Lucid Dreaming Fundamentals -- With Q & A

Hey, PresentMoment, you are still here; I thought you might have left the game...

Here are a couple of quick responses to your follow-up:

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Originally Posted by PresentMoment

Thanks for the reply, Sageous. It means a lot to hear from an expert that my lucid techniques aren’t completely off base. Your suggestion about questioning rather than confirming made a lot of sense and I’ve been trying to incorporate that.

I was a bit disheartened to learn that even you have given up talking to people (in real life) about lucid dreaming. I had thought that perhaps because you seem quite adept at describing them on the forums that you’d have a higher chance of success at making them sound interesting to people who have never heard of them. I was also curious, though, as to if you had a theory as to why most people have no interest in lucid dreaming?

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I think I already stated most of my theory about why most people have little interest in LD'ing when I said:

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I learned quickly that most people aren’t terribly interested in dreams at all, and those who are hold very specific viewpoints of them which rarely dovetail with mine. ... More importantly, though, I hold dreaming as a very personal event, to the point where others -- even other accomplished LD’ers -- simply will not understand what I’m saying because they lack the context of my experience in specific dreams, and vise-versa (which is the main reason I don’t post DJ entries, BTW).

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But let me add this clarification. Lucid dreaming is a near perfect "You had to be there" event to describe, and even the best descriptions tend to go unheard when they land on ears belonging to people who have no interest in things like dreams, consciousness, sense-of-self, or LD'ing, which combines all those "boring" and strange subjects. It's sort of like the problem a motorhead faces when trying to describe his recent success rebuilding a Weber 6-pack on the first try to a person with no interest in cars, much less the intricacies of vintage carburetors.

I actually wrote a couple of novels which are centered on my take of the potentials of lucid dreaming and dream sharing respectively, yet even my family members can't generate enough interest in dreams to pick one of them up. If dreams are not a part of your life's experience, then you are likely going to be very disinterested in LD'ing.

On rereading this bit, I think I still haven't answered your question; perhaps my "theory" is simply that dreams, because they are generally forgotten upon waking, are simply of no real interest to most people -- they don't even care much about their own dreams, except perhaps those few that they remember and to which they attach often very undreamy meaning. So, if people don't give a crap about their own dreams, why should they care about mine?


Regarding the rest of your post, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on the philosophy bit because you are correct when you suggest that "this isn’t meant to be a ‘everyone debate Sageous thread’," but I would like to clarify one concept:

When I say “everything around you is literally you” in a dream, what I mean is quite simple and by no means meant to sound deep or mystical. The point here is that when you are in a dream, the entire universe around you has been manufactured by your own mind. Understand that when you are self-aware in a dream, and your interaction with that part of your mind with which you are rarely in direct contact will be much more productive (and easy); it's that simple.

However, if you enter a LD sure that there is a separate brain "out there" somewhere with which you can only associate through observation or requests, then you will likely miss much of what LD'ing has to offer, because for me LD'ing represents a unique conscious connection to your unconscious mind.

This I think may be more fundamental than the fundamentals: LD'ing is all about connections, and to deny that those connections are possible is to deny the potentials of both LD'ing and waking-life self-awareness. Wouldn't it be better, for instance, to assume you can fly, and ultimately build an airplane, than it would be to believe that "If man were meant to fly, he'd have wings," and never even imagine powered flight, much less build a plane?

I know you don't agree with me, but you also will not deter me from repeating that all of it -- brain activity, consciousness, unconsciousness, memories, the dreamscape, etc -- is a part of you. I think to consider consciousness as just some outside, accidental, powerless side-effect of your body's physical and psychological existence will do a lot to stymie the development of your LD'ing skills, much less future spiritual growth and experience in sleeping and waking life.

Maybe you can look at it from this fairly cynical perspective: even if I'm wrong, my LD'ing experience is richer for believing that my mind is my own, and that everything in my dream is a reflection of my Self ... that's how expectation works! To go into a dream assuming yourself an outsider in your own world is not a great idea, I think.

