Thread: Dangers Of Lucid Dreaming?

Originally Posted by Seismosaur

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!

The Dream Views site itself describes the accurate way Reality Checks should be used, on it's main page under "Lucid Dream Induction Techniques", as dilligently performing reality checks throughout the day in the idea that the practice will manifest into your dreams in the hopes of realizing one is dreaming and inducing lucidity. Of course I am paraphrasing but you can read it here, http://http://dreamviews.com/induction.php, third paragraph from the bottom. Although setting up a routine IS the main purpose of Reality Checks, Reality checks should not be used to determine whether or not one is AWAKE but rather to determine whether one is sleeping, i.e. dreaming. Although the two statements are recipritive, one must not confuse them for being synonymous.

Furthermore, even if one was to use RC's to try and determine whether they were awake or not, it is highly likely results would be muddled since if one even had the NEED to try and determine if they were awake or not the person would be experiencing some type of mental distress. When the brain is under extreme states of mental durress normal functions which we take for granted can be hindered, such as the ability to accurately percieve what is there (numbers, letters, things). Being unable to distinguish between what is not there and what IS there, which we rely upon to even perform a reality check, means one must be undergoing some form of mild or severe hallucination, be it auditory or visual.

Feelings of disconnection from reality are infact symptoms of many very serious mental illnesses such as: postpartum disease, alzheimers disease, borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, cyclothymia (more commonly known as bi-polar disorder), and schizophrenia to name just a few.

If one is suffering from feelings of disconnection to reality and is unable to tell whether or not one is dreaming or awake the answer is clearly not to perform a reality check with a human mind --which is certainly fallible, even to someone who is not afflicted with any mental illness. The human brain, although a truely remarkable edifice, should not be given as much credit as you are alloting it. Infact the brain is usually undisciplined and unreliable, considerably less than perfect.

In conclusion, taking into account the previously given information, we must deduce that:

1.) NO, reality checks are not meant to determine whether or not one is AWAKE, but consequently to determine whether one is, or is not DREAMING.

2.) Someone who is having difficulty accurately distinguishing from an awake state and a dream state must seek the attention of a psychologist and if they cannot readily access a psychologist visit their regular doctor. Also, many local hospitals will readily assess the psychological well-fare of anyone experiencing mental durress.

Hopefully this will end the debate. Kudos to blade5x, dsr, and Truffles.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by themindsi

Kudos to Marvo, dsr, and Truffles.

blade5x, dsr, and Truffles

Originally Posted by dsr

Thank you.


blade5x, dsr, and Truffles

Ooops! Thanks dsr! My careless mistake, I wholly agree in credit where credit is due, thanks for allerting me!

No problem. I'm just glad we're in agreement.

Thanks for writing that up themindsi. That should hopefully explain to everybody what we mean. Anyway, I think the main thing here is, if you can't distinguish reality from dream life, don't do a reality check. Don't surf around the dreamviews forum looking for an answer. Don't shake it off and say that it happens to everybody. See a doctor.

Not a problem! Hopefully this settles it. Disconnection from reality is very serious! I'm a psychology major who's done alot of research in abnormal psych and disconnection from reality is red flag territory! I thought it unethical to not add my two cents!

Haha, I completely understand.

Thanks for clearing all that out, themindsi. I see your point.