Afraid of the dark?!

**Bansheet** · 01-22-2013 03:07 AM

I write this because I just caught myself rushing through my house to the toilet at 3 am in the morning. I wasn't rushing because I really, really had to pee, but because I felt a great discomfort from the Darkness outside. While rushing through my kitchen my eyes where locked on the windows looking out in the garden where i encountered Charlie 'the demon midget' Chaplin 11 days ago.

I should probably start from the very start.

So basically all my research and motivation caused me to have an interesting experience on the very first night I ever attempted lucid dreaming. This is now 11 days ago and I'm still afraid of the dark.
My "interesting experience" was the most vivid dream I have ever remembered, and the first nightmare i have remembered for years. If you wan't to, you can read the nightmare in detail in my dream journal.
It's kinda hard to explain, cause the nightmare doens't seem like a particular scarry nightmare. But nevertheless I felt genuine deeprooted fear of the sorts I've never even remotely experienced in real life.
Today I'm still can't shake the feeling that whenever it is dark outside, the entity from my nightmare is watching me and I catch myself looking out the windows to make sure he is not.
I can understand why I would have it like that just after the nightmare. But it's only getting worse if anything 11 days after...
When I was in my early teenage years I remember being very much afraid of the dark but I somehow rationalized/suppressed it to eventually make my fears go away. I haven't been afraid of the dark for a lot of years and I can't recall a single nightmare from the time. But now I'm suddenly afraid of the dark again and no amount of rationalization can comepletely shake the feeling.

Guess I didn't really make a point huh... Well mainly I find it interesting that a dream can affect you in such a way. By the way I've pretty muched watched any worthwhile horror movie including the hardcore gore ones that shouldn't be watched by anyone from the under the age of 99... guess it was some kind of challenge for me, anyway none of those movies have affected me like this short dream.

This is really motivating me to learn how to lucid dream. For two reasons: 1) To maybe find out why i had this nightmare 2) this is the main reason, because it has truly opened my eyes to the power of the mind.

Hopefully some of this makes sense even though it's 3 am. here in Denmark. Cheers and goodnight

**smouse** · 01-22-2013 03:19 AM

if you ask me you should go to your garden in your next lucid, and beat the crap out the midget dude or whatever is scaring you. I never have nightmares, and when any dream starts to get scary, or a frightening entity makes an appearance, I for some reason get really brave and just sprint at it ready to woop its ass. Even if I have no weapon. I'm sure you'll get over it sooner or later, but I'm sure others will also tell you to confront whatever is causing your fear.

**Darkmatters** · 01-22-2013 04:21 AM

Understanding what causes an overwhelming fear response in a dream can help you understand that there is literally nothing to fear. I've done a lot of research on the science of sleep and dreaming, and I can tell you this:

What's responsible for overhwelming terror and aggression is a part of the brain called the amygdala. It's what's responsible for the fight or flight response, a very primitive and powerful system that can help get us out of harm's way or spur us to take action when it's needed rather than standing like a deer in the headlights when danger is near. From time to time during sleep the brain sort of test-fires some of it's systems just as a maintenance check to make sure they're still fully functional, and when it runs a diagnostic on the amygdala that's when we have nightmares of primal terror or aggression.

Apparently your lucid experience happened to coincide with this diagnostic test - no telling why. But it was nothing more than a sort of fire drill.

**dakotahnok** · 01-22-2013 04:26 AM

Its weird but, it seems a lot of people are really scared when they start to lucid dream. Especially when they have an experience like yours. I remember being a little scared because I was afraid of becoming lucid and then entering a nightmare. But as time went on and I had more lucid dreams and the fear just kind of left. After having regular lucid dreams i can no longer have a nightmare, because when something scary happens in my dream it automatically triggers a lucid dream. So I can either wake myself up or face my fears.

**Darkmatters** · 01-22-2013 04:37 AM

Originally Posted by dakotahnok

it seems a lot of people are really scared when they start to lucid dream.

