Thread: Reading myth

The problem with text is that it is hard for the brain to convey its meaning and work out the text image at a time.

Depending on your learning universe (visual, auditory or kinaesthetic), your mind will memorise the text you read in one way. Visual thinkers will remember the letters, auditory thinkers will remember the sound, and kinaesthetic thinkers will remember the meaning conveyed. Therefore, it may be really dificult to keep the text image still in your head, especially without external input. That will make the text blur and change, and recalling what you've read before may prove even harder than reading it again.

I wouldn't say it is impossible to read the same sentence repetitively, but for sure it takes practice.

Sometimes some things change in my dreams, and sometimes they don't. Never happened while reading though.

I guess some dreams are more objective than others.

If you are lucid, I expect that concentrating on reading will increase lucidity. If one were to concentrate on a piece of text until it became clear and able to be re-read (thus certain areas of the brain organize and activate), I wonder just how much stability and lucidity would increase?

Hey there,

The thing with dreams to remember is... they're highly variable. What may be true for one person may not be true for another. What may be true for two million people might still not be true for another!

Additionally, what may be true for your dreams 364 days of the year may suddenly not be true on the 365th!

So with that in mind, to your question. Is the inability to read in dreams a myth. If you take it as an absolute, then yes. It IS possible to read very clearly and very consistency in dreams. But... most people, most of the time, will find reading hard. Text will reshape itself, blur out, become strange while you're reading. Additionally, many people report that when they do read, they're not actually reading the words. Their eyes are scanning the pages and the meaning just sort of comes to them directly, without really decoding the letters and the words.

Personally, I believe in general that language plays a very small part in most dreams (again, with the obvious sudden inexplainable expection)... when I communicate with dreamcharacters, "meaning" is transferred on a much more direct basis then through words. Also on a much more clear basis. There's much less chance of lapsus, misinterpretation, or misunderstanding (unless the misunderstanding is the very theme of the dream). I think the same thing applies to reading as well. I either know what is there (usually), or can't figure it out at all. Reading the actual words is almost never done.

Just my 2 cents,

-Redrivertears-

Originally Posted by Redrivertears

Hey there,

But... most people, most of the time, will find reading hard. Text will reshape itself, blur out, become strange while you're reading. Additionally, many people report that when they do read, they're not actually reading the words. Their eyes are scanning the pages and the meaning just sort of comes to them directly, without really decoding the letters and the words.

Personally, I believe in general that language plays a very small part in most dreams (again, with the obvious sudden inexplainable expection)... when I communicate with dreamcharacters, "meaning" is transferred on a much more direct basis then through words. Also on a much more clear basis. There's much less chance of lapsus, misinterpretation, or misunderstanding (unless the misunderstanding is the very theme of the dream). I think the same thing applies to reading as well. I either know what is there (usually), or can't figure it out at all. Reading the actual words is almost never done.

Just my 2 cents,

-Redrivertears-

I totally agree with that, but thats just my personal experience of reading when dreaming. I also know that I have 'scan read' things in dreams and completely understood what Im reading even though the language it is written is isnt even a real language (if that makes sense)

Originally Posted by CloudOne

I guess that reading in lucid dreams was discussed here enough but anyway I'd like to discuss them one more time if you don't mind.

My question would be: Is it true that any text in a dream (f.e. vivid lucid) can't be read twice (or more times) or is it only a myth?

Today I was trying to concentrate on reading in my dream and I ended up with reading different text each time I was reading it. It was a few sentences and I thought I saw the letters move and make new words, eh. And even during the reading process it was rather hard to remember the sentences. Does the memory stands behind it? Is it hard for brain to make any text as still as any object I can see in a dream?

I've found it incredibly hard.

i can't read more than ten words without them shifting on me. Then i read them again and they either morph back into what I think they were to start with, or into something completely different.

Thanks for interesting replies.

Whenever I try to read I feel like a part of my memory switches to another position where there is no remembrance of the text i previously read. It's almost the same when I wake up. The memory switches to one of awaking state, and I can't recall much from the other one of dreaming state. It's better with more practice but as Jeff said it's incredibly hard.