Dreams and the Subconscious

[Kidege]

Ogion: Dream logic. I don't know what you look like, but it felt like you.

I'm reluctant about turning my dreams into stories... It's like plagiarizing, in a way. I know, I'm being too picky, but it wasn't my conscious self who made them up.

On the third person question: no, I mostly dream in first person. Sometimes I am two people in the dream.

 

[Ogion]

Yeah, ok. I can understand that 'dream logic'. You have a certain 'image' (not only visually, you have a certain impression of me) and that gets projected into the dream.

Hmm, it was not your conscious part but it was still you, right? I mean, when you are writing, you probably have sudden insights and such too, and they are subconscious too, aren't they?

Ogion

 

[Artifice Orisit]

• Being Obi-wan's Padawan (not Anakin)
• A tarot study session in a Rennaissance palace. The Inquisition arrived.
• The king of England killing people with his bare hands.
• A cardinal making the actor who plays Draco Malfoy deliver a speech because he (the cardinal) couldn't tell fact from fiction.
• Raiding a Giles de Rais-ey palace.
• A space ship. Ogion was there. I think he was an engineer. *waves*
• Delivering a message from Fidel to the Che Guevara who was in China.
• A family in Russia gets kicked out of a hotel.
• A group of spies going for uranium in Ukraine. They ended up as a comedy group.
• Orphan kids being herded to church.
• Meeting a serial killer who had never been discovered.

"A tarot study session in a Rennaissance palace. The Inquisition arrived."
This one sounded particurly interesting, tell us more please.

"Raiding a Giles de Rais-ey palace."
Also interesting, again I'd like to hear more.

 

[Ogion]

First you have to throw a coin into the music.., uhm dreambox.

Ogion

 

[Sylzarra]

@Flow Perhaps I am worried about that... It's junior year for me it would be natural to be worried about my future. And yes we should pay attention to the people in our dreams. As INTPs we are very out of tune with our feelings right?

And Kidege isn't the only one who dreams of people he hasn't seen.. This only happened once but the pattern of my usual reoccurring dream of being in a New York bunker was once altered a little with the presence of this online friend of mine I met in an mmorpg. I guess if someone really impacts your mind your subconscious can kind of put an image to them. Of course the image is always fuzzy and not quite remember able.

However is this a violation of that rule that says "you can only dream of what you have experienced. Your subconscious cant make up experiences. This is why you always wake before hitting the ground in a dream about falling, unless you have fell before of course." ?

And i second Cognisant's motion *gives virtual coin*.

 

[Kidege]

The Tarot dream
​

First part

There's a group of about 20 young people, men and women, with 17th century clothes in a Rennaissance looking palace. They're in a meeting in the upper floor (out to two). They all wear court clothes. I'm one of the guys.

We are starting a class on the Tarot and similar stuff. It's a secret and very serious thing. The teacher's a guy as young as us (20 something). We are given the books: a new, heavy book with red leather covers for each of us. We are supposed to hide them.

Then someone knocks on the door. It's the police*. We're screwed, going to be in jail for years and years, or forever, since the king isn't likely to listen or bail us out.

I think of getting rid of the book, but it's impossible. There's no way out, and if they found the book in my chambers I'd be just as screwed. Have others put their names on their books? I haven't, but it's all the same.

I think of going out by the window. Will I be caught like that, holding onto a column outside the window? Then I remember jail and do go out by the window. I climb to the roof, and as I do it, I reflect upon the fact that the facade I'm climbing has a painted medallion with heretical content. It's there for the world to see but no one has noticed.

I walk on the domed roof and climb down the other side of the palace. I walk through the gardens to the forest without being spotted by the guards. I'm hoping not to get lost. I only know that the border's in straight line form the palace. I walk for days, maybe five, till I reach a field where a peasant's working. His boss is close by. I go to the boss, ask for food and water and tell him that I can work.


Second part

There is a wedding at the palace. Some of the detainees are attending, others are in jail. Two of them are getting married on kings orders. The king is there, with a lot of nobles. The room is crammed with people. The bride is in a black dress.

A police officer comes and tells the king there are traces that go from the gentlemen's quarters to the ladies'. It is somehow assumed that the groom has slept with the bride, although he hasn't. The wedding is as good as off, they're dishonored. They kneel.

