Hi, new member here. I have been reading the posts for a few days and I dont think I have found what I am looking for. What I want to know is, is it possible to influence people through lucid dreaming. For example, can one ( when in a lucid dream) influence a person they know. It could be a boss, neighnour, friend, family member etc. I am not referring to Astral projection here. Just LD. Are the confinds of a LD purely limited to that or can they extend into actually influencing real waking life people.
I think you got this idea from Inception, half the stuff in there is not real its a movie and they put stuff in there to make it interesting, I personally believe shared dreams do not exist but I keep a open mind because new scientific discovery’s happen everyday. Anyway I think this post belongs in beyond dreaming.
Ok, interesting! I got the idea from astral projection and how it maybe possible to influence others (whilst out of body) during their sleep. Anyway, cheers for the responses.
I haven’t experienced it but I do think it’s possible. It probably wouldn’t be very ethical to intrude into someone’s dream without permission, though. You should search for shared/mutual dreaming. I personally think most of the deliberate attempts are FAiLs and not so convincing, but there are other cases where people dream about/with a person and confirm it in real life.
I personally believe it’s fully and entirely possible. You can look at it in two different ways.
Either spiritually and state that we simply don’t have proof that it’s impossible, therefore we choose to believe in it by whatever potential reasons we find logical and reasonable. Everyone is entitled to this belief of their own, as that’s what usually leads to the most brilliant groundbreaking theories.
OR
We take the approach of one such ingrained purely in what has been previously researched. As this seems to be the more common viewpoint, I’ll use it for my counter.
It’s merely psychology. What we dream inevitably effects us, even if we do not recall it. Should we dream lucidly, it’s a fairly safe bet to say we are vastly more likely to recall and vastly more likely for said dream to be in the front of our minds for the next day or longer. It is also very evident that the things residing in the forefront of our mind tend to influence how we perceive situations as well as how we react to them. These reactions don’t have to be major things, even just minor body language-type actions that we are completely unaware of. Others, though, may pick up on this, possibly not even consciously. And thus, transitively, our dream has influenced the people around us. Possible with no telepathy, astral projection, nor other difficult to prove theories.
You guys really shouldn’t be so quick to shoot down fun new ideas.
Never heard of it. I am pretty skeptical on whether dreams unconsciously affect us. The only exception I know is when you WANT your dreams to affect you (i.e. to heal some phobias). I have personally NEVER changed my life just because of a dream I had or didn’t have, neither was I affected in any ways, except when I have a happy day after a LD.
This is an even more risky assertion. Could you please supply verified research on this matter?
That is true. That is a basic dream recall.
Now this is NOT true, at least regarding dreams. Do you really live your life according to the dreams you’ve had during the night? I really doubt that.
Body language is not influenced by dreams. The brain part responsible for body language is not the same that is responsible for dreaming. Body language is an independent ability of our bodies and is not controlled by our dreams (or influenced by them).
What we do influences other people, however, what we do in our dreams DOESN’T influence us. If what you are talking about is serious, I would really like it if you pointed me to some scientifical research articles on this matter.
[mod]This portion removed. Please be a little bit more respectful. [/mod]
I do not have the time at the moment to go find sources to cite, and of course do not have them floating around the top of my head like a savant. I will see what I can find later; however, you seemed to have entirely missed my point.
I did not mean to say that every dream we have influences everything we do. Rather that some do and more so, as you stated yourself, they can influence us in ways we intend. The intentions do not have to be direct, as we’re dealing with a very symbolic based structure.
To state that dreams do not influence our minds beyond the point of waking, however, is a difficult concept for me to grasp. I cannot count the amount of times I have simply been in a brighter mood because of an exciting (lucid or not) dream I had the previous night. I also have had many dreams that have put me into a darker. more morbid mood. I’ve also had dreams that gave me the courage to do something I may have otherwise backed down on. To be frank, my meager human existence has been drastically changed on occassion from dreams alone. This is not to say however that I am ruled by my dreams, it is merely to illuminate (via anecdote) that dreams influence emotion.
Emotion influences thought process and perception, as evident by anyone who has ever “lost themself in blind rage”, found themself accepting an invitation to a party only because their crush is going, or even more simply has ever been “in the mood to go for a walk”.
As for your statement that dreams do not influence body language, because they are both controlled by different areas of the brain…please keep in mind that the brain is not a disjoint and fully modular organ. Dreams are controlled by multiple sections of the brain and ultimately if we recall it, it ends up in our memory. Memory can play a very heavy roll in our kinesthetics. Take a simple case as an example: An athelete may be years out of practice, but is attempting to regain his skills. He is practicing a dive he knew as a child. As he steps up to the diving platform, he thinks “I remember doing this before. If I was able to do it once, I’ll be able to do it again.” A statement that gives him confidence and the memory of the muscle movements helps him to coordinate his own in that moment.
Similar concepts tend to hold true when you take it from voluntary to involuntary.
I really did not intend to have to go so deeply into explaining my reasoning as it tends to drift the topic off course. I was merely hoping to give you an example that could be backed “scientifically”.
Wasn’t Paul Tholey researching how LDing influences our motor activity in WL? And LaBerges Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming also suggests that rehearsing skills in dreams actually DOES influence us.
While I’m not sure whether there’s any scientific data on it, I think it’s perfectly plausible that what we dream influences our WL in some way. After all, why would for example cats ‘rehearse’ typical hunting behaviour while dreaming? (I think Michael Jouvet discovered this by surgically removing the part of the brain responsible for paralysis) You could say it’s purely coincidental, but why would it stimulate EXACTLY the same muscles as in WL then?
But still, as our dreams take place in our brain (or at least that’s most likely) I guess the only person we can influence is ourselves. I think changing your behaviour in dreams in order to change the reaction of people to you in WL would hardly qualify as “influencing other people while dreaming”.
So Ysim, your saying that lucidity and dreams might influence our behavior and body language. And that behavior and body language could then influence others around us?