Lucid dreaming.

[AlecWest]

Most of the time, I have dreams much like anyone else ... random bits of this and that with no particular story or sense to them. But occasionally, I have a lucid dream that seems like a complete story unfolding in front of my eyes ... from beginning to end. Last night, I had such a dream and it's been bugging me all day.

In the dream, I was driving down a highway in the middle of the night. It was just a random pleasure drive for no particular purpose going to no particular destination (something I do from time to time). I noticed I was getting a bit sleepy and pulled off into a roadside rest area ... got as comfy as I could in my van's captain's chair and went to sleep.

Still in the middle of the night, the next thing I remembered was waking up (in the dream) to find myself being hauled over to a sheriff's car and tossed into the back seat area. And upon arrival at a local jailhouse, I was taken into what looked like an inmate's rec area and told to wait. Still tired, I dozed off in a large chair. And when I woke up (in the dream), I was surrounded by other inmates. Soon, we were all joined by a deputy sheriff who told us we were all being taken to a local courthouse to be arraigned ... and that we'd be provided with access to a public defender at that time.

Then, the deputy started asking people, one at a time, what they were arrested for. And when he got to me, I replied, "I honestly don't know ... nobody told me." The other inmates started giggling. The deputy smiled, took out a nightstick, and tapped me lightly on the head twice, saying, "I hope for your sake you remember why you were arrested by the time you see the judge."

Just then, a man in a suit walked into the room and whispered something to the deputy. The deputy seemed agitated and embarrassed. Then, the man in the suit identified himself as a public defender and called out my name. When I raised my hand, he told me that I was arrested by a rookie deputy who mistook me for someone else he was looking for (who was later apprehended by another deputy) ... that I was arrested by mistake. He then asked me if I wanted to pursue legal redress for false arrest.

I replied that I didn't ... that I liked and appreciated cops ... and that I understood everyone made mistakes. The other inmates started reacting vocally with disbelief, like I was some kind of nut for just "letting it go." In any case, I told the public defender, "As long as the deputy gives me a written and signed letter of apology, I'll consider the matter closed." The deputy sheriff nodded and the public defender said, "Done."

My personal effects were returned to me (though I didn't remember them being "taken" from me) and I was let go. That's when I woke up.

Does anyone else here have experiences with lucid dreaming?

[BJ_M]

all the time -- at least two a week or more .... then a few weeks maybe none

sometimes the exact same one repeated but never right after another

[AlecWest]

I've heard that Shakespeare was a lucid dreamer ... and that his classic play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," came from one of those experiences. Hehe, I'd love to hear one of those dream "interpreters" tell me what my dream really "meant" (grin) ... because it sure baffles the Hell out of me.

BTW, I have recurring dreams, too. But, like the lucid dreams, they tend to be rare and far apart timewise.

[Guest]

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=820#more-820

[ZAPPER]

I have dreams all of the time, poor sleep habits I guess. Often fairly lucid. I wish that I could hook my head up to a recorder, I could make millions. (well there would be the occassional tape that I would have to destroy)

[SquirrelDip]

(well there would be the occassional tape that I would have to destroy)

Reminds me of one (okay, maybe a couple) of times with my ex... Problem is I talk in my sleep (between snoring sessions) - one morning I woke up to a very angry woman demanding I tell her who Mary was... Obviously not the ex's name, I asked if it looked like I was enjoying myself. Answer was yes so I told her to shut up and I desparately tried to get back to sleep.

[Abbadon]

One of my neighbors used to have a dream having an ugly fight with the devil every time he drank alcohol. It was disturbing for him, due to the realism of the events.

He didn't give me many details, but he surely was having a hell of fight, because he told me that both of them had knives and stabbed each other many times while running and fighting in the woods.

[highvolumeJP]

Most of the time, I have dreams much like anyone else ... random bits of this and that with no particular story or sense to them. But occasionally, I have a lucid dream that seems like a complete story unfolding in front of my eyes ... from beginning to end. Last night, I had such a dream and it's been bugging me all day.
?

LOL !!! What a nice dream - It reminds me strangely of a recent movie I've seen about some evil sheriff arresting people in town, I can't remember the name, I think it's a Stephen King movie, but anyways what a weird dream I am a LUCID dreamer too since I am a kid and ALL my dreams are in full color and lucid - So lucid and real that I feel like I am conscious in another parallel universe. Believe it or not I have solved a lot of problems in my dreams. Often I will have very lucid dreams about pulling very dangerous stunts like running and towards the edge of 50 steps going down and jumping and landing smoothly on the ground, or crossing the street flying above cars during a red light - (I love doing that!), and OFTEN I will dream about (this is weird) waking up in my bed (but still in my dream) or dreaming about sleeping / dreaming, been there. I am so much of a lucid dreamer that I cannot get a good night's sleep - I would wake up not feeling refreshed, as if I was still awake living in another universe and coming back. Contrary to the average person I vividly remember ALL my dreams in full colors - All my senses are active in my dreams. (this has a lot of disadvantages trust me). The weird part is that most of my dreams are not necessarily events or thoughts of the previous day but sometimes things that I never said or saw.

