand every couple hours.

I don't know, Signet. Why should/do you? Why did you want to experience lucidity in the first place?

Why bother joining if you just want to rant about lucidity any way?

You enjoy building design, pyrotechnics and stuff and the thought never occurred to you how inspiring a good lucid dream would be?

A half hour ago I blasted a hole through the planet. That doesn't seem cool to you?

I didn't mean for my first post to be in a condescending tone, i'm sorry if it semt like that, but just think back to when you first found out about lucidity. It gets me excited when I think of all the possibilities that I could reach once I get to 'mastering' a particular technique. I'd be going on adventures almost nightly, doing anything that I could imagine.

oh sweet congrats on ur music. i sing rock too.

If you don't see a point in doing it... then why are you here?..

Ok...take all of those things that you're good at, in waking life....

Now compound them with all of the awesome things that you can't do in waking life.

Any other questions?

Before I say anything, I'd like to thank everyone who's responded so far. Thanks! :)
As for the responses...

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Originally Posted by ImBored

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I must first tell you (ImBored) that I've been working at achieving lucidity for eight months now, and it's just starting to work at all. Why would I bother to to put so much effort into it when I could just push back that bedtime to, say, one AM and work on one of my various unfinished projects? My body can manage on four to six hours of sleep per night, and the emotional intensity I get from sleep deprivation makes waking life all the better to live. (Mind you, I am in NO way an emo. ;) )

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Originally Posted by fOrceez

I don't know, Signet. Why should/do you? Why did you want to experience lucidity in the first place?

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To create a reality above the one I now live in. I was inexpressibly tired of my life and saw the potential to create a fantasy world as limitless as my imagination. I still do. It's just that life has become a lot more interesting and worth living since eight months ago.
And don't worry, fOrceez, I recognize your tone of writing as not being truly mean or condescending. The 'Ban the Person Above You' thread taught me that! :D

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Originally Posted by bewareofit1505

oh sweet congrats on ur music. i sing rock too.

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Yo do? Sweet! We ought to do a set together sometime.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut Zero

Take all of those things that you're good at, in waking life, now compound them with all of the awesome things that you can't do in waking life. Any other questions?

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Yes. One.
I know I asked not to reference this, but since it's the straw that broke the camel's back (or the anvil, really), I'm pulling it out as a trump card.
My friend is a bloody TELEPATH. And now somehow I am too, thanks to her. [You don't have to believe me on that one if you don't want to.] That is something I can not do in the dream-state.
And what about isolation within the dream-state? (That is to say, everybody else is just a dream construct, stereotypically.) The only person I've met or even heard of that has shared dreams consistently or even rarely is the aforementioned telepathic friend, when she's in a close proximity to the person she's sharing the dream with. (Think girl's slumber party.)
Soo.... would it be better if I just married my telepathic friend and sang my songs, content to live like a demigod in this waking reality?

I still don't understand why you feel the need to choose. I'm writing a book, designing a game, working on an album, I go to yoga once a week, slam poetry once a week, meditation twice a week and 5 mile runs twice a week and I still find plenty of time to troll this forum or play videogames. Lucidity wasn't exactly an effortless process for me, either, but it's the same as building any other habit. Is it really so difficult to write down your dreams upon waking? Or to spend two seconds performing a reality check a few times a day? Sure, people have tons of techniques and recommendations to help gain lucidity but you really just need to build two habits: Dream Journaling and Reality Checks. The Dream Journaling is beneficial all by itself, especially when used in coordination with a dream dictionary (and for that all you gotta do is google dream dictionary and find a site you like). From the sounds of it, you might have a life full of interesting and fulfilling endeavors but you don't appear to have much time for personal therapy. Taking ten minutes to a half hour in the morning to recall the symbols your head came up with to reflect your unconscious attitudes and thought processes is an excellent way to work through your issues, even if they're mild issues.

If you have the discipline to lead the fulfilling waking life you claim to, then the benefits are well worth including proper discipline and attention to your sleeping life, as well.

