For some reason, I tend to remember (and be in rather limited control of) my dreams when I'm at my dad's, but never when I'm at home. It's really sad that I tend to remember dreams like "I got an iPod" or "I got a new computer", then wake up and be confused as to why I still have my old stuff.
It's really sad that I tend to remember dreams like "I got an iPod" or "I got a new computer", then wake up and be confused as to why I still have my old stuff.
Those are some of the worst. "Hey, whered my dragon go? Weren't we on hour way to the diamond.. aww crap, stupid fantasy."
I would say about 90% of the time I don't remember any of my dreams at all. It just feels like I woke up three seconds after I went to bed. The other ten percent of the time I have a dream which is like a vague slide show of images which make almost no sense. These dreams usually occur when I wake up but am still half asleep while laying in bed. The idea of lucid dreaming is very alien to me. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have a dream which is lifelike.
Eep. A subject which directly relates directly to my English Extension 2 Major Work. Watch the movie Waking Life, directed by Richard Linklater if you want to know what a lucid dream is like. It's basically about this guy's dreams where he talks to a whole bunch of people about a whole bunch of things. You could probably even connect it to the idea of exploring the collective unconscious (if you were going by the Jungian theory of personality).
The theory of why dream is that dreams help us to process memories which the mind has whilst waking. There are basically stages to sleep; in the 1st to 4th, the body relaxes, and you’re sleeping lightly. It’s when you feel like you’re falling. And then you get REM sleep, where you dream. You know all those sci-fi shows which are like “Oh noes! We cannot accomplish REM sleep, and are thus are going CRAZY!� Well, it’s somewhat based on truth. Sleep – REM sleep – is important. But I’m sure you all knew that already.
Now, Freud used lucid dreaming in order to explore his subconscious; to dig up repressed things, find out exactly why he felt certain emotions in response to things that happened to him. He discovered (?) the Oedipus complex. He also claimed to have prophetic dreams – completely whack, as I’m sure Doctor Who has recently taught us…
But, this whole brain training while sleeping thing sounds kind of horrible. Intriguing, certainly – if it’s not all BS. Read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A complete population of people controlled and socially engineered by a set of values instilled in them from birth by the use of ‘hypnopaedia’.
The point I’m making in a horrible, roundabout way, is that why would you want to alter your state of mind when you’re dreaming? It doesn’t sound… healthy. You wouldn’t be able to dream freely – which is important – and it would stunt your growth as a real person if you tried to control yourself even when you were dreaming. Even lucid dreaming – where you control your dreams – you are still reacting to things in the dream in a rational way. You aren’t irrationally happy or calm in the face of whatever horror your mind conjures up. You act like a real person. An omnipotent person, but a person nonetheless.
And I just reread the first post and realised I misinterpreted it. Crap. I thought you were asking if it was possible to alter a person’s state of mind while they were awake by playing funny music to them when they were sleeping. If you’re asking if lucid dreaming (where you're aware that you're dreaming) is possible, the answer is yes.
One of the more amusing dream-stories I have in my arsenal; my mum had one where her dead younger brother came and told her he wanted to get married to a girl he met in where-ever dead people go. She woke up, called her sister (my auntie) and told her about it, and they had a paper wedding with chickens as the bride and groom. They burnt the paper stuff, as Taoists do. I’m not sure what they did to the chickens.
The point I’m making in a horrible, roundabout way, is that why would you want to alter your state of mind when you’re dreaming? It doesn’t sound… healthy. You wouldn’t be able to dream freely – which is important – and it would stunt your growth as a real person if you tried to control yourself even when you were dreaming. Even lucid dreaming – where you control your dreams – you are still reacting to things in the dream in a rational way. You aren’t irrationally happy or calm in the face of whatever horror your mind conjures up. You act like a real person. An omnipotent person, but a person nonetheless.
Hmm...as I understand it, even people who have developed a very high level of control over their dreams don't have lucid dreams EVERY night, and usually only have them occasionally if they're not actively trying to. I don't think there's any real danger here, unless you count the danger of becoming addicted and trying to spend your whole life sleeping in an awesome fantasy world of your own devising. I don't know how likely that is. Anyway, the few lucid dreams I've had, I've found to be very enjoyable, refreshing experiences, and I'd like to experience it more often. Some of the stories people tell just blow me away. When I have more time to devote to the practice, I think I certainly will.
I know how you feel Andrew. That's pretty much how I am too, but it's more like 99%.
Fourth. It kind of sucks. I remember having nightmares when I was young, which are just scary dreams, but now that I'm older and am no longer scared as easily as I was when I was a little kid, I no longer experience dreaming. Which is sad for I find dreams to be fascinating, I personally think they're closely related to the workings of your brains and your personality, potentially giving great insights to yourself if you remember them.
