Hi, I’m new to this LD forum and I would like to ask you more experienced dreamers som questions. Yes, I’ve read the stickies but I decided to ask some questions I probably could’ve gotten answered in there but what the hell. Here goes.
Not long ago I had what I think was a lucid dream.
I did not remember dreaming anything but suddenly I thought, Hey this is a dream. I stepped through like a portal or something and ended up close to a street where I used to live. I walked down the street and found a few friends of mine (can’t remember who they were). Appereantly they were luciddreaming too, together with me, in my dream. At the time I did not question the fact that we were in the same dream, but when I woke up I found it very unlikely that would happen. After I’ve talked to them I decided to to something in my dream. I remember closing my eyes and well…intensivly thinking about having sex blushing Nothing happened and I fell out of the dream.
Was I lucid or not? I know that a lucid dream is where you realise that you dream. But the dream were as I said not so lucid-like and didn’t at all feel like it. I also would like to know if you can dream about something that you’ve never experienced? Like dreaming that you’re well…having sex without ever done it before
I would also like to ask if there’s a reason I shouldn’t try to enter a luciddream again. I’m actually pretty scared of the Old Hag effect and things like sleep paralysis…
for starters, it’s not easy for us to tell if you had an LD or not. that’s kinda up to you to realize, not us
next, it’s fully possible for you to experience new, unknown things in dreams, be they lucid or otherwise. this does not, however, mean that they will give accurate representations of how it would be IRL, particularly when connected to physics. for example, if you have never been in space before and dream of being weightless, it will likely be different in your dream from the real thing, since your mind will not know to add all the laws of physics to the mix. this will probably also apply to sex, assuming that you have yet to experience it. your mind will interpret what you already know and create the most accurate simulation it can, but that doesnt mean your mind gets it right.
the last question is really a matter of your views on LDing. never do anything you don’t want to do, period. if you don’t want to, then you don’t have to have LDs. that being said, i cant think of a single, good reason for why you would ever want to NOT have them. as for your fears regarding the Old hag and SP, i would say that those things are actually all the more reason to keep at it, despite the fears. after all, great discoveries are made by pressing on despite what fear tells you. being the rather insane gamer geek that i am, i could compare this to any RPG game. just consider the Old hag and SP like the last boss, and the LDs as the happy, cinematic ending. best way to get to the happy ending, is by repeated attacks in the general direction of said endbosses, preferably with a sword that weighs four times more than you, or by casting magic spells that reduce the ground beneath you to a large crater
Okay, thanks for the answers Kimius. Like you I’m a gamer and it would totally be cool to like battle the monsters of Oblivion or sneak around in the darkness just like Sam Fisher. Okay, even though it would be awesome I would still like to read more about it before I even try.
Anyone who knows how common these side-effects are?
if you are thinking of the SP and old hag “side effects”, then i’ve yet to experience them myself. there are many people on the boards that have, but i don’t have any statistics for it. probably it varies between people quite a bit. some dont get it at all, others get it really often. if memory serves me though, some people actually want it, or try to induce it. the purpose escapes me though…
and as for the Sam Fisher / Oblivion fighting, i like your train of thought, but why not take it one step further? combine the best elements from each game and make your own, complete with graphics better than Peter Jackson could make with a 100 million dollar budget
i could definately see myself sneaking around in total darkness and summoning a Daedra prince infront of some random guard in an office building. might end up with a bit of a space problem, but since when did we need physics involved, anyway?
Were you lucid? It is hard to say. However, it does sound like you attained some level of lucidity but might have been having trouble with control. That is very common with new lucid dreamers and improves with experience.
Can you do things that you have never experienced? To this I would say yes. I once had a dream where I flew as an eagle (you can read about it in my DJ). While I can not say for certain that I actually knew what it was like to be an eagle, I can tell you it was a profoundly powerful and mystical experience.
What about SP and the “old hag”? Well I can only tell you that SP is nothing to be afraid of. I have experienced it and it is nothing to be afraid of. Because you know what is happening it is not as scary. Moreover, you can learn to use SP to help you induce lucid dreams.
I have never experienced the “old Hag” and I believe this to be more of an urban legend that anything you have to worry about. In any case, so long as you are aware of it and understand it is not real you will not be scared of it. You just ignore it.
If these things are bothering you than stick with MILD and other DILD techniques.
blushing Nothing happened and I fell out of the dream.
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