Concerns About Lucid Dreaming

[dodobird]

Hello, I'm interested in the area of lucid dreaming, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to learn it. My dreams are often very interesting and exiting. I often remeber them, though I usually forget them after sometime ( from seconds to several days from awakening). Many of my dreams are like action movies. For example I can be a spy in a James Bond style plot. Sometimes it's fantasy tales, sometimes romance, and sometimes it is tottaly wild and undescribable. Sometimes I fly or float, and sometimes I wake up, go back to sleep and return to the same dream. Sometimes there are nightmare but thats quite rare. Once in a while when I wake up I say to myself: My god, that must have been the greatest experience of my life. Sometimes I am like semi lucid: I sit in a movie theater and watch an interesting movie. I am aware that the movie is not reality, but I am not aware that the theater is part of a dream. But during the best of my experiences I am not lucid at all, and here is my concern: I don't want to lose these experiences because of lucidity. For example, if I'm inside an action movie, it will ruin the suspense if I know that it's a dream. The whole power of the dream comes from thinking that it's real. If i am in a forest in fantasy quest, and I realize that I dream, why should I bother to continue with the quest, which loses all it's importance? What I will probably do is forget about the quest, and just content myself with self indulgence: I'll fly around, walk in the forest, have sex with the elves or whatever. The whole meaningful dream will degrade to empty entertainment... Another example: Suppose I am flying in the dream, well when this happans to me I am filled with wonder and delight that I can fly, and much of the delight comes from beleiving that it's real. What will bring you more delight: if you suddendly rise up and fly in the air like a bird for real, or if you'll enter some virtual-reality system that makes you feel like you are flying? In essesnce I fear that this is what lucid dreaming does: turn an experience which is as powerful as a real one, into virtual reality. One more example: sometimes during the dream I interact with people, sometimes I actually fall in love, sometimes I talk with them or cooporate with them on various things. If I knew that they aren't real, why should I bother to interact with them? As I become lucid they will turn from real human beings into phantoms. To sum it all up, I ask you this: What is more interesting, to be the first man to land on the moon, or to land on the moon in a virtual reality ( such as the Star-Trek 'holodeck'? ) Oded.

[Josh_Mac]

You raise an excellent point here, I have an answer but I'm not sure if it applies to everyone since LDing is a pretty personal thing. Say I'm really enjoyin a dream like you do and suddenly go DILD, it is not very hard for me to carry on with the dream sa normal and forget that it's a dream. I don't know if any other LDers can say this is the same for them too, you'll have to wait and see

[pj]

I second that... but I'll tell you that being lucid opens up a zillion new possibilities in any situation... IF you are lucid enough to make interesting decisions. It usually takes effort to maintain lucidity. If you don't want it, you can just let it go. I've not once been upset about becoming lucid, because it is just so incredibly cool. I've often been unhappy about waking up though!

[Amethyst Star]

I've had two LDs out of my handful of LDs where I've become lucid and have either been so intreigued or amused by what is going on that I decide to just continue along with the dream. There's no reason that adventure has to end. On the contrary, becoming lucid can vastly improve your dream if you let it. Imagine that you're in the middle of a battle and you become lucid. You pause for a moment and realize that you are dreaming and that you have control over what's going on. If I wanted to continue in this battle, I'm certain that my lucidity would be more of an inspiration and motivation and I could fight that battle with even more enthusiasm! It just depends on how you look at it. I love adventuresome dreams and lucidity doesn't stop that.

[Marvo]

