lucid or not?

[ophiuchus]

so i had this marvelous dream last night.. started out as your normal, somethings chasing you, cant get away, nightmare.. my mind was fully involved in the scenario, very intense and vivid. all of the sudden, about half way through the dream, (of a panicky anxiety to get away, mind you) i came to a "realization" of sorts (calming "in control" feeling) in the dream, that i had this amazing ability(keep in mind, lucid dreaming has actively been on my mind for the past month..) the realization was that i was in control. once i became lucid, i was able to freely control the variables via "telekinesis" or an equivalent of say, doctor manhattan style [hacking?] of my dream, or similar to the last scene of the first matrix movie if you will, i know they are cliche reference points, but they are a good approximation. i could disarm enemies from a distance, i could jump any distance that i needed to, i managed to keep everyone alive(there was a small group of "us" trying to survive), i could escape any scenario, all with an applied mental effort.

i noticed that this was my conscious doing, in that i could relax and let the situation unfold, but it was not a good one, so once i felt the extreme desire, an urge to change the situation, only then was i truely in control(with the "powers"). i would like to note also that i didn't have direct control over the actual content of the scenario, only the direction in which things changed for me, so i guess i wasn't entirely lucid? not sure, any thoughts? does that count as a lucid dream, or is that only a "percieved" lucidity?

 

[BrainEater]

sounds good!! now i hope you won't be too shocked when i tell you that there are many levels of lucidity... it's really not easy to take over control fully, but when you can do that you can basically experience everything you wished for in your dreams which is pretty amazing to me!! dreams are awesome!!

 

[????????]

mmm you sound lucid alright but the mere fact you have to ask for confirmation makes me doubt

 

[ophiuchus]

i guess my question wasn't so much "was i lucid" but more "does that sound familiar" on a scale of lucidity, im trying to get a sense of how far in the rabbit hole i am, as i consider myself pretty well in control of my mind, but still pretty new to *actively pursuing lucid dreaming (i have had them in the past without knowing what they were called or that others had them too..)

im assuming that i could still become even more lucid? as in controlling more of the variables, for instance things like lamps on tables and tvs. change the entire location too maybe? idk, what were some of your experiences like during a lucid dream? feel free to jump in guys

 

[????????]

did you feel like you were the real YOU? i mean, sometimes, as resident cerebrófago pointed out, you achieve some level of lucidity but you are not really in control. you can also dream you have powers. when i say the real you i mean being consciously aware of being in your bed dreaming and also having access to all your memories (like you know you're adrianhaffner). i have never attained levels of lucidity that allowed me to transform the dream world.... but you should keep trying and playing with it since the topic is hot in your head and it's easier this way.

 

[ophiuchus]

did you feel like you were the real YOU? i mean, sometimes, as resident cerebrófago pointed out, you achieve some level of lucidity but you are not really in control. you can also dream you have powers. when i say the real you i mean being consciously aware of being in your bed dreaming and also having access to all your memories (like you know you're adrianhaffner). i have never attained levels of lucidity that allowed me to transform the dream world.... but you should keep trying and playing with it since the topic is hot in your head and it's easier this way.

your post helped me realize why i was skeptical. yeah, i felt like i was ME, but at the same time, i think i might have been disillusioned into thinking that THAT reality, the dream reality that is, was my home. like i could always do that kind of stuff, everyday. which is not entirely false, as i said, i have definitely had these dreams on more than one occasion. not to mention dreams where i simply had a realization that i was dreaming, but could do nothing about it, and also dreams where i had "powers", but no idea why they really worked..

so idk, it's just not clear to me, whether or not i could have woken up on command, or that there was "waking up" to be done from the dream world, so i dont know if i became "lucid" to MY own standard to the word... ill definitely try more often though, now that im breaking ground, hopefully i can voluntarily manifest my entire dreams with enough practice... thanks for the insight

 

[????????]

hehe you're welcome. one of my best friends has had super insane lucid experiences and i have talked extensively about it with him, hence my info. i have achieved lucidity but it's really hard for me to not wake up. i feel the dreamworld slipping and like liquefying itself into blurriness and i have to really concentrate to stop it..

i think i might have been disillusioned into thinking that THAT reality, the dream reality that is, was my home.

yeah like you've been living there for years!! what a mindfuck. that same friend once had this dream where he was like an alternate version of himself, he looked just like him but with a whole different personality and hairdo. like he was mean to people in a way he wouldn't irl. and this other friend once dreamed he was in some evil concentration camp. he was there with his parents and brother and sister and lots of other unfortunate souls, and the lords there would periodically torture the people, like removing perfect squares of skin from their legs. they did that to him. he said it was horrible and it felt like he lived weeks there..

 

[ophiuchus]

...really concentrate to stop it..

yes its definitely a "balancing act"..

i too have had horrible dreams of torture in the past. interesting to note though (perhaps coincidentally), i haven't found myself in a "submissive position" in a dream since i overcame my fear of death. i still get the ones where your're running to or from something, but there always remains some aspect of physical freedom. hmm

 

[BrainEater]

well that would be no wonder, if death would be physical freedom lol. freedom for the soul or spirit!