Why do we lucid dream?

A question I have also posted at LD4all.

As I sit here tonight, I am asking myself a very simple and yet powerful question. One that I can’t seem to find the answer to myself, or one that I don’t want to fully answer myself.

A question that makes me think about my years of experience in this field and makes me wonder why not just how

The question that I ask myself over and over again tonight is "Why do we lucid dream?"

Is it the thrill of power?
Control?
Is it the rush of being able to do anything you want?
Religious reasons?
The desire to be something different?
The desire to be a god?
To escape from the life that you are living to lead a different life without consequences?
Spiritual advancement?

They are all easy questions to answer, they are all personal and each person here will be able to adopt their own answer to this question, but my question goes further than this, I want to know WHY we lucid dream, not just the surface why but the real why

Why can we do it?

What part of us makes us realise that the world around us is not real, whether it be a fabrication of our minds, the astral planes, or anything else you want to call it, why is it that we have access to this?

Why do we not just fall asleep, let the brain go through its brain waves and heal store recover and rest and run, but instead we dream. The question is not why do we dream, its more than that, it’s why do we realise that we are dreaming?

Is it a glimpse of what this world is really about, realising the world around us is nothing more than a fabrication of our own minds, or a collective group of minds?
Do we have access to this ability to not just play, but to instead explore and question our very purpose?

Or is it just through years of evolution, a basic practiced skill has evolved to suit the world around us, is it a tool that many of us have forgotten how to use, a stress relief tool? a wish fulfilment tool that we were granted years apon years ago?

Or is it something more?

Is it that, by lucid dreaming, we are looking through the key hole of the door of our possibilities.

Personally I think our brains are like computers. What you take in during the day is like RAM on a computer (random access memory) On a computer while you are on it, everything gets stored to your RAM only when you turn it off does that RAM get erased and wiped clean. So how can you save that information so your computer will remember it a few days later? You save it to the computer, to the hard drive.

Well you in your brain has short term and long term memory. If you think of your short term memory as RAM and long term memory as your hard drive then it because easier to understand why you dream, if you believe the theory that dreams are when your mind process' information that you gained during the day, and I for one believe that what dreams are. While your brain does this, it accesses all the senses you use during the day so you can better remember those even in details, and so you end up having vivid and detailed dreams. Which is why I practice, during the day while I am awake, taking in as much information as I can. So I have more vivid and detailed dreams.

I don't think the question is why do we dream, or how do we dream. There are many theories and reasons, both scientific and spiritual out there that sound solid and reliable. It is just which one you decided you feel is more fact based then the others. To me the real question is that, if we teach ourselves to realize when we are dreaming, why can we control them?

I think dreams are more like a simulation thing, generated by the brain to develop muscular memory and reflexes (that's the "evolutional" explanation). Lucid dreaming is just an another step - getting self-consciousness to work inside the simulated reality.

Reality is overrated.

Dream moar.

Because we can.

It's like (well actually it isn't like, it is) owning the worlds most powerful computer, with the most realistic virtual reality software, and never using it.

This is one of those questions isnt it, just so hard to put a real answer down thats fact, i really love this question and how you phrased it, it will get everyone thinking you no.

i belive we may not be able to answer this question, just as we cannot answer many others, how the universe started, what is after apparent death, or is there a GOD,

yes there are opinions but i feel people look to quickly for someone elses view, i feel that the true answers come only from experience, so that is why its differnt for every one, maybe theres no true answer, just like this world may change depending on the person viewing it,

all i know is that the many mysteries we think we have solved are so much deeper then we think, i feel that maybe the human concious wakes up from this state of oppression and slavery in a way, we could discover many answer
as a melded conciousness,,

anyway, why do we dream...HMMM.. why not! lol. i know that dreams are very usefull for healing purposes, tho this can be done withouth the aid of dreams, but the mystery is what draws us a the humans to discover, to explore and so on., okay sorry for the long answer its just such a great question,

ever wana have an interesting chat just giv me your msn okay lol ttyl.

I have thought of this. At first, I thought there was no point. You learn to do it, you do it, its cool, then when you eventually quit you stop having LD's. (Of course, you can always start back up again)

But I thought it was pointless. I dont think so anymore. Thats like saying "Why do we go to the amusement park?" Just because its FUN. We do it for the experience. Why do we ride that roller coaster, when we're just going to get off and accomplish nothing? Because its fun. Its an amazing experience. Really, since all it is is fun, I dont think you should put LDing first. But if youve got extra time, LDing can definitely fill it up.

Of course, there are those other reasons. Like practicing things while your asleep, etc.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/artic...-000003&page=1

MUHAHA I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG

um.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjbWr3ODbAohmm never really cared why but here is something intresting

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Originally Posted by Mertruve

http://www.psychologytoday.com/artic...-000003&page=1

MUHAHA I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG

um.

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I hate to break it to you, but you dream when you're not in REM too. So it's wrong.

This doesn't change the fact that you dream in REM too, lol.

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Originally Posted by Mertruve

http://www.psychologytoday.com/artic...-000003&page=1
MUHAHA I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG
um.

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This is interesting hypothesis but it tries to answer why people do dream but not why they lucid dream.

mayby its a hotlink to god

When I got into lucid dreaming, I thought we spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping and dreaming, why not putting it to a good use rather than wasting such potential?

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This is interesting hypothesis but it tries to answer why people do dream but not why they lucid dream.

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As I said before, if you go from there, it's fairly simple - "getting self-consciousness to work inside the simulated reality". The key is realizing that you're dreaming, right :)?

yep

I'm not sure if any of these responses are the answers you were looking for, but it would be easier to answer if we knew whether you were asking a biological or philosophical question.

O-Suchin

Well i was sort of thinking - whats the point of dreaming at all? Im sure theres a million medical and scientific reasons why we need to sleep, but why do we dream? why cant we just lay there for 8 hours in complete darkness.
So maybe having dreams (and/or remebering them) is another phase in our mental development (don't humans only use 10% of their brain power?)
So then lucid dreaming is just another step up again???
But yea, I try not to think about too much cuz i get shitty when things dont have a straight up answer.

Sortof a "well, shit, im never going to be able to jump off my porch and fly up the road to battle Mr.smith in real life so ill do it in a dream"....sorta thing......:lol:

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don't humans only use 10% of their brain power?

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Nope. Evolution concentrates on survival - if the brain wasn't used in its entirety, it would become smaller with each generation (and hey, it happened!).
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percent.asp

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but why do we dream? why cant we just lay there for 8 hours in complete darkness.

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http://www.psychologytoday.com/artic...-000003&page=1
Survival again.

So far I have still had only one LD, but there's a little more I want to accomplish than just entertainment. Observing dreams in general has taught me a little about my self and has given me insight on some issues in my waking life.

I have also heard music in my dreams...quiet some amazing music if you ask me. I was actually thinking of using lucid dreaming to create music.

I also don't really expect anyone to believe me when I say this, but I have had dream premonitions before and I am curious to know how lucid dreaming can be used to put this skill to a more advanced conscious effort.

I also think it's kind of a waste of life to simply sleep away approximately one third of your life away.



So what are your reasons?

I think there were threads like this before, but

1. it 'opens my mind' and helps me understand how this world too can be as illusionary as dreams themselves, helps me not to take stuff to seriously and be more philosophical overall
2.release of repressed emotions
3.have a good LD= feel good during the day
4.currently I'm entertaining the notion of whether it's possible to have shared dreams and unlock superpowers or forgotten languages (used to know greek) using LD's but I don't take it seriously more of a "fun to try" thing, since you don't loose anything
5. oh and all the infinitely crazy and entertaining stuff you get to experience and feel!

I practice Lucid Dreaming to experiance things not possible in this world. I do it to make my happiest thoughts come true, to have the perfect world/life.

It takes me away from all the bad right now and takes me to a peaceful place.

Because I get bored and want to do something fun lol :D

I like your answer yuriythebest. It sounds like you are trying to do something more than just entertainment. I asked this thread because I was curious to know if there was anyone that see's a deeper meaning in lucid dreaming, and it looks like you kinda do!

I don't see any deeper "spiritual" meaning in them. For someone who's religious, I'm pretty skeptical about all the "beyond dreaming" sort of stuff. I do however see them more deeply in the sense that they provide us with access to our subconscious. I believe the subconscious is a lot more rational, powerful and knowledgeable than people give it credit for and it is this aspect of dreaming that I want to explore most, to see what we humans are really capable of and apply it to my real life.

Other than that...Why not do it? I always wish I'd been a Musketeer born in the Middle Ages...Carving up villains with my sword and fighting duels. Even if my life is boring whilst awake, at least I can have adventures whilst I sleep. :D

Paragon that was such a good way to put it!

Aw, thanks. :D

has anyone played or heard of assasins creed.

its based on trying to unlock genetic memory, memory we are born with. supposedly me memories of our ancesstors, which have been locked away.

i thought it was a cool idea, but just fictional.
but there is some concept to genetic memory, probably not in as much detail as in assasins creed, but there is some:


has anyone had a nightmare, where they run away from a wild animal, or running away in a forst/woodland.
well nightmares are your brain practicing for dangerous scenarios. but as a child we have not had enough experience to define what are the big dangers in life.

until recently (500 years ago ish) man has hunted and lived in the wilderness, and one of natural habitats of ancient man was the forest.
so one if the biggest threats to man has been wild animals.

so your nightmares of running through forests, from scary animals is genetic memory, memory we are born with.
i dont know how detailed this genetic memory is, but it is somthing i want to explore.

btw what i have just said is not bullcrap, i heard it on a documentary about dreaming.




one that same note, dreams have MUCH better access to our memory.

in waking life, a world is presented to us, light, sound etc. but when sleeping we have no world in which to 'practice', so our brain creates a world from our memories, and because all it has is our memories to create this world, it needs access to a LOT more of our memory than when in real life.
every book we read, every poster we see,gets locked away in our memory, and its only in our dream we can access it.
so if there are any science students out there, you will probably not have remembered all the equasions and facts you have studied of the top of your head, but if in a lucid dream, you conjour up Abert Einstien. he would be able to tell you all about every single piece of scientific material you have read.
or you could just conjour up any person, and ask him, what should i do in life, and you probaly havent figured that out yet (maybe you have, im 19 so i still havnt quite figured what i want out of life yet).
but subconciously you probably already know. and this dream character you have made, will have the answere.


please do not take this literaly, everyone is different.
hope that helps

You can use it to stop nightmares, solve problems, physically practice, do the impossible, and fulfill impossible wishes. Shall I go on?

