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Lucid Dreaming

Le Jab

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Feb 3, 2008
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Its been a few years since I had one, but this morning I experienced an amazing lucid dream. I was semi-aware it was a dream, but the subject matter and vivid imagery made me feel a bit numb for a good few minutes into consciousness. I'm not too sure if I could have controlled it or not - I didnt try as the events unfolding were compelling but scary. It was so visually powerful and odd of cicumstance, that it took me back to the LSD years!
What it did do as well, was remind me how mis-informed people can falsely interpret such experiences as being spiritual in nature - I actually felt someones breath on my face, and a hand holding onto my wrist, slowly releasing as I was moving to consciousness. It was disturbing, but perfectly in context with how the brain can operate during sleep.
Is it any wonder that people believe in god(s) and angels, when the brain is wired to perform in such a realistically mystical and spooky manner? Is there any evolutionary reason as to why humans have this capacity?
 
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Seeing as we don't yet know what dreams are or why we have them, I'd say that any speculation as to why some people have lucid dreams would be just that - speculation.
 
My wife has had the ability to know she is dreaming, and to control and direct same, since childhood. (the normal definition of lucid dreaming)
Back when I was reading OMNI magazine, they were in the habit of doing polls on various subjects. When asked about lucid dreaming, about 20% of the replying readership indicated that they could do this to some degree or other.
As to why some can and some can't... Who knows?
I recall reading years ago about a group of people (islanders of some sort) who set great store by their dreaming, and adjust their interpersonal relationships according to how they perceive people in their dreams.
For instance, if they harm someone in dreaming, they will apologize to the person in waking....
I think it is likely that such experiences, as well as many other fairly common psychological phenomena, do indeed reinforce notions of spirituality and the supernatural.
When my wife hears the voice of her (long departed) mother call her name, she knows quite well it's a common auditory hallucination.
However, our ancestors might well have simply assumed that the ghost or spirit of their mum was actually trying to communicate. There are many other examples of this sort of thing.
 
When I was younger I was able to lucid dream at will.

Often I could restart the previous night's dream, the next night, and replay it, making changes along the way.

I only dream vividly now, and haven't attempted lucid dreaming for much of my adult life.
Probably got too many extra (responsible) things to mull over.
 
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Bikewer said:
For instance, if they harm someone in dreaming, they will apologize to the person in waking....
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I was once woken up by my (now ex) girlfriend punching me hard in the arm. Apparently I'd been horrible to her in her dream.

I wasn't entirely happy.
 
Cainkane1 said:
I up when I realise I'm dreaming. I can't control the dream as my efforts wake me up.
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I often wake up when I realize I'm dreaming, but not always. I occasionally realize I'm dreaming without waking up. I have attempted to control the dream, but I've never had much success. Usually I will either wake up, or drift back into non-lucid dreaming.

Another common experience for me is to wake up from a dream, realize that what happened in the dream doesn't make sense, and promptly forget the dream upon that realization.
 
I've had quite a few lucid dreams over the years. They tend to be extremely vivid and memorable. I find that if I try to control them too much I eventually break them and wake up, but I think my conscious amazement at the detailed 'realism' also tends to break the dream.

I also recall many more instances where I've wondered briefly before deciding (wrongly) that I'm not dreaming...

A common characteristic of dreams seems to be that text (posters, etc.) reads differently (or nonsensically) every time you look at it. It's a way you can tell it's a dream and become lucid.

I recently had a dream where I had completed what seemed like a lengthy and coherent 'adventure', but when (in the dream) I tried to tell someone what I'd been doing, the story fell apart into incoherent and unrelated fragments, and I realised it didn't make any sense - very disturbing.
 
I believe lucid dreaming is about knowing you are dreaming as you dream.

The few times that has happened to me I looked in a room full of people and left the room only to stick my head in again to see if my brain could reproduce what I had just saw. When I lucid dreamed I would jump through windows and try doors at random to test my imagination. I knew I was dreaming and wanted to see what my brain could come up with on a moment's notice.

My imagination was pretty good. I ran through corridors just to see what my imagination came up with in the end. I jumped out windows and jumped off the top of large staircases for the experience.

I've only had a few lucid dreams (and I might have been taking medication at the time) but they were best dreams ever.
 
Le Jab said:
Its been a few years since I had one, but this morning I experienced an amazing lucid dream. I was semi-aware it was a dream, but the subject matter and vivid imagery made me feel a bit numb for a good few minutes into consciousness. I'm not too sure if I could have controlled it or not - I didnt try as the events unfolding were compelling but scary. It was so visually powerful and odd of cicumstance, that it took me back to the LSD years!
What it did do as well, was remind me how mis-informed people can falsely interpret such experiences as being spiritual in nature - I actually felt someones breath on my face, and a hand holding onto my wrist, slowly releasing as I was moving to consciousness. It was disturbing, but perfectly in context with how the brain can operate during sleep.
Is it any wonder that people believe in god(s) and angels, when the brain is wired to perform in such a realistically mystical and spooky manner? Is there any evolutionary reason as to why humans have this capacity?
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I myself have never experienced lucid dreams but my ex-husband had then all the time. He always be telling me that a d jinn ( a sort of devil ) was sitting on him trying to suffocate him and that he could not move. Now, as i told him this is simply a waking dream but due to his religious beliefs he still continued to believe the former and probably does to this day. I don't know if it has anything to do with evolution, but dreaming is not exclusive to human beings. I have had many dogs that had extremely vivid dreams ( no, they didn't tell me about them when they awoke ) they would move their legs rapidly as if they were running and bark. they would also appear to still be dreaming several minutes after they were awake and walking around. I think we are many years away from working out why some people have lucid dreams and what their purposes are.
 
