Thread: Some things you just simply cannot do?

You can do ANYTHING if you just believe you can.

For now, summoning people. I can never summon anything, nor fly by just thinking that by jumping up I will fly.

i know that summoning things is very hard (at least for some people) so I try just everytime I can. Same with flying.

A lot of people have trouble with activities that require the rapid generation of a large amount information to specific parameters. Canonically, turning on a light in a dark room is difficult for many, however I have heard from a few people that if one envisions the room in one's imagination before turning on the light, it can become much easier.

If you are interested, Stephen LaBerge and Lynne Levitan did a small study on the 'light switch' task: http://www.lucidity.com/NL52.LightandMirror.html

They got some data from a group of lucid dreamers on some dream control tasks:



From the discussion:

Originally Posted by LaBerge

In the final analysis, the Tibetan Buddhist view that all dream images
are transmutable may be exactly right. If so, we wonder if it may be
possible also to learn to control the stability of these images,
creating lasting dream scenes and objects, achieving a state of virtual
reality far beyond the wildest dreams of the computer programmers.

Dreams are really just detailed and interactive day-dreams. If you can do it in a day-dream you can do it in a lucid, therefore: yes. You can do everything you want in a lucid.

Off-topic: I've heard LaBerge mentioned in a few posts, is he the 'go too guy of lucid dreaming' so to speak? Can you recommend this book or anyother book by him?

EDIT - Are you taking about our experiences or LDing in general? If you're taking about our own personal experiences then no, there is nothing I've tried that I just can't do. In saying that I've only really ever tried to fly which doesn't always work (I sometimes get nervous if I'm high up and so don't even try). The one thing that I've never actually tried while dreaming but am always annoyed when I wake up that I didn't do is just looking around, taking in the scenery and making it more vivid. When I wake up my LDs tend to be sketchy.

Originally Posted by LucidFreedoM

Are there any things people have tried over and over again in their LDs and have never managed to do?

It really depends on the dreamers control point. This is very subjective like for me my control point is forward motion. I can fly and recently jump into things like computer screens.... But making things appear and disappear...impossible at will. Fortunately there is a way around it like using devices to do it barely....

IMJ

The only thing I can think of is the 100-year ream. Having a dream that lasts indefinetely, one where time distortion puts you in the dream for what seems like true weeks or months. I've never done that, nor have I heard a credible account of it.

Inventing a new color has drawn (pun) some arguements on whether or not it is possible.

I had some trouble with flying in the start, but in my latest lucid-dream, I had complete control of flying. The next things I'm going to try is summoning, but I think this will be relatively easy for me, so right now I have no ability-"nemesis".

Summon my Dream Guide.

Originally Posted by LucidFreedoM

Are there any things people have tried over and over again in their LDs and have never managed to do?

Talk in my sleep.

Originally Posted by Abra

The only thing I can think of is the 100-year ream. Having a dream that lasts indefinetely, one where time distortion puts you in the dream for what seems like true weeks or months. I've never done that, nor have I heard a credible account of it.

Apparently there's an illegal drug that makes you think thousands of years go by in a few hours. That's what I heard once. I don't know which one it was. You should try them all to be safe

Originally Posted by drewmandan

Apparently there's an illegal drug that makes you think thousands of years go by in a few hours. That's what I heard once. I don't know which one it was. You should try them all to be safe

That'd be cyanied. Highly recommend it, I'll sell you some and if you're not satisfied with the results I've a 100% money-back garuntee

Originally Posted by Seachmall

That'd be cyanied. Highly recommend it, I'll sell you some and if you're not satisfied with the results I've a 100% money-back garuntee

Yeah. it would definately work. I don't know whether you'd be satisfied though but then again it would be quite hard to complain.

Originally Posted by i make it rain

Inventing a new color has drawn (pun) some arguements on whether or not it is possible.

The thing with this is that colors follow science, i.e., the electromagnetic spectrum. The photoreceptors in your eyes can only pick up ROYGBIV colors, and if you've forgotten your 1st grade education, that's Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. So any mix of those, plus or minus brightness and saturation, are the colors that you can see. One could imagine that there ARE different colors, such as if one could somehow see higher- or lower-frequency wavelengths, but your human eyes can't do that. Sorry.

I'd like to see how there are arguments on that.

everyone says that you can do anything in a lucid dream, but I will go ahead and revise that to "you can do anything within the limits of your imagination"

so I guess inventing a new color is out unless somewhere deep down in your imagination, you have an idea for one. Which isn't likely.

but if you can imagine yourself flying, then you can do it.

it just might take a bit of practice and confidence to get there first.

