What do dreams and lucid dreams mean to you?

[fOrceez]

I'll probably be making a few threads like this in the new future- now back to the thread! For me, lucid dreams are definitely a source of escapism and for when I get better a lucid dreaming, I'd like to use them as a tool of gaining enlightenment. I seek to interact with dream characters and try to see if it's actually possible to "mutual dream"/shared dream, interact with extraterrestrial/ethereal entities. How about you?

[Dark_Merlin]

Lucid dreaming for me has always been a method to help me understand more about just quite what, and who I am. To be able to have direct, and complete access to yourself and your subconscious, in a completely realistic, interactive and enclosed environment with complete control? It just doesn't get much better than that

[TheSmooze]

I have always been content to be alone with myself (most of the time). This could take it to an entirely new level, and help me to discover exactly who I am and what I truly believe (which may have been lost in the typical web of self-delusion we tend to weave around ourselves). Basically it is both a fun toy of sorts and a stepping stone towards understanding myself.

[roland3tr]

I feel that they are like my second life, and alternate life. I'm accepting it more and more as I tend to control dreams less in my high level LDs. They're now like my normal dreams. But I can be more aware and let it flow, thus I enjoy every moment of it. In low level LDs I tend to satisfy my ego by controlling everything. (powers, flying, making thing happens etc.)

[ShadowOfSelf]

For me, lucid dreams are definitely a source of escapism and for when I get better a lucid dreaming, I'd like to use them as a tool of gaining enlightenment. I seek to interact with dream characters and try to see if it's actually possible to "mutual dream"/shared dream, interact with extraterrestrial/ethereal entities. Exact same as you dude

[Hukif]

Well, for a long time my dreams were a copy of waking, which made it horrible to go through the same thing daily several times a day. So lucid dreaming (along with nightmares) was the cure for that. Also like to use LDing for studying, making experiments and fight/explore.

[Sageous]

Lucid dreams for me carry a few meanings: First, they are an accessible tool for enlightenment. By accessible I mean that, by giving your self-awareness opportunity to communicate with your dreaming mind, and potentially your soul (whatever that is), LD's can take us to very high levels of consciousness/understanding, without the need to spend 20 years in a Tibetan cave. Next, they seem to me to represent the next step in human evolution. That next step will likely be one of mind rather than body, and the state of mind achieved in high-level LD's opens, ever so briefly, a window to that step. Next, LD's for me are a confirmation of my existence, and don't we all need that every now and then? And finally, they mean many hours of fun and adventure that simply cannot be had in waking life... p.s. Forgot to mention that regular dreams don't mean much of anything to me.

[Puffin]

I don't consider dreams anything more than a result of biological processes in the brain. I love action-themed dreams and being able to do absolutely anything; it's like being in a movie! There isn't much else, but that's a good enough reason for me. I also find that if my life "picks up", so to speak, I have less of a yearning to LD, so maybe there's a bit of a boredom/creative output aspect there as well.

[Ctharlhie]

I guess I've always been fascinated by dreaming. But dreams were frightening things for me on a regular basis in my younger years and when nightmares gave way to intermittent anxiety dreams they didn't get much more enjoyable. I'd had tasters of lucidity, the first was a short lived affair mid-nightmare and the second remains unparalleled in terms of dream control to this day, but I had no idea what a lucid dream was at the age of 7, much less that they could be induced deliberately, so I remained in the dark for another ten years I find lucid dreaming to be possibly more exciting than anything else I've found in my life, the potentialities of boundless creativity and reality bending world generation astounds me. Lucid dreams concern me in so much that I've always needed a form of escapism, from a young age prone to fantasy, when I watch Inception a part of me wouldn't mind wandering limbo for an eternity, creating whatever I pleased. Of course the more sensible part of me repels the idea I'm ultimately hoping to seek enlightenment over wish-fulfillment.

