Thread: Just How Vivid Can Lucid Dreams Get?

Well if you mistake it for reality, then it's no longer a lucid dream, right?

But anyway, they can be very vivid, more vivid than real life even. Try out some lucidity/clarity increasing techniques next time you're lucid.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Well if you mistake it for reality, then it's no longer a lucid dream, right?

But anyway, they can be very vivid, more vivid than real life even. Try out some lucidity/clarity increasing techniques next time you're lucid.

I intend to, if I can ever have an LD where I have enough free will and control (and one that lasts long enough) to actually use the vividness- and clarity-increasing techniques. Oh well, practice practice practice, as they say.

You'd be surprised at how realistic they can be. My most effective clarity technique is to stop what I'm doing and stare at my hands for a little bit. They come into focus to where I can see my fingerprints, and even they sometimes magnify into deep crevices. Usually, after I've grounded myself, I will lower my hands and look around. Everything that used to be a blur, when I was initially dreaming, suddenly comes into hi-definition. It's amazing; not a blur or blemish, just complete, visual perfection. It's hard not to just stand there and stare, in awe, sometimes.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

You'd be surprised at how realistic they can be. My most effective clarity technique is to stop what I'm doing and stare at my hands for a little bit. They come into focus to where I can see my fingerprints, and even they sometimes magnify into deep crevices. Usually, after I've grounded myself, I will lower my hands and look around. Everything that used to be a blur, when I was initially dreaming, suddenly comes into hi-definition. It's amazing; not a blur or blemish, just complete, visual perfection. It's hard not to just stand there and stare, in awe, sometimes.

Thanks! That's exactly what I was hoping to hear!

Most of mine are pretty vivid, but with a sort of haze so you can tell it's a dream. But one of my lucids had PERFECT clarity. It looked EXACTLY like real life, and if I wasn't so aware then I would have thought it was real.

I've only had one lucid that I know was a lucid dream, and I wasn't able to keep a hold of it long enough to play around with it, or keep clarity. The lucidity I had been able to play with was going back to the start when things were fading. It was as if my mind was creating a world, and with me aware of it being a dream, my mind was only able to create a little at a time. I would go past the created part, and the dream faded. I would think myself back at the begining and start again, getting a little further, and it would fade again. After 3 times of bringing myself back, it was gone. I've gone out of practice of even recording my remembered dreams, so it may be a while for me to get back to my goal of lucid dreams, and I hope I can get some as realistically life like as some of my non lucid dreams.

Yes i believe tarrant is right. You would probably lose lucidity in that case lol. But i had my first real deal last night and it was every bit as real as my waking life. I just knew i was dreaming and kept myself confident knowing that i could control everything. The memory feels so real that i cant believe i cant fly in real life!

They can be as vivid as real life, though I've never experienced that. I'm in the same position as you, I really wish my LDs were more solid and vivid.

Just like everyone else has said...

I've had dreams that i thought were real life. I've woken up and been VERY confused. Like, i thought "how did i get home from my aunt's house?" or "What happened, did i black out? Why am i in bed?" and such.

LD's can be as vivid and realistic as waking life and thats why we do reality checks, to bring us back from our dream into lucidity so that we can control the direction of the dream.

I have had the trifecta, one after the other, Dreamed, became lucid, opened my eyes and saw reality (whilst still asleep, although I could not move my eyes, SP) back to dream, lucidity etc.
Now that was an experience....

Thanks to everyone for their replies and advice! Very encouraging!

At my most highest of awarness and control within a lucid dream it is very vivd every touch ,smell is a real as being awake. Though, you are lucid so your know that it's not reality but when you're in the moment there is no difference.

I have alot of lucids which are extremely vivid and seem just as real as real.

Originally Posted by Asymptote

I've had a couple of lucid dreams, but they pale in comparison to some of the experience reports by the more accomplished LDers. I just wondered: how vivid can a lucid dream get? Is it possible to have one that's vivid enough that it might be mistaken for reality?

Just wondering.

I just had a lucid last night (one that finally broke my dry spell! ) anyway, after examining my hands, it became so realistic that I was almost emberassed about asking my friend something about a portal because I wondered if I was really dreaming or awake. It was my most vivid ld yet, so I did 2 reality checks before I was certain.

lol lagunagirl your quote is hilarious

They can sometimes make reality look dull.

I finally bought LaBerge's book (Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming), and I'm quite pleased with what I'm learning. I hadn't considered the possibility that LD's could be "realer" than reality. Now I've got all the motivation I need! Thanks to everyone for all the new replies!

Lucid Dreams can definitely be more vivid than real life.Like one time i was in my room and i couldn't tell whether it a dream or real life. Until I notice that some of the stuff weren't mine but they were so real. By then i was lucid, i tried getting out but i was stuck in my room when i went to the hall a magnetic force pulled me back to my room . But i was smarter why try the door when u have a window lol i escaped through the window. I had tried to pass through the wall by charging it but it was like in real life and i couldn't. But the window worked lol!!! Great way of getting out of ur room window...!!

It happens all the time. People wake up confuse and unsure of where they are because the dreaming is as real as this place. The only reason you prioritize this reality is because you end up here most of the time.

Originally Posted by Asymptote

I've had a couple of lucid dreams, but they pale in comparison to some of the experience reports by the more accomplished LDers. I just wondered: how vivid can a lucid dream get? Is it possible to have one that's vivid enough that it might be mistaken for reality?

Just wondering.

Well, this response is going to be redundant since I'm so late to the party. I'll confirm that LDs can be as vivid as anything you can imagine. But don't confuse "vivid" with "mistaken for reality". Even in our most NON-lucid dreams, we routinely mistake fantasy for reality. And it's worth noting that our non-lucid dreams are often far from vivid in any sense of the word. So "vivid" and "seemingly real" aren't aways the same. The real distinguishing factors gravitate around whether you're lucid and how lucid you are. From there you can make things as vivid as your skill level (luck of the draw, in many cases) permits.

In a lucid dream, things can be anywhere on the realism scale. Everything can seem even more vivid than real life. The sights, sounds, smells, and every other aspect can seem superhuman in perceptual intensity. It usually only requires actually paying conscious attention for things to become more solid, more vivid and larger than life.

Originally Posted by Ronstek

LD's can be as vivid and realistic as waking life and thats why we do reality checks, to bring us back from our dream into lucidity so that we can control the direction of the dream.

And we do RCs to allow us to distinguish external reality from dreams. That right there tells you just how convincingly realistic non-lucid dreams are. Even when they aren't realistic at all they are still highly convincing or they wouldn't be non-lucid.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Try out some lucidity/clarity increasing techniques next time you're lucid.

Bless my soul, I didn't even know such techniques existed! Well, I know about the hand rubbing one, but that's it. Any other techniques?

Originally Posted by hankwheels

Bless my soul, I didn't even know such techniques existed! Well, I know about the hand rubbing one, but that's it. Any other techniques?

Yeh this is the technique i use all the time to great effect. My lucid can be very blurry and then i shout out increase clarity or increase lucidity and the lucid can completely transform into a crystal clear lucid dream.

It can work wonders.

Yeah shouting out "clarity" or "im dreaming" usually does it for me. Have tried taking a clarity "pill" once. But that had the opposite effect.

Just out of curiousity does anyone have any techniques for increasing dreaming intensity?

The only thing that seems to work for me is to have more intense experiences during the day to increase the intensity of my dreams at night. I feel that my dreaming awareness is a reflection of my waking life.

for example:

-doing things which frighten me
-going to an intense club/ party scene
-meeting with friends