Thread: The meaning of the word conscious in lucid dreaming???

I think there's some truth to both.

What you're saying is basically that you become "aware" in a dream - the word conscious simply meaning aware. What your friend is saying is that the actual conscious mind, which is non-functional in normal dreaming, kicks in and "goes online".

Well the whole reason you're able to become aware that you're dreaming is in fact because some part of your conscious mind does kick in. Not all of it - that would just be called waking up - But some circuitry that's usually offline while you're asleep does switch on, allowing you access to unusual levels of awareness and logic in the dream state.

The dream content is largely a product of your unconscious. If you become lucid though, you will be able to be conscious inside it. Depending on the level of lucidity, you may be more or less aware of your purposes and/or that the world in front of you is merely a production of your own mind.

In early stages, the person seems to be able to realize she is dreaming, but not what that fully implies. This is why people have to practice control: they need to work on being conscious that everything is possible due the nature of the place. In my point of view, dream control is just the next step of becoming more and more conscious that you are in a dream.

Ok. Thanx
I thought the concious is always turned on in dreams.
And you just become aware your dreaming.
But I dunno.

Originally Posted by Qwer

Ok. Thanx
I thought the concious is always turned on in dreams.
And you just become aware your dreaming.
But I dunno.

are you thinking of conscience or conscious?

I think Darkmatters nailed it there. Dreamers often accept dream absurdities to be logical and true. When you dream, there is something missing there, a part of you is switched off because you so readily and BLINDLY accept what leans more towards the abstract while the outlandish plots you are involved in are not questioned. You might even believe that you are someone else and have different memories in a dream...self-awareness is often absent. Upon awakening though, people often realise how absurd their dreams were.

When you are lucid though, things are very different. Your analytical side kicks in. You are self-aware just like you are in wakefulness. Lucid dreaming has a lot more in common with wakefulness than actual dreaming. You are consciously aware in the world of the mind. Your brain is basically translating thoughts, memories, concepts, imagination and a mixture of all (how creativity forms) in the same manner that it translates sensory input from reality during wakefulness.

The reality in lucid dreams is often hyper-real and this may be due to the fact that the "data" perceived has not had to travel through the nerves from the sensory receptors in our bodies (which might dampen our perception of reality during wakefulness), but rather, the data is already there (in the cerebral cortex) and merely accessed. Our mental playdoh is either showing us what is on the outside by translating those signals or it is showing us what has been stored and created inside (like accessing files in a computer system).

For lack of a better word, when you are lucid, you are awake in dreamland. In that state, you are very much aware of the illusory nature of the reality that surrounds you. You are no longer gullible like you were when you were being chased by a werewolf and thought it was all real. In lucidity, you know that your physical body is lying in bed while you are free to perambulate the realm of the mind. In lucid dreams, belief-barriers can be broken and one can attain more control.

Whatever we experience, be it dream or reality, it is always a mental model. The mental model we perceive during wakefulness is a translation of the external world. The waking mental model will therefore be congruent with what happens in reality unless, of course, we take mind-altering substances. In lucid dreams, we are free to manipulate whatever mental model we have created for ourselves and therein lies the fun.

I hope this helps.

Conciouse to me means that you know the nature of the reality your in.