Was I Lucid? (the Answer To The Question Noobs Keep Asking)

One of the topics I see most often on the forum is a noob asking the question Was I Lucid? The answer seems to be yes 99% of the time, and seeing these posts gets extremely annoying. Lucid dreaming is defined as knowing that you are dreaming. There is no mention in the definition of dream control, or stability. Therefore, the second you realize you are dreaming, you are lucid! It doesn't matter if you wake up a second later, or have no control, it was still a Lucid Dream just because you said something like, "I am dreaming," or, "I am lucid". There is now such thing as 10% Lucidity, or 75% Lucidity, or half Lucidity, or whatever. You knew you were dreaming, so you were lucid!

The reason people ask this is that they confuse being lucid, with how "good" a Lucid you are having. In truth it really boils down to two levels; non-Lucidity and Lucidity, and the rest of it is not how Lucid you are, but how much control, stability, vividness your Lucid has. Also, there is no "official" way of classifying Lucidity, and these are just my interpretation. So remember that these levels are totally unrigid, and you may have aspects of multiple levels in your dream, as there are multiple factors, and it is up to you to determine how lucid you were. This list is a simplified generalization, and is not to be followed rigidly. Again, if you are Lucid you are Lucid, and the "levels" are just a way of describing how advanced of a Lucid you are having.

Non-Lucidity - You have no idea you are dreaming, and therefore are not Lucid. It doesn't matter how much control you have, how vivid or realistic the dream is, you aren't Lucid.

Low-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, but you have very little or no control. The dream is most likely not vivid or realistic. The dream is not stable, and you probably wake up soon after attaining Lucidity.

Mid-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have mild control, but you are not aware that you are invincibility and total power. The dream is probably mildly vivid and realistic. The dream is probably somewhat stable, and you will probably stay Lucid and in power for at least some time.

High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and you have strong control over your surroundings, but are not in total power. The dream is vivid and realistic, but probably not lifelike. You are mostly stable, and you should be able to remain lucid and in control for a while.

Ultra High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have total control over the dream world. The dream is very vivid and realistic, most likely better than real life. You are fully stable, and can remain Lucid as long as you want until your body naturally wakes you up or leaves REM.

One final note on these levels. I do not speak from experience and never really achieved anything more than low-mid-level lucidity (see what I mean be mixing categories). I speak from knowledge gained spending time on this site, which I think is enough to write this, though I may edit it more as I gain experience.

Props to you! This should get sticked (or memorized and then tested on by all the noobs) so we don't get anymore threads like that. Good work :wink:

Yeah that's not a bad way to break it down. I don't know, lucidity seems to abstract to people able to put linear levels on it, like I've had a good 1-20 "realized I was dreaming and then woke up" scenarios that I remember before ever finding this site on lucid dreaming, and once I did only a week later I realized i was dreaming and the dream became morereal than real life, but my control over it was only control over my actions, though eventually I learned to fly.

I consider that to my first real lucid dream just because the ones where I woke up took no effort at all, or training, and were merely things ever human does quite a few times in his life.

The definition is fine, but to me the experience itself should tell you.

Lucid Dreaming is an exceptional state - its a rush, a joy, fun. When you have your first convincing LD you will know it.

I'd make the analogy of an orgasm. If you go around asking - Have I had one? You haven't.

:lol:

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Originally posted by Asclepius


I'd make the analogy of an orgasm. If you go around asking - Have I had one? You haven't.

:lol:

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haha. Perfect.



I agree....however i think it would be good for people to post "was i lucid" in the noob section.

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Originally posted by DoomedOne
Yeah that's not a bad way to break it down. I don't know, lucidity seems to abstract to people able to put linear levels on it, like I've had a good 1-20 ".

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I know, but remember that these aren't totally linear. These are ultra-rough generalizations, and you can have a low-level LD where you have plenty of control, just aren't stable and vivid, but it isn't realistic, so it's still low-level. The lucidity levels are more a way to demonstrate that every time you realize you are dreaming, you are lucid, and that when you think "was I Lucid?", the real question was how deeply Lucid you were; the quality of the LD.

EDIT:

P.S Can someone please sticky this post, so people will have no excuse to ask the question, "Am I Lucid?". It is asked at least once a day and gets really annoying.

EDIT EDIT: That was a joke, I don't seriously believe it should be stickied...but people were commenting on that, so I thought I'd mention that.