Also, should you finally learn to change dreamscapes at will (or more), I think you will be pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually is You doing the creative work, and that changes in a dream really are not the result of a distant "brain" processing a request from its lowly user. Yes, your brain is involved, but you are a part of the process, and not an observer. Like it or not, to say otherwise will belittle the experience, and hold you back from truly transcendental events.

Again, I really see no point in arguing this here, but I wanted to clarify that point, as I felt it was important.

So thanks for coming back to the thread, and, of course, for the kind words!

Haha no, I'm not done with the game quite yet.

Thanks again for replying, much appreciated. I'm entirely open to the possibility that certain frames of mind may be more conducive to lucid dreaming than others, and I will definitely give that some thought.

Hey Sageous,

I've been attempting WILDs when I get the chance, but I have a few questions.

1. I'm a nose-breather and have a pretty tight jaw, will this affect the body falling asleep? Or do I need to learn how to relax it?

2. I've been attempting to do some visualization to lose focus on my physical body, but I have trouble "not" focusing on the physical and I feel like it's holding me back. Do you have any techniques that work good or better?

3. I've been trying to induce WILDs through afternoon naps whenever I happen to nap, and it seems quite difficult, should these be attempted only when very tired? and do you have any other thoughts on nap WILDs?

ehh, I think that's it for now, thanks.

Here you go, EmptyBucket:

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I've been attempting WILDs when I get the chance, but I have a few questions.

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First, you might consider making WILD more of a scheduled or planned event, rather than a "when I get the chance" sort of thing. You'll likely see better results with good mental prep and timing.

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1. I'm a nose-breather and have a pretty tight jaw, will this affect the body falling asleep? Or do I need to learn how to relax it?

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Well, if you can fall asleep, you can WILD, and I'm guessing you can fall asleep. That said, yes, it wouldn't hurt to try relaxing your jaw as you settle in for your WILD attempt. The simple act of relaxing a part of you like your face is a useful step toward becoming fully relaxed.

You also can use your nose breathing as a meditative tool, by listening to your breath as it goes in and out, perhaps timing your mantra to those breaths.

Beyond using them as tools for your dive, try not to make either thing important in an of itself, as then they will become distractions rather than a help.

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2. I've been attempting to do some visualization to lose focus on my physical body, but I have trouble "not" focusing on the physical and I feel like it's holding me back. Do you have any techniques that work good or better?

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Nothing specific, but you might try focusing on something else, like a mantra or your intentions for the upcoming dream. If you expend a lot of effort trying not to do something, you risk inadvertently making that something the center of your focus rather than deleting it from your focus. In other words, by not focusing on your physical body, you're actually focusing on it. Best not to consider it at all, and move on to something else.

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3. I've been trying to induce WILDs through afternoon naps whenever I happen to nap, and it seems quite difficult, should these be attempted only when very tired? and do you have any other thoughts on nap WILDs?

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Though WILD's can certainly be achieved during a nap, I highly recommend that you make your initial attempts after several hours of your night's sleep, with a WBTB; they just seem to work better then, at least initially.

Later, when you've gained some experience and are comfortable with your WILD techniques, you might find doing them during afternoon naps easier and quite rewarding -- there is something special about laying down in the afternoon and stepping into another world Though being very tired isn't necessary, keep in mind that you need to be able to fall asleep, at least. ;)

Also, and apparently again, even when doing so while napping, it is helpful to plan your WILD attempt -- schedule it, look forward to it, do your mental prep in advance of it, specifically. If attempting WILD becomes an event for you, rather than a thing you try when you happen to be napping, you might find success more easily, simply because your mind, expectations, and intentions will all be in the right place.

I hope that helped, and good luck!

Thought I would post this in this "oldie but goodie" thread. This article has been posted in at least one other thread, but I thought that if anyone hadn't seen the article, it is an interesting read in that it seems to provide some scientific backing to the idea of awareness work helping with lucid dreaming which is right up the alley of this thread.

"...is activated when this lucid consciousness is attained. All of these regions are associated with self-reflective functions. This research into lucid dreaming gives the authors of the latest study insight into the neural basis of human consciousness."

LINK: Lucid dreamers help scientists locate the seat of meta-consciousness in the brain

^^ Cool! Thanks for sharing!

