I want to copy-paste and put your explanation over my #3(thinking dreams). They are exactly exactly the same. Whatever I am dedicated to I keep solving those problems again and again, I replay those events thousand times with different outcomes to see which one was correct.
Also all those calculations and math, I could not stop and it was so annoying sometimes. But it helped me solve so many things.
And I could not stop them at all, if it started then that’s it, next few days guaranteed problem solving all night long. Waking up and wait for few hours never helped me, I was so into it. At some point I reached a state where I was still awake and as soon as I close my eyes I start seeing those forms again, those events, calculations, hundreds of thoughts in my head.
This is really cool to find somebody with exact dream type, I thought I am alone on this. Very glad that I posted it here and found your comment. Thanks man
Wow!!! didn’t realize they were that similar. Trust me i thought I was alone too. Can’t believe you couldn’t stop it though, must be torture. Even worse that yours lasted days!! Mine only lasted a single night, but it seemed like an endless one. And yeah you’re right they are really helpful. But it sounds like you asked for yours while mine just came automatically.
It would not matter if I wanted to have them or not, they would anyway be there. So it did not matter much if I asked or not. But sometimes I did it on purpose, because I knew that it might help me solve some questions. Many time I did not want them, because topic was not important for me, it just happened that I spent lots of time doing something and here you go, full night of endless repeats of same work.
This is actually really cool, when I realized that they happen in 100% cases as soon as I get my self dedicated to some subject, I thought about those great minds who found answers in dreams. I even had an idea to learn some science like Physics. I am pretty sure that I would have those thinking dreams every night, probably could discover some new things.
Sometimes I get those kind of dreams about lucid dreaming, about shared dreaming and all that beyond dreaming stuff. It is very hard to explain to somebody who never had this kind of dreams, what it is like to have a problem solving dream inside another dream. And now I found one person who understands this process.
I’m always a little hesitant about classifying dreams into categories other than the traditional definitions of NLD, LD etc (which we can always be certain of because they’re very clear-cut and mutually exclusive). For me, dreams are very fluid, and they can very easily change between your suggested ‘dream types’, Flow. In fact, classifying dreams in that way can lead to what I call the ‘Inception trap’, where the joy of dreaming is left untapped because of supposed arbitrary rules about them.
Each to their own, I suppose, but I do hugely doubt that’s another, esoteric type of lucid dream that can’t be changed under any circumstances. Maybe it’s just a placebo effect? A recurring dream setting cemented into your mind as immovable when in fact it just needs a bit of confidence and wishful thinking.
I thought about it, after 6 years of lucid dreaming almost every day, iv got very good control over my dreams. I did so many different things in lucid dream, I could loose control intentionally to make it more scary, could gain control back any time.
Whenever I get into one of these types like type 2a, everything is different there. You feel like you are on someone’s territory.
During 6 years I had only 4 of such dreams as 2a (alien dream type).
But you are right, to each his own. I hope one day you will experience one of the dreams that I was talking about, it is a great feeling.
Haven’t had one of those dreams in a while though, not sure why. Great to see that you have acquired so much control. If you don’t mind me asking, what have you done with it so far?
Found more ideas for my martial arts training, after sparring I would analyze my and my enemy movements all night, trying new counters, faints and so on.
I brought many amazing ideas to my work, some of the ideas were so different that I am pretty sure I would not find them without these dreams.
And many many ideas on lucid dreaming, whenever I am facing a question, if I think enough of it I will start solving the question during all night. But to get this, I need to dedicate some good amount of time to such question.
It does not happen simply whenever I have a question, it happens when I think too much of something.
I think for people who do science this is some really amazing.
I’m a student in university, studying math, physics, chemistry and pedagogics. I have had dreams where I experience the lesson from few days back 3 times in one night. They are a bit exhausting but at least my understanding of functions is crystal clear now (I thought it was clear before but whatever)
Also, I’m not sure if this is categorizing dreams but the setting applies some role for me, and that role determines what I can do in that dream universe. For example, in one dream I was a soldier in a war. In the dream time slowed down and went backwards at one point. I don’t know why. Anyway, the dream comes to a point where soldiers on my side find a young black haired girl, probably just turned 18. They try to rape her and I want to stop them. “I can’t shoot my own men” is the thought stopping me. I have to find another way and my subconscious figures out a way. I jump out of that “dream-universe” ,where I was a soldier, into a universe closer to my home universe. There I’m watching the previous scene on my computer, but now I have the ability to pause the video. Still seeing through the eyes of the soldier, but knowing it’s a video on my computer, I push the air in front of me to pause the scene. Then I switch to the perspective of me on the computer and start exploring the house.
