Thread: Can't Read in LD's...

Had a very short LD last night. I can't even remember a lot of it but I did
wake up after it was over. I forgot all about catching a duck or following
the yellow brick road as well.
I did remember to try and read a few things, and so the first thing I found
to read was a piece of paper, and then i found a book laying around. In
both of them I found out that I cant read in LDs. There are words that
I can clearly see but there are mostly a lot of blurry words i cant read.
None of the words made sense to me at the time. I cant even remember
now what words I did read. Next time I must look at titles and also remember
what words I do see.
I had this LD in the middle of the night instead of right away as usual, so
it must have been a DEILD, but I can't even remember that.....it was
very weak and I couldn't hold on to it.

very few people can read in LDs, I guess that's what makes it such a reliable RC

I sometimes read in LDs, but it's never anything that makes sense. Another good RC is if you look at some text or a clock, look away and look back to see if it's changed.

When you think about it, in order to see text your mind would have to create words. Even if you could read, it probably wouldn't make any sense. Pictures are easier to recall than specific words. How many people have the sight of a specific text remembered? when we think about words, we think of their sounds and not their appearance. I think text and clocks change because it's hard for your mind to remember what numbers it just displayed, and dreams have very little concept of time. That also relates to not having the sight of a specific time memorized.

This is just my theory. I'm not sure if they've found another reason, but this makes enough sense to me.

If you do happen to remember anything, try to google it just for shits and giggles. :]
Or maybe write it down and see if the text in a future dream relates.

I have only had 5 lucid dreams so far, I could read from a computer screen, I tried to read it because my teacher started reading out loud from his laptop, he was saying all kind of blabberish, the words on the computer screen were different from his reading :p

In a non-lucid dream I turned on my littlebrothers computer (and cursed all his start up programs) but just before I went on the internet the dream faded.

Could be fun if dream internet worked

Hm, for me its the opposite, I need to greatly destabilize the dream to be able to not read or see the letters/words/numbers change... Well its not a problem but I wanted to know how it feels to do that <.<

haha, reading in an LD....all I can say is, get prepared to read something that's going to make very little sense

Originally Posted by Shift

very few people can read in LDs, I guess that's what makes it such a reliable RC

I'm not so sure. I've had dreams where I can't read anything and dreams where I can. Usually I can't, but occasionally I'll be able to. I tend to think that it's something that varies from dream to dream, not from dreamer to dreamer.

To supreme: I bet if you keep trying enough times in enough dreams, you'll find that one of these times not only will you be able to read, but the text will remain consistent and stable. But yeah, most of the time you probably won't be able to.

It's the same kind of situation with controlling light levels, by the way.

Originally Posted by DuB

I'm not so sure. I've had dreams where I can't read anything and dreams where I can. Usually I can't, but occasionally I'll be able to. I tend to think that it's something that varies from dream to dream, not from dreamer to dreamer.

To supreme: I bet if you keep trying enough times in enough dreams, you'll find that one of these times not only will you be able to read, but the text will remain consistent and stable. But yeah, most of the time you probably won't be able to.

It's the same kind of situation with controlling light levels, by the way.

Ah well, I meant consistently. I have been able to read in a few dreams, and as an RC I make sure to always check three times because it'll sometimes be the same after I glance away. But I've only read about 3 accounts where people have claimed to have no trouble whatsoever. So yea, for most it seems to vary by dream, very few seem to be able to read consistently.

And consistency is a curse, RC with writting becomes impossible ;.;

I read things find in my regular dreams, doesn't change at all. Never tried in a ld tho

you're not supposed/shouldn't to be able to read in dreams, lucid or not. Text is one the few trusty tale-tale signs that you're dreaming. It's usually never legible, unstable and changes every time you look at it, so don't bother.

Originally Posted by reapsltd666

you're not supposed/shouldn't to be able to read in dreams, lucid or not. Text is one the few trusty tale-tale signs that you're dreaming. It's usually never legible, unstable and changes every time you look at it, so don't bother.

It is sometimes stable and a few people can read it, though. Gotta keep that in mind. Though it's a great RC for most, it can still fail, but for other people text is often very stable. For me it's like 30:70... every so often I can easily read something in a dream. I just don't come across text all that often. Last night I had a dream that I was logging into lucid dreaming chatrooms, and my name was "Shift" on DV and "Shift1" on another website, and I could read the chat and what all the other people were writing.

Originally Posted by reapsltd666

you're not supposed/shouldn't to be able to read in dreams, lucid or not. Text is one the few trusty tale-tale signs that you're dreaming. It's usually never legible, unstable and changes every time you look at it, so don't bother.

Why not bother? I always do. It's fun, even though half the time I can't read anything. BUT, half the time I can. So, in my opinion, I say, go ahead and bother...you never know what you might run into.

It's better to be an optimist than a pessimist.

I had a LD tonight.

I was doing an RC and found this book, most of the text were:

gghhg ghh ghhg hh and such.

Then I boosted my concencration and I could read the whole page in the book.

All the words were correct. (The book was about psychology )

Originally Posted by Specialis Sapientia

I had a LD tonight.

I was doing an RC and found this book, most of the text were:

gghhg ghh ghhg hh and such.

Then I boosted my concencration and I could read the whole page in the book.

All the words were correct. (The book was about psychology )

Hmmm dream associations are fun.

That just made me realize. It would be cool to open a book in a lucid dream and have it in real time with the words showing up as you think your thoughts. Like, "Wow, I just opened this book, I thought it would be heavier. I wonder what it's gonna say inside- wait a sec... omg... it says whatever I think!" all written on the page hahaha

I can read everything in my dreams and it doesn't change. I guess I'm just special