I often have lucid dreams, including this morning. Many cases my dreams are very frustrating like not being able to get to some place like today. I was stuck in some place in the "South Station" in Boston, but I knew it was not really South Station and I was trying to get to "Univeristy of New Hampshire" in order to do a chemistry class at 10:00 am. I don't teach at UNH, either.

The most interesting about these dreams are the non-existing details I dream up.:) I saw a hidden room behide one of the wall in my house in one dream. When I woke up I went to check to see if there is a space behind the wall for a secret room. Of course there wasn't.

I once dreamed that my husband was cheating on me. I woke up really mad at him, although I kept saying to myself, it was only a dream. I did not punch him like Sceptic Tank's girlfriend. Of course I did tell him not to do it again.

H Mom
 
I've only had three or four lucid dreams in my life but I remember I did some sort of mental test to prove to myself I was dreaming each time. I needed to be certain I was dreaming before I engaged in the reckless behavior afforded me.

Lucid dreaming can be a gift.
 
I've had lots of lucid dreams where I could swear they were real and that I was actully living another life. When I was younger I used to fly in my dreams a lot and I could remember everything - the sky colour, buildings, houses, trees etc.. Interesting though, it's always warm outside in my dreams not sure why this is. I don't ever recall in any dreams about it being snowy, rainy or cold outside. If I could only draw or write, I would have some absolutely fabulous material for movies or a new shopping complex. I can't tell you how many times I've awaken thinking how real my dream seemed and found myself questioning whether I was really living 2 lives - one here and now and the other in the future (different dimension?) Okay now I'm really sounding nuts here - haha but seriously I do wonder...what if? hmmmmm
 
There seems to be some confusion in this thread between “lucid dreaming” and being aware of (or being able to control) dreaming and waking up from a dream and realising it was a dream and “sleep paralysis” (the state between waking and sleeping where one is partially aware/ partially dreaming, but cannot move and often will feel as if they are being “sat on” or “held down” by some external force or “being”). In a lucid dream, one is completely unaware that one is either asleep or dreaming.

For example I had a lucid dream a year or so back where I was lying on the sofa asleep and a huge bang from the kitchen woke me up. I immediately thought our dog had knocked something over and got up to investigate. I went into the kitchen to investigate, saw nothing out of place, then realised I was thirsty, so I went to the sink and proceed to pour myself a glass of water. As I did I looked around and the corner of the kitchen suddenly seemed “dark”, as if I could not quite make it out. “Something’s not right here” I thought. Perplexed and just a little frightened, I started walking back to the lounge – BANG! – I found myself back on the sofa awakening from sleep. “Wow!” I thought, “That was some dream!” I realised I was still thirsty and obviously I had not yet investigated what the “bang” was that woke me in the first place… I got up and went to the kitchen… I looked around … “Oh no! Same deal as before! Something’s just not right here”… I became even more frightened … I started to walk back to the lounge and …BANG! …I was back on the sofa, waking up again! This time I got up and determining never to go into the kitchen again even if my life depended on it switched on the TV and waited for the wife to get home!

There was absolutely no difference in my experience of the world between “going to the kitchen” and the final act of switching on the TV and watching it. Spooky is an understatement!
 
Rramjet said:
There seems to be some confusion in this thread between “lucid dreaming” and being aware of (or being able to control) dreaming and waking up from a dream and realising it was a dream and “sleep paralysis” (the state between waking and sleeping where one is partially aware/ partially dreaming, but cannot move and often will feel as if they are being “sat on” or “held down” by some external force or “being”). In a lucid dream, one is completely unaware that one is either asleep or dreaming.
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Lucid dreaming means dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. The term was coined by Frederik van Eeden who used the word "lucid" in the sense of mental clarity. Lucidity usually begins in the midst of a dream when the dreamer realizes that the experience is not occurring in physical reality, but is a dream.
http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html#LD
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A lucid dream, in simplest terms, is a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. The term was coined by the Dutch psychiatrist and writer Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932).[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream
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(bolding mine)
 
I never have lucid dreams, but I did have one dream where I realized that I was actually just a character in a book being written... does that count? I wasn't aware I was dreaming.
 
I've never been able to lucid dream beyond a certain degree of control. I begin to realize I am dreaming, and often at times I realize I am having a dream inside a dream, or sometimes I dream about telling other people about a dream I had while dreaming, but I never am able to fully awaken in the dream and do whatever I want. I always end up sort of letting the reality of the dream get the better of me. I may begin to try to fly or float, but the gravity is always wonky and inconsistent, I have to concentrate really hard, or put lots of effort into clearing my mind, to make supernatural abilities manifest.
 
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