Thread: Bringing Lucid Dreaming To The General Public

I've been thinking about this question for about 2 months now, and I've yet to set up a plan that actually would definitely work (except some that would take millions of $&#036

The question isn't how do you get the message out there (that you can lucid dream) but rather how to tell people in a believable way, that everything they've learned about dreaming is false. (that its always weird, its blurry, it means nothing, etc)

After thinking extensively on the subject I've realized some of the reason people wont give LDing a second look. these include:

1) They think its going to interfere with their sleep schedule. and thus, their lives

2) There's no solid evidence that says its possible (just a bunch of people that moved they're eyes in a particular way, which could be easily explained away by dream incubation)

3) They see it as a "psychic" phenomena, which is just reinforced when even the scientist that was trying to say its scientific told them that they could "heal themselves" through it

4) Its introduced in the wrong fashion (on the peer to peer level). If your going to tell someone about lucid dreaming there's a way to do it, first you have to firmly set in place that its exactly like the real world (your perception in it is just like if you were awake) Then you have to tell them an experience that you had that totally changed your mind on whether it was true or false, then tell them stuff that you can do in them.

5) Its introduced wrongly on websites. Websites often have magical pictures of clouds and fairies representing lucid dreaming. In reality, I often just dream of teleporting to school and wrecking up the place. (or other things that I had been wanting to do in real life but couldn't)


The question is how to tell someone about LDing, and get it instilled in their heads that its possible, before they put up their mental block that says: "This guy/girl's a crackpot that's following a bunch of moron liars"

The biggest part of introducing it mainstream is that you have to sell something that helps with it
ie. Stephens old flashing overpriced headgear.

This product has to conform to some standards though (so that lucid dreaming could go mainstream):

1) it has to be introduced correctly (no tacky "open your mind" infomercials)

2) it has to be fairly cheap (don't overprice it at all)

3) it has to look very scientific and science fictionish (so people perceive lucid dreaming as a state of mind that's different than lucid dreaming)

4) you have to tell people exactly what its doing with all the flashing lights, so something like this
:
"Every night we have REM periods, these REM periods occur at least 4 times a night and vary in length greatly depending on when they occur.
The "Lucid Clock" senses when your in these REM periods through its <scientific content> It then flashes and vibrates lightly on your legs and wrists. Since your dreaming as this is happening, you feel these vibrations in your dream. and, if you see them as what they are (a message from the real world), you will realise your dreaming and can turn off the "lucid Clock" through our patented left, right, left, right, eye movements.

etc etc

So anyway we need to think about how to get lucidity to the general public. Its not like it would happen overnight, It would take years to get from the odd people at QVC to the mainstream shows on the science channel.
Above was my idea, so whats yours?

PS, why is the short way of saying "science fiction" banned? didnt the user of that term leave?

I think the first step to getting the general public to open up to it would be to inform people of the subject. You couldn&#39;t just go try to sell them something if they don&#39;t think they need/want it.

I think the best way to inform people about it would be through magazine/newspaper articles, Discovery Channel/PBS specials, and maybe even incorporating some of the ideas into television or movies. Once it sparks some interest, then people would be more open to a product that would help with LDing.

Hope you don&#39;t mind if I "impale" your topic with this question but:

Why bring it to the public? Who needs lucid dreaming to become something generally practiced? I think it&#39;s quite special in its own way while it remains the way it currently is. Besides, it&#39;ll likely spread into the public at one point or another, sooner or later, simply through social interaction. So, my opinion - no need to push it out there.

But these are just my two gold coins.

Originally Posted by Merlock

Hope you don&#39;t mind if I "impale" your topic with this question but:

Why bring it to the public? Who needs lucid dreaming to become something generally practiced? I think it&#39;s quite special in its own way while it remains the way it currently is. Besides, it&#39;ll likely spread into the public at one point or another, sooner or later, simply through social interaction. So, my opinion - no need to push it out there.

But these are just my two gold coins.
[/b]

I have to say that I soundly agree.