It's nice to know that LD'ing is good for something. I'm not surprised, of course, that LD'ing "lights up" the self-reflective bits of the brain ... though it is a mildly disturbing that all that self-awareness is happening in one bitty chunk of gray matter ;)

Also, it's real nice to know that LD'ing has become so accepted in science that they're using it as a tool for discovery. Very cool indeed!

Hi,

I am very new to all this having discovered lucid dreaming by accident after a random sleep paralysis episode (which scared the hell out of me ha)

But after researching the topic SP and its ties to lucid dreams I discovered and started using the WILD technique on nights soon after even though the vibrations and the feeling of "leaving the body" made me feel uneasy about what I was doing. I have since managed on two occasions to become lucid with minimal vibrations and going straight into the dream landscape.

I only discovered this two weeks ago and am able to achieve this every night if I wish, is that normal to progress that quick? Although my dream control needs work usually lose lucidity after 3-5 minutes will this improve too?

^^ That is fairly quick progress, I think, though there is no "normal" in LD'ing. And yes, with more experience you should find yourself able to stay lucid longer.

In the last few days I started replacing the nose plug with finger through palm for fear that the nose plug was giving me sinus headaches. Do you think it is counter-productive to change RCs?...or did I remember something about it being good to change up RCs?

^^ You can change RC's or you can keep doing the same ones over and over; it doesn't matter one wit, as long as the RC you're doing is meaningful to you. RC's only become counter-productive when you do them by rote and ignore their meaning, period. As far as I'm concerned, any talk about the good or bad in changing RC's is, well, just talk -- ignore it.

So yeah, if the nose plug RC is affecting your sinuses, stop doing it -- hell, stop doing it just because it gave you fears of sinus headaches (talk about excellent day residue for nightmares! ;)).

^^ Thank you Sageous! Speaking of day residue, I am finding more and more oddities that trigger me to do reality checks throughout the day where I definitely question reality more sincerely.

Hi Sageous,
I'm making my way through this thread, and it's very useful since I find here a deeper discussion of what you mean in the WILD sessions about awareness. Also, the sessions don't speak about memory that I recall. I think I was doing RRCs wrong in fact, I'm not sure: in addition to seeing the immediate surroundings, I imagined "lines of influence" emanating out from me to the entire world, and the reverse, from the entire world in to me. Is that too much a "I'm at the center of the universe" mindset?

Also, I've been working on memory, but basically only prospective memory (for MILD, associating dream situations with remembering to recognize I'm dreaming). Is there a use for memory in attaining lucidity other than remembering your have a physical body asleep in bed somewhere as you write here? Just how does the memory (and it seems you're mostly talking about retrospective memory...yes/no?) come in to the lucidity, what are you trying to remember in order to get lucid and have a high quality experience?

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

Hi Sageous,
I'm making my way through this thread, and it's very useful since I find here a deeper discussion of what you mean in the WILD sessions about awareness. Also, the sessions don't speak about memory that I recall. ... Also, I've been working on memory, but basically only prospective memory (for MILD, associating dream situations with remembering to recognize I'm dreaming). Is there a use for memory in attaining lucidity other than remembering your have a physical body asleep in bed somewhere as you write here? Just how does the memory (and it seems you're mostly talking about retrospective memory...yes/no?) come in to the lucidity, what are you trying to remember in order to get lucid and have a high quality experience?

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Actually, I'm just talking about memory, period.

A widespread misunderstanding in the world of lucid dreaming is that our reasoning skills and consciousness are impaired in a dream. That is not true: we are fully capable of reason, of logic, of judgment, and our consciousness (not, mind you, our self-awareness) are all working just fine in dreams, be they lucid or not. In other words, we think about as well in dreams as we do in waking life.

What is missing is memory, which is effectively turned off during dreams. So a dreamer's real problem isn't that her brain is too addled to understand that she can't really play ping-pong on the moon, it's that she has no available memory to tap that will tell her this action is absurd. If she were inclined to be lucid, she might be able to turn her memory back on and say, "hey, you can't play ping-pong on the moon; I must be dreaming!" and then the adventure begins.

