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    1. #1
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      Unhealthy escapism?

      I was in a shop today pushing a shopping trolley about. I got into an argument with my mother as usual, and ended up thinking the following in order:

      I wish I was at home right now in bed in my lucid world...
      ...I hope shared dreaming is true...
      ....I wonder if WakingNomad is in fact some person doing a social experiment to see if he can convince people about certain things...
      ....hmm, am I using LDs as escapism?


      (hope you enjoyed that, a moment in Loafs mind)

      I also spend all day talking and thinking about lucid dreams (when I am not on the computer). Even my friend Felicity mentioned how I always bring lucid dreaming up in conversations.

      Could it be I am now using it as escapism, and am developing an unhealthy obsession towards the whole subject. Its almost impossible for me to brake free or even want to brake away from lucid dreaming at all, ever again.
      Is this healthy?

    2. #2
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      I am not a doctor or expert but only thing I want to say is that it's good to be cautious and it's more better to live and face the real world.I think it's harsh for you so I hope you understand.

    3. #3
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      My intention is not to negatively judge, by any means, only to help [if possible]...

      But what strikes me most is that I, personally, would be inclined to think that any extreme preoccupation--lucid dreaming included--seems like it might be a hindrance to your waking lucidity; to your ability to concentrate on and react to the present moment.

      Preoccupation implies excessive thinking/worrying about, expectation of, and/or searching for instances that might express something about a desired concept or goal.

      If lucidity is the goal, being preoccupied with the desire for lucidity seems like more of an obstacle than anything else. An active effort to think/react lucidly seems more beneficial, I would think.

      ...But that's assuming that lucidity in the waking state affects one's level of lucidity in the dream state. And if you believe that is the case, escapism in one's waking life seems like it would only contradict the goal of increasing lucidity in one's dream life...

      I hope that helps...?
      Last edited by acatalephobic; 12-22-2009 at 07:53 AM.
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    4. #4
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      Meh, escapism isn't such a bad thing.

      However, if you use it all the time with your mother, then you:

      A. If you hate her, run away and join the circus!

      B. If you don't, try to supress it with some method used by monks!

    5. #5
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      Well, every day I think about what I want to do in a lucid dream during the day. So I sort of set myself LD goals all the time.
      I seem to always have a desire to go into a lucid dream, even soon after waking up out of one.

      Maybe I should take a break? :s

    6. #6
      Oneironaut JamesLD's Avatar
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      i say, its your life and its your hobby who cares how much its on your mind, unless its effcting your life in a bad way you should prolly take a break. but other wise dream on!
      Law abiding citizen by day, breaking the laws of reality by night.
      "How can you be aware that you're dreaming, if you're never aware that you're awake?"

    7. #7
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      Its not effecting me in a bad way at all. Since I started doing LDing seriously I:

      - Have actually read a book for once, hoping it would help with Yoshis technique
      - Have been generally happier
      - Have had my mind filled with wonders and questions
      - Have met many people (like here on the forums)

      I guess I shouldn't worry unless it effects me negatively.
      I'm off to bed now. Good night.

    8. #8
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      Quote Originally Posted by Loaf View Post
      Could it be I am now using it as escapism, and am developing an unhealthy obsession towards the whole subject. Its almost impossible for me to brake free or even want to brake away from lucid dreaming at all, ever again.
      Is this healthy?
      I used to be really obsessed with lucid dreaming too. At one point it not only felt as real as waking life, but I sometimes cared about the dream world a bit more than waking life. Strangely enough, it was this obsession with dreams that led me to appreciate waking life more than I ever had before.

      For example, in dreams you can do anything and create entire scenes out of nothing, but things rarely stay the same. If you put a box down and come back later, there's no guarantee that it'll still be there unless you recreate it. Waking life has some really interesting properties, if you think about it; if you put a box down, it'll still be there unless someone else comes and moves it. Things stay the same without you having to constantly create and recreate them.

