In the survey from the old gods we had a question about lucid dreams and what it means to have a realistic dream (something like that). This thread is to make some discussion about dreams - it may be an interesting one too 
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A reply to
https://forums.etarc.org/t/just-received-my-survey/1176/42?u=kesbet
Youāre right, I was considering that. Thatās why I decided to not writing down my nightmares - to stop thinking about them (at least less).
This particular dream happened ~half a year after Iāve dreamed it. At the time it happened I totally forgot about it, never thinking about it, still it come trueā¦ Thatās why I consider it as a warning, and that I could do nothing to stop it.
Copying and pasting the first one from the other thread.
***. I remember after my Mom passed away several years ago, I would have dreams with her in them constantly.
And it would disturb me when I woke up.
Then one night I had a dream with her in it, and I realized what was going on. That I was in a dream state.
The dream was the typical normal dream, about something trivial. And she was just there as a backdrop and nothing more. I just realized that her being there wasnāt possible if it was real.
So, I told her that she had died.
She let out a terrible scream and the house burst into flames.
And I rarely have dreams with her in them since.
I think subconsciously I was having a hard time letting go.
And that one act helped me break free and move on.
***. I had a dream once where I was talking with someone and they suddenly stopped responding to me.
And no one else seemed to take notice of me after that.
Until someone did take notice and start talking to me and revealed that I was dead and in a different plane of existence.
I could see the world around me, but I couldnāt interact with any of the living people.
And there were others there that shared my situation and we could talk among ourselves.
Then I learned I could fly and started to zoom around.
The fear went away and I was then caught up in a feeling of exhilaration and a shared consciousness.
***. I remember having a dream once where I was being tormented by a bad witch and she burned my foot.
When I woke up I had a red mark on my foot in the same spot.
***. When I was a kid, I was terrified of vampires. Too much Stephen King at an early age. LOL.
The nightmares stopped after I had a dream where I confronted one. We became friends and took a ride in a jeep together.
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What was really interesting for me all the time, was how lucid dreams are triggered, because for me it always start like an ordinary dream.
In my lucid dreams in general, how I get to know Iām conscious is I hear a voice telling me to do something, because I have a chance to do it. Sometimes I have a vision within a vision of what will happen in a dream and then I get a chance to change it (I always succeed).
Some lucid dreams are triggered by other dreams - I realize I had a similar dream before and now I have a chance to change it or see itās another part.
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For me, realistic dreams tend to either be an echo of past events or a future solution that my subconscious has been working on without my active knowledge. At least it seems that way.
I have more than just lucid dreams. I have āepic dreamsā which can span over many days/months. Often there will be weeks between each dreamā¦but Iāll pick up at the spot I stopped in the previous dream. I often share them with my girlfriend and have written a few down in a dream journalā¦but each epic spans 20+ pages! -)
The dreams that scare me are the ones where you realize you are dreamingā¦and you wake up. Then you REALLY Wake Upā¦and realize that you dreamed of waking up. SO you pinch yourself/do something to prove you are really awake. Perhaps it was just a glitch in the programming? -)
TQQdlesā¢
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I had at least two dreams about vampires. Iāve met the good one, helped him to escape some sort of a scientific facility and found him a hide out in a small cementary (of course). Then a bad one come and started literally sucking his life energy out of him, but Iāve stopped him right on time. The bad one disappeared, but we both knew he will return. I gave back some of my life energy to him, and we both sat down on a bench in a park. And I woke up then.
But this one wasnāt a lucid one, but I would say it was realistic in some way, the world around us was, and I knew that my choice will have a consequence to us both.
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I my self had lucid/vivid dreams over a couple or some more years ago that was considering my own death in three specific ways . But thankfully to my own current profesion (general physician) and its poor relations with Psychiatry from college (and my own interest in psyhiatric science) , I now rest in peace knowing that the ID is responsible for un/subconscious action. Commenting the ID or whole concept of our own personality is hard topic for it self in this forum , but lucid dreams are radical ā¦
i once had a lucid dream where i decided to go swimming, i was able to move my ādreamā hands without moving my real ones. i was really surprised at how real the water felt. it was like being in another reality.
For about a year now in my spare time Iām trying to add tags to my dreams (more than 500) and Iāve noticed that many of them are actually related to others, just like episodes of a TV show. I was a very strange feeling to noticed that.
In my case, even those related to each other wonāt be as much long as yours, but I believe itās a matter of how good youāre with writing it down and with remembering it.
What Iāve found also, is that if I wouldnāt write them down immediately after I woke up, my mind would add a lot to the original one. Also, after some time Iāve found myself remembering the dream wrong, mixing dreams together in my memory, changing them. So yes, they would seem to be like echoes, glitching in my memory in time, fading and mixing with another.
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Dreaming has always fascinated me, even more so due to occasional experiences I have had. I recall having Out of Body Experiences since my late teens, not often though, but they intrigued me. Of course such experiences are not quite the same as Lucid Dreams, unless you are fully aware at the same time. I never really did much with it or thought much of it. To me these experiences were normal and I believed everyone would have them.
When I was 21 years old, I bought a 3 book hardcover bundle in a second hand shop, author Carlos Castaneda.
