How realistic is the dream world?

Quest for Lucidity
1

I find myself asking this regularly throughout the day, really mustering up curiosity about the subject. I have searched and not found much on it except the common line, “It feels like real life”. I find it difficult to believe that this really feels as real as RL. I am curious to know seriously how realistic DC are, as well as your dream scapes and objects. For example, what would it feel like to touch a DC? I have heard some say that the DC just fade away, and others claim that it feels like real skin. =/ Also objects, whats that like? In detail, touch, smell?

If there is a similar thread to mine, feel free to redirect me. Otherwise, I urge anyone that has had a lot of conscious LD to give their take on the detail of the dreamworld.

Thanks.

2

Ok, to give you a quick answer , it depends , i for example can touch my DC’s but its not that much of a “direct” feeling … the “graphic” in my dreams is mostly less colorful than in RL… i already tasted thing in an LD ,but it was a disgusting flavor …but i experienced taste nevertheless …

3

Simple. As real as you want it to be, however if you are low lucid, it might not be very real.

4

Interesting observations, I can’t wait until I can experience my first LD. However some say that the world looks immensely detailed and colorful, also I have read that some are afraid to attack/injure other DC because they are afraid of consequence. I take it all this is in the head?

5

injure yourself , well maybe on the emotional level (they speak with you, act like people , know what you know , and than you shoot them ? that sure isn’t very healthy ) but not physically …

happy LDing

6

Dreams can be just as real as waking life and then some.
Ans yes I mean by using the senses and such.

7

This question has been asked many times and also answered many times. :smile: The reason there is no definitive answer probably is that the experience varies greatly from dreamer to dreamer and also between individual LDs.

So I will only speak for myself with this:

Generally, LDs are very real in the details but not anything like WL if I consider the whole experience. That is, individual sensations may be very real, but I can definitely tell I am in a dreamworld (only if I am lucid, of course :razz:).
Maybe that is a good thing as well, after all, where would the fun be if everything was exactly as in WL? For example, I have no clue what it feels like to just take off and fly in WL, so the experience in a LD is as real as it can get. I just can say that it does feel very convincing. :colgate:

Realism varies greatly depending on the sense involved. In my LDs, visual details are always extremely realistic, for example if I look closely at some item, I wouldn’t be able to tell it from a real thing (except hands, of course :wink:).
On the other hand, the scene as a whole often feels strange: It may have weird colors, be distorted, shaky or even dull in some way. I also tend to lose visuals if I son’t do anything for too long (quite annoying), but luckily I now seem to have found a way to get them back. :smile:
Auditory senses are great. I can hear the dream world loud and clear, no matter what the source might be. Music often has an additional beauty to it in a LD that I have never experienced in WL.
Taste is mostly dull, like a shadow of what it should be in WL. It is somewhat “correct” in most cases (things taste like they should), but not very convincing overall.
Tactile sense is very good for me. Also, it is usually something that manages to keep me in the dreamworld. Everything feels quite real, even human skin. In fact, I really like to explore this in my LDs by touching everything. Actually, this is one thing that I used not pay a lot of attention to in WL. LDing has led me to explore how things feel in WL a lot more. :colgate:
As for smell… I never have paid much attention to it. Only in my last LD I actually got to spray around lots of Eau de Toilette, and it did smell somewhat real. :mrgreen: I shall put it on my todo list for upcoming LDs immediately. :colgate:

Also, there may be sudden “surges” in realism or intensity of the experience if you use certain techniques. This can change a dull low lucidity dream into an amazing LD in an instant.

There is also some truth in what Smiffy008 said, I think. If you (including your subconscious) do not pay attention to something in a LD or do not consider it important, it simply will not be there. If you really take a close look however, the experience can be amazingly realistic.

Anyway, good luck with your LDs! :smile:

8

All my lucid dreams have been exactly like RL :confused: Ofcourse, when we are lucid a part of our brain is still asleep which makes it difficult for us to think completely clear and we might miss details.

9

When I have an LD it is usually very real for me except sometimes my commands are not very strong or i have to work hard to get something (I guess it just comes in practice) but I can use all of my senses except smell for some reason :confused: but if i think to hard about dreaming than the reality lessens for some reason. :eh:

The Luciddator

10

I appreciate the answers guys, I loved reading each of them. :content: They really helped me to understand at least a little, however I will need to experience it for myself. :slight_smile:

11

Exactly you can’t say “how is the dream world” its more than real, it’s it’s own reality… It’s hard to explain, it’s too real :eek:

sorry, i can’t explain it better than that :wink:

12

I’ve only had one LD but everything looked and felt incredibly real, truly it is like being in another world.