The ex-detainees in the crowd are worried, but they know that the traces actually mean a guy and a girl have escaped the imprisonment. They don't know who, so the groom asks "what color were my clothes?" He thinks it may have been one of his friends. That friend has a portrait in which he's wearing a mustard colored coat.

I gather I was the guy in the portrait. Could I have been wearing a coat of a particular color to give a message to my friends in case I was seen? The groom was taking the blame not to reveal some of the participants had escaped.


*Oops. The police, not the Inquisition, sorry about that. Although the Inquisition must have been pretty close.

 

[anemian]

I remember one time having a conversation though it really wasn't one it was more like an interrogation with me being able to ask a few questions and get answers. I kept thinking these people are not supposed to be here they don't belong and aren't human. then my real alarm clock went off and the conversation kept going for 2 more "blllalaarrag"s on the third "bllalaarag" I hear the only sentence that I remember from the whole dream "Sure take the easy way out" when this was said I felt the emotions of the vistors being annoyance, sarcastic, and pity.

The room where it took place was a fuzzy kind a black that was everywhere with me sittion at a plain wooden table on a plain wooden chair there was a light with a lamp facing away from me. I also had my elbows on the table. My visitors I couldn't see them but I could feel where they were. there were three one in front and two in back that didn't interact did 'somehow' with the one in front.

 

[Perseus]

My dreams consist of me in New York City hiding in a bunker and waiting for a neuclear bomb to strike. I'm usually not alone there's others with me, some with families and children. However i feel no kinship or identity with them and feel as if I am totally alone against this threat. We are all waiting silently (or maybe I'm the only one who is silent?) for the bomb to hit. I usually wake up before it does though. I have other similar dreams as well. One is in the aftermath of the bomb drop and it is of me struggling to get out of the city with my injuries, through the debris.
The last kind takes place in my own suburban home and consists of me trying to pack all that I might need into one small bag because an army is invading my area and i have to run to safe ground. I am alone and when i look out my window I don't see anyone...
In all these dreams i have a sense of being alone, of dread and fear of what might be coming.

see

Some time ago a crazy dream came to me,
I dreamt I was walkin' into World War Three,
I went to the doctor the very next day
To see what kinda words he could say.
He said it was a bad dream.
I wouldn't worry 'bout it none, though,
They were my own dreams and they're only in my head.


http://www.risa.co.uk/sla/song.php?songid=11756

 

[Artifice Orisit]

That "Sure take the easy way out" sentance was interesting, were these characters aware of their nature or were they playing roles in a story?

I've had many dreams where a character will tell me that it is the morning and I should wake up. Often I'll have just enough time to look at my watch before the alarm goes off; I still don't understand how the dream characters know what the time is so exactly.

 

[anemian]

That "Sure take the easy way out" sentance was interesting, were these characters aware of their nature or were they playing roles in a story?

I've had many dreams where a character will tell me that it is the morning and I should wake up. Often I'll have just enough time to look at my watch before the alarm goes off; I still don't understand how the dream characters know what the time is so exactly.

The characters knew that I was dreaming but as far as they were concerned they weren't a manifest of 'me'. Just by the tone of the conversation.

Who knows maybe I was visited by aliens and was the defense team of the human race :insert heavy sarcasm:

 

[Kidege]

Last night I had a weird and disturbing dream.

I dreamed a guy (good looking, 20 something) had died, and I was helping his family sort out his stuff. His family (mother and brother nearly the same age) knew the guy was dead because he'd made a karmic deal of sorts. And they also knew that I had approved the deal. His mother accepted this and let me tag along to help her. His brother was pissed.

There were a few extra details, but the disturbing thing is that I have dreamed of the dead guy before. I've "seen" him before.

Is there any chance that this is an actual real guy, who was alive and is now dead? Cause it feels so freaking real.

Do any of you believe in karmic deals?


Edit: Sorry for not posting the Giles de Rais-y palace thing yet. I wrote it down in a notebook I had to dig up and then my Perceivingfulness took over.

 

[Decaf]

While I was talking over some theory with a friend I came upon an idea. Not exactly a new one, but I suppose I realized it in a new way. Dreams and the unconscious mind are linked. They feel weird because the unconscious mind is using functions we don't understand how to interpret very well. I believe that the most important function when you're dreaming is your 8th (though its just a loose theory at this point). When I was talking to her we determined her 8th was Si and she mentioned that she remembers everything about her dreams. It seemed to make sense, so here's the test. Does it carry over by type?

