Dream Within a Dream

Hello ATS folks.

Two days ago I have experienced a lucid dream. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of lucid dreaming they are dreams in which the dreamer is aware that he is dreaming. I am positive that at least at one point of your life you have experienced the feeling of being "awake" in your dreams. I am also sure that when you had your first lucid dream one of the first things you've tried is to fly like a bird, walk through a wall, get hit by a car, or jump from a really high place. At least that what I used to and still do when I'm wake dreaming. back to the topic while having the recent lucid dream, I came to a realization while still dreaming that it is only in dreams we can feel truly awakened. Everything just becomes so much clearer and more meaningful. For one instance when I try to move an object with my mind or use telepathy it doesn't feel like "magic" or something supernatural, it just feels right. I have noticed I am able to do such things because I am using completely different sources of my brain. Its kind of hard to explain it in words because when you're lucid dreaming you are in completely different state of mind, those who experienced this will know what I am talking about. Also I am sorry if I'm boring you because I am not putting my thoughts in Sophisticated or Philosophical manner. Another thing it is completely false that you cant experience your 5 senses in a dream, actually you can experience much more than that. Next time you will have a lucid dream try touching an object and you will feel it, look in the mirror and you'll see your self, you can even read a book or draw paintings that you could never draw in "real" life. It is truly amazing what our subconsciousness is capable of doing. So next time you are going to fall a sleep just tell your mind to wake up.

Originally posted by IndiGo33
I am positive that at least at one point of your life you have experienced the feeling of being "awake" in your dreams. I am also sure that when you had your first lucid dream one of the first things you've tried is to fly like a bird, walk through a wall, get hit by a car, or jump from a really high place.

I wish this statement was accurate.
IF I have ever actually experienced this, then I did not remember it when I woke. If I can not remember it, then it did not happen. Unless sleepwalking counts. There have been times when other people thought I was awake, but I was not.

Anyways, I am slightly disappointed. Based on the title, I opened this expecting to read some sort of 'Inception' type story.

I too have experienced "lucid dreams" but not everyone has. I will say that in a dream you do NOT experience all of your senses. You do not smell, taste or feel. In a dream you are living in your mind at the moment (subconscious??) You can paint a picture or figure out a complex problem because you are not dealing with the the "outside" world, just YOUR inside thoughts on a deeper level than you can when you are awake. imho.

I remember dreaming of having lots of money,then I woke up. I told myself that the next time I dreamed about money,grab it,and hold tight. I don't remember how long it was but I dreamed again about money,I was in a big bed,and at the foot was all these bags of money. I felt myself waking up, and I told myself to hurry and grab the money before I wake up,and I did. I was holding tight and smiling as I was waking up. Needless to say,I woke up clutching nothing, and I remember being mad,and disappointed.

reply to post by Eight


Dreams are mental and not physical. You obviously wanted money. Do you think a wealthy person has similar dreams?? A wealthy person probably dreamt they were broke.

reply to post by ProphecyPhD


i beg to differ... every person's lucid dreams are different in intensity and shape... let me explain myself a little.
I've had lucid dreams since i ever heard about that term, when i was really little. Through the years, i can feel everything that surrounds me, all 5 senses and much more. I can read, turn on and off light, paint, draw, even sew (i'm a fashion designer in the make).... when i fly, i can feel the air on my face, i can sense the smell of the air, i can feel the touch of other people, i can feel pain, etc. It's all about the person who's having the lucid dream and how lucid the dream is. I've also had lucid dreams that weren't that lucid too, where the "common" reality checks do work and all... but most of the times, they don't work for me. Sometimes i feel i'm more alive when i'm dreaming than when i'm awake....
---
I've also had dreams within a dreams within a dreams, like in Inception movie hahaha... waking up, seeing yourself in a mirror and noticing you're not yourself because, i don't know, your eyes are another colour or something like that, and waking up again, doing the same and waking again.... it's kinda funny

Still, there's something I hate about lucid dreaming, and it's that when you have this amazing kind of dreams and you're completely aware that you're dreaming, and you can do whatever you want... waking up from a dream where you are basically a god and suddenly realize that you're just a common human being it's kinda sad and dissapointing... from time to time i've wondered how it would be if i'll keep on dreaming and never wake up... in my teenager days i also considered a soft kind of "suicide", so instead of dyeing, falling in a deep coma and be able to dream forever, never wake up. Course those years are so far away and now i want to make my life more "dreamy" every day. Maybe that's what made me got interest in majick! who knows....

I read a couple of guides teaching one some methods for experiencing lucid dreams, and I chose the method that urges you to pinch your nose, close your mouth, and attempt to breathe while asking yourself if you are dreaming or awake. The guide said that during a dream you would in fact be able to breathe with your mouth and nose closed.

So throughout the day I did that every couple of hours or so, and it was either that same night, or the next one, where I was able to ask myself during a dream, if I was dreaming. It was instinctive to pinch my nose in my dream, and I could in fact breathe somehow...BUT, not being in a completely lucid state, for whatever reason my brain thought that because I COULD breathe that I wasn't dreaming...haha, I thought it was pretty funny. Haven't tried it since then, but am convinced it should be relatively easy for most people if they put in the small amount of time necessary to train yourself to ask whether or not you are awake...