So, memory is fundamental to LD'ing because it allows a dreamer to strengthen his place in the dream, to complete his sense of self. This to me is far more important than any technique; try not to think of it as such. Instead, think of memory as a key driver of your self-awareness, or perhaps an anchor to your identity -- as long as it's turned on.

I hope that made sense; if not, ask again...this one's important.

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I think I was doing RRCs wrong in fact, I'm not sure: in addition to seeing the immediate surroundings, I imagined "lines of influence" emanating out from me to the entire world, and the reverse, from the entire world in to me. Is that too much a "I'm at the center of the universe" mindset?

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I couldn't have put it better myself! You were absolutely building too much into your RRC's I think. Try to avoid creating personal ley lines, FryingMan, and the intellectual and geometric baggage that comes with them. The RRC is simply meant to help you understand that you are a part of your immediate reality, that you influence it and that it influences you; take a firm understanding of this interaction into a dream, where everything is you, and you'll be better prepared to recognize and navigate your dreamworld. No more, no less. Add too much thinking and/or imagery to a RRC, and it not only becomes a burden to do, but its usefulness in a dream dwindles.

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Originally Posted by Sageous

So, memory is fundamental to LD'ing because it allows a dreamer to strengthen his place in the dream, to complete his sense of self. This to me is far more important than any technique; try not to think of it as such. Instead, think of memory as a key driver of your self-awareness, or perhaps an anchor to your identity -- as long as it's turned on.

I hope that made sense; if not, ask again...this one's important.

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It does make sense. But just how does one "turn on memory in a dream?" Just by "turning on memory" in waking life? And is the kind of memory you're talking about "life memory" (what I did earlier today, before, etc.), not just "thing memory" (the guy who can remember hundreds of cards in order)? So the steps to turning it on are....? Just spending time thinking about stuff in the past? Is working on dream recall considered part of "turning memory on?".

I'm just wondering what I should be doing more than dream recall and prospective memory exercises.

I understand your not wanting to dictate specifics, but it's really helpful to see some examples of particular things to do as a starting place. Thanks!

Question about self-awareness and how it enhances/affects LDs. Maybe this is a case of "you just have to be there" (like trying to describe what lucid dreams feel like to those who haven't experienced them yet). Memory I understand, that's helpful for goals, things to do, attaining lucidity (remembering you can't play ping pong on the moon), and it's a part of self-awareness. But self-awareness again helps how? If in WL I realize I affect all around me, and all around me affects me, how does that help / what does that do in a LD? As I realize I'm dreaming, I see that all around me "is me" as you noted earlier in the thread. My surroundings do not affect me, I am I guess "in myself", there is nothing external to me in the LD experience, the LD in fact "is me." Is that what you mean? OK, so where does one go with that? Or is that the goal itself? By realizing it is not WL and that there is no "all around me to affect me," does that lead to the conclusion that anything I can think of I can do (fly/teleport/summon flying elephants)? That I have utter confidence because there are no "external powers" that can affect/harm me? Or something else?

While I'm on a roll with questions about terms, I may as well get the rest of them out there: just what are "expectation" and "intention?" How are they different? How does one cultivate them (examples of using them?) ? How are we to use them to attain lucidity and have a maximally fulfilling LD experience (length, quality).

I see the benefit in incubation successes: I get to dream about what I want to, and (still working on this) it struck me that incubation can help with attaining lucidity by incubating dream scenarios that for me have a high likelihood of attaining lucidity. Is that what expectation and intention are for, or are there other benefits?

thanks a zillion!

One thought I've had churning around for a while: I suppose with ultimate self-awareness (if it's even possible?), the dream would just go away? Like how you say you strip the dream down to a "void" and try to build your tripod? Sort of like how Neo sees the matrix as glowing green stuff rather than a WL simulation. I think for now I'd much rather spend some years with awesome lucid adventure dreams (experiencing "the steak" [albeit lucidly], ala Cypher; Agent Smith and Cypher - YouTube), and then worry about building my void-tripod later :).

FryingMan:

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to defer an answer to your question about self-awareness to what I wrote in the earlier sections of this thread -- I think my descriptions then were pretty thorough, more thought-out than they can be right now, and, if you also read some of my responses to earlier questions about it, should effectively answer your question better than I can in 800 words here. I hope you don't mind.