But I'm in this thread because it feels as if a friend had died. And I don't know for sure if he existed, but it feels like that all the same.

The dream said I had a part in it. That I said "go ahead". This is the most annoying hazy kind of guilt.

And if this guy was real I won't meet him now. So I have lost a friend. Or I'm fucked up. Or both.

Our 8th function is Fi. It is theoretically our most strongly subconscious function and I believe has the greatest impact on our dreams.

Introverted feeling is concerned primarily with personal value judgments. How you feel about something and what's important to you. That seems consistent with your dream if your Fi is trying to tell you something about how it sees your life. The entire dream could be a manifestation of a loss that your conscious mind has not realized, but your unconscious mind is pained over. It might not be someone's actual life, but with the accompanying emotions it appears to be something that is personally important to you.

Any ideas?

 

[Dissident]

I think its possible that he exists, maybe you saw him once or a couple of times and he left a print in your subconscious even though you dont remember it. I dont believe in karma, the paranormal, etc, etc. so I think that you should consider it as what it is, a dream. Feeling sad for someone who could very well not exist outside the dream, that could be living happily regardless of it, and in any case you dont even know is just a pity.

 

[Auburn]

While I was talking over some theory with a friend I came upon an idea. Not exactly a new one, but I suppose I realized it in a new way. Dreams and the unconscious mind are linked. They feel weird because the unconscious mind is using functions we don't understand how to interpret very well. I believe that the most important function when you're dreaming is your 8th (though its just a loose theory at this point). When I was talking to her we determined her 8th was Si and she mentioned that she remembers everything about her dreams. It seemed to make sense, so here's the test. Does it carry over by type?

Our 8th function is Fi. It is theoretically our most strongly subconscious function and I believe has the greatest impact on our dreams.

Introverted feeling is concerned primarily with personal value judgments. How you feel about something and what's important to you. That seems consistent with your dream if your Fi is trying to tell you something about how it sees your life. The entire dream could be a manifestation of a loss that your conscious mind has not realized, but your unconscious mind is pained over. It might not be someone's actual life, but with the accompanying emotions it appears to be something that is personally important to you.

Any ideas?

*sits there thinking*

Now that I think about it, my dreams (that I can recall) usually have to do with some moral theme of some sort, or a relationship. My dreams are usually associated with some sort of emotion. That emotion is usually a constant throughout the entire dream.

In my dreams, I come across people who represent values I have in real life. For instance, just a few nights ago, I had a dream where I met my closest church friends again that I had left behind when I accepted determinism. I kinda felt a sort of guilt to see them knowing I had just walked away from them.

*sits there thinking more*

Now that I think about it, that "auto-pilot" mindset (usually Ti in real life) is not Ti in my dreams. It's turned off, and I don't analyze anything but just let what feels next come next. I don't know if this is Fi. I know it's not Fe because I am never very emotionally expressive in my dreams.
I'll start to write down my dreams more often and see if I get a pattern...

Also....
My brother (ESTP) tells me that when he realizes he's dreaming (which he does often) he gains control of it, and his imagination is free to do as he wishes with it and he has a blast. He gets upset when I wake him up from a dream because he was having so much fun imagining new things. I, on the other hand, can never control my dreams - and if I realize that I'm dreaming, I wake up. Could this be my brother's unconscious Ne? Ne is the 8th function of an ESTP...

 

[Kidege]

I'm not sure my Fi is in control at night. Most of my dreams don't involve feelings. They're usually about sensing. I remember details, colors, textures. Sometimes I also control the dreams.

A few noteworthy times I do think while in a dream, and I make hypothesis ("uh, this guy is saying this because he wants to...").

So what happens when dreams aren't completely unconscious?

I think I might say a prayer just in case.

 

[Decaf]

I'm not sure my Fi is in control at night. Most of my dreams don't involve feelings. They're usually about sensing.

Well, I can't think of any physical reason that the subconscious functions would have an order that was based on the order of the conscious functions, so maybe the subconscious has its own personality. Maybe that's one more thing that makes us different from each other...

Wow... I think I could really develop that idea.

