Thread: The realism of lucid dreams

One thing i recently enjoy doing when becoming lucid is just sitting back and admiring the surroundings and how real and vivid they appear. It never ceases to amaze me as i look around, still aware that im lying asleep in bed, but also awake in this other alternative 'reality'. Like having your own virtual reality device

A recent dream started off in my old bedroom in a place i used to live, this house always triggers a DILD as i soon realise i havent lived there for over 6 years. So i decide to look out the window and was amazed at how realistic everything appeared. The net curtain hanging up, the window sill painted blue, the street and paths below, the kids swings in the distance. It was almost an exact replica.

Its always fascinated me how the brain produces these amazing photo-realistic images during lucid dreams. How does it do it? Are they really as lifelike as they seem or is the unconscious brain tricked into thinking it looks that real?

Technically in a lucid dream you arent in an unconscious state of mind. You are in just about the same state of mind as when you are awake(except maybe a bit hornier). If it looks real, then i'm sure you could say yes, it looks as real as it looks.

As to the details of how the brain creates these images, i am unsure. As far as i know, the brain needs constant stimulation and experience so when you are asleep it creates dreams to stay occupied. Vividness depends on luck, rest, lucidity, etc(as far as i know)

Absolutely. Breath in the air. I spent some of my first lucids just marveling at the details. Take it slow. There is no hurry. Too many people rush off to complete goals and miss the fun of noticing those small details your mind create. They may miss the fun of just exploring. What's in that weird looking house? What is in this drawer? What is around the next corner? Any bugs under this rock? Take it slow.

Completing goals is fun too.

Originally Posted by yumester

Technically in a lucid dream you arent in an unconscious state of mind. You are in just about the same state of mind as when you are awake(except maybe a bit hornier). If it looks real, then i'm sure you could say yes, it looks as real as it looks.

As to the details of how the brain creates these images, i am unsure. As far as i know, the brain needs constant stimulation and experience so when you are asleep it creates dreams to stay occupied. Vividness depends on luck, rest, lucidity, etc(as far as i know)

Doesn't explain the 6.5 hours of mostly dreamless sleep the average person gets and slow wave sleep. Self-awareness plays a large role in vividness and clarity. There is a "spectrum of awareness".

Originally Posted by Requiem

Absolutely. Breath in the air. I spent some of my first lucids just marveling at the details. Take it slow. There is no hurry. Too many people rush off to complete goals and miss the fun of noticing those small details your mind create. They may miss the fun of just exploring. What's in that weird looking house? What is in this drawer? What is around the next corner? Any bugs under this rock? Take it slow.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever read on here.

I believe (but can't prove) that dreams are based off memories that cloud your subconscious mind. In my experience, I remember looking at a tree in a lucid dream and I noticed how detailed it was. Normally I wouldn't notice the things in real life but did in the dream such as the twigs holding each individual leave as the sun beat against it and the wind blowing on it. I noticed the detail of all the leaves that I have never payed attention to in real life, but apparently it got into my subconscious and I ended up having a dream about it.

If you ever heard of day-residue, approximately 1%-2% of our daily lives end up in our dreams, which would also explain this.

The mind of a child experiences everything for the first time and it is amazing. But as an adult, after you've seen a millions trees and associate everything with a memory, the mystery is gone. But in a lucid dream we are able to recapture that state of mind. Everything old is new again and it is amazing. And to reach maximum realism or clarity you need to silent the mind and be here now, which is something most people don't achieve while awake and certainly not while dreaming.

The mind is an amazing thing. My theory? Dreams are real.

I don't think your brain produces a subjective dream environment as opposed to viewing and objective waking environment. They are both experiences which are real as long as they last. We assume dreams are less real only because our society has labeled them as such.

There is no strong proof that they are not just being generated by the brain; however, as an individual you have access to two different realms of experience, each seeming equally as real while they last (waking and dreaming.) It is only your preconceptions that would label one as "more real."

Originally Posted by Tommo32

Its always fascinated me how the brain produces these amazing photo-realistic images during lucid dreams. How does it do it? Are they really as lifelike as they seem or is the unconscious brain tricked into thinking it looks that real?

The brain is producing images all the time, be it in the awake state or the dream state. Everything you experience via your senses right now, is being generated by your brain.

One of the theories for reality checks (as a conscious habit) carrying over into dreams, is that a habit is established during the waking state, and becomes sufficiently emdedded into the consciousness. Then when you're in a dream, that ingrained habit minefests itself.

Now consider you're awake for 10 - 15 hours each day, during which time your mind takes sensory input, and with that data, paints a picture for your conscious self. This action is such an ingrained habit, that when the sensory input of the waking realm is switched off, the brain tries to maintain that habit of reality generation and thus the dream arises.

You could speculate that the tendency of the brain to tap into a reality generating data stream (that which provides our sensory input) is also a habit. So that when we switch off the sensory input of this particular realm (go to sleep), the brain taps into another reality generating data stream.

Originally Posted by Tranquil Toad

I don't think your brain produces a subjective dream environment as opposed to viewing and objective waking environment. They are both experiences which are real as long as they last. We assume dreams are less real only because our society has labeled them as such.

Strange, isn't it - that just because an experience is generated by a different mechanism, it is deemed inferior, or less real. It would seem that any realm of experience with which a being interacts, and in which the lego of that beings nature is changed - is a valid and precious place.

Originally Posted by Tranquil Toad

I don't think your brain produces a subjective dream environment as opposed to viewing and objective waking environment. They are both experiences which are real as long as they last. We assume dreams are less real only because our society has labeled them as such.

There is no strong proof that they are not just being generated by the brain; however, as an individual you have access to two different realms of experience, each seeming equally as real while they last (waking and dreaming.) It is only your preconceptions that would label one as "more real."

That's pretty amazing to be honest. This will keep me thinking for days, haha!

Wow, that is pretty deep ^^.

-CV