[Hyu]

I've always considered dreams to be of a very weird and mysterious nature, and as such they are very interesting. Lucid dreams... I don't even know where to start... We are "wasting" approximately one third of our lifetime being asleep. Lucid dreaming seems to be the only way to somehow make use of this time (at least some of it). In lucid dreams I can go to the limit of my imagination and even beyond. I can experience things I would have never thought possible, things I wouldn't even have thought of. Fantasies I used to consider wild are now tame. I'm exploring worlds where my sense of logic, which I've relied on all of my life, is utterly useless. It gives me a unique opportunity to reflect on my life from a different perspective. I can experience emotions so strong and pure. I can see colors that are so strong and vibrant that they would burn out my real eyes within a split second, even see colors that simply do not exist in waking life. I can have senses so precise that I know how every tiny hair I have on my body moves with the wind. I can even have senses that the human body completely lacks, such as global awareness of my surroundings. I can have conversations with non-existent beings that blow my mind. Lucid dreams are brilliant, fantastic, mysterious and quite insane. They inspire me, sometimes motivate me and occasionally blow my mind. I like having my mind blown. I like dreams.

[Voidwalker]

Lucid dreaming for me feels like a long lost and complicated art. There is some unexplained sense of satisfaction whenever I have one. Like a missing hole is being filled. It puts a lot of meaning into my life really. I'm not that spiritual.....so I guess this is what I have resorted to to compensate that a little. Puts a bit of magic into a world that can be cold and empty for me at times.

[melanieb]

For me, dreams have always been like a movie that was not only free, but better than anything I ever saw on the big screen. I had freedom in my dreams, to fly, to visit places I never could, to experience options I could never explore in the real world. This is especially true since I can still count all of my true nightmares on my fingers. Not sure if it's normal to have so few truly horrific dreams. Now Lucid Dreams...that takes my fantasy world to a whole new level. When I was younger I would create all sorts of fascinating things, but the details were always elusive. As I've grown older I've been able to pull more details out of my dreams but still not quite enough. When I'm Lucid I can actually read the stuff I create, understand ideas that would normally confuse me or be missing crucial details. LD's allow me to connect to an inner place that creates on a level exponentially beyond what I normally feel capable of. I get glimpses of this inner process when I stare at objects with no discernible pattern, like the bumpy ceiling, or the colorations in floor tiles. Something inside me creates images and ideas that fascinate me and seem far more intricate than what I can normally write or visualize, or draw. I want to connect to that and bring it closer to the surface, find the place inside me that has access to every experience and thought I have ever had and use it to create something that satisfies my soul. Yeah. That.

[enak101]

I don't consider dreams anything more than a result of biological processes in the brain. I love action-themed dreams and being able to do absolutely anything; it's like being in a movie! There isn't much else, but that's a good enough reason for me. I also find that if my life "picks up", so to speak, I have less of a yearning to LD, so maybe there's a bit of a boredom/creative output aspect there as well. Yeah, it's nothing special really. I would love to blow up planets, fly etc. I think stuff about talking to your subconscious may have some merit to it. I'd like to investigate that as well as to be able to do whatever I want.

[StaySharp]

There is a small part in me that wants lucid dreams for entertainment. But actually I started with lucid dreaming for a lot of very specific targets. I seek understanding of myself and my surroundings, and I seek evolution, and whoever seeks evolution should start with oneself, especially the control over oneself. And given the fact humans have pretty much no control over anything; enhancing the mind is the first step to do that, and the best way of introspection are lucid dreams. In the end dreams are nothing more than a chemical process in the brain and exactly that is the reason why they can be the gate to oneself and evolution, because they are nothing supernatural but something that exists right behind your eyes. Speaking of which, I also search for understanding of “supernatural” things because something that is labeled as supernatural is in the end nothing more than something for which an explanation beyond our horizon exists. And broadening ones horizon is just as important as it is fun. For me lucid dreams might just be the right way and the first step to give my life meaning beyond existing as one of 7 billion humans, polluting the earth.