As I think about my own dreams I suspect that they are primarily Ni. When I realize I'm dreaming, I wake up, but if I force my mind to be quiet I can often continue the dream in that semi-awake state. As soon as I start to try to control my dream I become more conscious and lose the story.

Anyone else want to hypothesize what their dominant subconscious process is?

Fi: Auburn
Se: Kidege
Ni: Decaf
Te:

 

[Agent Intellect]

As I think about my own dreams I suspect that they are primarily Ni. When I realize I'm dreaming, I wake up, but if I force my mind to be quiet I can often continue the dream in that semi-awake state. As soon as I start to try to control my dream I become more conscious and lose the story.

i do the exact same thing. same for when i'm trying to fall asleep at night, my constant thoughts start turning more into images like in dreams as i slip into sleep.

when i remember dreams, its usually just a few specific images. like you, i sometimes wake up slowly, sort of continuing my dream in my head, but if i wake up suddenly, i usually forget the "story" of the dream and only remember a few very vivid images from it. i'm not sure if that has anything to do with a function, but i very rarely remember what dreams were about, but i can easily remember certain images. i'm thinking maybe Ni or Si?

 

[Decaf]

This is just speculation, but I think the vivid images are from Ni. Si is rooted in time and is experienced as a sequence of events. Ni isn't and would remember the things that connected in some way to other parts of the mind.

 

[flow]

I like where you are going with this Decaf...this could prove to be a promising theory. I'll have to think about my dreams more, because at this point I couldn't tell you that they predominantly anything.

 

[Auburn]

i do the exact same thing. same for when i'm trying to fall asleep at night, my constant thoughts start turning more into images like in dreams as i slip into sleep.

when i remember dreams, its usually just a few specific images. like you, i sometimes wake up slowly, sort of continuing my dream in my head, but if i wake up suddenly, i usually forget the "story" of the dream and only remember a few very vivid images from it. i'm not sure if that has anything to do with a function, but i very rarely remember what dreams were about, but i can easily remember certain images. i'm thinking maybe Ni or Si?

I have a thought:

Sometimes I set my alarm at around 5:00am and I wake up, turn it off, and go back to sleep. I'll wake up a half hour later with a full fledged dream in my head. In that half an hour I dream more than I dream all night (that I recall).

I wonder if this is perhaps because, after having waken up, my usual functions (Ti, Ne, Ni?) have become active - and thus when I fall back asleep they influence my dream...

Perhaps "deep sleep" is the point at which all your conscious functions are dormant and all the unconscious are awake? If so then your dreams would be based on your unconscious functions, but if you're not in "deep sleep" and your conscious functions are still awake, then the dream will be altered accordingly.

(...just a wild Ne thought that crossed my mind... )

 

[Agent Intellect]

actually that also happens to me. if i wake up to use the bathroom and go back to bed for an hour or so, thats usually when i have my most vivid dreams. i think thats more because dreams happen in the short term memory area. people actually have several dreams every night, they just remember the most recent ones since before they awoke.

 

[fullerene]

hmm...

if I had to guess, I'd say that one of Fe or Fi is my dominant trait in dreams (hard to tell which one, because dreams are internal). I'm not emotionally expressive in dreams--that's for sure--but they all have to do with emotions. I can't remember the last time that one didn't. They are... distressing, to say the least. I certainly, without a second thought, would agree that they're a road to the subconscious... but I don't know about functions. What would it be if you're constantly scared or distressed or peaceful in dreams? Now that I think about it, I can remember the emotional attachment to each one... every dream that's been important enough to me to remember.


thinking more... I definitely started "listening" to my dreams over the past 4 or 5 years, too. They've taught me most of the things I know about myself, in fact, and it's all happened over the past 4 or 5 years. I'm also wondering if this relates to my oddly-strong Fi. Maybe our waking ours can develop conscious functions well, but our sleeping hours can develop subconscious ones? If I had to guess about the times, I'd say there was a sharp increase in how much Fi I use around the same time I started thinking about my dreams "ok... yeah, I guess it really does have a point about me" later.


or on the other hand, do you think our dreams seem to be feeling oriented just because feeling is the sort of "subjective" function, and--by our best guesses--the only thing our dreams have to do with is oursleves? I'm gonna have to check with some of my feeling-type friends to see what they say about theirs. Really interesting idea, though.

