Hello all. I was discussing this with a family member recently and I realized I had some interesting things to say. I haven't read much on this topic, so I cannot have an "informed opinion" per say, but what I say here I've deduced mostly from firsthand experience.
After having some lucid dreams several years ago, I started looking things up on the internet. I found a list of techniques to try to induce astral projection or lucid dreams. I never succeded in projection, but I did have more and more lucid dreams.
I've observed that in most mundane dreams, reality seems a lot "dumber". Dreams seem to have a specific economy. In dreams, there are a lot of ridiculous things that just go over my head, even though in real life they would stand out. Sometimes I will in fact notice these things, and I will become lucid. This experience doesn't last long. The more I use my mind in a dream, the more likely I am to wake up out of the lucid state. It seems to be a condition of dream awareness that thoughts must be economical. The funny thing is, the dreams only have as much detail as it takes to keep you fooled.
Sometimes I will become lucid, as I won't use my mind enough. Then I will return to ordinary dream awareness, and go on as if nothing happened. It reminds me of Gurdjieff when he says something about how a loss of vigilance will immediately set you back to where you were. In dreams, if you are aware enough to do things right, then you have to do it right the first time, and that is all you've got. there can be no second-guessing, or constant monitoring. Both of these things take too much energy and cause stress, and you will not stay dreaming for long. Maybe your dream self is a reflection of who you are, not who you try to be?
In dreams there is some critical part of the self missing. Or maybe it is just the lack of physical feedback? Every time you do something in the real world, there is feedback. Every time you move, you feel your skin folding. Every time you speak, you hear your voice conducting through your skull, and reverberating several different ways back from the environment. There is a lot of feedback, whether we realize it or not. I think there may even be psychic feedback, perhaps?
But in dreams, there is a profound lack of feedback. In dreams, no one questions your poor judgement, and no one will point out to you how silly it is that the books have no titles, or that you're dreaming, except in exceedingly rare cases. In fact, even if I do go lucid, it was after the dream had done everything it could to keep me numb and unaware. I think it takes a genuine desire to live voluntarily to wake up in a dream. Of course dreaming is still dreaming, but being able to realize you are dreaming is a big step in the right direction.
Often I have described sleep and waking in this way: When you are asleep, you cannot choose to awaken. But when you are awake, you can choose to stop waking, and then you will fall asleep. When one is asleep, the only way to wake is to be disturbed by an external force. This is not to say awareness is one-dimensional. You can be aware of one thing and not aware of another.
It seems to me that with the vast majority of feedback removed, we are mostly mechanical except for our desires. If we desire at all to be awake, then it is inevitable that we will awake from a dream, even if it takes a long time. Many times it occurred to me that the ultimate person would not be fooled by a dream. The ultimate person would immediately see the futility of what he was doing, that second, and feel something was wrong, and correct it. He would wake from the sorcerer's spell.
Personally, after realizing this, my actions have made more sense in my dreams. Once I realized that relaxing was the key to not shuddering yourself awake after becoming lucid, I've been able to make more detailed observations while in the dream state. One thing I can say that is contrary to what I've read, is that, at least in my experience, text will not mysteriously change whenever I look back at it. At least not while I am lucid and attentive. And after waking up, even if details seem garbled, if I recall the dream well enough I can usually remember the exact spoken words or text that was in the dream.
One exception I've found is nightmares. In order to feel fear there must be a feedback loop. For this reason nightmares must have an element of lucidity. However you would think that you would wake up because of the anxiety and stress. For some reason this is not the case, as we so often wish we were no longer dreaming. I became lucid in a nightmare once, and I stayed dreaming for a little longer than I would have liked! In all my nightmares it always seems to be "something else" affecting my dream experience, making things odd, odd enough for me to pause and become a little more lucid. Lately when this happens I've learned to recognize the feeling. A few nights ago it happened and I became lucid and thought "okay, I've been through this so many times, I know what's coming". The difference this time was that I was prepared to feel fear, but because I was prepared I also knew I would be able to control my fear. At this point a humanoid outline appeared in front of me, though I woke up before I was able to see more detail. I had the impression that my positive response had prevented "plan A".
Whether the "entities" that exaggerate my nightmares are real or not, I found the journey interesting and somewhat encouraging. Another observation I've made is that if I initially feel fear in a dream, even if it's not the nightmare/anxiety type of fear, sometimes I will begin to feel the presence of an "entity" and then the dream will wildly twist into a full-on nightmare. If this is a dream, then the illusion of nightmare-causing entities is very realistic! It would be easy to imagine this is just one of the ways they feed off of us.