But why not bring it to the public?

I mean... it&#39;s fun, it helps you learn more about yourself, and it might even end up teaching us about the human mind and how it works. What&#39;s not to like? Why not put the word out?

I think the best way to get the info to people who&#39;d be interested is to get it on the discovery channel and other places where people who are interested in science, psychology, etc., can access the information easily.

Eventually, people who are interested in dreams will find that information. We all did, right? So the natural thing is to put more information out there, so that it will be easier to find when somebody who&#39;s just had a weird dream does a Google search or browses the TV guide or types something into a library card catalog.

There&#39;ll always be those people who don&#39;t see the sense of messing around with a purely mental environment like the dreamworld; but those people probably wouldn&#39;t enjoy lucid dreaming anyway. But it&#39;d be a shame if people who *would* enjoy it never received the information that it exists.

I&#39;d be all for bringing it to the public if it wasn&#39;t so much forcing them. From the average Joe&#39;s perspective, a bunch of people that hang around on internet forums and practice in this "lucid dreaming" (Lucid? Is that some kind of drug?) doesn&#39;t look good already. Some people have enough on their plate and can&#39;t indulge in such hobbies as writing in dream journals, etc, which can take a lot of time*.

* And, no, for some people LDs come naturally. But not everyone. LD&#39;ing is not as easy as 1-2-3 for some people.

Many of those in the General Public wouldn&#39;t &#39;dream&#39; of abandoning their extroverted and active lives in order to confine themselves to bed, pulling the blankets over their heads, and hoping to rescued by delusion, illusion and imagination.

They would think it silly.

You see, in the same way as the Materialist Dreamers have a contempt for and are dismissive of the Spiritual Dreamers, so it is that the Super-Materialist Waking Selves of the General Public have a contempt for ANY Dreamer and are dismissive of us all.

This time you would be the ones who are too weird to be believed. Its all relative.

and the People who are interested in this kind of thing will find us in any case.

Originally Posted by Leo

Many of those in the General Public wouldn&#39;t &#39;dream&#39; of abandoning their extroverted and active lives in order to confine themselves to bed, pulling the blankets over their heads, and hoping to rescued by delusion, illusion and imagination.[/b]

I&#39;m sure Leo is probably right about this. However, it could strike a chord with at least a minority of people, and that would be cool. The advantages? More incentive for scientific research, more people thinking up techniques, not to mention just more discussion . But anyway, back to the topic at hand...

I think the best way to to bring the idea of lucid dreaming to the public would be through a movie. Not a weird, independent movie like Waking Life, but a "real, Hollywood" movie. Like Waking Life meets The Matrix or something. You know, something that people actually want to watch just because it looks like a genuinely good movie, regardless of whether or not they have even heard of lucid dreaming. And yeah, most of the people who saw it would leave thinking "ha, what a crazy concept, people controlling their dreams ." But some of them would be like "hey, I&#39;ve had dreams like that before&#33; maybe I should try some of the stuff they did in the movie, or at least find out more about this lucid dreaming stuff."

I&#39;m going to have to agree with Leo. Most people either wouldn&#39;t believe us or wouldn&#39;t care enought to actually try it. And if they don&#39;t care then they probably don&#39;t know about all the great things you can do and how real it feels (although I haven&#39;t quite experienced it yet). Or some people could be too impatient. That&#39;s why I gave up astral projection. But I am determined to have at least one lucid dream so I won&#39;t stop until I do. And after I do I will probably keep trying to have more.

Sorry about the organization of this post. It is 6:01 AM. I am trying the WBTB method. I have been eating bananas and I will soon take some B6 and go back to bed.

i think if it did go to the general public it would just end up being a fad for alot of people. kind of like the low-carb diet and reality tv. The thing is there are people here with genuine interest who have difficulty. A buncha skeptics who are only half interested are hardly gonna have results - at least not consistent ones. If you really tried you could probably get a handful of people into it, but why? I understand liking to share it w/your friends but why such an interest to get it to the general public?

