This is getting disturbingly real

[lubeck]

Hi, This might seem strange to some of you. I just found out there was a thing called lucid dreaming. I have been "doing" it for several years. It first appeared after one of my close childhood friends died suddenly and I had her coming to me in dreams. And I kept getting more aware of it being dreams, because I always found little things that didn't add up, but then conciously made the decision to act like I didn't notice it because I didn't want her to disappear because then I couldn't talk to her. Now, a few years later, I can talk to pretty much anyone I want or a random dead person might appear and I can talk to the person like any regular person and ask them questions. I can do fairly complicated calculations in my dreams and they add up when I do them again when I'm awake. I get to "know" people inmy dreams that I have never seen before and yet I remember their name when I wake up (although the name sometimes seems like jibberish, it often contains an anagram for a quite regular name). I can look at computer screens see a part of some text and weirdly enough when I look again it's often still there when I look again. I remember color, design, locations, names, amounts, dates... The thing that disturbs me the most is the false awakening that usually follow these dreams (which I'm sad to say that I have every single night), and those false awakenings are so real and I never "start" the dream over before I find something that doesn't add up. I can be sitting and listening to a lecture (and remembering what it was about) and then find myself back in my bedroom because the professor said something that didn't add up. Sometimes I get scared that finally my false awakenings will reach "perfection" and I won't wake up. I know it's silly, but you propably know what I mean. Since this isn't really a desired ability, for me at least, how can I get rid of it, or use it in a less scary way? And how can I get the "darkness" and "heavy" atmosphere out of the dreams?

[.jared.]

Do you do RC's directly after waking up all the time? If its getting really realistic, i would suggest doing some crazy ones. And multiple ones at the same time. Maybe try to make a habit of checking to see if you are dreaming whenever you wake up.

[nina]

This reminds me of the movie Waking Life.

[.jared.]

Originally posted by Aquanina This reminds me of the movie Waking Life. haha it really does. Good flick.

[Glorfindel_III]

Many of us hear at DreamViews would love to have some of the ablities you have with dream control, vividness and other things, i think you have a huge opportunity to explore the dream world and test boundries which some of us are just unable to get to. This may be tough because you do see the dream world as so 'real'. If you were able to enter a state of mind almost like the matrix where you can create anything you want, alter the reality around you I believe you could have a lot of fun with your dreams. Just something to think about

[LunarMoon]

That's impossible due to the fact that your brain regulates how many hours of sleep you can get. You wouldn't be trapped in the dream for more than a few hours regardless of which techniques you use. However, it is possible to abruptly end a lucid dream by willing it. I'll post a few methods in the morning.

[Steohawk]

Many of us hear at DreamViews would love to have some of the ablities you have with dream control, vividness and other things, i think you have a huge opportunity to explore the dream world and test boundries which some of us are just unable to get to. This may be tough because you do see the dream world as so 'real'.[/b] Isn't this what seperates a true lucid dream from a semi-lucid dream? If the dream doesn't feel close to "real", then it is basically just a vivid dream. I have had dreams where I'm aware that I'm dreaming, but I don't actually become lucid. I may have some degree of control, but my higher brain functions aren't present. The goal of lucid dreaming is not just to realize that you're dreaming, but to be fully aware of the dream. You will then be able to control yourself just like IRL, but the irony is that it's hard to do "unreal" things because you can't do them IRL.

[O-Nieronaut]

Srtictly speaking, a lucid dream is a dream in which you know that you're dreaming. As far as I'm concerned, knowing that you're dreaming, and dreaming about knowing that you're dreaming are the same exact thing. There are different levels of lucidity, true. Perhaps you realize that you're dreaming, but don't grasp the concept that nothing is real; there are no consequences. Dream control is a seperate issue altogether. I have plenty of lucid dreams that I can't control.

[Steohawk]

I just read BillyBob's guide to "real" lucid dreaming: http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic....der=asc&start=0 Here's what I understand now. After you realize that you are dreaming, become lucid, there are two factors to consider: realism and control. If you use BillyBob's guide, you're dreams should be as real as RL, or at least close. You're mind won't be foggy anymore, and you will be in full control of yourself. Control of your surroundings is a different matter however. It seems that lubeck doesn't need BillyBob's guide, but that doesn't mean that we can't have dreams as real as his. It just comes more naturally to him.

[Glorfindel_III]

I'm aware that I'm dreaming, but I don't actually become lucid. [/b] ........k I think i know what you're talking about, but that's just the different levels of lucidity. The way that lubek discribed the amount of control he had on the dream environment is the part that I meant we would all love to have.

[Leo Volont]

Dear Lubeck, I recognized your flag. Once when I was traveling in India I met up with a tour group from Denmark -- some of the nicest people I ever met in my life. But down to business... False Awakenings are the Dream Minds way of trying to shake you off of an excessive Lucid Control. You see, while an occassional incursion of Ordinary Consciousness into the Domains of the Dream Persona are tolerable and even desireable, helping to integrate the Waking and Dreaming Personas into one Spiritual Unity, still, when the Waking Persona attempts to totally monopolize Dreaming, stifling the Dream Persona and obstructing the Dream Minds ability to pass along useful Dream Content, then the Dream Mind defends its territory with False Awakenings. Although the message couldn't be clearer, that is , to BACK OFF, it seems that most Lucid Dreamers only find the phenomena as an added challenge and attempt to swap various Techniques for dealing with it just like dealing with all other aspects of Dreaming. But the BACK OFF message is probably serious. many Lucid Dreamers subsequently report that after they had chronically ignored the False Awakening Warning, the Dream Mind's next step was to totally cut off Dreaming, either by actually cutting off Dreaming, or by cutting off any ability for Dream Recall.

[dreamlyn]

Hi Lubeck I do know how you feel because I have had these experience all of what you have mentioned at one time or another through out my life. What has helped me is to always relax and let the dream state take over even though many times I am scared. It is usually when I relax I can make myself wake up. But many times I do fall back into a dream thinking I am awake I can't stand when that happens. I do have different stages of sleep I will not mention them all. In one stage I am sort of lucid and it's hard to keep it. I fall in and out of the dreaming state, lucid to dreaming back and forth. In this state I see people I know who are no longer alive and I can't recall every detail. Another state is my lucid state I am totally lucid, everything is extremely clear and I remember ever single detail in the same memory recall as when I am awake. These are the dreams I am able to draw out in detail. I have tons of floor plans I have drawn to places I have never seen and I know can't exist. I have also drawn faces of people I do not know. One person a man I am frequently trying to save or find when I become aware I am lucid I have him drawn in many different angles. So freaky at how real he seems in the dreams. I see a lot of art and music in my lucid states which fuel my imagination in my waking life. I even have done mathematical problems in my head in a lucid state that have helped me in my Algebra classes and better understand it when I wake up. There are usually four to five thought processes I go throught when I do dream. I just don't lucid dream. My favorate dreams are when they are good which are fewer than more are the lucid ones. I wonder what type of people have the most lucid dreams?