[ZAPPER]

The floating/flying dreams are great! And so are the ones where I am driving down the road with no car. The ones where the brakes are failing are no fun. Meeting people that have died in real life again in my dreams is kind weird, especially when in my dreams I know that they are supposed to be dead but everyone else seems to think it is normal or a joke on me. Unreal dreams about work and super tight deadlines and the shit just falling apart on me are common stress related dreams that I have. And while I don't often take medicines, Codine gave me the weirdest derams that I ever had. Well, that and reading the Anne Rice Vampire books years ago. Some of my dreams would put a shrink in the nut house.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I often experience lucid dreaming, I realize that I'm dreaming and I start to act as I please. It usually involves flying or fighting a dozen people in a superman-esque way, it's awesome..... BUT the minute I realize that I'm dreaming I don't know if it's that reality check the one that spoils my dream, check it out:
If I'm flying and I realize I'm dreaming, I will start to have problems continuing to fly and I will fall (Horrible experience and it feels like going down on a rollercoaster).
If I'm fighting a bunch of people and I realize that I'm dreaming, they THEY will have a better chance to pummel me... I still win in the end, but not as easy as it would be if you had superman's powers.....

No one had a dream of running away from something (but REALLY running your ass off) and realize that you are moving really slow?

[AlecWest]

The floating/flying dreams are great! And so are the ones where I am driving down the road with no car.

One of the recurring dreams I have every once in a while is very short and has me driving down a two-lane straightaway highway at over 100 MPH. A cop car with its light flashing slowly approaches from behind and I hear a cop order me forcefully to pull over (over his PA). Instead, I flip a switch on my dash ... the car raises about a foot above the pavement ... the wheels retract ... and it becomes what I'd guess to be an antigravity vehicle (grin). I then take a sharp turn to the left and ascend into the sky. Sometimes the cop car stops and I can look down and see two cops shaking their fists at me. But sometimes, the cop swerves to the left when I do and runs off the highway, crashing. So, the first part of the dream (until I make the left turn) is the same ... but the ending changes between one of those two outcomes. Either way, that's when I wake up.

Hmm ... come to think of it, a lot of my dreams involve either cops, cars, or both. I wonder if that means something, hehe. Honestly, though, if I got pulled over for anything, it would probably be for violating the slow-moving vehicle law. I'm the guy other drivers love to hate - who hangs in the right lane and gets flipped off by everyone who passes me . Maybe I have some wild inner urge to be a speeder.

[AlecWest]

Reminds me of one (okay, maybe a couple) of times with my ex... Problem is I talk in my sleep (between snoring sessions)

My ex always complained about my snoring. Problem is, she had a similar problem. She didn't snore in her sleep, she (ahem) "howled." Every time I'd tell her that her howling woke me up, she wouldn't believe me ... until one night I took my portable cassette recorder into the bedroom. As soon as her howling woke me up, I turned on the recorder. And in the morning, I played it for her. Not so strangely, she found her howling "funny" ... but not my snoring.

The best way to describe her howling is to rent the film, "Darby O'Gill and the Little People," and listen to the sound the evil banshee makes when she comes to claim Darby's soul. Really, Hollywood studios should "rent" her for a few days and record her nighttime howling, using it in horror flicks, hehe.

[highvolumeJP]

The floating/flying dreams are great! And so are the ones where I am driving down the road with no car.

One of the recurring dreams I have every once in a while is very short and has me driving down a two-lane straightaway highway at over 100 MPH. A cop car with its light flashing slowly approaches from behind and I hear a cop order me forcefully to pull over (over his PA). Instead, I flip a switch on my dash ... the car raises about a foot above the pavement ... the

You know there is definately some movie material that can be used from your dream stories - pretty good ideas for a movie

[ZAPPER]

@ MeDiCo

I often think while in my dream that I have become aware of it being a dream state. That is, I know that I am dreaming. I can sometimes control the direction of the dream by subtle thoughts of how I want it to go. But if I try too hard to control the dream I just wake up and have ruined it.

Another thing, like in the flying down the road in a sitting position like I am driving the invisable/no car dream, is that there is always like the same punch line. I can drive/fly all over until I go to show somebody in the dream what I can do, and of course at this point the magic has worn off and I just end up on my ass in the middle of the road!


If there was anything that I would really like to capture from my dreams, it is some of the architecture or floor plans of the places that I dream of. I have had some great ideas for a killer California/soft contempory house in a horseshoe shape with a full wrapped around screened in porch in a deep woods setting. And I have modified my old high school into an almost never ending maze that is really cool.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

It would be great to be able to keep every detail in a dream, it would be AWESOME to be able to control everthing that happens inside a dream, it would be like having your own personal matrix that responds to your will.

It's great to realize that you are dreaming, but once you do it, the same reality check gets in the way and stops most of the magic from happening.
When you fly and you realize you are dreaming it's like your brain tells you.... now wait a minute... I can't fly...... How am I... aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhrrrrrgggggggggg!!!! (Free fall starts!)

The same way applies to you Zapper: Now wait a minute... I can't just drive thin air.... DUDE! where's my car???.... that's the part when you end with your butt down the road without a ride...

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

If somebody came up with a machine that allows you to enter a dream-like state where you can do anything as you please.....

Now, that's a billion dollar idea!








But I guess as usual the porn industry will come up with the prototype first!!!

[SquirrelDip]

If somebody came up with a machine that allows you to enter a dream-like state where you can do anything as you please.....

Now, that's a billion dollar idea!








But I guess as usual the porn industry will come up with the prototype first!!!

Reminds me of Strange Days

[BJ_M]

it's called an acid trip