 

[Jesin]

Also....
My brother (ESTP) tells me that when he realizes he's dreaming (which he does often) he gains control of it, and his imagination is free to do as he wishes with it and he has a blast. He gets upset when I wake him up from a dream because he was having so much fun imagining new things. I, on the other hand, can never control my dreams - and if I realize that I'm dreaming, I wake up. Could this be my brother's unconscious Ne? Ne is the 8th function of an ESTP...

That's called lucid dreaming. It's not type-dependent. Case in point: Richard Feynman (an ENTP) describes playing around with his dreams in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman.


Also, I'm seriously doubtful about this "8th function is dominant in dreams" thing. You have to be careful about confirmation bias. Actively seeking out counterexamples is at least as important as looking for supporting examples.

Hey, Snail's an INFP. Snail, do you find that you're less idealistic and more logical/analytical when you dream?

 

[didyouknow]

On the weekends, I like to control my dreams, but they don't go very far...they seems to slow down. My dreams seem to be more symbolic. It often takes a little bit of speculation to figure out what they mean, some of them I haven't figured out yet.

One of them in particular was extremely disturbing. I was a spy in a plane (like James Bond), together with who was at the time my best friend. A man hijacked the plane and it crashed into a snowy field somwhere in Europe with pine trees. We stumbled out of the plane, coughing at the smoke.

Then she said, "Sorry, Sarah. I didn't want you to find out this way," and pulled out a gun to my head.

Another man came running out of the burning plane screaming something unintelligible. That gave me enough time to pull out my gun and run up behind her.

And the most terrifying of all; I shot her. In the neck. Without second thought.

After she collapsed on the ground, I found myself crying. I tryed to revive her, but gave up and stumbled off into the pine woods.

That was when I woke up around midnight.

Later on I realised it was symbolic of our friendship. She betrayed me so I stopped talking to her. I didn't want to be friends anymore. Later on I tried to apologise for not having the guts to stick it out, but I was just so dissapointed in her that I couldn't stand being around her. I haven't talked to her since January now.

 

[krisa]

Dreams are very important to me, since they often affect my real life. I usually have very vivid dreams, mostly adventerous and exciting, sometimes disturbing. I remember them well usually.
One week ago I dreamt about having roundworms in my intestines.. A very nasty dream, it made me worried for all week, I was googling about sympthomps and checking myself obsessively..

Sometimes I oftenly dreamt about a big wave or tsunami comig on me... I guess it was related to my fears and anguishes at that time of life.. That dreams were really bothering..

My favorite dreams are those of random and spontaneous trips to unknown places, with unknown people.. Full of adventures.. I think I should write a book or something, because they can be really exciting.. My subconsious imagination is really vivid, I guess ;>

 

[Auburn]

hmm...

if I had to guess, I'd say that one of Fe or Fi is my dominant trait in dreams (hard to tell which one, because dreams are internal). I'm not emotionally expressive in dreams--that's for sure--but they all have to do with emotions. I can't remember the last time that one didn't. They are... distressing, to say the least. I certainly, without a second thought, would agree that they're a road to the subconscious... but I don't know about functions. What would it be if you're constantly scared or distressed or peaceful in dreams? Now that I think about it, I can remember the emotional attachment to each one... every dream that's been important enough to me to remember.

goodness Cryptonia! even in your dreams you sound like me!

***
​

Also, I just had several dreams last night. I can only remember the last one in decent detail but can vaguely recall two others. In my last dream, I was wandering about in a building that was still in construction. There were people around putting the framework together and I began to help them build it. It was very tall and I was helping at one of the highest floors.

Then the whole structure began to rock back and forth. Intuitively I somehow knew that somebody on a lower floor had broken a part of the framework and so the top part was unstable. A fellow worker who was in charge said it's ok, don't worry about it, but then it got really really bad! Then suddenly one of those back-and-forth rocking motions didn't spring back. We began to fall - about a full 10 story part of the tower was falling hundreds of feet in the air. I remember seeing everything in first person. I could see the city below (it was New York, and I was actually building the Twin Towers) as I was falling and just waiting for the impact of the ground to come and end it all. It seemed like I was falling for minutes. I was holding on tight thinking about what the heck would happen if this killed me. A part of me shrugged at the thought, telling myself I really am just another life in this world, so it doesn't matter.

