I don’t know what to call it, so I’ll name it fake LD. This happened to me for the first time last night.
I realized I was dreaming but I didn’t get lucid.
I dreamt I was in IRC, and I realized I was dreaming, I was thinking all the time, “I’m dreaming, I’m lucid!”, but I didn’t do anything with it, the dream just kept going. It also didn’t cross my mind I could do anything, or that click when you really become lucid and make a decision on what to do now.
It was like my mind was stuck in the realization I was dreaming, I kept thinking that during the whole dream, and I was so happy that I was lucid I had two dreams like that.
I now realize I have read accounts from people who say they realize they are dreaming but they can’t do anything else, I wonder if this is what they mean.
For me this is another type of LD/dream.
I wonder if others have experienced the same and could maybe describe it better.
It is not a False LD (in my reasoning) since in FLD’s i always act like i’m lucid but don’t realize i’m dreaming.
I’ve had a dream just like that. I realize that I’m dreaming and I say to myself “I’m just dreaming! Finally I’m lucid!” but the words don’t feel as if they came from me and I never actually realize what it means to be lucid and I just continued like normal in my dream. Aren’t these dreams called semi-lucid dreams or have I mixed them up?
what you describe sounds exactly what I had last night
for me a semi-lucid dream is that you actually do some low-level lucid stuff, and not stay stuck at the ‘i’m just dreaming’ - but lose that very fast and slip back in the dream again. I don’t even say things like :I’m dreaming, it’s just a feeling that i lose quickly again in a semi-lucid dream.
But I usually use the terms semi-lucid dream and low level lucid dream together. I will have to look in my DJ’s to see what kind of dreams i label semi-lucid and what kind I label low-level lucid
Okay, good to know, but I don’t like calling these dreams for FLD’s since they don’t seem like one. perhaps we should make up a new word for it Hmm… UA? Unconscious Awareness
Honestly, I can’t come up with a better word to describe it.
i had a dream like that a while ago…
someone was trying to burn me with a torch and i wanted to hit him but i couldnt and then i realised that i was dreaming but i didnt try to do anything, i just kept trying to hit him and take the torch in stead of just flying away or just throw him away or something
For myself I hold the theory that the moment any reference in a dream is made to it actually being a dream, however slight, then it is a lucid dream of some sort. Although obviously when you just say something like, “well this is a dream” or something, then carry on as a normal dream it doesn’t seem the same as becoming “fully lucid” and “deciding to do things”.
On the other hand, I believe that everything your dreamself does, you decide to do. It just doesn’t feel like you were consciously deciding to do them in hindsight. Yet half the things we do day-to-day in our waking life, we do absentmindedly, and non-consciously. So I like to think of the majority of dreams which are like this, or all normal dreams for that matter, as me just doing things without really thinking. Those in which I become “fully lucid”, are ones where there’s a clue to it being a dream, which makes me decide to think about things in a more conscious manner, just as we would in our waking life if we try to concentrate on what we’re actually thinking and doing.
I started to think like this because every time I had dreams with lucidity, I’d have a doubt in my mind saying:
“what if this was just a normal dream, where I dreamed that I realized I was dreaming, and dreamed all of my seemingly conscious decisions? I have no way to tell if it was really me consciously deciding to do things, or just the dream making it seem like it was.”
And then I started to think that every lucid dream ever could just be an elaborate normal dream. I decided this was an unhelpful way to think, so I took the opposite stance.
I think that we all agree that what we do in our dreams is ether controlled consciously, or unconsciously by our subconscious. The question is then more how much our conscious is controlling the dream.
We could look at it like this:
ND Pre Fake Low LD High
LD LD LD LD
ND, subconscious in full control.
Not noticing anything
PreLD, subconscious in control, conscious starting to wake up.
Notice that something is strange (DS)
fake, simi, low level-LD, SC in control but conscious is awake enough to know that you are dreaming.
Notice you are dreaming or Wanting/Trying to do something in your dream
LD, SC takes care of the details, conscious is in control of you.
Being in control of some things in your dream. (dream powers may work)
High level LD, your conscious can control whatever it wants to.
Being in full control of your dream
Naturally, you can move between the levels in a dream.
I am not sure about Pre, fake, simi, or low LD’s, but I do see it as a question of how much your conscious is making the decisions, and how awake your logic functions are.
If your SC is in charge, you have an ND, if your conscious is in charge, you have a high level LD. Most LD’s are in between.
Then there is also the possibility that your SC thinks that it is important to “tell your conscious” something, so it takes over and doesn’t let you control your dream. (That could also be why some LD’s are fake or simi LD’s).
I’m sorry i’m not going into details or anything (i’ve been typing all day long) but i’ve had exactly what you’re describing PasQuale, even happened to me last night.
However, i think i’ve somehow programmed myself not to care so much anymore about being lucid, because i’ll get to that stage, but not bother taking control, or not being able to.
I’ve yet to experience this myself, but my brother’s first LD was like that. He actually had his first LD the same night as I! Anyway, he were playing “Secret of Mana”, and had a déjà vu-feeling, because he’d dreamt the same thing last night; the two computer-controlled characters both had zero HP left, but kept on fighting. He then realized he was dreaming, but didn’t do anything, just let the dream go on. This was the first night he even knew what an LD was, I had known about it for a week.
I have had many of these dreams. The more i think about it, i really dont think they are lucid dreams, or any form of them what so ever. It is only a dream about lucid dreaming. These dreams are no different from any other normal dream except in content. I think the level of consciousness if exactly the same. Its not unusual at all that all of us here are having these dreams because if we care about lding enough to read about it on a forum its not surprising we dream about them.
But does anyone have any way to describe the difference between a real LD and a “fake”. I definitely know the difference, it just seems like no one can put it into words. I guess this is more of the question, is lucid consciousness the same as waking?
I would say that the crucial definition of a lucid dream is that you make at least one actual decision in the dream based on your awareness that it is a dream. It might be nothing more than deciding to use the opposite sex restroom rather than the one of your own gender (which is out of order) because you’re dreaming (I did that one last night). Obviously, if I had been completely lucid, I might not have even bothered with a restroom. So I think degrees of lucidity are based on how globally the dream is affected by one’s awareness that one is dreaming. Are we just affecting small details, or are we changing major dream features?
I think even if one is simply paying especially close attention to the dream as one is dreaming (such as being especially aware of textures or landscapes) then that is still a form of lucidity since one is making a decision in the dream to be especially attentive. That would be my definition of minimal lucidity.
I have these fake lucid dreams with increasing frequency. My dream self clearly knows he’s in a dream and acts accordingly. What troubles me is that he seems to be getting smarter - he has begun to remember previous dreams. It seems as if I’m developing a set of dream memories and skills separate from my waking self.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? I’m concerned that this diminishes my chances of becoming lucid. And that my psyche might split in two!
I had two dreams like that.
Hmm… UA? Unconscious Awareness 