That's true, and a good point. Possibly some people are scared of the idea of lucidity due to some kind of beliefs they have or something, and becoming lucid might trigger a dream schema filled with fear that could lead to an amygdala nightmare.

**Bansheet** · 01-22-2013 05:47 PM

It appears that my most clear thought last night at 3 am. was the thought that I wasn't making any sense at all

Let me clear up a couple of things:

First of all I fully realize that there is nothing to be afraid of. Secondly I'm not afraid... consciously that is. The thing is that whenever I look out the windows of my house at night I can't help getting a very uncomfortable feeling that there is someone outside. But again It's my subconsciousness that is acting up and I'm perfectly capable of brushing it off as that.

Since that's cleared up I can try to explain my point.
I find this experience very interesting and not frightening. As I'm sure I said in the first post I'm now even more motivated and intrigued to do lucid dreaming than ever before. This experience has given me a glimps into the power of the mind that I can't wait to explore further!

Guess I just wanted to share my experience cause I find it pretty cool how the the mind/subconsciosness works and how much of an impact a mere dream can leave on you.

Oh and I have yet to have a lucid dream so the sugesstion about counceling my dream guide might lie a bit out in the future for me

Cheers!

**Pakman43** · 01-22-2013 06:26 PM

im in the same boat dud. I'm not afraid of the dark in reality. but in my reams i am terrified of the dark. I have nightmares so often that it has made me very uncomfertable in the dark in real life. I always reality check to assure myself that im not dreaming, therefor cant be hurt by nightmares. Hope this helps

**Raen** · 01-22-2013 07:16 PM

I think deep down, we are all afraid of what may be lurking in the dark; it is natural for humans to fear the unknown and in perpetual darkness, we cannot know what to expect. From what I gather from your posts, you have had a rather unusual dream which does not seem scary upon waking because of how silly the dream seems. However, while inside of the dream you have experienced deep fear because of this "Charlie 'the demon midget' Chaplin". You encountered this entity in the dark and it instilled fear into you so you may subconsciously be linking the darkness to the entity and remembering the intense fear that you felt from the dream. While the entity may not be real, the fear certainly was so it is only natural for you to fear the dark.

As Smouse said, one of the best things to do in this situation would be to try and re-visit the location that you met this "Charlie 'the demon midget' Chaplin" and face your fear within a Lucid Dream. You may choose to beat the crap out of the entity, or you may choose to question what it represents. Either way should help you to overcome your fear.
If this fear still persists after a few weeks, maybe you should consider booking a few therapy sessions with a qualified therapist.

**Scionox** · 01-22-2013 10:22 PM

My experience from when i started getting into lucid dreaming(even before i got first LD) is quite opposite. In the way, that i apparently had quite some of that 'fear of unknown' on the subconscious level that Araishu is talking about before, but once i started getting into lucid dreaming it started vanishing until i had few lucid dreams and it was gone completely. Then i started to actually like those sort of things that caused fear before, haha.

**Bansheet** · 01-23-2013 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by Araishu

I think deep down, we are all afraid of what may be lurking in the dark; it is natural for humans to fear the unknown and in perpetual darkness, we cannot know what to expect. From what I gather from your posts, you have had a rather unusual dream which does not seem scary upon waking because of how silly the dream seems. However, while inside of the dream you have experienced deep fear because of this "Charlie 'the demon midget' Chaplin". You encountered this entity in the dark and it instilled fear into you so you may subconsciously be linking the darkness to the entity and remembering the intense fear that you felt from the dream. While the entity may not be real, the fear certainly was so it is only natural for you to fear the dark.

As Smouse said, one of the best things to do in this situation would be to try and re-visit the location that you met this "Charlie 'the demon midget' Chaplin" and face your fear within a Lucid Dream. You may choose to beat the crap out of the entity, or you may choose to question what it represents. Either way should help you to overcome your fear.
If this fear still persists after a few weeks, maybe you should consider booking a few therapy sessions with a qualified therapist.