Originally Posted by csol

The thing with this is that colors follow science, i.e., the electromagnetic spectrum. The photoreceptors in your eyes can only pick up ROYGBIV colors, and if you've forgotten your 1st grade education, that's Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. So any mix of those, plus or minus brightness and saturation, are the colors that you can see. One could imagine that there ARE different colors, such as if one could somehow see higher- or lower-frequency wavelengths, but your human eyes can't do that. Sorry.

I'd like to see how there are arguments on that.

Well you kind of gave an arguement against it in your last few sentences. In a dream, theoretically you could make yourself see in these frequencies. I agree, though, I don't believe it is possible. I don't think someone's imagination could come up with a new color.

Here is an old thread on it:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...venting+colors

I'm too lazy to find something more recent.

Yes, allow myself to control anything within the dream... I doesn't like to control things <.<

Originally Posted by csol

The thing with this is that colors follow science, i.e., the electromagnetic spectrum. The photoreceptors in your eyes can only pick up ROYGBIV colors, and if you've forgotten your 1st grade education, that's Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. So any mix of those, plus or minus brightness and saturation, are the colors that you can see. One could imagine that there ARE different colors, such as if one could somehow see higher- or lower-frequency wavelengths, but your human eyes can't do that. Sorry.

I'd like to see how there are arguments on that.

Our eyes have proteins that sense red, green, and blue. Every other color we perceive is a mixture of these. White is all three when very saturated, black is the absence of all three, and gray is all three in equal proportions.

There are birds that can see UV light, so I don't think it would be beyond the capacity of the human brain to perceive new colors, if only we had the sensory equipment . . . Any of you boys (with your defective Y chromosomes) have red/green color blindness? If so, do you see an extra color in your dreams that you don't see in waking life?

Originally Posted by Seachmall

Off-topic: I've heard LaBerge mentioned in a few posts, is he the 'go too guy of lucid dreaming' so to speak? Can you recommend this book or anyother book by him?

He's well respected by many LDers, and is one of the few researchers who specialise in the phenomenon of lucid dreaming. Sort of a pioneer. That book is really good, I recommend it to anyone interested in LDing.

I know that you can do 'anything' in a dream but thats just pretty much stating the obvious.
I was talking about personal experiences, where your concious mind wouldnt really fully give you control, whether because of a lack of confidence, confusion, too low lucidity or whatever other reasons, and you couldnt accomplish something in a dream.

Originally Posted by LucidFreedoM

I know that you can do 'anything' in a dream but thats just pretty much stating the obvious.
I was talking about personal experiences, where your concious mind wouldnt really fully give you control, whether because of a lack of confidence, confusion, too low lucidity or whatever other reasons, and you couldnt accomplish something in a dream.

i've had times where i couldn't take total control but i've always been able to do whatever i was wanting to do in the dream

Originally Posted by Sain

For now, summoning people. I can never summon anything, nor fly by just thinking that by jumping up I will fly.

i know that summoning things is very hard (at least for some people) so I try just everytime I can. Same with flying.

I have been able to do everything that I have tried so far( flying, walking through walls) except summoning people and objects. Can't seem to get it.

Originally Posted by Seachmall

Off-topic: I've heard LaBerge mentioned in a few posts, is he the 'go too guy of lucid dreaming' so to speak? Can you recommend this book or anyother book by him?

This book (affectionately referred to as EWOLD around here) is generally considered on this site to be the lucid dreaming Bible. Anyone who is serious about lucid dreaming should own a copy.

Originally Posted by MRooney

You can do ANYTHING if you just believe you can.

While this is certainly the accepted lore regarding dream control, it's been my experience that confidence and expectations are not the whole story. For example, I have been flying in my lucid dreams for nearly 3 years now. Needless to say, confidence is no longer an issue. However, even to this day, on occasion I will spontaneously lose my ability to fly. Sometimes I will gain it back later in the same dream, sometimes I won't. It's just one more random element of dreams. Another example is walking through walls. This works probably 60&#37; of the time for me - for the other 40% of the time, I simply smack into the wall and feel foolish.

The truth is, dreams are inherently random and unpredictable, and dream control is, to a certain extent, subject to this same unpredictability. Lucid dreams are not "The Matrix." Confidence and expectations are a very important factor, but they are not the whole story.

Summoning people and objects is actually really easy. The trick is, that you cant summon them in front of your eyes. Either turn back and say to yourself, that when you turn back again, the object or person will be there. Or use doors, I always use doors, its the easiest method for me. For example I want to get into my room and summon my brother. So I find some door and imagine my room with my brother behind that door. And when I open them, it works... Or simply close your eyes and imagine, that when you open them, the object/person/environment will be there.