I hit the ground, and somehow I came out alive. I was banged up, but I could still walk! I look up and saw the towers and just stood there. Then a few moments later my mother comes up to me (random) and gives me a hug; very glad to see I'm alive.

EDIT: btw - Welcome to the forum didyouknow!

 

[Ogion]

@didyouknow: Hi and welcome to the forum. May you find interesting and revealing discussions (Hm, seems like i built myself a routine/tradition with that...)
I 'discovered' (Well, no big news), that when i am strongly occupied with something (like watching an entire season of a tv series in one day, uhm...) then i will certainly dream of it as well. (Sometimes, after a day of linux/program configurations, when not everything went well, i would dream of that as well. Imagine that. I dream of the command line...And sometimes i come up with solutions, and even rarer they really work )

Lately though i couldn't rememmber any dreams, but that may stem from my irregular sleep patterns (for the last two weeks i slept very irregular, sometimes in the day, sometiimes in the night, sometimes in between...It has advantages, but is probably unhealthy

Ogion

 

[didyouknow]

thanks, I'll be here all week :P

I have been pleasantly surprised with the amount of intelligent people on this forum (then again, we are all INTPs). It's great to find a lot of discussions on wierd theories that I consider aswell. I have a list of unaswered questions in a book that I haven't found any answers to...and I have a theory about why we yawn, lol

It is quite intruiguing to see that I think in similar ways to other people. And dream aswell. Hmm...

p.s. could someone please tell me how to put the "yourpersonality.info" picture at the bottom of my post? I know how to get into the edit signature part, but when I type in the url I've been supplied with, it doesn't come up.

I often dream about the person I was thinking of just before I fell asleep. So my dreams almost always include someone else (because I can't stop thinking when I'm trying to sleep).

If I fall asleep and I hear a noise, my brain interprets the noise and incorperates it into my dream. If I fell asleep with the tv on, then I would dream about whatever I imagined the show to be about. It's quite interesting really. I can tell what show was on while I was sleeping just by what happened in my dream.

DB

 

[Dissident]

p.s. could someone please tell me how to put the "yourpersonality.info" picture at the bottom of my post? I know how to get into the edit signature part, but when I type in the url I've been supplied with, it doesn't come up.

Ill just bridge the knowledge:

- select the "View (Get Code)" option under "Create A Badge" in your mypersonality.info account

- copy the code from the box and paste it into Notepad (Windows) or equivalent

- in the address for the image itself, remove the ".badges" from in front of .mypersonality.info in the address, then copy just this image address

- if you paste this into the address bar in your browser, you have the direct link to the image on their site

- if you paste it into the "Enter the URL to the Image on Another Website" window in your signature option, you have the direct link to the image on their site for your signature

 

[Ogion]

On the page where you create this badges (i think, at least somewhere there) is a section with a codesnippet. The standard there is html-code, but above it is a selector/topdownlist where you can switch to forum/BB-Code. This BBcode should just work in the signature...

Ogion

 

[fullerene]

"dreams sound alike" is an understatement Auburn!

I had that same dream, without the detail. I was in a building on a high floor, and it suddenly collapsed for some reason. My room fell the entire length of the building, for much longer than it should have (like you said), and when it hit the ground it's like the force of the impact rattled my bones. Like you said, "banged up," but could still walk. I do not think the room was still in tact... but neither did it collapse on me. No mother happy to see me alive in mine, though.

There were a stream of bad dreams that night, actually. I interpreted it (in the context of the other dreams, as well as my life at the time) to mean that I was worried about the structure that had formed to hold up my life falling apart, again leaving me with not much reason to trudge through existence. Also like you said, just another life. I have no idea if that fits with you at all, though.


there were a string of bad dreams, that night.

 

[Auburn]

...now that's really freaky!

...cryptonia... ...who are you!?!?

***
​

I don't usually stop to analyze the symbolism in my dreams, but now that I think about it... *embarrassed* ...I guess that dream says a lot about me doesn't it?

 

[fullerene]

I forget whether or not it was to you who I said it... but sifting through my dreams afterwards is the main way in which I've gotten to know myself.

That said, yes it does . I'm glad your mom (or at least someone) was there... that's the most heartwarming part of it, IMO. I've never had a dream which told me that I actually felt cared for when I thought about it, so that's at least one marked difference between us.