Then don't bother ;) !
i quoted this once and i will quote it again :

The trick is to combine your waking rational abilities with the infinite possibilities of your dreams. Because, if you can do that, you can do anything.

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Originally Posted by All of God

I still don't understand why you feel the need to choose. I'm writing a book, designing a game, working on an album, I go to yoga once a week, slam poetry once a week, meditation twice a week and 5 mile runs twice a week and I still find plenty of time to troll this forum or play videogames. Lucidity wasn't exactly an effortless process for me, either, but it's the same as building any other habit.

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Well said, and I see that you are also someone of substantial life. That is to say, you DO things. For that I respect you greatly.

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Is it really so difficult to write down your dreams upon waking?

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It has been, but that's changing.

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Or to spend two seconds performing a reality check a few times a day?

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That's part of it. Aside of lucidity just not being a natural thing over here, habits just don't come easy either.

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Sure, people have tons of techniques and recommendations to help gain lucidity but you really just need to build two habits: Dream Journaling and Reality Checks. The Dream Journaling is beneficial all by itself, especially when used in coordination with a dream dictionary (and for that all you gotta do is google dream dictionary and find a site you like). From the sounds of it, you might have a life full of interesting and fulfilling endeavors but you don't appear to have much time for personal therapy. Taking ten minutes to a half hour in the morning to recall the symbols your head came up with to reflect your unconscious attitudes and thought processes is an excellent way to work through your issues, even if they're mild issues.

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I strongly agree that keeping a constant dream journal is beneficiary, but I'll be darned if I ever find a dream dictionary that is accurate and helpful. Believe me, I've looked.
As for therapy... eh. I don't really have any (or at least not many) questions occurring on a psychological level. I know what I believe, and I know where I stand, and I have no doubts in life.
The question I've raised in this thread is really more along the lines of the worth of lucid dreams in my own life. Is it worth the hassle? (This whole thread will be for naught if lucidity becomes any easier for me to achieve, regardless of method.)

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If you have the discipline to lead the fulfilling waking life you claim to, then the benefits are well worth including proper discipline and attention to your sleeping life, as well.

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It's just that it's so [whiny tone] HHAAARRRRDDD! :damnit:

I think it is worth all the effort. Otherwise I wouldn't still be doing it after two years of occasional success.

There are activities in my waking life that are not easy, but I do them anyway because I enjoy doing them. Sometimes it's so difficult that it's not even that enjoyable, but I continue doing it because I look forward to the end goal. It's the same with lucid dreaming. I bother because I enjoy it.

In my opinion we all need therapy. The core purpose of any good film, song or book is therapy. You just do it secretly because the moment people think they're getting preached at or mentally healed, they're quick to point out that they're just fine, and they have a good head on their shoulders. It's easy to spend a lot of time on material or exoteric accomplishments and confuse that with being successful. People want to confuse their exoteric accomplishments with success because the inner world is much harder to traverse and the rewards, as you have pointed out, are not readily apparent.

I had a lucid my first day on this forum, but I didn't have another one for a year or so afterwards. That whole time I felt just like you, frustrated, thinking "Man, it'd be fine if it was easy but it's not worth all this WORK." Then it hit me that the reason it felt like such work was because I was attached to becoming lucid and so every morning I woke up without one, I felt like I had lost. That's when I decided I can't control my sleeping self to the extent I needed, I could only control my waking self. I built good habits that would increase my chance of being lucid without doing all that much extra work. Even now, every morning it's a battle to get myself to write my dreams down (especially when they're mundane) but I do it because I know that demon gets stronger every time I let it win, but it gets weaker every time I don't let it win. Knowing this simple fact has enabled me to take on all the other commitments I have taken on. Once you stop listening to that evil voice in your head telling you everything is hard work, nothing feels like work anymore.

Also, I have gained a lot of intuitive knowledge on the functions of my psyche by being lucid in a dream. I can't speak volumes of the benefits of this knowledge but specifically by trying to engage in some dream control, I learned a lot about how my mind works.

