Not sure I get it

I've been reading as many threads as I can. I did read the thread on noobs asking if they were lucid and the answere was basiclly if you know you are dreaming you are lucid. Then I read a thread of someone who indicated they always lucid dream and several people seemed to take that as bragging.

Then someone asked me about technique after I mentioned I lucid dream regularly and for the life of me I have been trying to figure out how I do it.

Now I'm starting to wonder if if there is a difference between being aware in your dream and being at the point where you control the dream's direction.

Here's an example.

I can honestly say just about every dream I have I know I'm dreaming. I see the dream world as my playground and I look forward to it every night. Some dreams I'm passive. I'm just watching whatever is happening. It's like watching a movie. I still know I'm dreaming but it's like I have no real general interest in the content of the dream and I'm just waiting for something else to come up.

Then there are others where I take a very active roll, flying, using magic, changing the endings of recurring dreams etc. I know it's a dream but I get into the spirit of it. Last night I went to sleep watching the first Harry Potter movie and my magic got a little out of hand and I made myself wake up because I was getting scared. I was up long enough to turn the DVD player off and switch the t.v. to a different show and went back to sleep and had a much milder dream where I did my reality check test (posted in another thread about clocks).

So is lucid dreaming just about knowing you are dreaming or the quality of your participation in the dream?

i kinda see what you mean.

you're just different.

LD is when you know when your dreaming.
and obviously you know that all the time.
but for noobs or just ppl who arent like you, cant tell if they are in a dream or not.
like if I was in a dream, i would think its real life until i wake up in my bed.
but basically you can tell the difference between dreaming and your waking life (which is extroadinary by the way)
any way i hope this clears thing out for you.



"You know, they say that dreams are real only as long as they last. Couldn’t you say the same thing about life?"

- Waking Life (the movie)


Edit: oh by the way could you tell me how you can tell your dreaming in your dreams all the time? cause its hard for me. is there some sort of secret that you dont tell ppl or something?

Thanks - I would really like to figure out how I do it so I can share it with others. I wasn't sure if I was understanding the concept of what lucid dreaming is.

I see four different aspects of a lucid dream, each as a continuum.

1. Awareness that one is dreaming (this is usually the one standard people use to call something "lucid")
2. Control of your surroundings
3. How clear and realistic things appear
4. How aware you are of the outside (real) world

It is this last one that people don't seem to touch upon much. It does figure in to the monthly "tasks," since you must remember the specifics of the task and recall it in the dream.

But the most intense LDs I've had have included this last component in a way where if I want, I can take a moment within a dream to remember things such as what date and day of the week it is in real life, what I ate for dinner that night, what is on my schedule for the next day, etc. Making this connection between the dream world and real world feels to me like having an intense level of understanding of what is going on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tasiasolon

I've been reading as many threads as I can. I did read the thread on noobs asking if they were lucid and the answere was basiclly if you know you are dreaming you are lucid. Then I read a thread of someone who indicated they always lucid dream and several people seemed to take that as bragging.

Then someone asked me about technique after I mentioned I lucid dream regularly and for the life of me I have been trying to figure out how I do it.

Now I'm starting to wonder if if there is a difference between being aware in your dream and being at the point where you control the dream's direction.

Here's an example.

I can honestly say just about every dream I have I know I'm dreaming. I see the dream world as my playground and I look forward to it every night. Some dreams I'm passive. I'm just watching whatever is happening. It's like watching a movie. I still know I'm dreaming but it's like I have no real general interest in the content of the dream and I'm just waiting for something else to come up.

Then there are others where I take a very active roll, flying, using magic, changing the endings of recurring dreams etc. I know it's a dream but I get into the spirit of it. Last night I went to sleep watching the first Harry Potter movie and my magic got a little out of hand and I made myself wake up because I was getting scared. I was up long enough to turn the DVD player off and switch the t.v. to a different show and went back to sleep and had a much milder dream where I did my reality check test (posted in another thread about clocks).

So is lucid dreaming just about knowing you are dreaming or the quality of your participation in the dream?

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Lucid dreaming is knowing you are dreaming.

Like you I for the most part always know when I am dreaming and as such I can choose to participate in the dream or also just go along with what is happening. I think it is all based on your internal drive to participate. For instance if the dream is very mundane and not much is going on I will usually go and find something to do while I am Lucid. But if there is a lot going on already in the dream and it's full of action while I am Lucid I will just follow along. So yes I can understand what you are saying.

If your a "natural" you will have a hard time explaining techniques and such to others who are not since we don't really use any it just comes about naturally, but if you follow the techniques and induction methods and successfully perform them then you can give your feedback to others.