Thread: Neither lucid or non-lucid

I had an odd dream occurence last night. As I was lying in bed in a bedroom in my dream, I suddenly realized that I could not really remember much about who or where I was. I knew I had a job, but it took me a great deal of struggle before I could correctly visualize the building where I worked. However, I still could not remember what my actual job was, or in what city the building was located. It was a truly horrifying sensation to not be able to put the pieces together. I could not even make sense of where it was that I seemed to be at that moment. Was I in a dorm room? Was I in an apartment? I couldn't even make out how old I was supposed to be. When I finally turned over a little bit (in the dream), I could see that the door at the foot of my bed was open, and I could see a kind of lit receptionist area out across the hallway, and that spooked me even more.

What was different about this dream was that in a lucid dream I can usually access some amount of waking memory, and in an ordinary dream I can happily create false memories. In this case, I seemed to be acutely aware not that I was dreaming, but that I did not have access to my waking memories, and I had nothing to replace them with.

Anyone else ever experience this?

No, thankfully i haven't experienced anything like this before, and hopefully i never will. My guess is that it was a low level lucid maybe.

Originally Posted by FarSeeker

What was different about this dream was that in a lucid dream I can usually access some amount of waking memory, and in an ordinary dream I can happily create false memories. In this case, I seemed to be acutely aware not that I was dreaming, but that I did not have access to my waking memories, and I had nothing to replace them with.

Anyone else ever experience this?

Sorry FarSeeker, I've never experienced this either.

I have had something like that happen but it in no way felt as if I was lucid. "Dementia" isn't the right word, but it's the first that comes to mind. For those of you who haven't had something like this happen, it feels (to me) much like a dream where I am being chased. Instead of running away from pursuers, however, your mind is racing to find out what the hell is going on... When I wake up from mine, I get that kind of "Holy sweet grace on high! I am SO glad that was a dream" feeling...

Dunno if this is what you are talking about but that's my experience...

I've had many situations like this. What happens is that our dreams are not always consisted of a storyline as we think of it, but it is actually made of chained thoughts while you're in REM sleep. You may actually be thinking rationally, but inside a dream that wasn't pre-made. If you think of your dog, the image of it will slowly show up, and so on. It's similar to a really deep level of meditation.


I've had this last night when I was on my beach house, trying to figure otu where I was. I finally concluded I was on my main house, but seconds after I woke up and saw myself at the beach house; driving me confused.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't a regular dream, and I was kind of aware, although not completely. Yes, waking memories were hard to reach. Guess it's the same when you're in a dream.

Try to think of this like a born-blind person's dreams.

Yes, I think "dementia" is the right word, or alzheimer's. It is the state of being aware, and being aware that one is currently missing large chunks of one's memory. Based on an experience like this, I definitely don't ever want to have to deal with actually getting alzheimer's. It's way too scary.