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Originally Posted by PenguinLord13

[list]
1. Non-Lucid. You have no clue whatsoever that you are dreaming, and are therefore not Lucid.
2. Ultra Low-Level Lucidity. You know you are dreaming, but have no control over what happens, have not stabilized the dream, and the dream is very un-vivid/realistic.
3. Low-Level Lucidity. You know you are dreaming, but have little control over your surroundings, the dream is still unstable, and is not very vivid/realistic.
4. Mid-Level Lucidity. You know you are dreaming, and have medium control over your surroundings, the dream is at pretty stable, and is reasonably vivid/realistic.
5. High-Level Lucidity. You know you are dreaming, and have a good control over the dream, the dream is stable, and it is about lifelike in vividness and realism.
6. Ultra High-Level Lucidity. You know you are dreaming, and have total control over the dream, the dream is totally stable, and it is more vivid and realistic looking than real life.
[list]

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i dont agree it shouldnt be stickied because u r mixing two separate topics with your statement. u r confusing levels of lucidity with levels of control.
a list of levels of lucidity should be more like this:

1) realizes u r dreaming, yet do not understand what this means. do not realize that u have control, or that u can do what u want... only know that u r dreaming
2) realize u r dreaming, and realize that things will not harm u like they will in real life, and as such have lowered inhibitions... do not fully grasp ur own "invincibility" as it were, and so will still not perform acts such as jumping off of buildings or walking out into traffic.
3)realize u r dreaming... have no fear whatsoever and will do any task without wavering. still has concern for dream characters and objects, for instance... cleans up room because it is messy
4)realizes u r the master of the universe and nothing usay or do will matter in your waking life... have full concious perception of the dreamworld and mind functions as it would in real life. only concern is for tasks that will bring u enjoyment or tasks u have assigned yourself... (stopping traffic)

this is a list of levels of lucidity... levels of control or vividness of dreams should be separately catalouged.

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Originally Posted by mountain

i dont agree it shouldnt be stickied because u r mixing two separate topics with your statement. u r confusing levels of lucidity with levels of control.
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Exactly. I was just about to post this myself :wink:.

For example, my last lucid dream wasn't a very highly lucid dream. Although I was aware that it was a dream and I even exerted some dream control, for some reason I believed that one of the other DC's was a "real person" and that we were both lucid dreaming "together" :rolleyes:. Had I been more lucid, I would have realized that everybody (and everything, for that matter) around me was completely imaginary. Btw, the entire dream is recorded in my dream journal, to which there is a link in my signature.

Other examples of being at a lower level of lucidity:
-If you've ever taken someone in your dream to a more private place to have sex with them. Obviously this is not necessary, because there will be no social repercussions for having sex in broad daylight in your dreams.
-If you've ever been afraid of sustaining any kind of physical harm in your dream, whether it be from a monster or villian, or a long fall, or anything.

Anyway, while there is a tendency for there to be more vividness and better dream control when one is at a higher level of lucidity, these things certainly don't go hand in hand. It is entirely possibly to have be completely 100% lucid in your dream, but have no dream control whatsoever (except for controlling your own actions... although even that can be limited, as you could experience difficulty speaking, walking, etc). Vividness is also a completely separate issue. Some of your non-lucid dreams are more vivid than others, right? I rest my case.

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Originally Posted by mountain

i dont agree it shouldnt be stickied because u r mixing two separate topics with your statement. u r confusing levels of lucidity with levels of control.
a list of levels of lucidity should be more like this:

1) realizes u r dreaming, yet do not understand what this means. do not realize that u have control, or that u can do what u want... only know that u r dreaming
2) realize u r dreaming, and realize that things will not harm u like they will in real life, and as such have lowered inhibitions... do not fully grasp ur own "invincibility" as it were, and so will still not perform acts such as jumping off of buildings or walking out into traffic.
3)realize u r dreaming... have no fear whatsoever and will do any task without wavering. still has concern for dream characters and objects, for instance... cleans up room because it is messy
4)realizes u r the master of the universe and nothing usay or do will matter in your waking life... have full concious perception of the dreamworld and mind functions as it would in real life. only concern is for tasks that will bring u enjoyment or tasks u have assigned yourself... (stopping traffic)

this is a list of levels of lucidity... levels of control or vividness of dreams should be separately catalouged.
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First off, my comment about stickying it was more of a joke, out of annoyance at the sheer quantity of people asking, "was I lucid?". Also, your levels are levels of control, not necesarilly lucidity, and actually I don't totally agree with this, because I have had low-level lucids, where I knew I could do anything, but wasn't stable, and the dream wasn't vivid. That being said, I redid my Lucidity levels, and your list partially inspired it. (Don't worry I gave you credit.)

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Originally Posted by subzero364

Props to you! This should get sticked (or memorized and then tested on by all the noobs) so we don't get anymore threads like that. Good work :wink:
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Nice pic subzero.

I agree with you, we should be absolutely clear that any waking up, anything is LD.

But I think I would personally add a category to this.

:hijack: lol

Penguin, my brother, I hate to confuse the noobs, but I find that as a precursor to actually LDing, I am often vaguely conscious I'm dreaming. It's not that I'm lucid, fully awake, and it's not that I'm completely absorbed in the action without any realization. It's like being subconciously aware it's a dream - moreso than usual - but not at all fully aware. I will define this feeling further. Sometimes I try to justify a sketches I drew, I tell myself "this painting is awesome" but secretly I don't like it. That part that secretly doesn't like it is the same that knows I'm dreaming. It's as if it's a secret from myself. It's as if I'm trying to convince myself that the dream is real life, but that secretly I know it's a dream.

This phenomenon is important. Often we are vaguely conscious we are dreaming, but the hardest part is to turn vague consciousness into a realization. That is LDing.

Yeah, that was incoherent, hope that made sense.

Ok, keep those noobs (like me) informed.

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Originally Posted by chevalier_violet

Nice pic subzero.

I agree with you, we should be absolutely clear that any waking up, anything is LD.

But I think I would personally add a category to this.

:hijack: lol

Penguin, my brother, I hate to confuse the noobs, but I find that as a precursor to actually LDing, I am often vaguely conscious I'm dreaming. It's not that I'm lucid, fully awake, and it's not that I'm completely absorbed in the action without any realization. It's like being subconciously aware it's a dream - moreso than usual - but not at all fully aware. I will define this feeling further. Sometimes I try to justify a sketches I drew, I tell myself "this painting is awesome" but secretly I don't like it. That part that secretly doesn't like it is the same that knows I'm dreaming. It's as if it's a secret from myself. It's as if I'm trying to convince myself that the dream is real life, but that secretly I know it's a dream.

This phenomenon is important. Often we are vaguely conscious we are dreaming, but the hardest part is to turn vague consciousness into a realization. That is LDing.

Yeah, that was incoherent, hope that made sense.

Ok, keep those noobs (like me) informed.
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That actually makes perfect sense, but what I am talking about as Lucidity is when you conciously acknowledge you're dreaming. If you know it subconsciously, it is different than conscious acknowledgement, where you say, "I am dreaming/Lucid", and that is the thing that I am trying to get people to understand, the conscious acknowledgement is lucid dreaming no matter the control.

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Originally Posted by PenguinLord13

Non-Lucidity - You have no idea you are dreaming, and therefore are not Lucid. It doesn't matter how much control you have, how vivid or realistic the dream is, you aren't Lucid.

Low-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, but you have very little or no control. The dream is most likely not vivid or realistic. The dream is not stable, and you probably wake up soon after attaining Lucidity.

Mid-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have mild control, but you are not aware that you are invincibility and total power. The dream is probably mildly vivid and realistic. The dream is probably somewhat stable, and you will probably stay Lucid and in power for at least some time.

High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and you have strong control over your surroundings, but are not in total power. The dream is vivid and realistic, but probably not lifelike. You are mostly stable, and you should be able to remain lucid and in control for a while.

Ultra High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have total control over the dream world. The dream is very vivid and realistic, most likely better than real life. You are fully stable, and can remain Lucid as long as you want until your body naturally wakes you up or leaves REM.

One final note on these levels. I do not speak from experience and never really achieved anything more than low-mid-level lucidity (see what I mean be mixing categories). I speak from knowledge gained spending time on this site, which I think is enough to write this, though I may edit it more as I gain experience.
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When people turn lucid it is just how musch they think and thier mind cinscious mind turns on a bit. then it is just the mental block of being able to do whatever you want. the part of control and Skill to lucid dreaming is people making tjhemselves belive maybe in thier subconscious minds that they do not have control and have to "" practice "" it. The kind of mental block...


Anyone seen the Matrix?

Thanks for this!
It tought me that I have Mid-Level and lower 99% of the time.

Hopefully this will stop those "Was I lucid?" posts.

I do have to say that you can allso be dreaming that you are lucid. You can tell yourself you know that you are dreaming, and you can do exactly the stuff you would have done if you were lucid. But if your councious part of your brain wasn't properly awake, you weren't really lucid.

Right?

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Originally Posted by Neruo

I do have to say that you can allso be dreaming that you are lucid. You can tell yourself you know that you are dreaming, and you can do exactly the stuff you would have done if you were lucid. But if your councious part of your brain wasn't properly awake, you weren't really lucid.