Just ask yourself throughout the day, for those of you wondering how to do it, and hopefully you will be able to differentiate when you are actually having a dream.

I just thought I would add my short experience to your thread...Maybe it will benefit someone who is just starting out. Don't be like me and get discouraged!!!

ALERT TO ALL NAVIGATION

do NOT use lucid dreaming as a release as an escape from awake life.
not only the dissatisfaction of returning will be worse, you will start to dip in increasingly lower frequency planes.

instead, use dream lucidity to uplift yourselves, to give you something to grasp for, to find the purpose of awake life thus freeing yourself from its penitences.

safe travels y'all, carefull not to fall in the stairs ::


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

as i said, it varies from person to person. I've read a lot of books about lucid dreaming to be able to produce (or maybe induce?) lucid dreams, because they just happen to me from time to time and i can't make them happen by will.... the only method that seemed to work for me was asking to myself if i'm dreaming several times a day (in a book they said 25 times a day), lately i got too busy at college and forgot to do those reality checks and they started to happen again just by choice.
There's several things you can do in a dream to see if you're dreaming or not. The only "common" reality check that do work for me is watching a digital wristwatch. Of course, i do wear a digital wristwatch in my waking life, so looking at it, look to another side and looking again.... if the clock time differs for more than 1 minute, then i'm sleeping. Another common reality checks are looking at your hands, turning the light on and off (for some people light don't work in the same way as they do in waking life), opening a water tap... search reality checks on google, there's a lot of literature about it available on the web

----------------
I can't lie, I used the lucid dreaming to run away from real world when i was a teenager. Some teenagers do drugs, another cut their wrists or write dark poetry for the same reason... i just slept all day trying to get a lucid dream and be free from all my boundaries.... now i just enjoy the moment, go visit my family (that lives far away from me), do things like being the queen of fashion or stupid things like that. I love to fly and time to time I ask for spiritual guidance. Or not just spiiritual, when i'm stuck in a project, i have met people in my dreams that had helped me to polish my ideas!. It's fun, and i usually wake up more energized than when i wake up from a normal dream.

reply to post by Caggy



I definitely agree with you, Everyone experiences lucid dreams differently. And yes you CAN feel pain in the dreams because your mind can make the pain real. For instance in one of my "normal" dreams I was slowly stabbed in the lower back with a knife, the pain was so intense that i still experienced it for few seconds after awakening.

reply to post by ProphecyPhD


I know you think it is impossible to feel, taste, or feel pain in dreams, however first couple of times you experience lucid dreams you are not fully in control of your dream. Sometimes to induce lucid dreaming I literary trick and my own consciousness into believing that actually the real world is a dream and put my mind into a state of paradox. Trust me when you will master your own subconsciousness and be able to manipulate certain areas of your brain you will be amazed how different your mind is from your physical body.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


Did you know that Inception is actually based on the concept of lucid dreaming.

Tool - Sweat

I'm sweating,
and breathing
and staring and thinking
and sinking
deeper.
It's almost like I'm swimming.

The sun is burning hot again
on the hunter
and the fisherman,
and he's trying to remember when,
but it makes him dizzy.

Seems like I've been here before.
Seems so familiar.
Seems like I'm slipping
into a dream within a dream.

Must be the way you whisper.

The sun is setting cool again.
I'm the thinker
and the fisherman
and I'm trying to remember when
but it makes me dizzy.
and I'm sweating,
and breathing,
and staring and thinking
and sinking
deeper
and it's almost like I'm swimming.

Seems like I've been here before.
Seems so familiar.
Seems like I'm slipping
into a dream within a dream.
It's the way you whisper.
It drags me under
and takes me home.

reply to post by IndiGo33


this may sound stupid, i've had a lot of normal dreams where i NEED to pee, and when i wake up, i feel the same feeling, but it dissapears too hahahaha

Lucid dreams are amazing, but I have never thought about flying like a bird or jumping off a cliff whilst having one. What interests me is that I can feel every footstep as I walk, and see the world around me with complete clarity. I have also noticed that colours seem to be more vibrant than in the real world. One lucid dream involved me walking through a forest, and I wandered into a sunlit clearing. The colours were so "pure" compared to anything that I had seen before. It was so beautiful.

In a lucid dream, you know that you are dreaming. However, there have been times when I have been almost positive that I was awake. That it can't possibly be a dream. That is a rather strange experience.

Indigo33's comment about being able to move things with your mind is also an interesting one. I have had several dreams like this, where I can (for want of a better term) "use the Force" to pull objects to me. When this happens, I get a strange feeling in the back of my head....

reply to post by Mogget


I know what you saying, some lucid dreams are so vivid that you still doubt weather you are dreaming or not. In those cases I usually hold my breath, If could hold it forever than I know that I'm dreaming otherwise I'm awake.