Nice experience there with jumping from one dream universe to another. I also did that some time ago, it is also possible to do as a normal dream change.
How exactly did it look like when you jumped from one dream universe to another, what was in between?
I felt like I was pulled out of that world, then realized my new body that was looking at a computer. It was almost instantaneous. I don’t know if there was anything in between.
But some time ago I travelled in a dream by changing my point in time and space so that I saw innumerable amount of different places in between the two points. It was all mixed, like if I was at point (3,4) the point next to it (4,4) could be on another planet and 5000 years to the future. It’s hard to explain, but it was the coolest way I have ever gotten around in a dream.
In that dream I had been on a frozen planet and the people there needed help, I used this travel method to get help but never found my way back, because finding a single point in that mixed space-time was near impossible.
Nice. Do you ever have double or triple layered dreams? Like having 2-3 or more dreams at the same time, seems like they are one under another but you can see all of them, sometimes getting lost what happens in one of them, but you can alt tab between them very very fast.
I really appreciate your post examining the different types of dream experiences you have. Recently I’ve felt a little annoyed at all the dream information sights out there because they seemingly all say the same stuff over and over and aren’t producing much new information in the way of actually examining distinctions and subtle differences even within lucid and vivid dreaming.
As you’ve observed , there is what I like to call a ‘spectrum of lucidity’ , ranging from not remembering your dreams at all to extreme sensory perception … and based on your post, there’s even further distinction to be made between differing levels of control within lucidity. It’s very fascinating.
While I’ve experienced repeating/restarting lucid dreams where you pop out and back in, starting in the same or similar scene, (like repeatedly “waking up” in your dream bed) i’ve never experienced a repeating problem solving dream, very interesting to learn about. I can imagine how that would be annoying lol.
I also recently pondered on different levels of lucidity and why certain abilities are unlocked in some dreams and not in others. And then there are dreams where reality checks fail yet trigger no lucidity. And dreams themselves come with varying degree of immersion and different subsequent recall. I was thinking that it would make sense if there is an underlying reason for these different dream qualities emerging.
I’ve developed a rough sketch of a theory that is inspired by what I read in a paper Qu posted and some thoughts I developed while discussing the experience of waking up from a (lucid) dream.
Essentially, let’s ask the question why lucid dreams are different from normal dreams, what makes them special. It’s still all taking part in your sleeping brain, right?
Well, we’re not using the phrase “to wake up inside the dream“ lightly, I think. Some additional parts of your brain become active as you are attaining lucidity. And they fall back asleep as you’re losing it. Now I’m not a brain scientist but there are a lot of different parts in the brain for different tasks, like reasoning, self awareness, areas for different thoughts and feelings, etc.
My theory is that different levels of lucidity and of dream types and qualities in general are depending which area of the brain is active, as simple as that. But I’m not aware of anybody doing serious research about parts of your brain turning on and off all while you’re in one and the same dream. If patterns observed in this way match perceived different dream types, then the theory would be confirmed.
But we won’t get that research done so simply, but we can discuss and evaluate theoretically on the forum Do you think this idea can be used to describe all lucid and normal dreaming phenomenon you have encountered or is there a contradiction to your experience?
There was definitely a lot of research done in this field, on brain level yes different parts of brains are activated when we get lucid. I think its the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that is activated during REM. That is where dreamers can take advantage over the fact that when we wake up for a short time that part of brain activates and then we go back to sleep and have more chances to get lucid while its still active. When people experience normal non lucid REM’s that prefrontal part is not as active as in lucid dreams.
Both levels of lucidity and dream control(abilities) are only limited by your own subconscious mind. If you practice enough to get your state of mind ready, prepared and expecting lucid dreams you will have great level of lucidity. As for the dream control, the concept is very simple and yet hard to master. Its pure intent that controls our dreams, your will, desire and doubts are adding barriers to dream control.
A very simple example, if you fully understand it you will have full dream control. In waking life take a look at your forearm and hand, now make a fist. It was easy wasn’t it? You didn’t plan on how to do it, didn’t think which muscles you need to use and didn’t have any doubts that there is a chance that it will be hard.
You do the same in dream, any dream control is as easy as it was in that example. If you are willing and wanting to fly, you will just want it more, you have to do it instead of wanting to do it.
and probably me too
(I thought it was clear before but whatever)
but there are a lot of different parts in the brain for different tasks, like reasoning, self awareness, areas for different thoughts and feelings, etc.
Do you think this idea can be used to describe all lucid and normal dreaming phenomenon you have encountered or is there a contradiction to your experience?