How about this, take this direct quote from the lucid movie "Waking Life".


You a dreamer?
Yeah.
I haven&#39;t seen too many of you around lately.
Things have been tough lately for dreamers.
They say dreaming&#39;s dead, that no one does it anymore.
It&#39;s not dead. It&#39;s just that it&#39;s been forgotten.
Removed from our language.
Nobody teaches it, so no one knows it exists.
The dreamer is banished to obscurity.
I&#39;m trying to change all that, and I hope you are too.
By dreaming every day.
Dreaming with our hands and dreaming with our minds.
Our planet is facing the greatest problems it&#39;s ever faced. Ever.
So whatever you do, don&#39;t be bored.
This is absolutely the most exciting time we could have possibly hoped to be alive.
And things are just starting.
A thousand years is but an instant.
There&#39;s nothing new, nothing different. The same pattern over and over.
The same clouds, the same music,
the same insight felt an hour or an eternity ago.
There&#39;s nothing here for me now, nothing at all.
Now I remember. This happened to me before. This is why I left.
You have begun to find your answers.
Although it will seem difficult, the rewards will be great.
Exercise your human mind as thoroughly as possible,
knowing it is only an exercise.
Build beautiful artifacts, solve problems,
explore the secrets of the physical universe.
Savor the input from all the senses.
Feel the joy and sorrow, the laughter, the empathy, compassion...
and tote the emotional memory in your travel bag.
I remember where I came from and how I became a human.
Why I hung around. And now my final departure is scheduled.
This way out. Escaping velocity.
Not just eternity, but infinity.


I think that we are all basicly an underground cult trying to keep dreaming and lucid dreaming alive until the world is ready to accept the idea and practice it. Until then why not keep it the way it is.

I don&#39;t know if it&#39;s just that people think lucid dreamers are crazy. I don&#39;t think there&#39;s anyone among the people I explained lucid dreaming to that doesn&#39;t believe it&#39;s possible. However, only a few of them have actually tried doing it, and only my cousin, who helped me find out about it in the first place, still practices it. It&#39;s just that most people don&#39;t feel like thinking about it all the time I guess.
I, personally, can&#39;t understand that, as there&#39;s nothing better to do while asleep anyway. Even if I were so busy I didn&#39;t have time for dream journals and such, I&#39;d still try to have lucid dreams at night. Doesn&#39;t really have to cost any additional time.

Anyway, what I&#39;m saying is that, for me at least, the problem is mostly that people don&#39;t care enough about it. As strange as that seems to me, it&#39;s true, and that means there&#39;s no way bring our strange hobby to the public, unless we manage to get them interested enough. This might be possible, but probably wouldn&#39;t be worth it. Would be just like getting the world to like poker or volleyball (two other passions of mine ).

What if LDIng was brought to the public in a different way? Lucid dreaming is a tool that could be used in therepy practices, and other such things. If it was introduced in this way, slowly, than people would accept it, and it would spark their interests in it.

People normally do not take an interest in something unless there is some kind of necessity. If you explain Lucid dreaming to those that has never knew of it&#39;s existence, will probably display fear in some, crazy in some and curiosity in others. How it&#39;s presented will determine which emotion will transpire so in this area one must be careful when trying to explain it. I think another movie should be created on it. With regards to special effects it will make for an exciting movie that should draw some serious interest in people. That Movie The Covenant with it&#39;s special effects mirrors Lucid Dreaming. (in regards to what one can do )

for some reason, if LDing does become mainstream, it will be chunked together with astral projection, and you&#39;d have all the bible nuts screamin out "WITCHCRAFT I SAYS&#33; ITS ALL THAT &#39;TELEVISIONS&#39; FAULT&#33; MOVIN PICTURES MY ASS, ITS THE DEVIL&#33; YOU KNOW THE BIBLE SAYS......." c&#39;mon, you all know its true

If you could have a (movie) trailer, a commercial like one, where they see a &#39;preview&#39; of what they could actually do..but have it appeal to most people. (If you&#39;ve ever seen Vanilla Sky, especially the begining, but change it so that he is awake and realizes it, that would get my attention...)