[Strit]

For me lucid dreaming means a way to become what we are supposed to be. Whole beings who hasn't forgotten how to use our minds and bodies. The more I read about lucid dreaming the more I feel the necessity to learn it (read: mastering it). It's not some extra layer to be put on top of my life, but something that is missing from it if I don't have it. And right now I don't have it. Not enough. What I'm trying to say here is that it feels like it's a part of me that I haven't yet gotten access to. It's the same with normal dreams actually. I've started to feel empty and lost in the morning if I don't remember my dreams. Like something is missing. In the future I want to use lucid dreaming for self-development, but in what way only time can tell. Till then I hope that it can help me with everyday situations, how to tackle problem and make good choices and the like. I also want to use lucids to develop my Capoeira skills - doing all the stuff that I don't dare in real life so as to gain confidence and get my body used the movements.

[ryman]

Lucid dreams and normal dreams, can mean many different things for me. The #1 for lucids though is probably to understand more in depth about myself and get to know myself on a different level. Normal dreams I have noticed seem to represent struggles or issues I have in the waking life. For example, I have a problem with doubting how good I can do something or whether or not I can actually do it before I try whatever it is. I always feel like I will fail in some way. I had a dream recently that I was showing my brother(dream character,,so technically me) how to create a website using some program. Every time I tried to show him he would say "nah, you can't do it trust me you suck." I wanted to keep trying to show him but he kept doing something else with the computer. This connects to my waking life because it's showing me doubting my ability to do something before I've attempted it. Once I woke up I thought to myself.. "hmm what was the purpose to that dream?" and boom thats when it hit me, the dream is telling me I need to be more open and brave to try something before having extreme doubt about it. This is also the first dream I have been able to find a deeper meaning of, although I haven't really studied my dream journal to decipher my dreams, but I might start doing that soon. but all in all to me my dreams are important in helping me deal with problems I face in life or simply learning more about myself.

[Rothgar]

I always thought I was a wizard at heart. With lucid dreams I feel like I can actually realize that inner self. I feel like am am being the true me. Experiencing the dream world nightly helps me in real life too. I can put things into perspective better. There were times I felt 'stuck' in a boring existance with no way out... not that I was depressed but felt like there must be more than what I see or sense but that was the only reality I knew. Like invisible walls around me. Now I constantly sense I am just a dimension away from incredible, exciting places and powers. Night time has become the start of adventures and exploration, not the end of a dull day. I like to think that it is a kind of foretaste of what will be when we leave this plane of reality.

[Mydera]

Normal dreams have always served me as both an escape from my daily grind, and window to what is really bothering me in my life. It seems like my dreams always give me exactly what I need to help me get through the next day, be it an exciting adventure, a romantic interlude, a chance to let off steam when I can't vent in real life, or the answer to a problem that's been bugging me the day before. A friend of mine said dreams are " a little bit of entertainment to carry with me throughout the day" and I really feel like what she said applies to most of my normal dreams. I've only had one lucid with any length to it at all, so I can't really speak for what Lucid dreams are to me. I became interested in them because of a dream character I've seen often, and wanting to ask the dream character why they seems different from all the others. I'd also like to learn to share dreams so I can hang out with my best friend who lives halfway across the country. With no experience, that's what I hope Lucid dreaming will be for me. Once I start doing it regularly though, it may become something else entirely.

[lucidboy]

My dreams started as the most wonderful form of wish fulfillment. Better than any drug I've ever done. Shortly after having more and becoming more accustomed to the dreaming realm, i felt so much more of myself besides my waking ego which is what craves that wish fulfillment. Now, i am using my lucid dreams to try and find answers.

[xxdanxx]

I am definetly a person who has ALOT of dreams. Lucid Dreams mean to me the ability to LIVE these dreams and a form of escape from the stresses of life and entertainment.

[Metallicuh]

Freedom, opportunity, and self help