Doesn't matter who you are, even the most happy/wealth/healthy/creative/smart/etc guy on earth would get positive things from practicing lucidity.

Lucid dream doesn't start and doesn't end when you realize you're in a dream. It's a project, both personal and conjunct, that provides a sense of accomplishment, a sense of inner peace, spiritual growth. The experience is unique to each person that strikes for this way of life of awakening herself on the other side. Some people naturally can achieve these things in their lives, maybe one of two, or maybe all of them. But the experiences at lucid dreaming, those cannot be obtained in another way.

- Lucid dreaming is the most intense and vivid virtual reality device
- Lucid dreaming is the best program to create (anything)
- Lucid dreaming is proved to be effective on several health problems like post-traumatic stress, people with weight problems, mental problems, addictions (so don't assume everyone does it for fun).
- Lucid dreaming brings people that are interested on understanding their dreams together. Sharing experiences has always been one of the top rewards of it according to many people
- Lucid dreaming can offer specific scenarios, specific sensations. No where else you have such amount of freedom, both in material and non-material boundaries. We're talking about destroying planets or kicking that bully that tormented you some years ago, or simply design the city of your dreams.

But lucid dreaming is just an activity like so many others. If you can't find anything on it that attracts you, then don't do it :)

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Originally Posted by zoth00

Doesn't matter who you are, even the most happy/wealth/healthy/creative/smart/etc guy on earth would get positive things from practicing lucidity.

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Touché! Well put, Zoth.

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Originally Posted by Omnis Dei

...That's when I decided I can't control my sleeping self to the extent I needed, I could only control my waking self. I built good habits that would increase my chance of being lucid without doing all that much extra work. Even now, every morning it's a battle to get myself to write my dreams down (especially when they're mundane) but I do it because I know that demon gets stronger every time I let it win, but it gets weaker every time I don't let it win. Knowing this simple fact has enabled me to take on all the other commitments I have taken on. Once you stop listening to that evil voice in your head telling you everything is hard work, nothing feels like work anymore.

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So, by making it a passive "battle" (by your analogy), winning in the long run becomes exponentially more achievable. [Crap, big words. ^_o Sorry.]
That does sound a lot more reasonable than agonizing over it.
To summarize:
It is good. [Zoth]
It is personal. [fOrceez]
It can happen. [ImBored]
It's simple and you don't have to stress out about it. [All of God]

...have I ever mentioned that I really appreciate some of the people on this forum?

Ah yes, I remember college. Wait until you graduate.

But depressing facts of life aside, you sound a lot like people who are against space exploration. Why bother? We have all we need on Earth. Or people who may have said to Christopher Columbus "why explore the New World? We have a nice continent right here." There are lots of rewards involved with the quest for lucid dreams, but for me the most compelling reason is simply the drive to explore. Why explore the subconscious? Because it's there!

Now you believe in telepathy and don't see the awesome of dreams? Shared dreaming for one... yeah, that totally covers most of your points up there.

It is not like you have to chose. You can have both. An amazing life fuels amazing dreams, and vice versa.

Often, we run the greatest risk of losing ourselves when life is too good. Things are going to be happening very fast for you in the next few years. Take some time to reflect and keep track of who you really are.

Again, thanks to all of you for your advice!

Many people have said it already, but it can't be emphasized enough. It's good to hear your waking life is great, but whether your life is ***, absolutely splendid or anything in between, lucidity is a further enrichment. There is no need to choose between lucidity and waking life.

I see lucidity as a way to better my life. And yes it can be a lot of effort, but isn't anything worth obtaining a lot of effort? I believe you should always strive to be better, never think you've hit a plateau or have become all you can become. And like someone else said, why not?

You will be dreaming regardless of practicing lucidity or not, why not enjoy more vivid, emotional dreams from a conscious perspective instead?

It's just the effort that I have to put into it. Well, that I have had to. I'm taking a much more passive, habitual approach to lucidity because of some of the advice I've seen here.
Again, thanks.