For some reason, I tend to remember (and be in rather limited control of) my dreams when I'm at my dad's, but never when I'm at home. It's really sad that I tend to remember dreams like "I got an iPod" or "I got a new computer", then wake up and be confused as to why I still have my old stuff.
Yeah, I woke up thinking I had 5 foot long hair. I was disappointed when I awoke.
For you guys who don't remember your dreams at all -- do you ever consciously try to? Lately I haven't been remembering my dreams, because remembering my dreams hasn't been on my mind much. But when it was -- when I was actively trying to have lucid dreams -- I would spend a few moments immediately after I woke up to think about the dream I just woke up from. If I'm REALLY trying, I'll write it down. But I find that if I don't do that, I often completely forget my dreams just minutes later, even though I know I dreamt.
For you guys who don't remember your dreams at all -- do you ever consciously try to? Lately I haven't been remembering my dreams, because remembering my dreams hasn't been on my mind much. But when it was -- when I was actively trying to have lucid dreams -- I would spend a few moments immediately after I woke up to think about the dream I just woke up from. If I'm REALLY trying, I'll write it down. But I find that if I don't do that, I often completely forget my dreams just minutes later, even though I know I dreamt.
The problem is that you have to wake up during the dream in order to be able to remember it. And as far as I know most people do not wake up in their REM sleep, even though it's the most conscious of sleeping states, but just before or after it. If you don't wake up during the dream you won't remember it for you weren't dreaming. And you didn't remember it when you dreamt it for you were sleeping. At least, that's what I know.
The problem is that you have to wake up during the dream in order to be able to remember it. And as far as I know most people do not wake up in their REM sleep, even though it's the most conscious of sleeping states, but just before or after it. If you don't wake up during the dream you won't remember it for you weren't dreaming. And you didn't remember it when you dreamt it for you were sleeping. At least, that's what I know.
I don't know if that's necessarily true. When I'm more in paying-attention-to-my-dreams mode, I often remember 3 or 4 separate dreams from throughout the night. They say that learning to remember your dreams (5 a night is supposed to be a good target) is a prerequisite to learning to lucid dream. You can't be waking up after all of those, can you? I don't know. But I do think that being more conscious of your dreams in general is necessary to remember them. That's been my experience, at least.
You can't be waking up after all of those, can you?
You are, depending on your definition of waking up. I mean, being awake is merely a certain level of consciousness, and even that is a gradient, note the difference in your i.e. attention span between morning, your personal peak, and evening/night. Like you said you indeed need to become conscious enough when you dream as to store them in memory, thus you basically have to wake up to some extent.
I don't know if that's necessarily true. When I'm more in paying-attention-to-my-dreams mode, I often remember 3 or 4 separate dreams from throughout the night.
I've done that once or twice too; I think the most # of dreams I've remembered in one night is three, though they were all sort of simplistic and banal.
I would spend a few moments immediately after I woke up to think about the dream I just woke up from.
See, when I wake up, I don't even remember dreaming at all. When I do have dreams, they're typically rather pointless and boring, so I never really bothered to write them down or remember them.
I remember having nightmares when I was young, which are just scary dreams, but now that I'm older and am no longer scared as easily as I was when I was a little kid, I no longer experience dreaming. Which is sad for I find dreams to be fascinating, I personally think they're closely related to the workings of your brains and your personality, potentially giving great insights to yourself if you remember them.
Same here. I've never remembered dreaming about "falling" or "flying", but I have dreamt that my house was on fire. Mostly I remember that one because I grabbed a phone and jumped out the window with my mom, who seemed to be the only one home at the time, and ran down the sidewalk calling 911. I like to think that that was a rare case of "winning" a dream.
For you guys who don't remember your dreams at all -- do you ever consciously try to? Lately I haven't been remembering my dreams, because remembering my dreams hasn't been on my mind much. But when it was -- when I was actively trying to have lucid dreams -- I would spend a few moments immediately after I woke up to think about the dream I just woke up from. If I'm REALLY trying, I'll write it down. But I find that if I don't do that, I often completely forget my dreams just minutes later, even though I know I dreamt.
I've also found that dreaming is connected to what you've been doing during that day, mainly whether you have been doing something new or learning. The more you use your brain in a day, the more you'll dream. The more you coast through life, the less you'll dream. I assume this is because you have less that your brain needs to convert to long term memory at night and less reason to weave a crazy story out of the process.
