The Lucid Dreams's realism

Lucid Adventures
1

Hi,

I nerver had a LD yet (I try, though :smile: ), and I’m still fascinated by that, I just can’t manage to imagine that it is possible to control dreams!

Well, I wanted to ask a question to the Lucid Dreamers: are Lucid Dreams realistic? I mean, when you have a Lucid Dream, do you have the same sensations as in the real life? Or is it more like if you concentrated yourself very hard to imagine things? When you run, you eat, you jump, you fight, or do more intimate things, in LDs, does it seam you real?

Beacause if it’s the case… I can’t just can’t believe it, and I won’t believe it until I’ve done a LD!
I mean, it’s just incredible! It’s like a videogame with no limits, a superhero movie that you can live!! :cool:

So, I always wondered myself: are those Lucid Dreams realistic?

PS: sorry for my bad English, I’m foreign (French)

2

I understand you very well. I was the same when I first found out LD’ing is possible. Now, I hope this won’t let you down, but it’s how it is, or better said, how it was for me…

Don’t expect LD’ing to be a 3D videogame with no limits. Some are realistic and some are not, some are very real, some are blurry and foggy, some will be controllable, where you can do almost anything you want, others where you are stuck in one place not knowing what to do next… LD’ing can be a nightmare or an incredible adventure.

First LD’s will be a total let-down. You’ll feel very happy you had, it but if you look at it after some time, you’ll realize it was pretty foggy and “How could I have had fun doing that ??”. You may get scared in one of your first LD’s, especially if you get lucid right in the moment when this butcher chops you in peaces and you would want to get out the first second… People who have such realistic dreams are either naturals or people who worked like 10 years for achieving this stage.

Now, the positive part. In LD’s (at least in mine) you 99% feel yourself as “you” in real life. Every action you make will only be much more… “epic” to put it that way. If you will jump, you’ll get off the ground softly and land as softly back again, you eat tasty things like a chocolate but you’ll notice it has the taste of… water. All your senses are mixed up, even though the part of your brain which is responsible with dreaming (the SC) will try to make it as real as RL, but won’t 100% be able to. All this in other words, in a LD you as yourself will be the same as IRL “by default”, the thing that will cause you most problems is not yourself, it is the dream environment with I assure you, won’t be the same as RL.

You should therefor “work” every day on your LD’ing. I mean, writing down dreams, intentions, feelings, leading a LL (which is the hardens thing possible at first), waking up in the middle of the night, writing down fast then doing a WBTB or concentrating on a DEILD or even WILD…

Don’t expect you’ll get the “super-realistic-videogame-with-no-boundaries” for free (that is a the best kind of LD). You’ll need to train yourself somehow to be able to see if it is real life or dreamlife. Remember, the SC will always fail at projecting a full RL impression, but it has all the power you make YOU think it is RL.

But once you got a few LD’s you’ll see you’ll start to be slightly better, and you’ll want the next and the next. The secret is to keep trying how hard it may seem. :wink:

Good luck and happy (lucid)dreaming !

3

I can say with confidence that the actual realism of the dream on all front’s once you’re fully focused and aware is easily equivalent to being awake in WL so to speak. Having had an increase in LD’s recently, I was able to fully appreciate just how realistic LD’s can be.

In a recent LD, I was outside my house around the front. Everything that involved sensory perception in someway felt slightly heightened. Things like the colours of the environment to the warmth of the concrete under my bare feet from the sun shining on it to the pleasent heat of the sun on my skin. The environment itself although it looked crystal clear with accurate street layouts may have had some inconsistencies such as house placement and house types. Things like running and walking around all mirror their WL counterparts in someway. I observed whilst running around that there was a distinct lack of fatigue and instead had slight feelings of euphoria come over me.

Best of luck with attaining lucidity in the future. :smile:

4

My LDs don’t feel real at all. They seem kind-of fake; it was hard to move and everything was so… fluid. My vision wasn’t clear at all and everything seemed to have an underwater quality to it. I don’t really know how else to explain it.

It’s not always going to be realistic. Sometimes they are, but most of the time they feel kinda surreal.

5

It all depends on the dreamer too. I’m sure some people have more realistic dreams quicker. The important part is the more you practice the better you’ll get. It is possible to achieve perfectly real LD’s every night, although that would require a lot of practice. But don’t worry if you happen to only have blurry LD’s for now, they can also be very fun. For example, you can have a LD where you can barely see, but you fly around and the feeling is so increadible that being half blind isn’t that bad after all. Use that feeling to give more of yourself to get better at the skill.

6

“Real” is a complicated concept. When you are dreaming, that dream is your “reality”. For me “realism” level of LD’s is basically like an NLD with more intensity.

7

Well, you all seem to have varied answers to the questions, but I’m glad to hear that the LD’s have the same realism as the NLD’s :smile:

I was quite afraid that LD’s were a bit like closing your eyes and concentrating yourself to imaging something… but it doesn’t seme to be the case!

Thanks for having answered.

8

Not at all :wink: For most people they are more vivid and intense than NLD’s. I’ve had some very vivid NLD’s, and some not-so vivid LD’s. But generally and most commonly LD’s are more vivid.

9

Hey, Bruce2, congratulations to that really interesting question.

At first I want to say that I do not agree with that. I had my first lucid dream one week ago (I’m 36), so probably I am not a “natural”. Before in my life I remember one or two dreams (nightmares) where I thought that I was dreaming and woke up immediately then. I did not try to get lucid at all, it happened by chance.