      After that realization, I started paying attention to the way things look in waking life a lot more. Suddenly I could notice details, and life is a lot more interesting, now. It's just like in dreams, where you intensely study the details of some object, then look around and the entire scene is more vivid. Other times, when you aren't paying attention, everything is vague and blurry. I was going through waking life like that all too often without even realizing it. It wasn't that my eyes weren't seeing, just that my mind wasn't paying attention. So long story short, my perception changed. Plus I figured that if I knew what things looks/sounds/feels/smells/tastes like, I'd have better dreams
      "When you see the shadows falling,
      When you hear that cold wind calling,
      Hold on tight to your dream."
      -ELO

    9. #9
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      Quote Originally Posted by Loaf View Post
      Its not effecting me in a bad way at all. Since I started doing LDing seriously I:

      - Have actually read a book for once, hoping it would help with Yoshis technique
      - Have been generally happier
      - Have had my mind filled with wonders and questions
      - Have met many people (like here on the forums)

      I guess I shouldn't worry unless it effects me negatively.
      I'm off to bed now. Good night.
      Well, I am not doing a social experiment. I wondered some of the same things, especially when I started to become good at it, just like you are doing right now. Let me tell ya, I have been obsessed with many things... video games, books, bodysurfing, women, sex, drugs, music, writing, acting, astral projection, didjeridoo, money, and dreaming. Obsession is not necessarily a bad thing. It's what you are obsessed with. I found obsession with video games to be the biggest time waster. Dreaming doesn't take any time. You do it while you are asleep.

      This is the way I look at it: we spend a third of our lives asleep. Why not enjoy it? Dream is life. Life is Dream. We are living our lives when we are asleep because we are alive, correct? Therefore, dreams are real, just as waking life is real.

      You are concerned with escaping into dreams from waking life. What about people that use waking life to escape from dreams?

      You have shown how you are generally happier from lucid dreaming. So am I. Lucid dreaming has helped me cure myself of bipolar. I have also improved my skills at bodysurfing, and didjeridoo healing in waking life. I practice dream skills in waking life, and waking skills in dreams. This is how you cycle the energy.

      We lucid dreamers are more whole people because we are living our lives, remembering our lives much more fully, instead of forgetting a third of our lives like the rest of the populace.

    10. #10
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      Hmm, that makes me feel a little better.
      I'm going to go post on my DJ soon. I had decent lucid dream for the first time in a while.

    11. #11
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      Loaf, I don't know if you are gonna read this again since you've come to your conclusion, but let me say that how could you consider lucid dreaming unhealthy if it has made you happier and not effected your waking life in any negative way?

      Lucid dreaming doesn't make you miss important family moments, it doesn't make you miss work, it doesn't drag your family down with you as you destroy your body through substance abuse.

      I see that you joined in October, its possible that you are still at that point in lucid dreaming where you are still REALLY into it. To an extent, we never lose that sensation (How could you?) but for people just starting to learn, you will think about it ALOT more.

      Its like a guy who is really into sports who thinks about it all the time, would you call them thinking/day dreaming about the latest "big play" by their favorite team/player unhealthy? Nope, that is just thinking about your hobby because you'd rather be doing that than your job most of the time :p

      You are just really into lucid dreaming.

      "I feel my heart glow
      with enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven; for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose--a point
      on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye."
      -
      Victor Frankenstein

    12. #12
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      Yeah I understand what you mean there.

      Oh and I've been obsessed with lucid dreaming forever, I guess now I'm just so hyped up about being able to induce them.

    13. #13
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      Sounds like you have a slight obsessive/addictive personality. With self-control you will be okay... with indulgence and loss of other motives you will find problems.

      Addict speaking. Trust.

    14. #14
      Member, whatever Luanne's Avatar
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      Some great answers there!

      Loaf, you just need to ask yourself how much awareness are you putting into your life since you became interested in lucidity. Are you starting to feel the floor on which you're walking, hearing the background noises, enjoying the present moment? If that's the case,

      However,
      Quote Originally Posted by acatalephobic View Post
      being preoccupied with the desire for lucidity seems like more of an obstacle than anything else.
      Working on lucidity means working on awareness, while obsession is something completely opposite - being eaten by your thoughts and desires, never aware of the moment.
      Come on! What if Martin Luther King said: "I kinda have a dream... nah, I don't wanna talk about it."

