Hello everyone, I’m gonna try and keep it short as usual.
I’ve been absent from the boards for a while but those who were active back when I used to be will remember that I tried to perfect some techniques which would let me seamlessly use weapons in LDs without having to deal with constant destabilization etc.
I just wanted to share some useful tips since I know how painful it can be to have to resynch with a dream scenario because swords keep changing size or guns fire blanks.
It’s a problem which comes up quite far in the quest for lucidity anyway so it may not be relevant for everyone but still.
I’ll start with swords and follow up with a post on guns later on.
First to outline the issue that I personally have in full Lucidity. When using a sword it usually deforms and can pull attention away from the fun by forcing the dreamer to focus on stabilizing the item in question.
Now what I’ve tried to do is go through scenarios completely without size changes and dull edges (this goes for lightsabers too) and I’ve come to see where the problem lies. Like with many other aspects of LDing the mind’s eye want to perceive the entirety of a scene. Hence while holding a sword the mind will want the whole weapon in view. This usually causes the sword to shrink, the mental follow up is the perception that the blade is useless and thus it becomes unable to damage DCs.
The basic trick to avoid this is to take focus away from a sword and towards your goals, ie slice up a DC. There needs to be confidence involved in the fighting itself and though it might sound less fun the dreamer must be a director of sorts and not a fighter. It can really help to go into third person mode to be honest.
I know this may be poorly explained, but in the end I’m not a teacher, I just wanted to share some points because that’s what I wish someone else would have done when I was in these forums trying to find techniques.
Btw, I’m a very experienced LDer so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
i like how you so elegantly put it “slice up some DC’s” haha
it sounds like you’ve been doing some serious lucid training. How are you achieving full lucidity, and also how are you able to move into 3rd person perspective?
I have fired blanks before so i know what you mean, so what your saying is to not use the weapon as a crutch, rather to know its there but try to focus less on the object and more on the plot.
Yes, and instead of pressing a trigger, which is what you would do in RL, you should send a bullet through your opponent. It’s important that you help your mind through each step and not assume it will automatically know what pulling the trigger means. For me it used to be that after the first blank was fired confidence went down and control went down, it’d definately good to avoid.
I get into full lucidity by habit, have been LDing since I was very young. It’s sort of DILD with strongly built associations that trigger. WILD is easy too of course, it’s really the best for recall for me personally.
3rd person perspective is a tricky thing for me to explain because it came very naturally. I believe playing video game that are in third person might help adjust them mind to the idea that you can control yourself while looking down with a ‘third’ eye of sorts… It’s also helpgul to keep the stints short or you might separate and form up around your third eye.
ahh ok… i’ve had them since very young too. I have a few ways i can get full lucidity:
1.) i use lots of different powers and it builds up
2.) i use verbal commands along with intent
3.) i do something very drastic that will hurt if i dont succeed, so when i do succeed i get 100% control, it feels very powerful doing it this way.
you didn’t really say what your way of gaining a high level of lucidity was… you just said what technique you use to get lucid. so i’m curious if you have any other things i could try that will get me that 100% conscious awareness instead of just 20 or 50%…
I have experienced the third person thing before but not in lucid dreams just normal ones. Would be very interested to hear a proper technique for how this is done. I don’t think viewing myself would be a problem, but making that self move whilst lucid sounds a bit difficult. Perhaps i will give it a shot next time.
EDIT: i just thought of a way to do it… if you have played counterstrike you will know what i mean. What you do is just walk straight forward, and while your walking, you come out of your body slightly from behind whilst walking and continuing to walk, then just start moving around where you want, like what would happen if you jumped to spectator in counterstrike. Your seeing a guy moving around, then you press spacebar and the guy keeps moving and you are free to move around the map.
I suppose that makes sense I have never actually used a “sword” in dreams, though I’ve made some slashing. I’d do it by waving my hand in a “slash” motion, easy, clean, and no power problems. Sure, it’s less stylish, but it involves less problems.
my objects are always stabilized, but i have experienced the blank shots before where you click the trigger and nothing happens. I usally just kill them some other way when that happens.
Yeah, the ‘other way’ is a solution to most lucid things but the end goal should be the ability to do anything effortlessly and seamlessly. This is the point I’ve reached personally. I’m also trying to discover ways to keep the LD so stable that it feels as valid as a RL experience. Fluctations in DC and scenery are starting to bum me out heavily at this point.
well i find intent works for me really well. If i want a lucid dream i use intent to have one. Whilst i’m in the lucid dream, I use intent for whatever i want to happen. Using intent is basically projecting a thought from your mind outwards. For example, if I intend on getting up to get a drink, it is something easily obtainable and the moment i intend to do it, I get a feeling like i’m drawing that situation closer to me, attracting it by setting out the intention. This is the same feeling you should feel when using intent, like you’ve projected your intent out to the universe, and now what you intended for is being to take shape and you can feel it happening. Afterall, in a dream it is all in the mind, so why not use the mind to shape the dream.
Your post decided me to post this technique in order to stabilize the dream world: Stabilizing the dream world: the “not staring” technique. I did’nt post it before cause when I did it on the french forum, nobody was able to understand what I was talking about. So it was useless…
I hope it will interest you, that you’ll test it and give me a feedback.
I have never actually used a “sword” in dreams, though I’ve made some slashing. I’d do it by waving my hand in a “slash” motion, easy, clean, and no power problems. Sure, it’s less stylish, but it involves less problems.
