Thread: Trying to explain lucid dreaming to somebody

I don't know if i am the only one but i find it very difficult to describe lucid dreaming to people. It is really frustrating because people mock it like it is some sort of weird hobby or something so then you explain it and they think they understand but really they don't!

I have been trying to explain it to my mother but i gave up. Then recently i decide i was going to make her understand what lucid dreas are all about so i showed her a film called Lucid which was good i thought and after about an hour of explaining after the film she now finally understands what it's all about.

So does anyone else find it difficult to describe to people?

I don't. I rarely do explain it to people, and when I do, if I say, "it's when you know you're dreaming," that seems good enough. Heck, some people have even heard of it!

I agree in that its difficult. Often times it just comes out weird and I know people are looking at it like a New Age ideal. Frankly I think its because of the name, just the way its put forward it seems to be "that kind" of name to fit in with New Age ideals.

There are some people who understand it and I can talk about it with, but other than that I just don't care too much to explain it to people. Not worth my time. I've been mocked because of explaining the meaning of word "Oneironaut." It comes to the point where I just get sick of trying.

Even with those who believe it and understand it, I still get funny looks from sometimes. I'm not surprised though, New Age ideals are on the rise big time right now and a lot of people are very skeptical. Just the name "Lucid Dreaming" sounds like it would fit in with those ideals, so its not surprising all too much.

Enh, I just leave it be now. People don't want to care, their loss. They get interested, Great! One less ignorant person in the world, well, at least to the Lucid Dreaming world.

Just spent 30 minutes explaining it to my friend, Max. He said it sounds really cool and he's gonna try.

I told him to just start writing down his dreams as soon as he wakes up, and that will improve his memory. So... I'm kind of guiding him.

Basically, when I explain it, I say it like this.

"Lucid dreaming is a state of dreaming. Like... imagine if you were dreaming, and then all of a sudden you realized you were dreaming, and you could change whatever you wanted in the dream."

I've never had anyone mock it.

Holy shit, Oneironaut is a real word? I just thought that was some made up word by oneironaut.

I don't explain it to a lot of people, but I do feel it is too associated with new age when it is very different.

I told my brother he understood it quickly. I think understanding it would have a few reasons of the following. Probably depends on age (my mom would be harder do to having dreams that just happen not dreams she controls or becomes aware the younger excepting something new comes easier such as an instrument) vs. personality (if a person is hot headed or so on and believes in it not being true then chances are it wont get though example my step dad or grampa or if a snobby popular person example a celebrity they probably wouldnt even care and may make fun of you....) vs. culture (if some lives in an area were people don't know what a dream is in the first place then you would have to explain a dream which would be a task which would think would fail). This is just my opinion have not told my mom, step dad, or me grampa my brother did and we are both trying at it now.

Originally Posted by Funnel

Holy shit, Oneironaut is a real word? I just thought that was some made up word by oneironaut.

Hehehe.

I wouldn't try - they only ridicule you - like family member "u really must be dreaming" - unless they ask you, I'd keep it to my self. A bad example would be a vegetarian - explaining it to everyone when ever they ate when they never ask. Like explaining LDs to people before they sleep, when they didn't ask. They sort of get annoyed...

Plus, these people aren't really awake anyways, other wise they'd be able to LD... they won't understand you for the most part... I think some of my family members (catholic) think/believe it's 'evil' - ja - who would have thought! !

I almost like how many people don't understand/know about LD. It makes me feel special

Originally Posted by Funnel

I almost like how many people don't understand/know about LD. It makes me feel special

I can relate, it makes me realize that I can do something that most other people don't know how to do/won't take the time to understand how to do/call me crazy for attempting such a ridiculous thing. I'm Special!!!!!!!

I think over and over and over again....how all the people I've explained it to have just passed it off. I just don't get how it is not one of the coolest things you could ever do. EVER!

But in trying to explain it...you risk making it sound ridiculous...or risk making it sound boring.

"knowing when you are dreaming and controlling it"....just sounds dull.

"your ticket to a fantasy world in which anything you can imagine you can experience in clarity comparable and even sometimes exceeding real life!" .....*person nods politely and walks away"

Originally Posted by james_jlc

I think over and over and over again....how all the people I've explained it to have just passed it off. I just don't get how it is not one of the coolest things you could ever do. EVER!

But in trying to explain it...you risk making it sound ridiculous...or risk making it sound boring.

"knowing when you are dreaming and controlling it"....just sounds dull.

"your ticket to a fantasy world in which anything you can imagine you can experience in clarity comparable and even sometimes exceeding real life!" .....*person nods politely and walks away"

If everybody understood lucid dreaming it would probably be one of the most popular things ever.

If only there were someway to make everybody understand it.

Good subject, and good posts.

According with the terms i use, in a dream you have 4 options:

Lucidity
Control
None
Both

LDs don't imply control. I think they just imply knowing you're dreaming.
But control and experiences are all we want, right? So we can promote LDs saying they open a door for those.

Explaining LDs is easy. Explaining what it may be achieved by them, or the experiences they can carry is a little difficult though.