Is lucid dreaming a controversial subject?

[dB_FTS]

@Shadow of a Day

I think (at least in my region) that the biggest problem people have with Lucid dreaming is that they are afraid that you are playing with things you don’t understand. Some people think that Lucid dreaming might siriously mess up some of your body functions. Specifically memory, personality and other brain workings (although there is no source to back this up. They give the argument that everybody would have lucid dreams naturally all the time if it was suposed to be that way. Now I don’t know why most people only have nd’s for 99% of the time, what it does? However, there are people that have dreamt luicdly naturally for most of their lives and they haven’t suffered any strange diseases or syndromes.

So I think it is mainly ignorance on the subject. But I find the fear quite understandable. The workings of the mind and brain is one of the frontiers of science which is really understood quite poorly. We are only just beginning to unravel the mysteries of the mind and there is still a long road ahead of us. The function of sleep and dreams is really a complete mystery. What people don’t know is what scares them the most! I think this is why it’s a controversial subject. We are all ‘playing’ with the unknown. And although it seems there is no danger to it, we really cannot know…

We can only hope

And what is more attractive and interesting then unknown and uncharted?!
And you can experience it every night when you close your eyes…

[Peipo]

@dB_FTS

@Shadow of a Day

I think (at least in my region) that the biggest problem people have with Lucid dreaming is that they are afraid that you are playing with things you don’t understand. Some people think that Lucid dreaming might siriously mess up some of your body functions. Specifically memory, personality and other brain workings (although there is no source to back this up. They give the argument that everybody would have lucid dreams naturally all the time if it was suposed to be that way. Now I don’t know why most people only have nd’s for 99% of the time, what it does? However, there are people that have dreamt luicdly naturally for most of their lives and they haven’t suffered any strange diseases or syndromes.

So I think it is mainly ignorance on the subject. But I find the fear quite understandable. The workings of the mind and brain is one of the frontiers of science which is really understood quite poorly. We are only just beginning to unravel the mysteries of the mind and there is still a long road ahead of us. The function of sleep and dreams is really a complete mystery. What people don’t know is what scares them the most! I think this is why it’s a controversial subject. We are all ‘playing’ with the unknown. And although it seems there is no danger to it, we really cannot know…

We can only hope

And what is more attractive and interesting then unknown and uncharted?!
And you can experience it every night when you close your eyes…

Exactly.

[_Laurelindo]

Well it’s certainly funny to read some skeptics’ comments about lucid dreams on YouTube and the like, they seem to believe it’s some sort of witch-craft or something.
Some of them are even worried that they will die if they try lucid dreaming.

They also have an irritating tendency to accuse lucid dreams of causing nightmares.
That’s a terribly flawed logic, if anything lucid dreams could help you stop nightmares.

[squoak]

I was looking at some youtube videos, and a comment said something along the lines of “do i have to join a cult to lucid dream? I don’t want to turn evil”

[_Laurelindo]

@squoak

I was looking at some youtube videos, and a comment said something along the lines of “do i have to join a cult to lucid dream? I don’t want to turn evil”

Haha, I’m not surprised, I see similar types of comments all the time on lucid dreaming videos.

I mean sure, I understand that lucid dreaming in hyper-realism can seem overwhelming to those who are unfamiliar with it, but how can anyone believe that they will die or turn evil just because they sleep?

[Tggtt]

@*Laurelindo*

I mean sure, I understand that lucid dreaming in hyper-realism can seem overwhelming to those who are unfamiliar with it, but how can anyone believe that they will die or turn evil just because they sleep?

Maybe because some people have died sleeping?

Still, I’ve found this thread quite interesting. Thanks for the posters.

@Shadow of a Day

However, there are people that have dreamt luicdly naturally for most of their lives and they haven’t suffered any strange diseases or syndromes.

I don’t know if this can be verified. Being a natural myself I can’t tell if I had some disease caused by LDing or if I’m going to get one later.

I couldn’t live my life twice to check the outcomes of LDing or not LDing, how can I be sure if I got sick because of it or it was just unrelated?

@Shadow of a Day

I think this is why it’s a controversial subject. We are all ‘playing’ with the unknown. And although it seems there is no danger to it, we really cannot know…

We can only hope

Shadow is right here, Laurelindo, we cannot be completely sure it’s safe, I believe it is, but I have never pushed it so hard. Some claim to have had year long dreams or met some alternate realities or foreseen some events (you can find these claims in this same forum).
Maybe we can push harder than they did, and that becomes dangerous.

Still, that wasn’t the topic I wanted to argue when I first came to this thread, I wanted to talk about how people think it’s silly. Sometimes I fell like people think we are a bunch of dangerous drug addicts. That’s my most believed hiphothesis. I think when we say about it they just think “these guys are crazy tampering with their brain” while the rest think “it’s just plain stupid, only exists in movies”.

I would really like to have some statistics on what people think about lucid dreaming. Not that it would change my opinion.

[_Laurelindo]

You are right in that we cannot guarantee lucid dreaming to be completely safe - however, there are risks in everything, and I believe that if lucid dreaming indeed was dangerous then I’m sure it would’ve been discovered by now.
And I think the benefits of lucid dreaming FAR outweigh any possible risks.

[theevil]

Here’s how I would explain it if I had to:

“If you didn’t dream, and someone told you they had dreams, would you believe them?”

If they outright say “No,” then don’t bother going any further, they have a very closed mind.

I know my brother had one when he was little, but I don’t know if he remembers. My dad keeps a DJ, but I don’t know if he had /knows about LD’s.

It seems like it would be easier to talk about it now that I’ve had some, but I still haven’t had to…

I live in a very liberal town, so I don’t have to worry about crazy religious people .

[_Laurelindo]

One quick look on random Lucid Dreaming video on YouTube generally shows the following types of comments:

“Is this dangerous?”
“I’m scared to do it”
“I hear people see a scary old hag while in sleep paralysis, help?”
“Can you die if you do this?” - (my personal favourite)
“Is this like taking drugs?”

Oh well.

[noobdreamer]

@*Laurelindo*

“Can you die if you do this?” - (my personal favourite)

thank the matrix for that one