Why are dream signs so difficult to recognize?

[Revero]

Have you ever been going over a dream, only to feel really stupid for not noticing a very obvious sign that you were dreaming? Last night I dreamt I was watching the weather report on TV, which for some reason was in French. Anyways, the French lady said that my city was in the middle of a huge snowstorm (that alone should have tipped me off, since it hasn't snowed yet this year). So I decided to look out my window and noticed that the entire sky was gray, and there were these huge hurricane-shaped white spirals in it. It looked very strange, but I just thought "hey, that's pretty cool" and went about my daily business. Any theories why our reasoning capacities are so dull during normal dreams?

[Genjyo]

This is because the analytical side of our brain isn't at it's optimal performance. Unbelieveable occurences become too believeable.

[Barbizzle]

The sad truth is, in dreams we are slightly brain dammaged =/ Our minds are not totaly awake and alert. Our instincts are essently turned off ebacse our body is regernating. Its like that joke, " how do you keep an idiot busy, put him in circular room and ask him to stand in the corner " thats us in dreams.

[Revero]

Argh, it happened again! I was in my school's computer lab, casually talking with Penn and Teller about their television show. I briefly reflected on the extreme unlikeliness of the situation, and pondered whether it was a dream, but got too engaged in the conversation to carry that thought any further. Later in that same dream, I was able to become lucid but only for a few seconds before the dream faded.

[Kastro187420]

I think the reason behind this may be because our dreams are essentially another reality in which we exist, and our minds accepts that reality as the real reality, thus not sensing anything out of the ordinary.Once in a while though, the conscious mind tends to try to break into the "alternate reality" thus giving you the sense that somethin is wrong.

[Revero]

Geez, you think something about last night's dreams should have tipped me off. I mean, it's not every day that I see a giant nuclear mushroom cloud on the horizon, and later find myself going back in time to watch a speech by Martin Luther King. Stupid dream self.

[kafine]

It IS annoying. Sometimes I get pretty close, to the point where the dream-me knows that I'm dreaming, but just... accepts it. If that makes sense. It doesn't actually effect the way I'm dreaming. And when I wake up it's like... why the hell didn't I start THINKING when I realised that?? I have only recently started trying to have lucid dreams and it has happened to me twice that I should have been able to do it, but just haven't. I was in a bath in my parents house and I remembered somebody had mentioned to me the day before that they had bought a new tap. And I didn't pick up on it. And then last night I was reading a book in my dream. That has never happened to me, as far as I remember. I remember staring hard at the words because I couldn't read them, and I knew I SHOULD be able to read them... And I didn't pick up on it. Dagnabbit.

[Callista]

Yeah, well, if you were to read my dream journal, you'd see just about the same thing! Last night, for example, I kept on ending up without clothes on; and in front of first-graders too! (I'm not a pervert in real life. I promise.) And neither I nor they seemed to think this was anything out of the ordinary... You'd think I'd know that was a dream. Sheez...

[Distressed_Mule]

Yes I hate this also, apperently everyone I know is living under my living room, the mind is a very powerfull and unkown tool but sometimes it's an idiot.

[megarock]

Heck, last night I dreamt that I was playing CTF and I had a sniper rifle and I was hiding in a barn providing covering fire...and then the opposing team...threw a couple grenades at us and catpured our pie... ...Now c'mon, I would think if anyone ever "captured my pie" I'd immediately realize it's a dream...but no...I had to accept the whole "Fight for your life and pie" thing as reality...

[MartinB]

It's a funny thing... I usually become lucid in the most realistic dreams... I can warp through alternate realities and dimensions that are incomprehendable to my normal sober self and not notice that anything is amiss, but then I'll be in my room where everything looks pretty normal and I'll notice that the time is wrong, or even simply experience the sensation of "remembering" that I'm in a dream, and I become lucid. For example, I once noticed that the time on my watch was wrong and became lucid, but it wasn't until after I awoke that I realised that the watch itself in my dream was entirely different from mine and of a completely unrealistic design.

[CFTraveler]

Conventional wisdom (take this with a grain of salt) postulates that when you are asleep your conscious mind is "off" (or somewhere else, depending on your beliefs). This is the part of your mind that reasons and discerns- It's the part of your mind that says "trees shouldn't be purple (or whatever)." Your subconscious mind is in charge, and it does not have the power to discriminate- it receives information and accepts whatever. So when you dream anything is possible. That's why in dreams we don't usually go "that's not possible". Of course, if this were always the case, we coudn't lucid dream, so... something else must be operating here.

[Wolffe]

One thing that annoys me is how my dreams may be packed with my personal dreamsigns, yet I sit there like a moron and ignore every single one.

[Rapscallion]

You know how watches and clock displays don't really stay the same? Well I was dreaming and I looked at my watch 3 times in a few seconds, and each time the hour was different. I told myself that the watch was set to military time and that explained it.

[Revero]

I did it! I finally recognized a dream sign! I had this dream that I was in a Walmart-like store, and they had a large display of televisions, one of which for some reason was playing a porno. I thought that was hilarious and just stood there laughing at it for a minute before I woke up. I went back to sleep, finding myself in the same video section of the same store. This time I just wandered around a bit, and I can remember hearing some people criticizing some of the films on display before waking up again. I told myself I would become lucid if I found myself in that damn store again, and went back to sleep hoping I would. Lo and behold, a few minutes later I was there, looking at some racks of clothing, and immediately realized I was dreaming. I kissed the first girl I saw in celebration, then went off exploring.

[gparent]

Originally posted by megarock Heck, last night I dreamt that I was playing CTF and I had a sniper rifle and I was hiding in a barn providing covering fire...and then the opposing team...threw a couple grenades at us and catpured our pie... ...Now c'mon, I would think if anyone ever \"captured my pie\" I'd immediately realize it's a dream...but no...I had to accept the whole \"Fight for your life and pie\" thing as reality... Ahahahha. Capture the Pie. Yesterday my dad lend his CC to a random guy on the streets so he could buy a Ati 9600, put it in a 9800 box, and trade it to his friend. My dad was like "Yeah sure" and gave his CC. You'd think I would realise it. Or when my neighboor was peeking in the windows with a .22LR and his friend with a G36 ( I live in Canada ) I would've noticed it wasn't real-life... But no. Aw well.

[kichu]

Originally posted by Rapscallion You know how watches and clock displays don't really stay the same? Well I was dreaming and I looked at my watch 3 times in a few seconds, and each time the hour was different. I told myself that the watch was set to military time and that explained it. that's awesome!

[DarkMind]

Originally posted by Revero Have you ever been going over a dream, only to feel really stupid for not noticing a very obvious sign that you were dreaming? Last night I dreamt I was watching the weather report on TV, which for some reason was in French. Anyways, the French lady said that my city was in the middle of a huge snowstorm (that alone should have tipped me off, since it hasn't snowed yet this year). So I decided to look out my window and noticed that the entire sky was gray, and there were these huge hurricane-shaped white spirals in it. It looked very strange, but I just thought \"hey, that's pretty cool\" and went about my daily business. Any theories why our reasoning capacities are so dull during normal dreams? Because the waking world we live in is Maya (Illusion). What appears 'logical' in the waking world is the result of the Conditioned Mind, the Mind that is not free from Samsara, the Mind that is unenlightened. Hope that helps