The same goes for expectation/intention, I'm afraid, save that you may have noticed by now that I usually list the two together because for me they are basically the same things, with expectation being thing you build over time, and intention being the thing you "set" immediately before sleep (a la MILD), but both influencing your dreaming mind in a similar fashion.

Now to memory, which I also suggest you look at in the beginning of the thread, but here are a couple more thoughts:

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

But just how does one "turn on memory in a dream?" Just by "turning on memory" in waking life?

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I guess it would be like "turning it on" in waking life, but not in the way you're thinking, I think. When I say that memory is shut off in a dream, I mean that in a literal, physiological sense: the portions of your brain used to process and access all short-term memory and most long-term memory are by nature not available during a dream. Indeed, I'm pretty sure that even the long-term memory bits you experience in a dream are not so much memories but information your dreaming mind pulled up to complete schemata... the difference is in context, for if those long-term bits were actual memories, you would know, for instance, that the person standing there has been dead for 20 years.

So how to "turn it on?" Honestly, I'm still working on that. To date, activating memory has come in two ways for me: either by holding onto it through WILD, or using my self-awareness to "demand" its presence (after all, you can't be fully self-aware without having memory in place to confirm your identity and actual current location in waking and dreaming reality). There may be tricks, techniques, or drugs (ie, gallantamine, vitamin b6) that could help, but ultimately the absence of memory is a difficult hurdle for LD'ing, a hurdle held high by our own physical nature (in other words, it's supposed to be turned off, as dictated by millions of years of evolution).

Currently for me, a powerful sense of Self (self-awareness) in the dream is enough to turn memory on a little bit at least, completely on occasion... after all, if I'm aware of a true "Me" in a dream, with a waking-life perspective, I am not going to feel complete or even correct until that awareness includes memory (this BTW is why I believe it's important to remember your sleeping body in its bed during a dream) Also, the prospective memory exercises in MILD are very helpful, and using a mantra like "Remember" during WILD can help as well.

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And is the kind of memory you're talking about "life memory" (what I did earlier today, before, etc.), not just "thing memory" (the guy who can remember hundreds of cards in order)? So the steps to turning it on are....? Just spending time thinking about stuff in the past? Is working on dream recall considered part of "turning memory on?".

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Yes, I suppose it is like "life memory," which is why I suggest remembering what you were recently doing in the RRC. No, it is definitely not "thing" memory -- that might actually work against you in the dream, because remembering "things" might pile up unnecessary details and images in a dream that have nothing to do with your identity (self-awareness) and everything to do with the bucket of information from which your dreaming mind draws to create schemata.

I guess the memory I'm talking about here is in a sense holistic memory: It's not so much an information stream or database, but an active collection of experience that identifies "You," specifically, and must be present to complete an accurate image of your self in a dream (just as it does in waking life).

I think I already discussed what I could here of the steps for turning on memory (or lack thereof), but yeah, just spending time actively thinking about stuff in your past (preferably important stuff that had something directly to do with you) might be helpful. Indeed, if you could make it a habit, in the RC/RRC vein, you might bring that interest in remembering into a dream with you.

Though it is important in its own right, dream recall is not considered (by me, at least) part of turning memory on. It's a different process altogether, whose function is based on the fact that memory is already turned on when you're recalling dreams, so I don't think even excellent dream recall would help much in switching on memory during the dream.

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I understand your not wanting to dictate specifics, but it's really helpful to see some examples of particular things to do as a starting place. Thanks!

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It's not a case of not wanting to dictate specifics, I think. It's more a case of a genuine dearth in specifics at all. LD'ing, ultimately, is a very personal event, and not only examples, but perspectives on examples are things that must be generated by individuals as they learn. Because of this, I'm real bad at examples in a forum format where I can't spend thousands of words putting together an image that actually makes sense to someone other than me.

Okay, one note about self-awareness:

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One thought I've had churning around for a while: I suppose with ultimate self-awareness (if it's even possible?), the dream would just go away? Like how you say you strip the dream down to a "void" and try to build your tripod? Sort of like how Neo sees the matrix as glowing green stuff rather than a WL simulation. I think for now I'd much rather spend some years with awesome lucid adventure dreams (experiencing "the steak" [albeit lucidly], ala Cypher; Agent Smith and Cypher - YouTube), and then worry about building my void-tripod later .

