"Sentient" dream people

[Iain]

Ahoy. I've been lucid dreaming all my life, but I only learned around age 10 that other people generally don't experience lucidity in dreams. Or, probably more common, they don't realize what the experience was or remember it in the morning, and they certainly don't talk about it. I used to actively practice the exploration and adventure aspect of lucid dreaming. Flying came naturally, and is now the normal way in which I move in dreams... I can't remember the last time I actually noticed having legs in a dream, or tried to use them. I just kind-of float everywhere. Summoning people or changing my surroundings were always harder, but possible. At around 18 I stopped actively pursuing lucid dreaming. At the time I had an illness that interfered with my sleeping, and I don't remember dreaming much at all. There were times where I felt like I hadn't dreamed in two years. Once I hit twenty three, or thereabouts, the dreams had come back to normal frequency, but they were different now. The lucidity was different in that I wasn't trying to attain the same level of consciousness as when I'm awake. In fact, I wasn't trying to be conscious at all, but I was. In all my dreams now I know that I'm in a dream (even if I'm not conscious in the same way I am while I'm awake) and all my "dream powers" come standard. (One of my newest "powers" is the ability to reshape / resize objects. If I ever need something, I pick up a grain of sand or a pebble and form it into the object I need, no matter how complicated.) That's all background info. I've always known that the "people" in my dreams only know so much as myself (though they also have the same ability to be creative that I have, and can, technically, be the instruments through which I provide myself with insights). That's just the thing, they are parts of my mind. Try telling that to one of them, though! Last year sometime I tried that, and it didn't go over so well. It's a little bit more complicated than just being part of my mind, they are projections of everything that I know about people. So when I told this dream person that he was simply part of my mind, and that he should therefore go along with my plan, he responded how I would expect a person like him to. He told me I was full of shit, and to bugger off. This last year I've had a lot of fallout from that experience. Put together the fact that people in my dreams have access to all my knowledge (they know everything I know), and that a 45 year old man in my dreams thinks and reacts how I would expect a 45 year old man to think and react. Now you have people who know that they're dream images yet who still act like people. Last week I was having a dream which was otherwise ordinary and unremarkable (except being able to read several lines of text, I'm getting better at that, I think). At one point I passed by a woman (a dream "extra", in other words not someone from real life or an important person in the dream). I walked up to her, said hello, etc., and tried to kiss her. She turned away and refused, saying that she was nothing to me except another dream conquest, and that I'd be off with some other floozy the next night - that I wasn't really in love with her. Confused, I responded that she was a dream, a part of my mind. She countered that it was just as much her mind as it was mine. I've never been so shamed by anyone, real or imaginary. This is a trend which is becoming more pronounced in my dreams, though the word "sentient" in the title is just hyperbole. I'm a little curious and excited to see how autonomous different parts of my mind will become in these dreams.. I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience with anything similar.

[Shift]

You'll probably be very interested in this post, even though it's not of a lucid dream. I've never really had experiences like this because once I'm lucid, though they are projections of people I know, they are still just my very own hallucinations. Maybe I just haven't reached that level yet? *shrug*

[Robot_Butler]

Confused, I responded that she was a dream, a part of my mind. She countered that it was just as much her mind as it was mine. I've never been so shamed by anyone, real or imaginary. That is an interesting point. Especially considering we often play a role of a character in a dream. Even in lucid dreams, we are rarely 100% ourselves. When we dream, we are really creating a Dream Character that we can inhabit. Then we create other DCs to interact with. The only real distinction is where we place our point of view at the moment. Which character we are inhabiting at that second.

[Conkt]

She countered that it was just as much her mind as it was mine. That's pretty interesting, and even a bit funny. Perhaps she was just trying to trick you out of lucidity. The mind, for some reason, does not want you to become lucid. I've been on Dream Views for almost a year now, and even though I'm not the most experienced of lucid dreamers, I've noticed this trend quite a lot. Whenever I tell DCs that they don't exist, they either get mad or say I'm an idiot. A funny story I once read here on DV was someone was trying to WILD. It was her second attempt of the night, her previous attempt being foiled by a hallucination of her mother telling her to get up. As she became very close to completing the WILD, deep into SP, she heard a voice say "...bollocks." and she burst out laughing, ruining her progress. It's very strange. Does anyone know why the brain is so biased against lucidity? Is it that bad for your liver?

[firereaction]

That's pretty interesting, and even a bit funny. Perhaps she was just trying to trick you out of lucidity. The mind, for some reason, does not want you to become lucid. I've been on Dream Views for almost a year now, and even though I'm not the most experienced of lucid dreamers, I've noticed this trend quite a lot. Whenever I tell DCs that they don't exist, they either get mad or say I'm an idiot. A funny story I once read here on DV was someone was trying to WILD. It was her second attempt of the night, her previous attempt being foiled by a hallucination of her mother telling her to get up. As she became very close to completing the WILD, deep into SP, she heard a voice say "...bollocks." and she burst out laughing, ruining her progress. It's very strange. Does anyone know why the brain is so biased against lucidity? Is it that bad for your liver? hmm it seems as if the brain wants it to be in control this time becase when you are awake you are always in control

[Shift]

What is this liver nonsense? My DCs are always helping me get lucid. They have no problem with me becoming lucid, except for maybe one or two of them. Last night I had a DC tell me to check my hands.

[Conkt]

What is this liver nonsense? I once read a news report that said lucid dreaming was bad for your liver. This is based on the fact that your liver undergoes some cleaning process during REM sleep (or something like that) however, the report was completely wrong.

[Shift]

Any links to the news source, who did the study, what the exact results were, etc.? Exactly what critical change in REM sleep did self-awareness from lucidity cause to completely interrupt this liver cleansing process? And what about NREM lucid dreams? If it's completely wrong, why even mention it? You know newbies will take it and run How do you know it was completely wrong? Who showed that it was right or wrong?

[Conkt]

I can't find the report, sorry. Someone posted a link to it here on DV a couple months back. I meant it as a joke, referencing it for a laugh. There's no way being aware that you're dreaming could affect vital organ processes.

[Shift]

I can't find the report, sorry. Someone posted a link to it here on DV a couple months back. I meant it as a joke, referencing it for a laugh. There's no way being aware that you're dreaming could affect vital organ processes. Like your brain? Or your heart? Or your lungs? Or eyes even.

[Conkt]

Damnit, Shift. You win.