Thread: Why does everyone fly in dreams?

Its pretty common for people to want to be able to fly IWL. Maybe its the freedom.

My theory is this...

Did you ever watch in the behind the scenes on a DVD for a CGI animated movie? You know when they show the "animatic", or the early pre-visualization they do before they start the actual animation, just to check basic timing etc?

Usually it's just real basic... they just have human-shaped rectangular block-men (or talking-animal-shaped, or whatever) and they just slide around, go right through walls etc... then once the basic movement is approved by the director, the 6 producers and all their nephews etc, the animators begin the painstaking work of sitting in their cubicles for 27 hours a day rendering all the details and the secondary movements.

In a sense I think of the brain as a sort of organic computer. I know, the brain is NOT a computer, but at times it performs similar functions... in dreams for instance it has to render out environments and characters in realtime, just like a video game processor. And if you think about it, it's just a lot EASIER to have a character fly around rather than adding in all the secondary movements of arms and legs etc, and to make sure it's attached to the ground... that's all extras.

Maybe flying happens when the brain's processor is overloaded, like when it's busy downloading a bootleg of the latest Hollywood blockbuster... ?

its just something a lot of people would love to be able to do in real life

Because you have the freedom to go anywhere you want with the power of flying!

I think it's a freedom thing. Flying seems to be the most at hand and accessible means of liberating oneself from gravity. It adds another dimension to life. It allows one much more potential when it comes to traveling, more to see, and is easier to wrap the mind around. By burrowing we'd be making travel a good deal slower and removing the sensation of looking down on huge landscapes. We can still do this for fun anyways, it just isn't on the top of our list of things to do. Teleportation is also not a "natural" thing, as in we do not observe physical organisms doing this in the real world, so it also does not occur to us to try this immediately. Humanity, I think, has been obsessed with the idea of flight from the moment we were aware of the other animals that could fly.

Well, because it's so much fun. It's such an easy way to get around and the views are spectacular.

I don't really have many non Lucid flying dreams because I usually get Lucid once airborne.

I was watching some special a long time ago about why we enjoy thrill rides, and how it relates to being in the womb. Sensation humans get from being on a swing ect ect, but I totally forgot how it all related.

Personally, I've always had a lot of dreams about flying in the past that triggered lucidity before I even knew what the term was. It was more or less a natural transition to keep doing something that occurred in my dreams.

Originally Posted by JamesLD

its just something a lot of people would love to be able to do in real life

Bang on. I would love to fly IRL if it's possible, so, flying in an LD would be the next best thing

I'd like to fly in a Lucid Dream one day, but for the most part I think I'd like to run super fast and be able to jump over things. Parkour over Miami Skyscrapers ftw.

Originally Posted by BigFan

Bang on. I would love to fly IRL if it's possible, so, flying in an LD would be the next best thing

But why do we want to do it in real life?

I'd love to fly in real life because it'd be a hella lot cheaper than buying an airplane ticket, and I wouldnt have to sit near Mr/Mrs Chatterbox for 8 hours.

Well...because flying is fucking awesome.

Think about it, though, it's the ultimate freedom, to be able to move wherever you choose. Gravity is the only law that applies to us and affects us ( read: limits us) 100% 24/7 no matter who and where you are, so it seems logical that it would be one of the first we would want to break when we find ourselves in a world without rules...a world where anything is possible

[/Matrix] also just for the excitement of it, for whatever reason it seems to be a very fun and exciting thing to do.

Probably the most influential factor, though, is simply the fact that it's the steriotypical LD activity, possibly the most discussed (at least one of the most), thus it's one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of what to do in a LD.

Sure flying is freedom! But theres lots of ways we can be free in a dream! Running as fast as sonic! Swimming like dolphin! Theres also how you fly too. Most people start off as floaters. But how many people have grown wings and taken the air like an eagle?

Or a dragon?

If you look at the average dreamer and how they average dreamer flies, one, they're not flying very fast. Two, they're not flying very high! Three, they don't have wings. Four, they're floating! Sometimes even just drifting.

My answer? Because our consciousness is a point of consciousness! We're not arms, we're not legs, we're not a torso. In some dreams we have a solid dream body that mimics our waking body. But in many dreams, especially earlier dreams of the night, we don't! Strip us away from our dream body and were just a point of consciousness.

As you, a point consciousness, move around in the dream you've got no feet attached to the floor. So this sensation of moving around as a pure point of consciousness, it feels like floating! Have you ever floated at your eye level? A lot of people first float at the eye level before they learn to fly. Technically they were 'walking', except they didn't have a solid dream body so it felt like floating.

What happens is, you realize you're feet aren't touching the floor! Technically, you might not have any, but who's looking down to double check? Then you logically think you're flying! Thinking that you are flying, you transform the natural movement of consciousness as a floating point into flight!

Now you're not just drifting or bobbing up and down! You can really gain some speed, bring back the dream body, grow some wings. It takes a more advanced dreamer to take this natural movement of our consciousness and transform into real flying!

Well, that's my theory anyways


Of course, after flying for the first time in a dream, you know you can fly again the next time. And you can easily start flying even with as solid dream body.

Originally Posted by Supernova

Probably the most influential factor, though, is simply the fact that it's the steriotypical LD activity, possibly the most discussed (at least one of the most), thus it's one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of what to do in a LD.

Most dream fliers flew when they were little, long before they knew what a LD was. Long before anyone told them they could fly in dreams!

Oh hells yeah Juroara, great answer!!! The first time I flew in a dream (that I can remember) I was running through a bunch of yards that sloped slightly downhill and jumping over waist-high fences set up like hurdles. After a while it got tiring always picking up my feet and putting them back down, so I just picked them up and kept them up as I drifted over fence after fence.

That was at eye level. But I've flown SO many different ways... and other modes of travel similar to flying but hard to describe. Once I went lucid in a dream and told my friend we could fly and we started swooping along about a half inch ovee the ground as if we were sliding over oiled glass... or like there was a layer of invisible ball bearings over the ground. Our bodies completely conformed to the contours of the ground... it was awesome!!

And of course there are the "getting hung up in power lines" dreams, and the "flying super-high and super-fast but can't really make out details below you" dreams (low poly count renders I guess). Once I was sitting on a swingset and I reached up and lifted the chains off of the hooks and by lifting upward I could pull myself higher, by tilting the chains forward I moved forward, and I could steer by moving one forward more than the other. That was really cool!!

So many more... way too many to list here.

Originally Posted by Loaf

But why do we want to do it in real life?

As mentioned, we are limited by gravity but the idea is just exhilarting to me at least. I love birds and always wondered what it would be like to fly like one. Unlike others, I can't recall flying in any of my previous dreams, so, ya, my reasons at least

Because we are luminous-beings,
Sent from High,
Bound in bodies,
Doomed to die.

my mind kind of somehow knew it could feel around for a certain spot, prepare a certain way, have a certain background to float away then accellerate up, and move with it.

definitely like the wind as I go. Of course, its not cold, even though Im like several hundred feet up or more [when I get the chance]. I cant make it happen that often, yet anyway.

woke up feeling very light thats a payoff for the coming day.

whats weird though is, I never remember coming back down, or if I do, its usually into a whole other dream almost immediately. Hm.

Because humans have a lot of envy, and they just can't let the poor birds/bats fly their way and want to do it too! Either that or the freedom, I bet the first, still don't get why flying is popular, the cold air, difficulty to breath, the insects... so annoying <.<

because i grew up watching Dragon Ball Z

According to the hitchhiker's guide, all you have to do is miss the ground to fly, and not recognise the fact that you're doing so or that you just missed the ground.

But back in subject, i guess i agree with most of what people posted here. Yes, flying is the ultimate freedom. So why not do it in a dream? Especially in a lucid dream But for me, once i get to LD, i'll try to morph into a dragon or something, and not to fly (well if i turn in a dragon i can fly can't i?)

I agree with the consensus. It's pretty much a matter of freedom. As legged creatures, I think it's natural for us to feel a bit "grounded" (no pun intended). Couple this with the "go-anywhere" mobility of flight, and that wonderful adrenaline rush we get out of things like being far from the ground, and zooming about at high speeds, and flying becomes a pretty damn sexy way of getting around.

Originally Posted by WakingNomad

Why is flying in dreams so common? We could burrow into the ground, change into an animal, run at super fast speeds, eat inedible objects, but we always seem to "naturally" fly in dreams.

The reason I want to fly in dreams is the freedom it brings, not being restrained by the laws of gravity, free to fly with the birds and go anywhere I choose.