Had my first lucid dream in probably over a year last night -- and my longest by far; maybe 5-10 minutes as opposed to my usual 5-30 seconds. I'm just gonna post my dream journal entry here:
Then, someone and I were watching a video where a guy rode a bike at a ramp, and another guy rode a bike perpendicular to it, I think, and the guy on the ramp jumped off the bike at the top of the ramp, and just went flying over the guy on the bike. It looked really unreal. Then the guy I was watching it with said "That can't be real, is this a dream?" I realized it might be, so I did some kind of reality check (don't remember what) and realized I was dreaming, and I started floating up in the room slowly. I tried to fly out the window (it was the second story), not knowing if it would break, or I'd just pass through it, but I hit it and stopped, so I opened the window and flew out. I was on this suburban street, but it was kinda messy and run down. I was trying to fly fast, but all I could manage was to float about 10-15 feet above the ground.
There was a large TV floating above the front yard, so I flew up and stood on it, and then I remembered that you're supposed to be able to go to differenet places in lucid dreams by spinning around, so I spun a few times, but kept ending up in the same place. So I started floating down the street (but staying over the sidewalk for some reason). There was a gas station at the corner, and as I floated around the corner, this woman was walking with her boyfriend, and she looked at me and said "Hey! How come you're so lucid?" I immediately fell to the ground and lost my lucidity. I didn't wake up, but I just forgot that I was dreaming, and things kinda went back to normal until I woke up.
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"Hey, whered my dragon go? Weren't we on hour way to the diamond.. aww crap, stupid fantasy."
The theory of why dream is that dreams help us to process memories which the mind has whilst waking. There are basically stages to sleep; in the 1st to 4th, the body relaxes, and you’re sleeping lightly. It’s when you feel like you’re falling. And then you get REM sleep, where you dream. You know all those sci-fi shows which are like “Oh noes! We cannot accomplish REM sleep, and are thus are going CRAZY!� Well, it’s somewhat based on truth. Sleep – REM sleep – is important. But I’m sure you all knew that already.
Now, Freud used lucid dreaming in order to explore his subconscious; to dig up repressed things, find out exactly why he felt certain emotions in response to things that happened to him. He discovered (?) the Oedipus complex. He also claimed to have prophetic dreams – completely whack, as I’m sure Doctor Who has recently taught us…
But, this whole brain training while sleeping thing sounds kind of horrible. Intriguing, certainly – if it’s not all BS. Read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A complete population of people controlled and socially engineered by a set of values instilled in them from birth by the use of ‘hypnopaedia’.
The point I’m making in a horrible, roundabout way, is that why would you want to alter your state of mind when you’re dreaming? It doesn’t sound… healthy. You wouldn’t be able to dream freely – which is important – and it would stunt your growth as a real person if you tried to control yourself even when you were dreaming. Even lucid dreaming – where you control your dreams – you are still reacting to things in the dream in a rational way. You aren’t irrationally happy or calm in the face of whatever horror your mind conjures up. You act like a real person. An omnipotent person, but a person nonetheless.
And I just reread the first post and realised I misinterpreted it. Crap. I thought you were asking if it was possible to alter a person’s state of mind while they were awake by playing funny music to them when they were sleeping. If you’re asking if lucid dreaming (where you're aware that you're dreaming) is possible, the answer is yes.
One of the more amusing dream-stories I have in my arsenal; my mum had one where her dead younger brother came and told her he wanted to get married to a girl he met in where-ever dead people go. She woke up, called her sister (my auntie) and told her about it, and they had a paper wedding with chickens as the bride and groom. They burnt the paper stuff, as Taoists do. I’m not sure what they did to the chickens.
Then, someone and I were watching a video where a guy rode a bike at a ramp, and another guy rode a bike perpendicular to it, I think, and the guy on the ramp jumped off the bike at the top of the ramp, and just went flying over the guy on the bike. It looked really unreal. Then the guy I was watching it with said "That can't be real, is this a dream?" I realized it might be, so I did some kind of reality check (don't remember what) and realized I was dreaming, and I started floating up in the room slowly. I tried to fly out the window (it was the second story), not knowing if it would break, or I'd just pass through it, but I hit it and stopped, so I opened the window and flew out. I was on this suburban street, but it was kinda messy and run down. I was trying to fly fast, but all I could manage was to float about 10-15 feet above the ground.
There was a large TV floating above the front yard, so I flew up and stood on it, and then I remembered that you're supposed to be able to go to differenet places in lucid dreams by spinning around, so I spun a few times, but kept ending up in the same place. So I started floating down the street (but staying over the sidewalk for some reason). There was a gas station at the corner, and as I floated around the corner, this woman was walking with her boyfriend, and she looked at me and said "Hey! How come you're so lucid?" I immediately fell to the ground and lost my lucidity. I didn't wake up, but I just forgot that I was dreaming, and things kinda went back to normal until I woke up.