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Weekly Update 2020-4 (Personal)

5 years ago - Edited 5 years ago1,650 words

Since the start of the year, I've been trying to deliberately have lucid dreams, without success... until this morning, when I had my first intentional one! Gasp!

I've been unusually focused and busy working on Taming Dreams this past week, to the point where I've had little time to do - or even think about - anything else. So I've not played any new games this week either! This burst of motivation and focus isn't likely to last, though, so I'm making use of it while it's here.

The most remarkable non-development thing this week is actually successfully having a lucid dream after much trying, so that's what I'll be talking about here.

If you're not already aware, lucid dreams are different to ordinary dreams in that you become consciously aware during them, and can take control to a degree. It's not just about clarity; 'normal' dreams can be more or less vivid without becoming lucid. With these kinds of dreams, it's like 'waking up', without actually waking up.

I've had a handful of them in the past, but never deliberately. They're something I've always been interested in though, which is why the general concept was incorporated into MARDEK and why it'll be in Divine Dreams. The thing from MARDEK about a 'dreamrealm' that's layered over the top of reality, but which represents how reality has been 'thought about' - so the landscape can be changed by reminding someone of something - was based on things I read about real lucid dreamers' experiences and speculation.

Honestly, I don't get why people aren't more interested in this kind of thing in general. Why it tends to be met with politeness more than deep curiosity, why it isn't taught in schools! It's like finding out that humans have the potential to use psychic powers, and they're not even difficult to unlock, but most people you mention that to just feign interest before talking about some video they recently watched, or something. If you get good at having lucid dreams, from what I've read, you can literally make your wildest fantasies come true in a state of consciousness indistinguishable from - or even more vivid than - waking experience. Surely that's something worth striving for??

But I suppose it's the 'striving' bit that's the issue. While some people have lucid dreams randomly, having them consistently and deliberately is a skill that has to be trained. I suppose it's like hearing that some monks are so skilled at meditation that they experience a state of profound ecstasy which surpasses anything else imaginable, but it took them so many years of focused practice to get to that point that it's just inaccessible to most people. Who has the time?

Plus I assume there's a doubt barrier too. Lucid dreams don't sound like a real thing, and not too long ago science assumed they weren't, so I imagine most people would reject them out of scepticism along with Bigfoot and telekinesis. They're acknowledged to be a real phenomenon now, though, and the changes in the brain when a sleeper becomes lucid are apparently measurable.

They're not even that difficult to evoke, at least not compared to the years of meditation required to reach a kind of transcendence with that. We all go to sleep every day anyway, so all you really need to do is a little bit of preparation before you do if you want to have one yourself.

Well, sort of. I think a big part of it is just immersing yourself in the idea, and having a strong expectation that you'll succeed. It needs to be strong enough to cut through the usual dream fog, otherwise the thought that you're in a dream won't occur to you and you won't 'wake up'.

There are a bunch of different techniques that people have developed, with acronym names like FILD and WBTB which I haven't exactly got a firm grasp on myself just yet. Here's what worked for me this time, though!



There are four factors I feel were relevant to my success this time: dream recall practice, reality checks, "WBTB", and a strong desire and expectation.

Dream Recall
We usually forget our dreams, because we don't try to remember them. We typically have around five dreams a night though, during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage ending each of several successive 'sleep cycles' that we go through. That's why if you wake up naturally immediately after an REM period, you're much more likely to remember a dream than if you're woken by alarm during one of the non-dreaming phases.

Recording dreams in the form of a dream journal is a crucial part of the lucid dreaming process. By recording them, you cultivate an attitude of awareness that lets you recognise recurring signs that you can later use to recognise other dreams, plus if you can't remember 'normal' dreams, you wouldn't have much hope of remembering a lucid one even if you had one!

I've been keeping a dream journal since the start of the year, and it certainly feels like I'm dreaming more than I used to, even though it's more accurate to say I'm just paying more attention. Apparently I usually dream about people who've left my life, since it's not as if I talk to any new ones these days. Last night I dreamed about Mardek and Deugan though, so that was interesting! From focusing so much on that thing, I suppose.

WBTB
Following from that, 'WBTB (Wake Back To Bed)' is a technique where you wake up an hour or two before you normally would, so then you can take advantage of the final bit of your night of sleep, when REM is more frequent and intense. If you wake up and then try to hold onto that consciousness as you drift into the last bit of sleep, you're more likely to enter a lucid dream and remember it; most lucid dreams happen during this period. This one did, as did all the others I've ever had.

Reality Checks
This is something I was initially sceptical of, but I have it to thank for success in this case. A reality check is a simple check you can do throughout the day to see whether you're dreaming or not. One easy example is looking at your hands, as they're apparently likely to be distorted in the dream world. Originally I set an alarm to remind me every half an hour, at which point I counted the numbers of fingers on one hand, as I'd read the number would be unusual in a dream. I was enthusiastic for the first few days, but eventually my checks just became half-hearted and my mind wasn't on them. It wasn't working anyway, I thought.

But then I read an alternative approach: looking at my hand, then flipping it over. The dreaming mind seems unable to keep the form consistent, so if you do this, the hand will change form in some way when flipped if you're dreaming. A clear sign you're not in the waking world.

Immersion
I feel that one of the most important parts has been just having lucid dreams on the mind frequently. I've been watching videos, listening to audiobooks, and reading online posts and articles about lucid dreaming, especially before bed, to keep the idea present. I didn't even feel I was that passionate though, compared to some people I saw, but just having it at the back of my mind seems to have been enough.



So here's what happened:

I woke up naturally a couple of hours before my 6am alarm (WBTB), and recorded what little fragments I could recall of a hazy, boring dream (dream recall). Then, I tried lying on my back for a few minutes, eyes closed, trying to sleep while remaining conscious, actively thinking to myself that I'd have a lucid dream this time (immersion). I actually told myself I need to so then I have something to write about in my blog!

As I faded away and turned on my side to fall asleep, I remembered the reality check, and looked at my hand in my mind's eye. I noticed that when I flipped it, my two middle fingers were gone.

A shock of realisation struck me; it was amazing how sudden the shift was! Like falling into a pool or something. "Wow, I'm dreaming!" and "wow, that actually worked!!", I thought, as suddenly the world around me took on a vivid quality and I was able to deliberately move my head around to observe the scenery around me.

Annoyingly, I don't remember much of the actual experience. It actually faded into a normal dream towards the end; I don't know if that's normal or not. The only bit I do remember is jumping into the air and flying out over a boundless ocean, as 'procedurally generated' islands appeared and disappeared beneath me, like some kind of game. I could hear myself heavily breathing, and I dove down from the sky into a pool of water on one of the islands to see if I could breathe underwater. I could, though the sound of the breaths took on a different 'submerged' quality. "I couldn't do that in real life!", I thought.

Overall not very exciting in content, but the feeling of being lucid in a dream in so amazing that I'd highly encourage anyone who's read this to give it a go! I've written out so much in the hope that maybe something I've said here could spark an interest in attempting it, since it's definitely an experience worth having.

If you try it, or if you've already successfully done it before, I'd love to hear about your experiences! I'm also hoping it's something I can do regularly rather than a one-off!

And thanks for reading this if you're one of the ones who did!