Maybe this RC isn't so fool-proof

I recently had my 3rd lucid dream, this time with an all-time high level of awareness. I knew for sure I was dreaming, and was thinking pretty clearly, but somehow my brain couldn’t accept that these dream characters weren’t the real thing. I just stumbled upon the fact that I was probably dreaming almost randomly, but to see if I was dreaming, I tried flying. Didn’t work. I was still pretty sure I was dreaming, so I found an open book, read a passage, looked away, and read it again. Sure enough, it had changed!

    Later on, I was trying to show another dream character that this was a dream, so I showed them the same passage, telling them to read it, look away, and re-read.  I did the same again, over their shoulder.  When I re-read it, it read EXACTLY the same words.  I tried again with the same results.  I found this odd, and the lucid dream slowly faded at this point.

     Now although SLB never said this is a fool-proof reality check, I haven't met (or read) anyone saying this RC has failed them.  I believe this is due to everyone reading his book or hearing of the method and just assuming it works.  The dream is all in their heads, so why shouldn't the writing change?  LaBerge discusses his disproving of Ouspensky's idea that when one's name is stated in a dream, one awakens.  Of course, when Ouspensky tried it, he awoke, because he was expecting it to happen.  When LaBerge tried this, absolutely nothing happen, because that's what he was expecting.  As LaBerge himself said, "I'm impressed by the power of expectation to determine what happens in my lucid dreams."

     I believe this immense power of expectation holds true with everyone, and I have believed ever since reading it that there is no really good reason why writing shouldn't be able to stay the same.  I expected it to be possible for words not to change, so the second time I tried that reality check, they didn't.  Ironically I wanted them to, but they sure didn't.

      I'm curious if anyone else has had this experience, and if not, I encourage you all to realize writing doesn't have to change, and try to keep writing constant in a dream.  Sorry if I'm rambling :smile:

Bipu

well i don’t do reality checks, but i can confirm other things.

Writings do not generally change in my dreams, unless i am trying to memorise them. That’s when they get fuzzy or change.

light switches also work perfectly for me (except in nightmares)

nothing is the same for everyone. You need to find your own rc that will work for you.

The best thing is you can do is write a dream journal as detailed as possible. note down everything you dreamed of, even if you didn’t interact with it.

Then after about 6 dreams look over them and try and spot anything that appears in every single dream and use it as a dreamsign.

back to RCs i’ve heard people say that they look at their hands or count fingers etc. I don’t understand this my self. my hands look the same in my dreams, though i did notice one thing in my dreams i don’t breathe.

Kind of similar thing happens to me,tho its concerning bit different thing.My lucids come to me very rerely tho they allways pretty realistic and i cant complain about control in them.I allways know perfectly its a dream once im lucid.Dont really know why i still have my worries- "what if its not?what if i get naked here and it turns out its not a dream?"Even tho i just landed from long flight and did stuff convincing enough that its a dream.I guess its some of my “social” fears telling me this,im usually quite concerned about my behaviour in RL,so on.Theres allways this thought in my head-“what if im wrong?”
Kinda funny-like im flying through the closed door and then i fly back to get a keys in case i wake up outside…hehe

hehehhe that thought cracks me up…

Jack: I know exactly what you mean! That’s what happened with me too. Although some strange stuff was happening, when I tried to fly, I kept on worrying about hitting my head on the ceiling. Some worries and habits seem to be very hard to get rid of, even in a dream world where you could have complete freedom and control.

    Insane:  I have well over 40 dreams logged, titled, and dreamsigns and notes written next to them.  Dream journals really do help with recall & forcing you to think deeply about your dreams.