What are your thoughts? Am I covering known territory?
After having some lucid dreams several years ago, I started looking things up on the internet. I found a list of techniques to try to induce astral projection or lucid dreams. I never succeded in projection, but I did have more and more lucid dreams.
I've observed that in most mundane dreams, reality seems a lot "dumber". Dreams seem to have a specific economy. In dreams, there are a lot of ridiculous things that just go over my head, even though in real life they would stand out. Sometimes I will in fact notice these things, and I will become lucid. This experience doesn't last long. The more I use my mind in a dream, the more likely I am to wake up out of the lucid state. It seems to be a condition of dream awareness that thoughts must be economical. The funny thing is, the dreams only have as much detail as it takes to keep you fooled.
Sometimes I will become lucid, as I won't use my mind enough. Then I will return to ordinary dream awareness, and go on as if nothing happened. It reminds me of Gurdjieff when he says something about how a loss of vigilance will immediately set you back to where you were. In dreams, if you are aware enough to do things right, then you have to do it right the first time, and that is all you've got. there can be no second-guessing, or constant monitoring. Both of these things take too much energy and cause stress, and you will not stay dreaming for long. Maybe your dream self is a reflection of who you are, not who you try to be?
In dreams there is some critical part of the self missing. Or maybe it is just the lack of physical feedback? Every time you do something in the real world, there is feedback. Every time you move, you feel your skin folding. Every time you speak, you hear your voice conducting through your skull, and reverberating several different ways back from the environment. There is a lot of feedback, whether we realize it or not. I think there may even be psychic feedback, perhaps?
But in dreams, there is a profound lack of feedback. In dreams, no one questions your poor judgement, and no one will point out to you how silly it is that the books have no titles, or that you're dreaming, except in exceedingly rare cases. In fact, even if I do go lucid, it was after the dream had done everything it could to keep me numb and unaware. I think it takes a genuine desire to live voluntarily to wake up in a dream. Of course dreaming is still dreaming, but being able to realize you are dreaming is a big step in the right direction.
Often I have described sleep and waking in this way: When you are asleep, you cannot choose to awaken. But when you are awake, you can choose to stop waking, and then you will fall asleep. When one is asleep, the only way to wake is to be disturbed by an external force. This is not to say awareness is one-dimensional. You can be aware of one thing and not aware of another.
It seems to me that with the vast majority of feedback removed, we are mostly mechanical except for our desires. If we desire at all to be awake, then it is inevitable that we will awake from a dream, even if it takes a long time. Many times it occurred to me that the ultimate person would not be fooled by a dream. The ultimate person would immediately see the futility of what he was doing, that second, and feel something was wrong, and correct it. He would wake from the sorcerer's spell.
Personally, after realizing this, my actions have made more sense in my dreams. Once I realized that relaxing was the key to not shuddering yourself awake after becoming lucid, I've been able to make more detailed observations while in the dream state. One thing I can say that is contrary to what I've read, is that, at least in my experience, text will not mysteriously change whenever I look back at it. At least not while I am lucid and attentive. And after waking up, even if details seem garbled, if I recall the dream well enough I can usually remember the exact spoken words or text that was in the dream.
One exception I've found is nightmares. In order to feel fear there must be a feedback loop. For this reason nightmares must have an element of lucidity. However you would think that you would wake up because of the anxiety and stress. For some reason this is not the case, as we so often wish we were no longer dreaming. I became lucid in a nightmare once, and I stayed dreaming for a little longer than I would have liked! In all my nightmares it always seems to be "something else" affecting my dream experience, making things odd, odd enough for me to pause and become a little more lucid. Lately when this happens I've learned to recognize the feeling. A few nights ago it happened and I became lucid and thought "okay, I've been through this so many times, I know what's coming". The difference this time was that I was prepared to feel fear, but because I was prepared I also knew I would be able to control my fear. At this point a humanoid outline appeared in front of me, though I woke up before I was able to see more detail. I had the impression that my positive response had prevented "plan A".
Whether the "entities" that exaggerate my nightmares are real or not, I found the journey interesting and somewhat encouraging. Another observation I've made is that if I initially feel fear in a dream, even if it's not the nightmare/anxiety type of fear, sometimes I will begin to feel the presence of an "entity" and then the dream will wildly twist into a full-on nightmare. If this is a dream, then the illusion of nightmare-causing entities is very realistic! It would be easy to imagine this is just one of the ways they feed off of us.
What are your thoughts? Am I covering known territory?