 

[severus]

Does anyone have lucid dreams?
Part of me wants to be able to, part of me is terrified of it. Not sure why. Maybe because I would remember the dream better and it would feel real? And then if I couldn't wake myself up/change the dream...

 

[Artifice Orisit]

I have lucid dreams and normally they're great fun, I spend the night composing combinations of metal and classical music (hard to discribe). If heaven, paradise, whatever, exists then I think it would be like a lucid dream, effectivly being god in your own reality.

 

[fullerene]

Lucid dreams are quite fun (although I've only had a handful), but you've got to be careful. I flew and floated so much in one of them that, when I woke up, I almost went out of my bedroom and tried to hop down the staircase (with 15-20 or so stairs). I felt like if I just thought hard enough about myself floating down the stairs, it had to happen.


About waking up from dreams, I discovered this trick sometime around elementary school, when I would get chased around and had to flee constantly through my dreams (very scary things, some of them). If you realize you're dreaming, you can close your eyes really hard in the dream (squeeze them really tight) and then open them slowly. About 9 out of 10 times, your real eyes will open with them and you'll be awake. The leftover 1 out of the 10 times, whatever's chasing you will be right in front of your face, and it'll scare the hell out of you.

Generally I felt it was worth the risk, though. That got me through a lot of nightmares when I was younger (I used to have one pretty much every night). It's funny cause it's a kind of semi-lucidity. I didn't know, at the time, that I could change the course of my dream completely when I knew I was having it... but I did have enough consciousness to learn how to wake myself up from a bad one.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

About 9 out of 10 times, your real eyes will open with them and you'll be awake. The leftover 1 out of the 10 times, whatever's chasing you will be right in front of your face, and it'll scare the hell out of you.

@-cryptonia
Sweet dreams (sweet = cool)

In my dreams I'm hunting the monsters, I'm normally something worse.
This started when I was afraid of the dark as a child but got over it by rationalising that I'm bigger and scarier than anything else in my room.

 

[fullerene]

haha that would do it. I'm somewhere in the 80-s of % sure, now, that the people chasing me in my dreams when I was younger were my parents. There were always two of them, a man and a woman, and upon some waking-reflection, I realized that my parents were constantly telling me I was "wrong" to do things or criticizing something about my work in school. I think the idea of looking over my shoulder while awake, in an almost paranoid sort of way, eventually led to dreams where I was being relentlessly hunted. The only other person I've talked to about dreams with also had dreams of being hunted, and she's got pretty nasty social anxiety and thinks people are always judging her... so that's why I think ours were similar.

 

[Perseus]

Dreams with people in them are messages. Others are messages from the Gods. They reflect the unconscious emotions of the Others.

 

[Dissident]

I used to become lucid when I was little, but it didnt last, I would be dreaming and realize that I was dreaming, then suddenly went conscius, the dream would end, everything went black, but my body wouldnt wake up. In those cases you experience the sleep paralysis, its like the cord betwee your brain and your body is disconnected, so you try to move but you cant, you try to wake up, but you dont, it sucks balls, really. Because that was the usual experience I didnt want to have them anymore, and eventually it stopped, now I wish I could have them again and try to keep the dream going, I'll try eventually.

 

[Ogion]

Hm, i had and have that too, when i wake from deep sleep suddenly. But i think it simply is due to the fact that the body is drugged somehow into a paralysis, which is a good thing, because otherwise we probably would be kicking, punching and whatever during REM-sleep Well, and following your link i have to say that when i have this, it is only paralysis and never hallucinations...

Ogion

 

[Dissident]

Yes, its normal and happens every night, the thing is that you are not supposed to be concious while its active
I only experienced it in those situations and there wasnt any hallucination either, but its very unpleasant.

