Logic thrown completely out the window

**TravisE** · 12-06-2005 08:15 AM

I've read before that the reason dreams can be so strange is that when you're dreaming, the part of your brain responsible for logic doesn't operate fully. Apparently, something in me decided that I didn't understand that concept well enough this morning, and I had a dream that added a whole new dimension to it.

Although my description will probably make this dream sound very long, it was actually very short--it took all of about thirty seconds (I was having a lot of trouble staying asleep that night for some reason). The dream wasn't that unusual in itself; it was what I was thinking that made this probably one of the most bizarre dreams I've ever had.

I had been in bed that morning trying once again to fall asleep and stay asleep. But I was also attempting to have lucid dreams. After a few moments of lying there, I fell asleep and started to dream, but somehow, I didn't realize that. Since I wanted to find out for sure whether I was awake or whether I was asleep and dreaming, I decided to work through some so-called "logic" to find out. Unfortunately, logic is not one of my strong suits in non-lucid dreams.

When I woke up, I was highly amused. In the dream, I literally thought I was awake and asleep at the same time.

I'll explain what happened the best I can. When I started dreaming, I didn't even notice I was dreaming. Apparently, I thought I was still lying down awake with my eyes closed, trying to sleep, despite the fact that I was sitting up, looking down at my TI-89 (Texas Instruments graphing calculator) on my bed (in the dream). My TI-89 was turned on, and it had a bunch of mathematical equations displayed randomly all over the screen. I tried to do a reality check on it. I blinked my eyes for a second and opened them, but the screen still looked the same... I think. (I suspect I couldn't actually make out the details, but I must not have noticed this fact. However, the screen did look approximately the same.) I sensed that I somehow didn't do the reality check right, though, but it didn't quite dawn on me why. I thought maybe I didn't keep my eyes closed long enough. I think I decided I wanted to get up and try doing a different type of reality check to be sure, but there was one problem: I couldn't move. Or more accurately, I wasn't willing to move.

The reason I didn't want to move was--are you ready?--I was afraid that sleep paralysis had not yet occurred in my physical body, and I thought that if I moved now, my physical body would move too, and I would wake myself up.

That's right: here I was, thinking I was lying in bed awake with my eyes closed, despite the painfully obvious fact I was sitting on my bed (or possibly floating in the air--I don't know since I wouldn't allow myself to change the direction I was looking) looking down at my calculator and afraid to stand up because I "knew" I was dreaming and didn't want to wake myself up and ruin a lucid dream opportunity, even though I wanted to get up and do a reality check so I could find out if I was dreaming or not. LOL! And I never had even the slightest hint at all that there was something wrong with all this. It all made perfect sense while was dreaming it.

And if that weren't enough, I was then going to wait for myself to fall asleep (even though I was already asleep, and I knew it) and have sleep paralysis so I could safely move and explore a lucid dream without waking myself up (even though I was already waiting for myself to fall asleep from a waking state!).

The most amazing thing of all is that after this entire thought process, I had not become lucid. Then the dream ended, and I woke up for real, wondering what in the world I was thinking.

With my mind in that state, I can't help but wonder exactly how I was intending to determine whether sleep paralysis had come on yet.

I'm also curious if, had the dream lasted a bit longer, I would have eventually discovered how absurd my train of thought was and become lucid, or if my thoughts would have become even more insane.

Perhaps this dream was just a way of my mind telling myself that I need to take a break from this forum for a while.

**♥Mark** · 12-06-2005 08:32 AM

That's hillarious. But hey, at least it seems like you're on the right track. I have a hard time getting myself to question my reality in a dream, so you must be doing something right!

**TravisE** · 12-06-2005 09:07 AM

Originally posted by Mark75
That's hillarious. But hey, at least it seems like you're on the right track. I have a hard time getting myself to question my reality in a dream, so you must be doing something right!

I didn't mind having this dream, though. The more I think about it, the more I like it. It's a masterpiece.

I occasionally have lucid dreams on accident; my real goal right now is having them more often so I can try some dream control techniques I've never tried before.

I did have a successful reality check the night before, except the dream ended as soon as I became lucid. I think the only reason is that I've been excited (and a little nervous) lately and it was very hard to sleep. I expect things will be more normal tonight. The dream I had the successful reality check in seemed to lack a lot of realism and seemed severly "underdeveloped", for lack of a better term. I may have been sleeping very lightly, since I think I could almost feel by body laying in bed at the same time, though I'm not exactly sure.

**♥Mark** · 12-06-2005 09:38 AM

Originally posted by Travis E.

I occasionally have lucid dreams on accident; my real goal right now is having them more often so I can try some dream control techniques I've never tried before.

Yeah I know what you mean. Through my several months of trying I've become lucid three times. Funny thing is, I never did a single reality check. I just kinda \"knew\".

Originally posted by Travis E.

I did have a successful reality check the night before, except the dream ended as soon as I became lucid.

Ah yeah, that sucks. Happened to me the last two lucids. Due to bad timing, mostly. I simply didn't become lucid until moments before my body decided it had enough sleep... Wasn't disappointed, though. In fact, I was like "Yeah! Now we're getting somewhere". Gotta keep positive, you know.

**TravisE** · 12-08-2005 08:26 AM

Originally posted by Mark75
Yeah I know what you mean. Through my several months of trying I've become lucid three times. Funny thing is, I never did a single reality check. I just kinda \"knew\".

Some of mine are like that, too, but I frequently become lucid because I notice something out of place or that doesn't make sense, and I somehow become concious of that. I don't know why I would randomly do that when most of the time I simply accept everything that happens in dreams as "normal" even if it's not. The fact that the vast majority of my unintentional lucid dreams are false awakenings, though, suggests to me that probably when I think I'm really awake I don't expect to see anything odd, which increases the chance that a false awakening will become lucid for me. Sort of as if I subconsiously perform a reality check without realizing it.

My last lucid dream I had before discovering this web site (which happened about a month or two ago) was unusual, though, because at the very moment I "woke up" in a false awakening I felt a strange sensation that somehow made me instantly aware that it was a dream. I don't remember the sensation well and it was hard to describe. I never had a lucid dream that way before. It was also strange because even though I was lucid the whole (one or two-minute long) dream, I didn't even notice anything unusual about a door in my room that lead to the outside that doesn't even exist in real life. I even went out the door and walked down a road that doesn't exist in real life without noticing, even though I still knew it was a dream. I guess I wasn't completely lucid that time.

**♥Mark** · 12-08-2005 08:37 AM

Funny how dreams work.

I think I posted this in another thread, but oh well. In my second lucid, there were all types of crazy stuff happening all throughout that should have cued me. Alas, it wasn't until I started walking on my hands that I became lucid. Ironic that the most believable and realistic thing to happen in that dream was the very thing that made me question my reality.

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Logic thrown completely out the window

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