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Yes, "ultimate," or pure self-awareness could change the very nature of a dream, to the point where the stuff of dreams becomes insignificant. Keep in mind, though, that this purity is ascension-level transcendental stuff, and will not replace your "normal" LD's in any permanent way (even if you find, ultimately, that you want it too), and you would always have the ability to keep to the dream, so you needn't worry about having your lucid adventures interfered with by "too much" self-awareness. I still enjoy the fun stuff very much, BTW!

I hope all that helped, and thanks for bearing with me on the self-awareness and expectation/intention dodges.

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Originally Posted by Sageous

I hope all that helped, and thanks for bearing with me on the self-awareness and expectation/intention dodges.

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Fair enough, I'll keep searching through what's already been written for more on self awareness.

The memory answer above however has kind of thrown me for a loop. Will try to digest.

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Originally Posted by Sageous

Now the good news: it might take you a very long time -- years, perhaps -- to develop the awareness and memory skills needed for high-level lucid exploration. But keep in mind that achieving longer and more vivid LD's does not require high lucidity -- in fact, some of the most adventurous LD's I've had came with very little awareness and memory! If you take your waking-life work seriously, you should see some results relatively quickly. And here's where all those techniques come in handy -- DILD, for instance, relies heavily on memory and doing RC's, so if you build RC's into your memory exercises, DILD should work better for you fairly quickly. Also, all that stuff they tell you about expectations and setting intent before sleep work just fine in low-level LD's, and even slightly improved memory skills make these much more effective -- and might even improve the dream

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OK, my freak out is over. I just need to slow down and read more carefully. I have absolutely no problem with undergoing a multi-year project for high quality, but the key thing is that I didn't want to have to wait multiple years before having any middle-lucidity fun along the way with good frequency. Lots of good stuff in this thread, I recommend going through it with browser searching for "aware" and "memory" and you'll find all the nuggets of goodness in here!

^^ Given your level of intensity and interest, FryingMan, I have a sneaking suspicion that you will not be waiting multitple years for your mid-level LD'ing skills to develop. Just don't expect it to all happen tomorrow with the wave of some magic Technique Wand! :)

^^ (Waves wand chanting...) "Nunc magis animi!"

Addendum Re: Expectation/intention

FryingMan Just asked me the following question about expectation/intention in a PM, but I think it was one worth sharing here:

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I'm still trying to figure out though the difference between expectation and intention (and i looked through all 10 pages of the fundamentals thread and didn't find a single definition :P). I guess it doesn't matter though: one is longer-term and more general, and one is more immediate and specific?

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My bad. Important as they are in general, expectation and intention have minimal (conscious) importance to me, so I tend to list them as givens and assume, because they are often correctly discussed, that they are givens among readers. I had also assumed that they were both pretty much self-defining-terms. All that was clearly a mistake on my part.

Another mistake, though I won't stop doing it, might be putting them together around a slash mark. Though they are to me the same thing, because they seem to trigger the same reaction in the dreaming mind, they also are, operatively, polar opposites: Expectations are accumulated unconsciously over the course of days, weeks, even years, while intentions are consciously set in an immediate, thought-out, front-burner manner. Expectations are also metaphoric or emotional in nature, and intentions tend to be solid, often abstract words. And yet, they are both expressed in dreams in the exact same manner: as reflections of your desires, fears, and intellectual priorities, be they unconscious (expectations) or stated (intentions).

What are they, exactly? Aside from being self-defining, think of them as fuses that ignite unconscious action.

Not too exact, huh? Okay, think of them this way:

Expectations are like bits of similar data, based on what's important to you in waking life, and those bits are accumulated over waking-life time into a packet of data powerful enough to program the schemata of your dreams.

For example, you spend hours each day thinking about LD's, imagining things you'll do, what it will be like; and, come dreamtime, your dreaming mind reflects all that expectation by rewarding you with a dream that incorporates the things you've been imagining, thus opening the door to a LD. Conversely, you might spend all your time sure you'll never be able to LD, and, sure enough, your dreaming mind closes the door on any attempt you make.