    15. #15
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      Interesting.
      Since doing lucidity I have became hugely aware of every small thing in reality. So I suppose lucidity has enhanced reality for me.

    16. #16
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      Our whole life is mostly one big escapism , just choose the right one at the right time , and you'll be fine

      Everything goes through fases , there are even people who get fed up with lucid dreaming what I read here in the forum.....

    17. #17
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      Oh, pfft. Escapism, pah. Are you happy? That's all that matters. So you have a hobby. Big deal. Think of all the other people who get hyped up over stuff. Video games, sports, building models, all that. You're no different. Embrace it! Lucid dreaming trumps all that stuff. Why shouldn't you be pumped up?

      Click the sig for my Dream Journal
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    18. #18
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      I have slightly altered my views since the above post.

      It's important to be in the Now, whatever you are doing whoever you are with, fully.

    19. #19
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      Quote Originally Posted by WakingNomad View Post
      I have slightly altered my views since the above post.

      It's important to be in the Now, whatever you are doing whoever you are with, fully.
      I've decided I'll still enjoy lucid dreaming and think about it, but I'll always keep a 50/50 balance. In the day I won't nap or any crap like that. As I said in another post, why trade one reality for another when you can have both?

      If I think about my dream world in reality, its no different to thinking about reality in my dream world.

    20. #20
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      Quote Originally Posted by Loaf View Post
      I've decided I'll still enjoy lucid dreaming and think about it, but I'll always keep a 50/50 balance. In the day I won't nap or any crap like that. As I said in another post, why trade one reality for another when you can have both?

      If I think about my dream world in reality, its no different to thinking about reality in my dream world.
      Balance is important. You are on the right track. I don't nap in order to dream, but, I like to nap if I am sleepy.

      Sometimes nap dreams are way easier to remember!

    21. #21
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      Quote Originally Posted by WakingNomad View Post
      I found obsession with video games to be the biggest time waster.
      Video games are my obsession and my life... and it is all ok because when I play them it is work: research for developing my own games! My career will be one big game, and I will dream up new ideas for new games!
      "Anything you can imagine is real." - Pablo Picasso.
      "Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." - Henry David Thoreau

      Tasks of the Year Completed: China (Asia)

    22. #22
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      I spend some of my time playing games, but usually they are creative games where you build things. Like Garrys Mod, or 3D lego games and such.
      I also like to play puzzling games that test my mind.

    23. #23
      Miss Sixy <span class='glow_FFFFFF'>Maria92</span>'s Avatar
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      Loaf, I gotta say it....I friggin' love your new avatar and sig.

      Click the sig for my Dream Journal
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      Thanks!
      I always run with a relevant theme. That way I can change my sig and avatar, but keep consistency.

    25. #25
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      Quote Originally Posted by WakingNomad View Post
      I have slightly altered my views since the above post.

      It's important to be in the Now, whatever you are doing whoever you are with, fully.
      Just to second that... I'll say that when I first started LD'ing I was obsessed for 3-4 months, then I knew that I didn't wanted to RC every five minutes for the rest of my life - but still didn't wanted to stop having supergreat LD's. So I took another approach - read some books about dream yoga and also read Eckhart Tolles "The power of now". Suddenly my perspective had changed.

      As some of the other posters in this thread I now live more fully in my waking life. Not by RC'ing physically but with being aware of being aware as much of the time as possible. Being in the now - and telling myself "This is all a dream" gives me Lucid dreams AND a much better real day life.

      thanks to this "path" my life has taken (because of my passion for LD'ing) I also have taking up meditation - and that also helps me both in my every-day-well-being and in achieving lucid dreams.

      So you see, lucid dreaming could be the first and maybe biggest motivation for turning your life around to a more meaningful life (as opposed to people who just live their lives not being aware if they are really awake or not) all the sideeffects are great and actually makes your life even better. Thats what I'm thinking right now anyway.

      So read another book maybe one about dream yoga - You won't regret it.
      This one is the best:
      http://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Yogas-...2347608&sr=8-1

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