It contained the following 3 titles:
The author, an anthropology student, describes his own experiences meeting a Yaqui Indian in Northern Mexico. The Indian becomes his teacher, convinced that Carlos is the one he needs to pass on his knowledge. These teachings truly fascinated me and part of this included learning how to be conscious during your dreams. These dreams considered to be an actual true reality that you have full control over. After reading these first 3 books, I was hooked, I wanted to read and know more, especially about The Art of Dreaming, which was another of his many books:
Ever since I have been practising and trying to teach myself to be conscious during my dreams and be able to control them. I have to say this was and still is pretty hard, but I can occasionally manage to do so and it is wonderful! It is hard to describe the experience, which in a way now feels less real due to being fully aware. knowing it is just a dream. It feels truly powerful though, to have full control.
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I think we should ādonateā our written down dreams to some scientists so they have data to work with. I do believe we see something more not only about ourselves there, but also about the world - like shared consciousness. Maybe when we reach a higher level of evolution those dreams become a foundation to telepathy? Who knowsā¦
One thing I thought about when being asked the question about being able to echo your consciousness, is the fact that in my opinion, consciousness is personal. As soon as you echo it, it is no longer yours, so I can not consider this to be a possibility.
(just free thinking now, please donāt feel insulted)
You decided to not write them down in order to stop thinking about them - but that means you just pushed them away instead of coping with them consciously. So they stayed alive in the subconscious part of yourself, maybe still influencing your personal path of reality.
On the other hand, it could be that they were ājustā a preparation for things about to happen beyond your influence, but that would be (in my humble opinion) just another positive aspect - a way of obtaining personally important information others donāt recognize, that prevents you getting hit āout of the blueā - a benefit that can be essential in terms of coping with your personal ārealityā.
Myself, Iām still not sure what to believe when it comes to such experiences, but Iām sure theyāre all positive. Canāt tell why, canāt give a proof - I just feel it deep inside, so Iām not afraid anymore.
Should add: Iām not religious at all.
I remember reading one book about dreaming, but totally forgot the title, so maybe you could help me (maybe itās one of those books).
In the book there was a guy and his teacher, he gave him something and he started seeing an entity which he had to fight with. If he had lost, the entity wouldnāt let him to leave, he would be like a prisoner, in other case, it would be guiding him all the way in dreams. While reading about this fight it felt so real and terrifying that I just close the book promising myself to never ever try controlling my dreams and not to read this book any more.
I remember the book was one of a series and it should be 6 or 7 in total, each one taking you one level higher in ādreaming tutorialā.
Sounds familiar?
I realized I have far more to say on this subject, will be posting something to chew on
I had a dream last night that one of my fellow middle school teachers who retired became an elementary teacher instead and I moved to the same school and joined him. He and I were good friends so the dream made me happy.
Donāt know if it would be considered realistic since it probably wonāt happen but there it is.
Before I go to sleep (and hopefully dream), Iād like to recommend:
Book -
Stephen LaBerge / Howard Rheingold: Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (1990, Ballantine / Random House)
Movie -
Waking Life
Sleep well, and have nice dreams
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Iām starting believing theyāre all positive. To be honest all of the past nightmares thought me about myself, my reactions and comforted me in some way, since I knew what will happen and could try to prepare or had the knowledge that until I make something another event wonāt trigger till I do it. Either way I was never able to stop it from happening though.
But, after having so many nightmares Iāve found myself interpreting those dreams too much, thus the loop of fear. Iām slowly trying to confront them if something happens that triggers my memory. Also, some nightmares I had were definitely triggered by my thinking - those I donāt consider as the real ones.
What brings me comfort is writing (in general, something like a diary), Iāve started again after a 3 years of break, and have to say it helped - no bad dreams for a week now.
I remember reading about J.R.R.Tolkien having a dream about great flood over and over again. The dream stopped reappearing after he started writing, so it was like a message from himself like his subconsciousness was telling him he has to start. If not that dream he would might never write Lord of the Ringsā¦
I have many dreams about water too. Iāve read somewhere that dreaming about it means dreaming about strong emotions that we canāt cope with. For J.R.R.Tolkien it was the desire to write. Maybe itās the same for me too.
But what about the prophetic dreams? We had a great flood at least once, you can find stories about it in many ancient textsā¦
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Yes, itās time to go to bed for me too (almost 2AM here).
Sleep well too
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@kesbet It does sound similar to the books by Carlos Castaneda. It has been a while since I last read these books and I have actually not read all 12 of them. I do know I had a lot of trouble reading them, because some of the things I read feared me. I often had to lay these books to rest for a while, until I felt comfortable again to continue. They basically describe to learn to know yourself, find your true inner self. The fight you describe does fit what is written in these books, because many have fears, truly knowing yourself. Don Juan, the Yaqui Indian does warn Carlos many times, about several things, one of them being able to get stuck or trapped. Some of the teachings/rituals can have deadly consequences. I believe that Don Juan actually had a name for it, which I do not recall. These teachings go pretty damn deep, and I often had a hard time fully understanding and like I said, at other times I had difficulty/fear wanting to know my true self.