You pretty much hit the nail right on the head with this. I'm not considering it a problem as much as an interesting phenomenon, if you know what i mean. So I think a therapist might be a little overkill. However i will certainly make it one of my lucid dream goals to find out what's going on! And a pretty high priority at that!
Just one problem i need to have my first lucid dream before i can do that

(which I'm sure will happen soon!)

**Bansheet** · 01-23-2013 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by Checker666

My experience from when I started getting into lucid dreaming(even before I got first LD) is quite opposite. In the way, that I apparently had quite some of that 'fear of unknown' on the subconscious level that Araishu is talking about before, but once I started getting into lucid dreaming it started vanishing until I had few lucid dreams and it was gone completely. Then I started to actually like those sort of things that caused fear before, haha.

I've liked scarry stuff for a looooong time! One night I watched/read a lot about the Slenderman and I was like: "hmm my dark house is pretty scarry now... let's go for a walk in the dark woods next to my house!" and so I did and it was pretty freaky especially when the sound of a rabid dog or something seemed to come nearer and nearer

Oh and I've always been a horror fan.
The fact that I'm by no means consciously afraid of the dark just makes my experience with Subconscious fear that much more interesting!

**Valiant** · 01-23-2013 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Understanding what causes an overwhelming fear response in a dream can help you understand that there is literally nothing to fear. I've done a lot of research on the science of sleep and dreaming, and I can tell you this:

What's responsible for overhwelming terror and aggression is a part of the brain called the amygdala. It's what's responsible for the fight or flight response, a very primitive and powerful system that can help get us out of harm's way or spur us to take action when it's needed rather than standing like a deer in the headlights when danger is near. From time to time during sleep the brain sort of test-fires some of it's systems just as a maintenance check to make sure they're still fully functional, and when it runs a diagnostic on the amygdala that's when we have nightmares of primal terror or aggression.

Apparently your lucid experience happened to coincide with this diagnostic test - no telling why. But it was nothing more than a sort of fire drill.

well this pretty much explains most of my nightmares, as if to evaluate how I deal with such a situation or scenario
Thanks for stating this, it's relieving & nice to know that the fight or flight mechanism also runs in sleep, causing such dreams

btw I often beat it heroically (my good/righteous survival mode self) or go evil/unemotional myself and let them run in fear, (my dark/furious extreme mode self)
sometimes even turning sadistic in my retaliation (sorry in laymen terms; feeling pleasure from punishing them for their injustice or evil/harmfull actions)

There is a saying: "The good fights the evil, evil doesn't fight the good"
because if the good passively stand around doing nothing, evil gets away with it. Therefore the good guys brings the fight to the evil, saying No MORE or STOP
just some food for thought ;D

**Raen** · 01-23-2013 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by Valiant

btw I often beat it heroically (my good/righteous survival mode self) or go evil/unemotional myself and let them run in fear, (my dark/furious extreme mode self)
sometimes even turning sadistic in my retaliation (sorry in laymen terms; feeling pleasure from punishing them for their injustice or evil/harmfull actions)

You may want to be careful. The way you act in your dreams may be carried on into your personality in real-life

**dakotahnok** · 01-31-2013 03:54 AM

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

That's true, and a good point. Possibly some people are scared of the idea of lucidity due to some kind of beliefs they have or something, and becoming lucid might trigger a dream schema filled with fear that could lead to an amygdala nightmare.

Yeah, the mere thought of, "i'm glad this isn't a nightmare", in a lucid dream could cause good things to go really bad. And knowing that is what probably made me so scared when I first started. Luckily I didn't have a bad experience that scared me away from lucid dreaming all together.

**dreamer7** · 01-31-2013 12:37 PM

i am afraid of looking at windows at night since watching this video even if its fake i am scared an alien will pop its head out now

**Raen** · 02-01-2013 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by dreamer7

i am afraid of looking at windows at night since watching this video even if its fake i am scared an alien will pop its head out now

Even if it did, it's nothing to be afraid of. In fact, if an alien popped up at my window, I would be overjoyed. I'd invite it into my home and try to communicate with it and ask why it is here and what it wants. Then you can find out if it is actually from another planet and use it to prove the existence of ETs!