Right?
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Yeah! Yes yes yes yes yes! I agree totally. I've had LDs as a kid where I knew I was dreaming (the DCs were from another dream, so I knew it was a dream and knew I could fly) and then had dreams where I "knew" I was dreaming but wasn't really conscious like u say.

Although, when lucid I was only semi-conscious anyway.

So ya!

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Originally Posted by PenguinLord13

One of the topics I see most often on the forum is a noob asking the question Was I Lucid? The answer seems to be yes 99% of the time, and seeing these posts gets extremely annoying. Lucid dreaming is defined as knowing that you are dreaming. There is no mention in the definition of dream control, or stability. Therefore, the second you realize you are dreaming, you are lucid! It doesn't matter if you wake up a second later, or have no control, it was still a Lucid Dream just because you said something like, "I am dreaming," or, "I am lucid". There is now such thing as 10% Lucidity, or 75% Lucidity, or half Lucidity, or whatever. You knew you were dreaming, so you were lucid!

The reason people ask this is that they confuse being lucid, with what level of lucidity you have reached. While there is no "official" way to classify what level of Lucidity you have reached, but here are Lucidity Levels as I define them (newly done, partially inspired by mountain):

Note:these are totally unrigid, and you may have aspects of multiple levels in your dream, as there are multiple factors, and it is up to you to determine how lucid you were. This list is a simplified generalization, and is not to be followed rigidly.

Non-Lucidity - You have no idea you are dreaming, and therefore are not Lucid. It doesn't matter how much control you have, how vivid or realistic the dream is, you aren't Lucid.

Low-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, but you have very little or no control. The dream is most likely not vivid or realistic. The dream is not stable, and you probably wake up soon after attaining Lucidity.

Mid-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have mild control, but you are not aware that you are invincibility and total power. The dream is probably mildly vivid and realistic. The dream is probably somewhat stable, and you will probably stay Lucid and in power for at least some time.

High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and you have strong control over your surroundings, but are not in total power. The dream is vivid and realistic, but probably not lifelike. You are mostly stable, and you should be able to remain lucid and in control for a while.

Ultra High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have total control over the dream world. The dream is very vivid and realistic, most likely better than real life. You are fully stable, and can remain Lucid as long as you want until your body naturally wakes you up or leaves REM.

One final note on these levels. I do not speak from experience and never really achieved anything more than low-mid-level lucidity (see what I mean be mixing categories). I speak from knowledge gained spending time on this site, which I think is enough to write this, though I may edit it more as I gain experience.
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I am not so sure on level of lucidity ... You can be Lucid or non Lucid.... The rest is down to control...

I know I have already asked this question in my introductory thread, but I think this would be a more relevant posting area. You all seem to have experience on the matter of lucid dreaming, so I was wondering. Is it possible to dream that you are lucid dreaming while just experiencing a normal dream? Or is this a level of lucidity?

I would really appreciate any and all new insight on the matter and thanks to everyone you helped out with the question in my intro thread.

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Originally Posted by Green_Man

I know I have already asked this question in my introductory thread, but I think this would be a more relevant posting area. You all seem to have experience on the matter of lucid dreaming, so I was wondering. Is it possible to dream that you are lucid dreaming while just experiencing a normal dream? Or is this a level of lucidity?

I would really appreciate any and all new insight on the matter and thanks to everyone you helped out with the question in my intro thread.
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I am not super-experienced with Lucid Dreaming, but I have a good grasp on the concept I think, and would say that dreaming you have a Lucid Dream is a Lucid Dream because while you are really Lucid in your dream within a dream, this is still a Lucid I think. Never happened to me, but that is my interpretation.

Also, yeah, I will revise my wording a bit on the levels of Lucidity, as that is true, it really is Lucid/Non-Lucid, and boils down to control, vividness, and stability.

I think its only lucid when you have complete or almost complete control.anything else is just a vivid dream.

I have never had these low levels of lucidity.only complete or almost complete control.when I used to get too exited when i would first realize it was a dream and loose control.often loosing the ability of flight in mid air.like an unknown force was knocking me down.I dont know if thats mid level or what.I still knew I was dreaming

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Originally Posted by bendstringz

I think its only lucid when you have complete or almost complete control.anything else is just a vivid dream.
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I understand what you are saying because the whole goal of Lucidity is total or near complete control, adn that is every Lucid Dreamer's dream. That may be your personal requirement to feel gratification and pride with your Lucid, and if you are a more experienced dreamer, then that makes sense, but technically the definition of Lucid Dreaming is being aware that you are dreaming, and says nothing about control etc.