The feeling was very realistic (concerning the senses). I was so clear of the situation, that I knew my body was in bed next door. I saw and felt everything as usual, I’m uncertain if I would have tasted or smelled something, as this was not part of my dream.

Concerning control I think it was not possible to me to control all aspects of my dream. It’s not like painting on a white canvas. There were still many things that surprised me. I did not plan to see myself in a certain way in the mirror. When I went through my home office, there was a jacket lying on the ground and so on.

But let me say that lucid dreaming felt very good at all, and I try getting lucid again, which seems to work but obviously needs some skill I do not have yet.

10

First, I am talking about realistic environment, your surroundings. I never had an LD so real that I could have doubted it for a second if it wasn’t actually R while being fully lucid. Your environment will never be as real as RL, but the SC will always make you think it is.

Second, people who do manage to get such LD’s (I even doubt it) are either LD life devoted people or naturals who have them even without trying.

Third, the feeling will always be realistic, like I said, how YOU feel is exactly how you feel as IRL, the thing that isn’t the same (and won’t ever be) are the surroundings and location. Ofcourse some LD’s are very vivid, but… eh… not as vivid as RL at least…

Last, this is my point of view, please don’t argue on it :smile:.

11

I think that hits the point. I the dream situation it feels totally real, although one knows it is not when being lucid. Afterwards, when wake, I knew things were obviously wrong (the mirror was at the wrong place in my case).

How could I? :grin:

12

Couldn’t have said it better myself :smile:

Glad we managed to get on the same point of view…

13

I had my first LD last night, and it was unbelievably real. I honestly just stood there for a minute or two taking it all in! If you want the details about the realism, I made a thread in general lucidness where you can read it!

14

I’ll read your topic chocolate :smile:

Well, when I speak about realism, I know very well that the oniric world might look strange, bizarre (it wouldn’t be a dream at all if it looked like RL :content: ).
Is was just afraid that it looked unreal.
But when reading your posts, it seams real AND bizarre, just what I expected!

I still can’t believe that such fascinating things as luci dream can actually exist…

15

I think I feel more awake and alive in an LD than in RL! Some semi-LDs are kinda blurry and complicated, but they aren’t a true LD, so of course they won’t be as great. Also, taste things! You can basically eat all you want without the calories or getting sick!

16

I just want to take the opportunity to mention, if you taste chocolate in your first LD and it tastes like water, my point has been proven in a completely different topic.

I guess, the best way to describe it is that it feels NATURAL, at least to me. If you are lucid enough, there’s little to no effort in control, you feel the wind in your face (if there’s wind) or even temperature. The sun may seem brighter, if it’s sunny. The blue will seem bluer… many sights become amplified to me, it’s just such a great vision…

If you lift something, it may seem light, if not, just pretend it is and there it shall be… like a feather! Honestly, in many scenarios, it isn’t about how lucid you are, but how imaginative you are and willing to accept that you can do anything.
Of course you’ll also run into the “Why can’t i make the clouds go away!” scenario where things don’t work. Do not fret, it happens.

Lucid dreams are great, they feel great during and after, and everything is amplified.

The only post here that I disagree with is Don Anonymous’ post. Everyone has their own upsides and downsides to lucid dreams, and I have expressed that unless people need ideas for what to do or how to do something, those opinions shouldn’t be expressed, at least to newer people. I just want you to remember in-dream that anything is possible… I personally have teleported entire houses, summoned eggs, flew, jumped, and fought ninjas. The SC surprisingly WON’T always fail, either, I don’t like hearing that… especially said to someone new to LDing… Dreams are different for everyone, and nobody gives fact on what you may see or feel, but they are all personal stories and experienced opinion.

Take everything you read with a grain of salt before you have your own lucid dreams, the only way to know just how much you concentrate, how game-like your dreams are, how vivid the colours are, or what your chocolate tastes like is to experience it yourself. I personally had chocolate that tasted like raspberries… everything in that dream tasted like raspberries.

Thank you for reading this

17

When i successfully attempted WILD today, I simply ran to my balcony to jump off…but the whole view was so damn real that I had to do an RC again to confirm that it was an LD…
6 months into LDing and its realism still astounds me like hell…

but a piece of advice for the enthusiasts…
LDing takes a lot of patience…your imagination can take you to astronomical heights but the results will deteriorate your morale just as easily…so have patience…Let it come to you…draw a line between motivation and excitement…n stay motivated…

goodluck ,…

18

Almost 2 years for me and I can vouch on that :wink: I’ve also had LD’s that are so real that i need to do an extra RC.

19

I started having real lucid dreams a month ago, and I can tell you this:

Sometimes my dreams have been eerily realistic, in fact so realistic that I have said to myself “oh crap this is real” while still in the dream.
However, during your first lucid dreams you will obviously be unused to the way they work and have some problems to overcome:
one problem I often had in my first lucid dreams was that I moved quite slowly, not that slowly but it was definitely slower than normal walking speed, like 50% slower, and it almost felt like walking under water.
You might also have a strange “drowsy” feeling that makes you feel that you could wake up at any second; think of it as being very tired and falling asleep in the dream.
All it takes to overcome this is practice, experience and most importantly: confidence in your own abilities.

20

Ok, alot of these replies are kind of making it seem like your first LD’s won’t be any fun. That is not true. I’ve had 1 ‘real’ LD (I didn’t just wake up 1/2 second after becoming lucid) so far and yeah, it was kind of foggy, and yes I couldn’t probably do whatever I want, but you get this…feeling when you’re lucid which is the wildest thing ever.