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Originally Posted by inyourdreams

Dance with a barcode:

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Brilliant! :D

*added to my list of goals* It's now a race...On your marks, get set, GO !

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has anyone had a nightmare, where they run away from a wild animal, or running away in a forst/woodland.
well nightmares are your brain practicing for dangerous scenarios. but as a child we have not had enough experience to define what are the big dangers in life.

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That's why it's usually some Big Scary Darkness Thing ;)

pond weed that's a really interesting answer. In thoery, it very well should be possible to access our ancestors memories through dreams. However, when they have sexual intercourse, since that sperm isn't inside them anymore then they can't recieve the rest of their memories, right? So I guess according to that then there is a limit, but it's still pretty cool.



By the way, for another example, you could use FF9. I have never played assasins creed, but they have the memory thing involved in it close to the end of the game.

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why do we lucid dream?

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Why not?

I think lucid dreams use our imagination, something that as we grow older, most people lose touch of.

I think an even more interesting question should be why doesn't everybody lucid dream? Shouldn't developed minds be able to discern reality? Are those minds that can attain lucidity more developed than the average dreamer's?

I think it happens when are concious mind doesn't fully shut off like it normally does when we sleep and allows our subconcious mind to take control. It's like having both conciousness working at the same time, at least that's my theory.

As for why, as in why we do it (as if it were a choice)? I don't know. I don't set out to lucid dream, I just do. It just happens for me. Most of my dreams are lucid, and for as long as I can remember it's been that way.

About the chasing dreams:
I've never ran away from wild animals. I've always been chased by monsters.
I see it as me running away from something (obviously. Could be school, family issues, changes, relationships, fears, etc.) and my subconcious mind is playing it out for me because my concious mind might not be aware of it. Or maybe I am but my dreams are forcing me to face them.
I realized when I stopped running from these things and started fighting back. I stopped having them. I also figured out that pregnancy dreams for me often means change, growth, some sort of awakening, and/or birth of creativity.

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Originally Posted by eccentricity

I think an even more interesting question should be why doesn't everybody lucid dream? Shouldn't developed minds be able to discern reality? Are those minds that can attain lucidity more developed than the average dreamer's?

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Well, there is a theory that our subjunctive consciousness, i.e. having "I", is pretty recent development of human evolution. So it may that consciousness just did not took over dreams yet. Give it another thousand years.. :D

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Originally Posted by pond weed

has anyone played or heard of assasins creed.

its based on trying to unlock genetic memory, memory we are born with. supposedly me memories of our ancesstors, which have been locked away.

i thought it was a cool idea, but just fictional.
but there is some concept to genetic memory, probably not in as much detail as in assasins creed, but there is some:


has anyone had a nightmare, where they run away from a wild animal, or running away in a forst/woodland.
well nightmares are your brain practicing for dangerous scenarios. but as a child we have not had enough experience to define what are the big dangers in life.

until recently (500 years ago ish) man has hunted and lived in the wilderness, and one of natural habitats of ancient man was the forest.
so one if the biggest threats to man has been wild animals.

so your nightmares of running through forests, from scary animals is genetic memory, memory we are born with.
i dont know how detailed this genetic memory is, but it is somthing i want to explore.

btw what i have just said is not bullcrap, i heard it on a documentary about dreaming.




one that same note, dreams have MUCH better access to our memory.

in waking life, a world is presented to us, light, sound etc. but when sleeping we have no world in which to 'practice', so our brain creates a world from our memories, and because all it has is our memories to create this world, it needs access to a LOT more of our memory than when in real life.
every book we read, every poster we see,gets locked away in our memory, and its only in our dream we can access it.
so if there are any science students out there, you will probably not have remembered all the equasions and facts you have studied of the top of your head, but if in a lucid dream, you conjour up Abert Einstien. he would be able to tell you all about every single piece of scientific material you have read.
or you could just conjour up any person, and ask him, what should i do in life, and you probaly havent figured that out yet (maybe you have, im 19 so i still havnt quite figured what i want out of life yet).
but subconciously you probably already know. and this dream character you have made, will have the answere.


please do not take this literaly, everyone is different.
hope that helps

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You should look into photoreading. Google it or youtube it or something.
I can't/haven't tried to do it, but it seems like something you'd be interested in. You sort of "scan" your reading material without actually reading it to plant the information into your subconscious, and then learn to later retreive all of that information whenever you need to.