Lucidity simply means awareness so it does not matter how much control you have just as long as you know you are dreaming, but with a high level of awareness usually comes with a high level of control for example:

Last night- well actually it was 6:10am i had my first LD of two weeks, and even though i knew i was dreaming the dream turned into a nightmare and i had no control. That is low level of lucidity but it was sstill a Lucid Dream.

What about dreams where you suspect that you might be having a lucid dream, and you do a reality check, but find that you're still in reality even though you're not? Is that just a SDM - Stupid Dream Moment? :D

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Originally Posted by Meidi

What about dreams where you suspect that you might be having a lucid dream, and you do a reality check, but find that you're still in reality even though you're not? Is that just a SDM - Stupid Dream Moment? :D
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I think that SDM is a good discription :). I have had that happen, and that is one of the few times I would say that you may not have been lucid. In that case it depends on wether you said "I'm dreaming" (do rc), "never mind, I'm not", or if you said, "I wonder if I am dreaming, something seems suspicious" (do rc), "nope, I'm not dreaming." In the first case I would say you had an LD, as you did acknowledge the fact that you're dreaming momentarily at least, but in the second case you're definitely not lucid, as while you expressed suspicioun, you didn't acknowledge the fact that you're dreaming.

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Originally Posted by Meidi

What about dreams where you suspect that you might be having a lucid dream, and you do a reality check, but find that you're still in reality even though you're not? Is that just a SDM - Stupid Dream Moment? :D
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you should check my thread http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/index.php?...c=39683&hl=

"stupidest ways youve missed becoming Lucid"

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Originally Posted by PenguinLord13

One of the topics I see most often on the forum is a noob asking the question Was I Lucid? The answer seems to be yes 99% of the time, and seeing these posts gets extremely annoying. Lucid dreaming is defined as knowing that you are dreaming. There is no mention in the definition of dream control, or stability. Therefore, the second you realize you are dreaming, you are lucid! It doesn't matter if you wake up a second later, or have no control, it was still a Lucid Dream just because you said something like, "I am dreaming," or, "I am lucid". There is now such thing as 10% Lucidity, or 75% Lucidity, or half Lucidity, or whatever. You knew you were dreaming, so you were lucid!

The reason people ask this is that they confuse being lucid, with how "good" a Lucid you are having. In truth it really boils down to two levels; non-Lucidity and Lucidity, and the rest of it is not how Lucid you are, but how much control, stability, vividness your Lucid has. Also, there is no "official" way of classifying Lucidity, and these are just my interpretation. So remember that these levels are totally unrigid, and you may have aspects of multiple levels in your dream, as there are multiple factors, and it is up to you to determine how lucid you were. This list is a simplified generalization, and is not to be followed rigidly. Again, if you are Lucid you are Lucid, and the "levels" are just a way of describing how advanced of a Lucid you are having.

Non-Lucidity - You have no idea you are dreaming, and therefore are not Lucid. It doesn't matter how much control you have, how vivid or realistic the dream is, you aren't Lucid.

Low-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, but you have very little or no control. The dream is most likely not vivid or realistic. The dream is not stable, and you probably wake up soon after attaining Lucidity.

Mid-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have mild control, but you are not aware that you are invincibility and total power. The dream is probably mildly vivid and realistic. The dream is probably somewhat stable, and you will probably stay Lucid and in power for at least some time.

High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and you have strong control over your surroundings, but are not in total power. The dream is vivid and realistic, but probably not lifelike. You are mostly stable, and you should be able to remain lucid and in control for a while.

Ultra High-Level Lucidity - You know you are dreaming, and have total control over the dream world. The dream is very vivid and realistic, most likely better than real life. You are fully stable, and can remain Lucid as long as you want until your body naturally wakes you up or leaves REM.

One final note on these levels. I do not speak from experience and never really achieved anything more than low-mid-level lucidity (see what I mean be mixing categories). I speak from knowledge gained spending time on this site, which I think is enough to write this, though I may edit it more as I gain experience.

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Hate to be picky, but what you said is pretty much completely contradictory. First you said,

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There is no such thing as 10% Lucidity, or 75% Lucidity, or half Lucidity, or whatever. You knew you were dreaming, so you were lucid!

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Then, you go on to say, there is low level and high level etc.

But earlier you said "there is no half-lucidity"

"You know you're dreaming or not"

etc.

But oh well, I'm sure you meant control or summat.

:D