Hello, I'm interested in the area of lucid dreaming, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to learn it. My dreams are often very interesting and exiting. I often remeber them, though I usually forget them after sometime ( from seconds to several days from awakening). Many of my dreams are like action movies. For example I can be a spy in a James Bond style plot. Sometimes it's fantasy tales, sometimes romance, and sometimes it is tottaly wild and undescribable. Sometimes I fly or float, and sometimes I wake up, go back to sleep and return to the same dream. Sometimes there are nightmare but thats quite rare. Once in a while when I wake up I say to myself: My god, that must have been the greatest experience of my life. Sometimes I am like semi lucid: I sit in a movie theater and watch an interesting movie. I am aware that the movie is not reality, but I am not aware that the theater is part of a dream. But during the best of my experiences I am not lucid at all, and here is my concern: I don't want to lose these experiences because of lucidity. For example, if I'm inside an action movie, it will ruin the suspense if I know that it's a dream. The whole power of the dream comes from thinking that it's real. If i am in a forest in fantasy quest, and I realize that I dream, why should I bother to continue with the quest, which loses all it's importance? What I will probably do is forget about the quest, and just content myself with self indulgence: I'll fly around, walk in the forest, have sex with the elves or whatever. The whole meaningful dream will degrade to empty entertainment... Another example: Suppose I am flying in the dream, well when this happans to me I am filled with wonder and delight that I can fly, and much of the delight comes from beleiving that it's real. What will bring you more delight: if you suddendly rise up and fly in the air like a bird for real, or if you'll enter some virtual-reality system that makes you feel like you are flying? In essesnce I fear that this is what lucid dreaming does: turn an experience which is as powerful as a real one, into virtual reality. One more example: sometimes during the dream I interact with people, sometimes I actually fall in love, sometimes I talk with them or cooporate with them on various things. If I knew that they aren't real, why should I bother to interact with them? As I become lucid they will turn from real human beings into phantoms. To sum it all up, I ask you this: What is more interesting, to be the first man to land on the moon, or to land on the moon in a virtual reality ( such as the Star-Trek 'holodeck'? ) Oded. [/b] Your dreams will only become unreal and unexciting, if you want them too. Humans in your dreams will only beomce phantoms to you, if you want them too. In short: stuff will only change, if you think it will change. If you think you can't fly, you can't. If you think you won't have as exciting dreams, you won't. It's all in your mind. Stuff in dreams will only be bad and boring, if you think it will.

[Miskingo]

I hate comparisons between lucidity and "virtual reality"! To me there are no similarities what so ever. Virtual reality seems almost a cold and un-human thing while lucidity is almost a hyper reality in itself.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Welcome to the forum, man. This is a great point you bring up but, as others have said, knowing you're dreaming would only "cheapen" the experience, if you have that sort of attitude toward knowing you're dreaming. As nonsensical as it may sound, it's true. When you are totally emersed in a sensory experience, the fact that you could "probably make it go away if you wanted" doesn't really lessen the impact of what's going on, perceptively. You can still experience pain. Intense situations can sometimes even strip you of your lucidity and spiral out of control, also, so that is always a risk to take. Just because the 50foot tall dragon about to set your ass on fire is a dream, doesn't take away from the fact that he's a bad motherf'cker. Read this, sometime: Epic Lucid Dream It's still one of my favorite dreams ever, if not my favorite.

[Tornado Joe]

Hey Dodo, glad to have you on the forum I understand what you're saying about the whole experience being degraded by the knowledge of the dream. However, you can't assume that knowing something is a dream automatically gives you full control of it. To this day I have yet to feel that I have completely controled something in a lucid dream. I don't recall ever having that kind of confidence in a dream to where I didn't fear anything and think that I was invincible. So that goes along with what Oneir stated. I would like to learn how to materialize things in my dreams and just summon people into them- but it's not as easy as you may think. I think you'll be so amazed at the rush you get from being lucid, this second awareness feeling, that it won't matter that the thought of it being "fake" won't be at the forefront of your thoughts.

[dodobird]

Ok thanks, These replies are quite convincing. Now I shell fade away into the learking domain, until I'll have a lucid dream.

[bias]

Really interesting post, although I have to disagree. I am of that belief, that the dreamworld I enter when I'm sleeping is a true place, of course not as substantial as the real world, but a place with real emotions, ideas, art, etc. where you can learn about yourself and evolve as a person, and not just a fake playground, like you describe it. My point is, even though I'm perfectly aware that I'm in a dream (a fake place, according to you) , I'm still convinced that being lucid just helps me conduct myself in this, other dimension, if you will, and perhaps the most important thing of them all: in some way helps me finding answers, also answers to questions I haven't even asked or thought of yet, and evidently expand my spiritual horizon. I.e: I might be able to summon a person out of nowhere in my dream, but I do believe that what that person tells me, is not [always] just something originating from my subconscious, but may come from another place, be it higher powers or somewhere/someone else (I'm not at all clear on this point, since I've just started to think about the higher meaning of dreams.) In short, dreaming, and especially lucid dreaming, is helping me finding out who I am, why I am here, and perhaps giving me clues to where I am going? (even beyond this life...) /bias

[Tornado Joe]

That is yet another great thing about Lucid Dreaming - it's benefits are taylored to pretty much ANYONE, regardless of gender, race, or creed. Whatever it is you belive happens during them, is simply just that. It's personal and no one or thing can effect it. You think it's just a place that's beyond "reality" ?- enjoy! You believe you are in another place? - explore! You believe you're getting in touch with your subconscous? -discover! You believe you're in the prescence of your god - fascinating! It doesn't matter, as long as you're benefiting from it.

[Jimmie Lynne]

Of all the dreams I can remember from my past, there is only one that I'm glad I wasn't lucid for. . . you can read it in my dream journal if you like. . . just do a search for beauty and the beast.