Intentions are a consciously formed packet of data infused into the unconscious by you at an opportune time just before dreams. This infusion, when successful, can be powerful enough to program your dream schemata, or trigger your waking-life mind to respond to suggestions during the dream or sleep cycle.

For example, you can set intentions to dream about your dog, effecting schema, perhaps to "know" this is a dream during the dream, or to wake up at a specific time for a WILD attempt. If set correctly, there will be your dog, you'll know it's a dream, or perhaps you'll wake up at just the right time, ready for WBTB and WILD.

I hope that made sense, and shame on me for not talking about them more.

Pondering the fundamentals for a few days now. Came up with a new mantra to try: "remember....I am the dream...". Is that on target? Trying to capture the essence of memory and self-awareness.

Some more thoughts: I've been thinking previously for a while that I should call for my dream guide to teach me control. But after this discussion I'm thinking: why call on a "dream guide?" The dream is me, it is the manifestation of my mind, relying on some character external to me (even though the DG really is me?) in order to teach me to do things in dreams may put me at a disadvantage, thinking that I do not have total control of events. I don't need a DG, I'm the DG, since I am the dream.

Then my imagination started having fun thinking of all sorts of things: I don't have to fly to the moon, I can will the moon to me and just jump on and walk around. I don't have to summon a lighsaber to play with, I can ignite lightsabers myself out of each of my fingers, and make them all different colors, and variable length (and infinite power), up to infinity (so I could chop the moon in half from the earth if I wished it). Entire armies can't stand against me since I just extend the beams the proper distance and wave my hands back and forth and they're all decimated :). Heat vision, cold vision, tornado breath (yeah some superman stuff in there). I'm on my walk, imagining tossing houses in to space with just a thought. No trouble bringing down a mountain, just have a giant Monty Python foot come down and pulverise it :). Opening a portal to wherever I want to go is as simple as grabbing a hold of "space" with my hands and pulling them apart to open the "door" to wherever I want to go.

By doing this I'm hoping to build expectation and confidence that I can do whatever I want, since I am the dream, the dream is me. Sound like a good way to go about it?

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

Pondering the fundamentals for a few days now. Came up with a new mantra to try: "remember....I am the dream...". Is that on target? Trying to capture the essence of memory and self-awareness.

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Though it's only on target if it does capture for you the essence of memory and self-awareness, it is a good mantra -- simple, rhythmic, and meaningful.

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Some more thoughts: I've been thinking previously for a while that I should call for my dream guide to teach me control. But after this discussion I'm thinking: why call on a "dream guide?" The dream is me, it is the manifestation of my mind, relying on some character external to me (even though the DG really is me?) in order to teach me to do things in dreams may put me at a disadvantage, thinking that I do not have total control of events. I don't need a DG, I'm the DG, since I am the dream.

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That is an excellent point, and I agree completely... unless of course actual DG's are from outside of you!! ;) Also, be careful where you say this on the forum, because you will get an earful!

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Then my imagination started having fun thinking of all sorts of things: I don't have to fly to the moon, I can will the moon to me and just jump on and walk around. I don't have to summon a lighsaber to play with, I can ignite lightsabers myself out of each of my fingers, and make them all different colors, and variable length (and infinite power), up to infinity (so I could chop the moon in half from the earth if I wished it). Entire armies can't stand against me since I just extend the beams the proper distance and wave my hands back and forth and they're all decimated :). Heat vision, cold vision, tornado breath (yeah some superman stuff in there). I'm on my walk, imagining tossing houses in to space with just a thought. No trouble bringing down a mountain, just have a giant Monty Python foot come down and pulverise it :). Opening a portal to wherever I want to go is as simple as grabbing a hold of "space" with my hands and pulling them apart to open the "door" to wherever I want to go.

By doing this I'm hoping to build expectation and confidence that I can do whatever I want, since I am the dream, the dream is me. Sound like a good way to go about it?

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Yes, that sounds like an excellent way to go about it; definite fodder for giving your dreaming mind excellent expectations from which to build your adventures.

Nice assemblage of thoughts, FryingMan; I think that they show that your mind is definitely in the right place!