All Lucid and Non-Lucid Dreams are Multi-Layered

[g0dfish]

@flowofmysoul

I think that we never experience 1 dream at a time. When we dream we always have other dreams running in background. I counted that in average we experience at least 2-3 dreams at once. Meaning that in every dream or lucid dream there must be other dreams playing in background. All dreams are multi-layered.

I’ve never come across anything like this before, but after reading this thread, I can see how it could be true. Especially given this –

@dreamincolor

This is an awesome observation and a great insight at the subconcious workings of our mind. Just wow! Even in our waking moments we have multiple thoughts on our mind, memories, situations we are re-playing; it only makes sense that are dreams are doing the same.

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I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced layered dreams with such clarity that you’ve described. However, there does seem to be some similarity in the In-Between space – that space when you’re not quite asleep and not quite awake. Sometimes I just slip in and then slightly slip out. When I slightly slip out, I suddenly become aware that I had been sort of having an auto-pilot dream or thought process, while neither being fully asleep or fully awake. Usually by the time I realize this, the contents of what was just happening begin to rapidly fade. (Which is sometimes super annoying if the contents happened to be something really amazing.)

I’m wondering if there is a thread on here that addresses the mechanisms of forgetting when waking?

Anyway, that is an experience that sort of reaches towards what you are getting at, because one is still awake, while also having this auto-pilot experience just slightly underneath the conscious level. It doesn’t then seem far-fetched to suggest that this is always happening and we may or may not be aware of it.

Another experience that could be relevant is a dream I had after I had been contemplating the idea of bi-location in waking life. I received all sorts of insights about that, during that time. The most potent source of insight being a dream in which I was dreaming two dreams at once. But it was entirely chaotic for me. And in the one dream, I started to become distressed, being unable to really hold to that dream reality. It was a little like losing my mind. The two started to warp and blend and I just couldn’t keep it together. In the dream I ended up just holding on to my partner’s arm to try to ground some point of reference.

If anyone is interested, I’ll make a separate post about that dream and what I learned about bi-locating.

One of the take-aways was that, my mind needs to be prepared and strengthened to be able to hold multiple frames of reference like that, at once, otherwise I risk damaging it. I’m not saying its not possible for others, though. Just, my guidance was like, hey slow down there Tiger, try crawling before running. LOL.

so maybe, in regards to layered dreaming, I’m just not well practiced enough to stretch my awareness in that way, even if the dreams are actually already happening.

the coolest thing that strikes me about this is, it really reminds me of the ideas of “higher self/inner self/oversoul.” In some schools of thought, the Oversoul is the part of us that holds (maybe you can even say, dreams) all the potential iterations of the reality and timelines of the Self/Selves. So, flowofmysoul, (your name is ironically suited to this), it is like you are tuning into this greater awareness.

(( If you want a book recommendation, I think you’d really enjoy the book called The Education of Oversoul Seven, by Jane Roberts))

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Voices,

I’m certain that some of the occurrences of a guiding voice come from this larger self. However, I’ve also had strange occurrences of voices that were just weird and threw me off, that occurred like someone was flipping the dial of a radio to different channels. sometimes the voices are aware of me and talking directly to me, other times they are just going on about something random not related to me.

Sometimes I have this experience, and I’ve heard it is a common one, of hearing these random voices saying arbitrary things, while falling into sleep. Apparently that kind of voice-hearing is also a symptom of sleep deprivation in it’s more advanced stages, but hearing them doesn’t necessarily mean you’re suffering from sleep deprivation. It can also just happen.

[Someone]

I figure out a way to have several LD at the same time and hold other dreams in the background. It shares similarities to the layers described, but there is full control and awareness the entire time. It does require a lot of control and recall. It took me a week of LD to develop this method. Hopefully once walked through it you can do it faster.

The best way to explain it is for me to walk you through how I did it the first time

I would often be faced with a decision that would have two very different effects on the LD I was currently having. I got annoyed I had to choose one and miss out on the other unique storyline. I wanted them both.

One time I changed my mind and tried to backtrack the dream, but that made the dream too unstable and I woke. The next time I decided to ‘jump’ back to the decision moment and advance forward with Dream B. Dream A quickly was quickly being forgotten but I still wanted to explore its story, so I jumped back to it, Dream B consequently began fading.

I go better and better at jumping back and forth between two similar dreams with different stories. Soon I could jump between more than two dreams with completely different plots, and leave the other dream in a limbo state for longer periods of time. However I would still only experience one dream at a time.

This wasn’t good enough for me, I got impatient and began jumping rapidly back and forth between two dreams. I can best describe the effect like the two dreams were on opposite sides of my mind, and they began to physically draw closer together towards the center of my head. The intervals between jumps became faster and faster with less time occurring in each dream to the point nothing occurred. As the dreams converged at the center I realized I was no longer jumping between them but rather experiencing them both at once with full control and attention on both. I was in both dreams as if I were only in one.

I kept working at this and can now have 3 LD simultaneously and hold 7 more in limbo to swap in, however there is a trade off as the more dreams I experience and contain the more stretched thin my mind is so the vividness decreases. More simultaneous dreams is far more taxing than dreams in limbo. I can hold 16 dreams in limbo when I am not split dreaming, but I rarely find that practical. Ending one of the dreams is as simple as relaxing it into limbo and allowing my mind to forget it.

This showed me how to fully be in one dream and let my mind wonder and work on something else. I would think up a new dream or think of a previous dream developing it to either store in limbo for later use, or start dreaming it with another. This is also how I learned to visit past dreams and develop dream worlds

I use this skill to experience a multiverse of a dream, Or in one dream I study or develop dream skills while in the other I have fun.

Because there is a trade off on quantity vs quality I typically stick to 2 dreams and up to 4 in limbo, as I can maintain a very vivid experience.

When having two dreams something disrupting in dream A that would normally cause you to wake now only suddenly ends dream A leaving you in the unaffected dream B. Dream A can easily and quickly be recalled a few moments before the disruption for an alternative choice or repeat of the disruption if your learning more control or overcoming an obstacle. Overall simultaneous dreaming creates a very stable dream environment

dream time is limited, simultaneous dreaming is very efficient with that time, and that’s why I almost always choose to use it.

[Kristen_Aley (Whidbeydreamer)]

Yes I just recently had the same conclusion. I think it must have something to do with how deep I am sleeping .The most layers I have had to wake in was just a week ago and it was five!