Lucid Dreaming

**Ristaron** · 02-02-2007, 10:42 AM

It was brought up in the 'What did you dream last night' thread, and peaked my interest. I have experienced this several times, but I can only recall one instance. In my dream I was hiding in a warehouse where some men with guns were looking for me. I became aware that - as offensive as I may be - nobody would have any reason to hunt me down, let alone hire a number of people to aid in the effort, and therefore I must be experiencing yet another anxious dream.
With this realization, I was able to exert some control over the artificial reality my mind was fabricating. I summoned a weapon of my own and dispatched of all but one of the men, who shot at me.
I thought for a moment the bullet had hit me, as I felt a pain in my chest. But looking down I saw that I had managed to exert control over it as well, and the bullet had simply ricocheted off my chest.
After that he and I had some hot sex... I love my fantasies.

Anyways... before I open the thread for stories/discussion, I'll add a little information I've gathered about it:
The term "lucid dreaming" was coined by Frederik van Eeden, a Dutch psychiatrist, in 1913 in his book A Study of Dreams.
The earliest written documentation of a lucid dream was in the 5th century, by St. Augustine of Hippo. Coincidentally, one of the earliest cases that implied lucid dreaming comes from the Old Testament, in the Song of Solomon 5:2. Later translations have made the remark more literal.
Tibetan Buddhists practiced a form of yoga that allowed them to maintain control over their dreams (lucid dreaming, in short) as early as the 8th century.
Marquis d'Hervy de Saint-Denys is one of the first people to publish a book explaining that anyone can learn how to dream lucidly (though he didn't refer to it as lucid dreaming), it was published 1867 and entitled Dreams and How to Guide Them.
Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan referred to controlling your mind in dreams in the book Journey to Ixtlan, through the quote "Later, when I am dreaming, I will look at my hands and realize that I am dreaming."
Lucid dreamers who have died in their dream have awakened alive with no ill effects. Whether or not this happens in non-lucid dreaming... we may never know.

THREAD OPEN!

datenshi · 02-02-2007, 10:55 AM

i've noticed that i can control several things in my dreams, including when i wake up, to the point that it'd be like real life if it wasnt so surreal. if i'm not mistaken, most (maybe just some, i dont know) people cant control what they do in dreams, like they're just there for the ride. that's how it was when i was younger, anyway.

i dont remember my dreams often, though i can remember whether or not i've remembered them, and when i do, i can usually remember the main detail for a long time. like meeting my mom's ghost (i met one of my highschool friends in that dream, too, and ate a bag of skittles with him. dont know why he had a bag of skittles, though...), or a mermaid, or that one with the roller coaster (that was before i could control my dreams).

anyway... yeah...

NachtEngel · 02-02-2007, 11:03 AM

I sometimes have a hard time remembering dreams. Soon I am going to make a dream pillow with mugwort, and sandlewood. I just need to get some fabric. I had this one dream I remember I had control in very well. It was about a bunch of friends. We were in some creepy house and I knew something was wrong. To make a long story short a giant demon thing came and I got the hell out. I left them to die because they were to stupid to listen.

I'm a hero · 02-02-2007, 11:04 AM

Pretty sure there was already a thread with the same title, or about the same subject, but let us restart the discussion.

Presuming that your final statement is absolutely true, then the matrix was a lie! I had a handful of lucid dreams years ago, and after I really really started to take control of them, I told someone. Since I told someone that I was having them, I have not had one. Bummer.

**Ristaron** · 02-02-2007, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I'm a hero

Pretty sure there was already a thread with the same title, or about the same subject, but let us restart the discussion.

Presuming that your final statement is absolutely true, then the matrix was a lie! I had a handful of lucid dreams years ago, and after I really really started to take control of them, I told someone. Since I told someone that I was having them, I have not had one. Bummer.

Hm, I admittedly did not search the forum for a similar topic. My bad.
Oh well, if one comes up, I will merge the topics.

As for the Matrix being a lie... not necessarily. The Matrix wasn't a lucid dream by definition, as you didn't know it was a dream until you were woken up... which you couldn't do yourself... that, and it was a sophisticated computer program your mind was integrated into, not a false reality engineered by your subconscious mind while REM sleep plays games with your frontal cortex.

somechick_73 · 02-03-2007, 01:24 AM

Lucid dreaming is one of the greater things about dreaming. I love when I know when I'm dreaming, because from there, I can control the dream, and it makes it that much more exciting for me. I've lucid dreamt countless times. This only after my friend John had told me of it. Before that I had no idea what it even was. But now that I know, it's definitely a pleasure to sleep.

Steps in learning how:
1 - Learn to remember your dreams by telling yourself that you will remember them before you fall asleep.
2 - Dream signs, recognize things that couldn't be true. For instance, if you look at a clock and then look away and look back the time will change.
3 - Know you're dreaming.
4 - This is where it gets exciting, control your dreams and make things happen that you desire to happen.
5 - Wake up and remember the dream you had.

It's wonderful to lucid dream, in fact, from reading this, and posting this, I might actually lucid dream tonight. I talked of it earlier to a friend, so it's definitely on my mind this evening. I'm hoping I lucid dream. It's going to be exciting!

**Brother of Yeshua** · 02-04-2007, 07:55 PM

My dream signs include clocks changing time or being unreadable, being unable to turn lights on (or off) and being able to know what something says, but when I look at the letters themselves, they are gobbledy gook or continuously change. It's weird because I'll understand what it says but I can't read it. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me.

But yeah, when I recognize those dream signs, that usually lets me begin lucid dreaming. Although occasionally I'll wake up.

02-04-2007, 10:30 PM

I've had a few lucid dreams. I can't remember much, but I usually first try flying which never works. I just sort of start to float off my feet in strange directions.. I also usually try to make a hot chick appear which says something about me.

The strangest dream I;ve ever had though.... Okay I had just awoke froma normal dream. I was in my room, everything was normal and in its place. But I couldn't move. Not at all. Then I started to feel this weight on my chest and something began to choke me.

After a while I awoke a again in my room. Just as it had been in my dream.

Needless to say I did not sleep the rest of the night.

ogrish14 · 02-05-2007, 01:23 AM

I was just reading about lucid dreaming earlier today. Weird.

I have lucid dreams all the time.

02-05-2007, 05:51 PM

I had an amazing one on Saturday. I dreamt that I was in a big complex, like an hall, or something out of a futuristic video game.. social environment, auditoriums, etc etc. Well, I was running down the halls, and then slowed down, but continued sliding, and began floating if I felt like it. I remember it being one of the best feelings, to just effortlessly do little flips and twists. Anyways, Lucid dreaming is alot of fun.