Just an idea - you can play with it to make it work...plus alot of people watch TV and are &#39;unconcious&#39; anyways while watching TV - might wake them up if you know what i mean - just starting at a bunch of lights with audio and visuals ....

Actually, that&#39;s a good idea, but what we&#39;d have to do is have them apply it at that moment, ask them, how do you really know you are not dreaming about this, you could wake up on your bed in a minute - otherwise people just would take it like a TV commercial - tens/hundreds of them but they ignore almost all of them, so they&#39;d be likely to ignore this if it were on TV.....you have to have some APPLICATION - have a website or book constantly across the screen.

You could have a cheesy commercial - again this is just an idea - where it&#39;s along the lines of "Tired of not having any control over your life - do it in your dreams [then someone flying away from their cubical or something]" - "In your dreams, dude - [response]: yep, I will"

You get the idea...

I think you are on the right path with that idea. But is Lding really a product... a "cheesy commercial" I think wouldn&#39;t do it any good.
The best ideas in my opinion are movies or a documentaries. Most people would probably dismiss it as something "almost unreachable" and "not worth of my time" just as I did a year ago. I&#39;m glad I didn&#39;t stick to it though .

I believe someone should write a book that is like Lucid Dreaming for Dummies or something. Like just simplifing the basics for the common person to understand.

i think another poblem with introducing it to the public is they may think of it as against they religion in some say or so to speak. i told my mom about it and she looked like she was creeped out. she heard it and thought of it like this " " thing. like i was going to join a lucid dreaming cult or something. i would imagine that a vast amount of the general public would look at it the same way. oh well. their lose

When the public is ready for Lucid Dreaming and it isn&#39;t considered something weird and by most adults something cult-y-esque-ish anymore, then it will spread like a wildfire anyway, via mouth-to-mouth.

I think nothing needs to be done about bringing lucid dreaming to the general public for now.

i have 2 opinions about this: one: i want people to know, coz any time i talk about it people think i am wweird.
2nd: i do not want them to know, coz i like it as something personal, something that distinguishes me, somehting that makes me special, more awesome than the average person. i stand out a lot in my school. nobody else practises psionics, meditation, yoga, or LD.

I agree with Skuruza. I feel as if I have a special ability that not many others have and it makes me unique. Either the people I talk with are like "Wow, that&#39;s cool" and move on, or it&#39;s "Wow, that&#39;s a bit out there" and give me doubtful looks. I don&#39;t care either way because I know what it is and that I can do it. I think if there were more movies about LD&#39;ing and such, then it wouldn&#39;t be as looked upon as strangely.

Sorry about necro-posting this topic, but I&#39;ve been thinking about this a lot recently, and I feel reviving this topic would be better than cluttering the forum with another one.

I&#39;m an introvert - I&#39;d venture to guess that most Lucid Dreamers are. However, most studies say that there are 3 extroverts for every 1 introvert, and that&#39;s not taking into account the degree of extravertism/introvertism.

I think, perhaps, that is why Lucid Dreaming has never been introduced into popular culture. Lucid Dreaming is much more likely to appeal to someone who can already enjoy being alone, spend time with their own thoughts, and focus on one thing for relatively long periods of time.

Furthermore, because Lucid Dreaming appeals only to a small group of people, the old human "fear of the unknown" kicks in, and people start coming up with excuses for why Lucid Dreaming can&#39;t be possible.

"It&#39;s some pseudo-science thing."
"If it were true, more people would know about it."
"It&#39;s witchcraft"
and so forth...

Therefore, I think the best way to spread LD culture is by doing so indirectly - through art.

I think it would be very beneficial for the general public, but people just don&#39;t take the topic seriously enough, they don&#39; believe the concept of it, its a shame really because this sort of thing could help reduce stress etc etc