Thread: My Consciousness Has Become Too Perfect

Hmm, really in some ways I'm jealous.. But I can see your problem. If it was me I would take a little break from the lucids maybe. There's nothing wrong with good, old fashioned random dreams. Or maybe you could turn the tables around, if it feels like a TV then make it a TV production. Make your dream some sort of movie or something. Hell, you could even visit the world of a movie. It sounds like you have the opportunity to do some good dream research. You could try honing some skills in dream control, master shapeshifting or something?

Honestly, I don't bother with trying to lucid dream anymore unless I realize an opportunity for DEILD-- then I go all out. My RCing has finally paid off for my DILDs, so its hard to take a break when I am not trying to induce them (well, I do tell myself "I will get lucid" each night, and expect it. I'm sure that helps hugely). I'll try and turn the situation around... but it sucks a little right now.

BillyBob cautioned against this sort of phony feel in one of his dream control tuts. I would recommend trying to tone your lucidity down a bit. Just go "I'm dreaming" and launch into something that consumes your attention. Fight a massive dragon. Go one-on-one with your shadow self. Unleash enough power to destroy the planet. Just stay occupied. Don't think about it. Make your dream a reality.

I don't have much to contribute here other than saying this problem is rather fascinating. It's certainly a level I've never managed to achieve and like kevojy I'm a little jealous. That said, have you tried pushing the limits of your dream control? Try doing things impossible for lucid novices like summoning tornadoes to crash through cities, conjuring up a town or field you plan ahead of time or use your dream to compose music and/or come up with ideas for any given artistic passion. It may all be superficial but there's always some new idea to try or some boundary to push.

Maybe you're latching onto the "wow, everything seems so real" thoughts too much and your dream subtly shifts towards a point where it seems like you're an outside observer. I think it's less your state of consciousness, and more that the dream is changing based on what you're thinking about and reflecting on.

Thanks for your input. I'm going to try both toning my lucidity down, and also see if I can do something really creative with the consciousness.
Nobody should feel jealous here. I genuinely believe everything in the dream world can be learned and mastered by every human being.

Originally Posted by Loaf

Am I becoming so aware I am losing the ablity to be immersed in the dream?

That's what it sounds like. I've seen LDers slowly become against the idea of lucidity just because they were no longer experiencing the immersion. Being aware of this sense of 'fakeness' around them made them feel separate from their reality all the time, as if they were constantly awake and never sleeping. From what it seems, it was never a desirable thing, which is also the case with you. Although LDs are wonderful, one should never take for granted the non-lucid dream, as they allow the dreamer to experience other worlds as if they were as "real" as this one. My advice? Learn to think less on command, or "lull out" as I call it. It's the opposite of focusing on something. Every now and then you should try to forget what you're thinking about and let things drift in your mind, and that way, if you wanted to, you can even drop lucidity and fall back into a regular dream.

Not sure I fully get you here.

So your LDs can be just as real as waking life, correct?

And you are so conscious in the dream state that you can just stare at all the details, but because you know it isn't real it begins to look fake.

However, since LDs can simulate waking life perfectly, it only starts to look fake because you focused on the idea that it wasn't real.

Lucid dreams always reflect your inner state. Perhaps what is happening is that the idea of "fakeness" precedes the dream starting to look fake. The dream conforms to your expectation and becomes less immersive.

If all of your senses work perfectly (under ideal dream conditions,) then any idea of it being not real is just something that you have brought to the table do to expectations that dreams are less real than waking life.

I always saw dreams as an alternate dimension without any value judgment on their reality vs waking life, so while I can be very conscious in a LD if I am lucky, I have never run into this problem.

That's an interesting prediciment Loaf. Sounds like you have become TOO good at lucid dreaming lol. I think I am too inexperienced to offer any good advice, but if you don't mind me asking, how long has it taken you to get that good at it?

I think Tranquil Toad said it best. If you're stuck on the idea that because it's in a dream it isn't real, then your going to run into this problem. Try envisioning dreams as being as real as waking life, like another world or something, rather than telling yourself "Oh this is just a dream, it's not real."

Thing was, I wasn't focusing too much on the fact it was fake. I was focusing on details in the dream, amazed at how realistic certain things looked (as usually we don't appreciate detail in reality). I suppose subconsciously, that could have fueled the idea everything was fake and unreal, which lead to the issue.

Can't say this happens to me all the time, but I can recall at least once that I experienced what you're talking about, Loaf.

Don't know if this helps or not, but what fixed it for me was to do reality checks that I intended to fail. See, if the problem is that you are too lucid to experience the dream in a satisfactory way, wouldn't it make sense to simply create the reverse effect of an RC on your mind? Make it less convinced that it's a dream? Since I subconsciously knew that I was trying to make myself slightly less lucid, I never totally lost lucidity (it's kind of an oxymoron) so I don't think it's even that dangerous.

[Edit:] When I had posted this, I'd only read a few of the responses so, after going back a bit, I know I've rehashed on a few things that were already said. Oh well. [/Edit]

I think your problem might be that you're dwelling too much on the "this isn't real" aspect of lucid dreaming, and less on the environment, itself. I don't think it's a matter of your consciousness becoming too "perfect", at all. Quite the opposite. I think that your consciousness is becoming more "trivial." It is replacing fascination by the dreamworld with a more cold and indifferent "meh, none of this is real, so it really doesn't matter" line of thinking. You seem to be losing your ability to just "go with it" and, instead, you're detaching yourself from the environment because you can't get over the fact that it's not real.

It's much like the people who can't enjoy superhero movies because "that wouldn't happen in real life" - or people that thing "video games are for kids", simply because they are fantasy.

I agree with Mario. Walking around and exploring your dream world is just not doing it for you, at this point in time. You need a reason to "get into" the scene. Start thinking up some adventure scenarios to try out while you're dreaming. What's something that would get your blood pumping, if you ever got to do it in waking life? Do some of those things while lucid, and don't dwell on the fact that "none of this is real." Dwell on the fact that "I know I'm dreaming, but this is fucking amazing!"

Good advice. Thanks.