 

[Chimera]

_________
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I have random bouts of lucid dreaming. My dreams like to try to hide the fact that I'm dreaming though, so now it's difficult for me to realize I'm dreaming. I used to have far-fetched dreams about lava pouring down my stairs, or being chased by giant bee people and intercepted by the FBI, or fighting in a war against a large organization of ex-vegans who turned canniballistic because they didn't want to consume animal or plant products at all... Those things let me know that I was dreaming, and I could detach myself from the dream and go play somewhere else in my subconscious. But now my dreams are eerily realistic, so much that I wake up thinking that the events truly occurred. My dreams now stick primarily with manipulating my knowledge of people I know, using their faces, their voices, their personalities, etc. to confuse me into thinking that the dream is real. Even the situations are realistic, usually dealing with school or some sort of plausible activity. I still have nightmares though, usually involving incredible amounts of real-life stress that already existed before the dream; the dream just builds on it and warps it so it's 5 million times worse. And I fall asleep on a Monday, dream that I live through Tuesday, then wake up believing that it's Wednesday. That happens a lot. Once in a while I have a non-realistic dream, and I can have a lucid dream again. . .but that's very rare. ​

On a side note, I've had many, many dreams about trying to fly, but I've never been able to. I can only glide short distances. I remember one dream specifically. I was part dragon and was trying to fly to the top of a tree, but I could only run and flap my wings. I had this imbued sense that I knew how to fly, and that I'd flown before, but I just couldn't get my wings to work...
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[Ogion]

Hm, pretty scary, these nearly-reality dreams, if i may say so...

Ogion

 

[Chronomar]

I catagorize my dreams into 3 major groups:

I have some random dreams, some dreams with reoccuring places/themes, and some dreams that are about something I was worrying/thinking about at the time.

Examples:
Random: I am a feather. I am yellow. Floating... some strange music, sounds like Bolero (which of course I don't know until after the dream), Everything is underwater and there are sponges that look like trees. I pause to remark to a duck that that is sort of strange, and then I wake up. That's what I mean by random.

Reoccuring Place/theme: I am in my elementary school (sort of old building). I am in the hall, but don't have a hall pass (gasp!), for some reason, I am unperturbed. Then, I hear footsteps, and the lound obnoxious voices of many people around the corner. I run up and down the stairwell, but there is no safe place. I slip on one of those stupid, pointless worksheets they make you do in elementary school and fall down. Then, there is this little gap in this randomly wooden section of the wall, it is all in shadow, so no one will see me go in. I run through, and I am in a large wooden library with shelves very close together. From the people in it, it appears to be some sort of highschool or college library. I like it there. Dream ends. This would reoccur many different times and ways starting from when I was in the 2nd grade all the way through when I entered highschool.

Worrying/Thinking Dreams: I am late to class. Panic. Panic. Okay, now I'm in AP bio. I'm safe. The teacher didn't even see me come in! Oh, no, she can't see me! How can I turn in my homework??? I pull out my binder and open it up. I forgot to do my lab. The teacher comes to me, hand extended..."why didn't you do your lab? You're say you want to be a scientist? Never. She puts a red "fail" stamp on my forehead, and then I fall into a black pit in the ground. Dream ends. Predictibly, this dream occurs one night before Ap bio labs are due.

I have a good idea about what the last one means, but not the rest.

 

[flow]

I had a lucid dream last night, first one I've had in a looong ass time. Anyways, I have lots of dreams involving myself being at my old church (catholic church). I was surrounded by people I went to high school with, and as soon as I realized I was yet again in a church I realized it was a dream and I could do anything. I proceeded to fly out of there (literally), then explore the church (I went up to the altar and then into the back area that normally only the priest and servers go into). I eventually went outside and then woke up. It was certainly exciting to realize I was dreaming. It was like I took over my subconscious. Really, I'm starting to think that the subconscious can be concurred. I'm at the point where I never feel really asleep anymore, I'm always conscious.

 

[Jordan~]

I have dreams that are too close to reality for comfort, too. Usually I get wake up from them naturally, so where the dream left off can be a bit foggy. I do sometimes speak to people as though they had said something they hadn't, or act differently around them, because I'm sure that something they did in a dream was real. I'm sure I have a few memories kicking about that aren't real at all.

 

[Jesin]

Here are brief descriptions of all the dreams I've had lately that I can remember:

 

[Snail]

Hey, Snail's an INFP. Snail, do you find that you're less idealistic and more logical/analytical when you dream?

Not really. Things don't always make sense in my dreams until I wake up and find the meanings. I am always an idealist, and whether I am asleep or dead, I suspect that nothing will change that fact.

 

[Perseus]

I do not sleep very much at all. But I get people in my dreams a lot, and I take it they are sending me messages. Very disturbing, they can be as well.