Thread: Dangers Of Lucid Dreaming?

Marvo, reality checks are meant to let you know if you are dreaming when you are dreaming. They are not meant to let you know if you are dreaming when you are awake. When you are awake, you should never have any question about it. The only reason to perform reality checks when you are awake is to form a habit that you will follow when dreaming. Meidi has indicated that he or she was developing a serious medical problem from lucid dreaming, and he or she definitely made the right decision to stop. So to address the question of the OP, schizophrenia seems to be the one realistic danger of lucid dreaming.

Umm.. ROTFLMAO! You CAN'T tell when you are dreaming *facepalms* that is the POINT of RC's. DUH!:p

Seismosaur, Meidi can't tell when (s)he is awake. Read my last post. If you have to resort to RCs to make sure that you are awake (when in fact you are), that is, if you have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, lucid dreaming is certainly not for you and you should probably consider seeking medical help. This misconception that RCs are for times when you want to make sure you are awake is very dangerous.

Meidi, it's a good thing that you stopped lucid dreaming. Do you still get these symptoms often?

Yea for the first point, that obviouslt just means you are not getting enough sleep. You don't need to wake yourself up all throughout the night to record every little dream in order to have a lucid dream. You just need to recall at least one.

For the second point I think that it may be beneficial thinking about lucid dreaming and doing reality checks throughout the day. I teaches you to be mindful and live in the present. Every self-help I've ever read always mentioned the importance of mindfulness. When you are in the present you fully take in each moment. Even better when those things lead you to become aware in a dream and then you can further use the dream for self improvement like overcoming fears and raising your self esteem.

I'm fifteen too, (white male if that matters)
First Point: Either your not getting enough sleep, doing a technique wrong, have ADD. I don't know there could be many reasons for why you can't pay attention. Try to be open minded ( No offense intened, just couldn't word it any other way) and figure out what it really is. I now that school's almost out for me and i could care less about school right now.

Second Point: This is the one that got me lost for words..... Lucid dreaming is natural for some people. I've had them my entire life. I can concentrate (i have a 4.0 GPA in school), I get sleep. And if anything it will probualy help your brain figure out stuff because it's not just giving you random information.

It's okay to go against our Evolutionary Design. Our behavior has its roots in basic instincts which often no longer have a context in modern living. Talking about this starts to get to the very nature of our Being.

For example, we are evolutionarily designed to gossip about all the behavior of people in our community(especially sexual/mating practices) as a way of protecting ourselves from dangerous individuals and knowing about other's behavior patterns. However, gossip plays a very harmful role in many situations today. This is a minor example. A larger one might be that our violent instincts can drive us to war which no longer aids in our survival (generally).

Although my examples don't correspond perfectly to your question, I think its perfectly ok to override some of our genetic predispositions when possible.

Another note, when I successfully have LD's I find that my need for sleep lessens. There is a man named Michael Winn that claims he sleeps no more than 3 hours per night because he has developed such great control over his energy through Lding and other Taoist means. Than again he may just be a freak...

Another note, when I successfully have LD's I find that my need for sleep lessens. There is a man named Michael Winn that claims he sleeps no more than 3 hours per night because he has developed such great control over his energy through Lding and other Taoist means. Than again he may just be a freak...
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He would surly have to powernap around the day for this to be healthy

If only we could permanently overide war TalkingHead!
And Yoko Ono only slept a max of 3 hours a day, but we all know that bitch is crazy!

Originally Posted by dsr

Seismosaur, Meidi can't tell when (s)he is awake. Read my last post. If you have to resort to RCs to make sure that you are awake (when in fact you are), that is, if you have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, lucid dreaming is certainly not for you and you should probably consider seeking medical help. This misconception that RCs are for times when you want to make sure you are awake is very dangerous.

Meidi, it's a good thing that you stopped lucid dreaming. Do you still get these symptoms often?

You're wrong. A reality-check, is an action entirely designed, so define if you're awake or not. If Meidi is unsure if he/she is dreaming or not, then just do a reality-checks. Reality-checks don't fail.

I agree, that Meidi has a problem regarding it though, but I wouldn't call it a medical problem. Just a lack of grip.

See it how you want but you can TELL when your not actually dreaming, an RC just gets you in the habit so you check in your dreams and become lucid.

Being unable to distinguish between wake and sleep states is actually very dangerous. And reality checks CAN fail!! The brain is not perfect! If someone is awake and believes they may be dreaming a reality check is not always going to work as discearnable proof that the person is awake. The brain can play tricks on us and it is especially likely that someone who is having difficulties distinguishing between reality and dream states may be having hallucinations- visual, or auditory, mild or severe. Hallucinations are not reserved for schizophrenics and are quite common. Infact hallucinations at one time were necessary for human survival and we hallucinated before having conscious thought. (am I losing anyone?)

I have often thought about the dangers of lucid dreaming and this is the one that always disturbs me.

Being unable to distinguish between wake and sleep states is actually very dangerous.

If you cannot tell when you are awake, then you aren't normal and need serious help - it's as simple as that.

Sure, you don't know when you are dreaming, but it doesn't work the other around.

Originally Posted by tiddlywink101

See it how you want but you can TELL when your not actually dreaming, an RC just gets you in the habit so you check in your dreams and become lucid.

That is exactly what i was saying

Originally Posted by themindsi

Being unable to distinguish between wake and sleep states is actually very dangerous. And reality checks CAN fail!! The brain is not perfect! If someone is awake and believes they may be dreaming a reality check is not always going to work as discearnable proof that the person is awake. The brain can play tricks on us and it is especially likely that someone who is having difficulties distinguishing between reality and dream states may be having hallucinations- visual, or auditory, mild or severe. Hallucinations are not reserved for schizophrenics and are quite common. Infact hallucinations at one time were necessary for human survival and we hallucinated before having conscious thought. (am I losing anyone?)

I have often thought about the dangers of lucid dreaming and this is the one that always disturbs me.

No, RCs NEVER fail, if you pinch your nose, and can't breath through it, yet still have doubt of reality, then push your finger through your palm, and LO, it doesn't work! Still having doubts, you watch to see if numbers or letters on things change, no? Well you aren't dreaming. Besides, when you are asleep, you CAN'T tell that ur dreaming!! That is the point of doing reality checks in reality! to set up a routine!

Originally Posted by tiddlywink101

See it how you want but you can TELL when your not actually dreaming, an RC just gets you in the habit so you check in your dreams and become lucid.

You are wrong once again. I know several people, including myself, that just had to do a reality-check, because we simply weren't sure if we were awake or not.

Once I was looking at a watch. It was 16:00, and suddenly, it just changed to 17:53. My sight just tricked me, but I had to do a reality-check, since I couldn't tell if I was dreaming or not.

A reality-check is a check, that is designed to check your reality.

I beg to differ (first time I've probably ever used this phrase).

I never use reality checks while awake. Looking a circular clocks for a brief second, I always see a different time because there are 3 hands and I can get them mixed up. I'll glance back and think "wtf?" but never have to pinch my nose to make sure I am not dreaming.

And in dreams... you already have to be slightly lucid to even have a shot at having the lucid. You don't just blindly reality check and have a lucid. You at some moment go "I think I am dreaming..." (here's the initial small amount of lucidity) - you'll think and feel that something is not right - though because you are not fully at waking consciousness, you will not realize immediately that you are dreaming. You'll either then pick up on this lost sense of reality or do a RC and realize you are dreaming. The excitement brings your lucidity up, but the amount of lucidity varies from here. You may only remain semi-lucid or you may have full blown lucidity, or you may lose it completely.

In my opinion, I would practice "brining your awareness up" at random moments (not sure how to do this yet exactly) that way when you do go lucid, you'll have full blown lucidity. I believe this can be very beneficial where as practicing RCing has never really been of interest to me (but then again I rely on WILDs and not DILDs)

Reality checks are not a fullproof method of finding whether you are in reality. We use them to make them into a habit so we can become lucid in our dreams. People should be able to tell when they are actually awake and dreaming. Reality checks are not used to proof this in real life. You should be able to distinguish the difference.