Self punishment through lucid dreaming

hello friends
i was just wondering, and thinking of all my sins and past evil deeds, and wondered, if anyone eles has thought of useing a lucid dream as a means to,
basically punish your self, for your bad deeds.
i have tried this once, and had a rather aweful and painful experience, but i do feel as if, i became less burdened by my evil deeds.
anyone eles heard of this being possible, or anyone tried doing this? :eh:

You might try to use LDs to talk to god or jesus and sincerely ask for forgiveness. But i don’t think you should punish yourself.

I have not punished myself, but I have inflicted pain on myself. If it works for you that’s great, but on a more philosophical note, does it at all help in making ammends? I can see how God might enjoy seeing you punishing yourself if it is a sin directly towards him. But if it is sins that are sins because they cause harm to others, then inflicting pain on yourself seems pointless. It would be better to try to make up for it in a positive way. If that is not possible, then throw yourself at Gods feet (which are everywhere) and repent.
BTW I don’t believe in gods or such things.

I’m reading Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends and influence people” and in the book it says that animals rewarded for good behaviour learn much more rapidly than being punished for bad behaviour (Which is a metaphor for complimenting people’s good points instead of criticising them), and it’s the same with people

I wouldn’t want to inflict pain on myself just for a sin. It wouldn’t make sense since it wouldn’t change anything.

It’s certainly possible, but I have to agree with krakatoa on this one. Directly inflicting pain on oneself may feel like it accomplishes something, but it really doesn’t solve the problem. You’re much better off (spiritually and psychologically) trying to find a constructive outlet for yourself. Even if you can’t go back and fix all the mistakes in your past, you can always work to create some good in the world in order to make up for it.

Hey, you wouldn’t hurt someone else in their dream (if that’s possible), so why do it to the guy behind the mirror?

Haha, post after underscore’s, go me!

it is possible, though i’d feel in much relief if you were asking this because you’re a masochist, rather than to punish yourself for your bad deeds. :wink:

there are two things you’ve got to bear in mind if you’re going to try this. first, in most dreams, your perception is mangled in some way. you’re not going to get the same results from physical punishment every time. it might be that you won’t be able to punish yourself in that way every once in a while, and it might be that you wake up before getting your closure. in that sense, physical punishment, self flagellation, doesn’t make much sense in dreams. it just won’t work every time.

the second thing is that self punishment is supposed to be something lasting. it’s very hygienic to whip yourself in dreams: you won’t wake up all bloody — but you won’t wake up hurting either. that doesn’t classify as a lasting experience. for both those reasons, i think that while it’s possible (and valid) to try and punish yourself in your dreams, you’ll probably need a different approach. i think you should look for psychological forms of self punishment. nightmares. bring them about. make your soul bleed and make yourself wake up screaming — that, my friend, is closure.

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[color=#cc3333]edit:[/color] guys, give acillis a break!

he’s an adult, he knows how to read and write, what makes you guys think he isn’t capable of trivial thoughts such as “perhaps you shouldn’t punish yourself”? you’re not adding anything to the discussion! :stuck_out_tongue: you’re not sharing something new or relevant.

If you’re trying to please a god, don’t do it. Since you are not actually hurting yourself, it’s only a dream and he would know. Pray for forgiveness instead of wasting your sleep to “hurt” yourself. Sleep is supposed to be pleasant and restore you, not hurt you.

I also wanted to say, I don’t believe in any gods.

I can understand why you might seek to punish yourself when lucid for something you may have done, but physical harm in dreams as bruno said doesn’t achieve much. Perhaps you might gain more by trying to flip the situation around in the dream. By that I mean to literally put yourself in the person you hurt’s situation. You could possibly gain a better understanding of why they were so hurt: thus preventing it happening again and helping to better, as well as subject yourself to a fitting punishment.

Although I have to admit trying to make up for it in reality by positive action, helping others for example, would be my favorite coarse of action. It would relieve me more to know I’d helped people that have been hurt (if not hurt by me, hurt by others.)

thanks everyone

Really, I don’t want to enter into the realm of religion here, but whatever it is you believe, why would you think your God (or whatever you want to call him/her) would want you to suffer, to punish yourself? I mean, what about all the love part? You should really try to forgive yourself, rather than punish. If you feel bad about it, isn’t it enough punishment?

you should try to make up for your sins i real life not in a Dreamworld where only you are conscious. I mean no one else notices except you…so there isn’t really a point to it. Asking for forgiveness might work but causing pain is senseless… or is it? i mean how did you feel? you said you felt lighter or a little guilt free when you did it so i don’t know. Pain is like a state of mind. so maybe it works or maybe not. WHo really knows? :meh: