Dreams, movies, and the suspension of disbelief

[Suacy]

Movies are more fun when you kind of believe that what you're seeing is real, right? Also this applies to video games. If you're just thinking about a bunch of polygons floating around the screen, that's not quite as compelling. I kind of feel the same way about dreams. My non-lucid dreams are usually much more fun because I believe that the crazy things are actually happening. For example, last night I dreamt I was on a roller coaster inside a sushi museum. I couldn't have come up with that intentionally in a lucid dream, and it was more exciting because I felt a little bit of danger. Don't get me wrong, lucid dreams are great, but they don't have that same excitement of belief in the dream world.

[Sensei]

I love non lucid dreams, but I love lucids 100 times more. Pardon my asking, but how many lucid dreams have you had? Edit: I realize now why I don't understand this, and I believe it is because of the fact that I think dreams are real. Not that I think that I go to a different dimension every night or that I am intruding on a dimension, but real in the fact that the experience is real, and after tomorrow, it will fit right next to all my other "real" memories. I leave you with this:

[sisyphus]

Ha, Sensei, I can never watch that scene enough times. I do find my non-lucids to be fascinating and I enjoy them very much. But I would offer this: properly, suspension of disbelief is a deliberate, willful act. You willingly suspend your disbelief. But that doesn't quite capture what's happening in a non-lucid dream. If more of a suppression of disbelief. You can't make the choice, it's already decided for you by the mechanics of your mind. On the other hand, in a lucid dream where you have choice, you can choose to suspend your disbelief. Since I've realized that, I think I've had better control and satisfaction in my LDs. That merges so well with the plot of The Matrix.

[Suacy]

Pardon my asking, but how many lucid dreams have you had? I have been having lucid dreams my whole life most nights. I just haven't ever had very good control over anything, and they don't last very long, so I guess they mostly haven't been all that exciting. I think you've made me want to revise my opinion. What I like is being surprised by unexpected things in my dreams, instead of directly building the dream with my conscious intentions. I like seeing huge panoramic nature vistas that appear to be new to me. But then I guess waking life creative work involves a mix of intention and surprising ideas that pop out of the subconscious mind during the creation process. Also, maybe what I meant by believing a dream is real, is believing that it will have consequences for the future, whatever that may be. So being in a battle would be more exciting because you think you could actually be hurt.