13

@ouvres tes yeux:

That is a good explanation as well. It is often so “real” that you definitely know it is not. :colgate:

14

Haha, I love your input yeux! xD “Too real”? :content: Made my day, I love these answers. =P

15

Most of my lucid dreams are much more “real” then life, the feelings are hightened as well as everything else, so for me,when i touch someone in a ld, its like feeling them with every part of my awareness, its incredible.

Mind you when i first started out it was nothing like that, i was real but i had to work on my memory for it to be as it is now

Good luck

16

I think it depends on how good you can remember your dreams later. I mean even normal dreams seem to be more realistic if you have a good dream recall, isn’t it?

17

I strongly believe that a our “Dream world” will never be 100% accurate as the “Real World” but as “real” we think our “Real world” is…let me explain that.

Since our dreams ar mostly images/sounds/feelings our brain has collected from our “real world” as we see/hear/feel it, we can’t really create anything in our dreams we haven’t a clue about and still think it’s 100% accurate as the “real thing in the real world”.

For example:
One day i decide that in one of my dreams i want to see a sportscar. More specificly a Lamborghini Diablo, an Italian super sportscar.
So i find a picture of it and studies it for a bit…Like this picture
Now i’ll at a first glimse most likely just remember its shape…
Now in my dreams i re-creates the Diablo and is happy to see it becuse it does indeed “look” like the “Real Car”.
Now back in the real world i decide to look at some more pictures of the car.
A whole bunch of pictures here
Now i pay more attention to the details and notices things that i didn’t see on my “Dream Diablo” like the rims, headlights, air intakes…but i tought that the car i saw in the dream was a “Diablo”? That’s becuse i had no clue that they were there since i didn’t pay attention to them the first time i saw the car.
In my next dream i creates my “Dream Diablo” again and this time i can see the “missing details” so the “Dream Diablo” looks more accurate to the “Real Diablo”.

Now for its sounds, i have no idea what a Diablo sounds like so if i would turn the engine on and hit the throttle :happy: , it would most likely sound like a motor i have heard before like that of a Volvo, Go-Cart, Chainsaw or maybe even a Lawnmover :content: .
So how do i fix that? Easy enought…i search for some audio clips that sounds like a Diablo as it’s turned on, accelereates, brakes, shifts a gear and soo on.
Like this clip for example.

So now i my dreams i re-creates the “Dream Diablo” again and now if does indeed sounds more like a real super sportscar since i “remember” what it’s supposed to sounds like.

So now i’m happy and decides to take it for a ride, accelerating it, shifting gears and having a good time (until i lose control of the car and slams it into a nearby wall/house/rock since i have no idea how to really drive that car…well better luck in the next dream :wink: ).

It comes down to all the details we pay attention to in our “real world” as those are the things we’ll most likely experience if one’s trying to create “real world events” in the “dream world”.

However i must add, we have the advantage in our “dream world” of creating things or scenarios that can’t or doesn’t exists in the “real world”. As well as “bending the rules” soo to say, like jumping down from a cliff and fall down 100+ meters, land on our feets and simply walk away. Now how much “feeling” you would have as you landed on your feets depends on “how much” you want to have. Should it feel a little? Or a lot? Well it’s all up to you and how “realistic” you want the dream to be. (And how you define “realism” in a dream world).

  • Tywald

(And before asking, yes, i have done all those things myself to create a “Dream Diablo”, including slamming it into a wall. :ack: )

18

in some of my dream experiences (and I am probably speaking for a lot of people when i say this) we are very fooled into thinking like it is the real world (matrix anyone?) which is why not all of our dreams are LDs. RCs are supposed to help us with seeing if the reality we think is the one that we all live (or the waking world/ not dreaming). Though for me RCs dont really do much, I find MILD brings all of my LDs…
Hope this Helped,
The Luciddator

19

Yeah it did, however if you do a never ending RC, you will be able to always know you are dreaming. :content: Yes it’s possible, but thanks for your input luciddator! :slight_smile: