lucid

My life has been quite hectic recently and I've been under a lot of stress, so last night I incubated the idea that I wanted to have a peaceful dream where I can just enjoy the scenery and relax.

As I was approaching lucidity yesterday (by focusing on flickering hypnagogic imagery) I experienced the famous 'light at the end of the tunnel' effect. I told my unconscious to direct me anywhere I would find peace and quiet. At that moment I felt a tremendous feeling of transcendence as my dream body flew across the world (more like astral projection than actual flight though). I 'flew' past sunsets and sunrises, oceans and savannas and ended up in a Zen garden high up in a mountain range somewhere. It was so high up that in the garden itself, there was a thin stream of mist which swirled around along with the wind, giving the whole place a new touch of elegance. The layout of the garden was very simple. At the center there is a rectangle patch of gravel and sand. On this patch lay two rocks, a large one placed on one end and a small one on the other end. There was a crystal clear pool of blue water in the middle of the patch. All of this was surrounded by a wall. Outside the wall was the actual 'garden' feature of the Zen garden. There were flowers, pruned bushes and trees planted throughout, with a walkway that led all the way to the entrance of the whole place. It was a miniature landscape designed to imitate the virtues of nature - peace, tranquility, beauty and harmony. A true place to relax the mind.

I did the advanced task yesterday and this is the basic task completed (ironically this event happened against my will):

I was on very nice sandy beach with lots of people lying down, trying to sunbathe. At first I did the same, I sat on the warm, white sand and looked into the distant blue sky. Strangely, there were two enormous celestial bodies in the direction I was looking at but no-one found it the least bit odd. At this point I sort of knew that this was in fact not reality. Upon realising this, I thought "what the heck, lets just go nuts" and started sprinting towards the water. As I was closing the distance between myself and the water, the sky darkened rapidly and soon brilliantly lit stars filled the night sky. The moon also came up overhead and illuminated the entire ocean. The water was now emitting a sort of bioluminescent blue. I carried on running, and as I reached the edge I tried to jump into it to make a splash. But to my complete amazement I just bounced and slid on top of the water; I didn't even sink into it one bit. I touched the water to ensure that it had the properties of water, which it did. I tried to use my weight to force myself into the water but it simply didn't happen. I found myself on the surface and not even a bit wet. So I stood up and started walking. Within seconds I fell because the surface was extremely slippery. I tried a few more times, managing to stay upright for mere moments before toppling once again. Eventually I gave up and decided to do what penguins do - belly slide. It was definitely the most fun I've had for a while. On that surface I experienced little to no friction and I just kept on sliding. Eventually this dream world started to fade and became more and more blurred.

I woke up and sighed.

Advanced task completed.

It was a few minutes past 2am and I felt tired so I turned off the lights and fell asleep.
Moments later I was wide awake and in my living room and it was sunny outside - this obviously came across as a strange phenomenon because from my perspective, it felt like I had just fallen asleep only a few seconds ago. I was a bit confused so I walked around the room a little bit whilst fidgeting with something in my hands. As my thumb brushed my index finger, a bright crimson spark formed. I was speechless... (well.. I wasn't speaking in the first place). I concentrated and tried to reproduce that same effect again but to no avail. I clapped my hands together and a bright spark formed again. After a few minutes of trying and failed so I starting clenching my fists in frustration. Then I felt a searing pain between my fingers. I was suprised to see that my right palm was charred. I was suddenly hit by a thought - "Have I somehow learned how to generate fire at will? ... Nah don't be ridiculous, if I could then how come I can't do it now?" After a while I thought about the fire triangle (a model for understanding the basic ingredients of fire - which is fuel, heat and oxygen). I realised that everytime I generated a spark, it was caused by friction (the act of rubbing my fingers together) or when I absorb kinetic energy. After realising this, I snapped my fingers as well as I could and thought "IGNITE" at the same time and a huge pillar of flame erupted outwards, seemlingly from nowhere, and tore a gigantic whole through the walls of my living room. Normally, seeing my house reduced to this sort of state would cause me to go mental but for some reason I couldn't stop smiling. I felt pretty happy with myself.

Now this part I found very peculiar because it felt as if I was in the dream for weeks on end when I woke up. Now back to the story:

After what felt like weeks of "training," a notion just randomly popped into my head - By rubbing my fingers together, I was actually manipulating the concentration of oxygen in the air surrounding, raising its density to a level at which it becomes combustible and creating narrow pathways of oxygen through which I can direct the ensuing flame birthed by the spark. So I was in fact controlling both fire and air, as these elements are so intertwined.

I can't really remember what happened after I had this idea in chronological order. For some reason I was at Mt. Rushmore (where the faces of several US Presidents are sculpted onto the cliff-face) at sunset out of the blues a ninja with glowing eyes started attacking me.

He moved towards me in order to strike me with his sword. I barely managed to get out of the way. As I snapped my fingers he waved his sword briefly and stopped me from creating a fire. So all I could do was try to dodge his attacks. I felt the gust of wind caused by the insanely fast motion of the sword everytime it approached me. The quick slashing of his sword must be changing the air current, disrupting the ignition reaction. I felt scared... I couldn't manipulate the air's composition when its constantly in flux. Even if I managed to pull off a flame, it wouldn't have any accuracy. He moved in once again, this time for the killing blow. I crouched and placed my hands firmly on the ground beneath me and started melting it. Almost instantaneously, the ground ahead of me became a an unstable molten mass and he sank right into it.

The next thing I knew, I was in my bed and it was morning.

So when I became lucid last night I was able to go back to the dream I had about finding the Lost City of Atlantis 2 nights ago.

In my dream, Atlantis was a stunning underwater city about the size of a large town. The main base at the center of the city consists of a spiraling column ascending upwards into a spire-like peak. When inside, there are a variety of water fountains and sections. The city has a cloaking device rendering it practically invisible. Though it cannot be seen regularly, as it blends in with the water, it will appear visibly under the moonlight of a lunar eclipse. It floats around with the ocean current presently, but used to stay put.

At the base of the spiralling tower was a large blue stone, shaped like a layered cake. It has many light-blue crystals sticking out of it that can be removed. These crystals, upon closer inspection governs many of the city's functions such as its ability to shield its interior from the huge pressure exerted by the water on the outside. It emits a "Containment Bubble" that refracts light from the outside (rendering it invisible unless exposed to red moonlight) and maintains a breathable atmosphere on the inside, and it controls and stabilizes the limitless amounts of incoming water that flow throughout the structure's aqueduct system. It also acts as the city's "engine" that propels it through the underwater depth (which is also one of the reasons explorer have failed to find this place).

When I was little, one of my favourite stories was the famous "Lost City of Atlantis." So I thought to myself, why not try to find this place during a lucid dream. So, here's my account of yesterday's attempt:

The sky was gloomy and darkness encompassed the vast ocean beneath it. I was in a small dingy boat paddling as hard as possible against the mighty waves generated by the powerful wind. Lightning flashed in 2-3 second intervals which actually did the job of illuminating this landscape. I figured if I paddled long enough I would reach some sort of land eventually, so I carried on doing just that. Moments later I saw a huge, huge shadow passing beneath the dingy - made obvious by the intense lightning overhead. I began to notice that the water around the boat started to sink downwards into this shadow and soon enough a large mouth emerged from where the shadow was located, and shallowed the entire dingy and me along with it. What happened next felt like one of those rides you get in theme parks. I realised that I was probably inside a whale's mouth. The sheer force of water pushed me towards the back- there was an immense waterfall at this end of its mouth because it led to the whale's stomach. Desperately trying to avoid becoming whale food, I held tightly onto one of its taste buds, which was soft and cushiony. At this moment, a huge pressure that was building up forced me towards the blowhole and I was blown out of the whale with extreme force. As I fully regained consciousness I saw it before my eyes. The lost city of Atlantis.

Sadly I woke up shortly after this. Hopefully I can go back tonight.

In this dream, I was in for a long series of races in a highly oxygenated form of water (only without bubbles of any kind). You could actually breathe in this water! As the race started, you were at a corner somewhere in this area on a platform with, I think, about 5 to 7 other racers. When the race started, the platform lowered you into the water. For almost every time in this dream, I held my breath all the way through this course. I was so much slower than everyone else was and bullies constantly picked on me in this dream. Though I managed to find my way weaving even by some underwater pizza restaurants and the such. At the end, you were bursted out and thrown up a ways. The finish line was just ahead. I had the special ability of gliding in this dream. What time I lost in the water, which was a serious amount, I made up for gliding as I could easily reach a speed 4 to 5 times faster than one could run, yet, even with this big advantage, I was almost always dead last in the race.

In the next race, basically the same thing occured, and I ended up in the same finishing position, near or at dead last. The bullies every time picked on me and every time the glide at the end saved me a few times from being dead last. I got used of the bullies and found a way to get in 5th place out of 8. While the burst up was occuring, start as fast as I could in the water before the burst. This gave me a like 4-mph extra speed for about 8 or so seconds, enough to give a boost of nearly 47 feet, a significant gain, though hardly anything.

Finally, just before the dream ended, someone told me that you could breathe in that water. I also told the bullies that were picking on me to shove it aside. Though, as the race started again, I think, the fifth or sixth time the race occured, I tried to breathe in the water and it worked well. Yet, I was now 30% faster holding on 4th place in most of the race, occasionally getting 3rd and 5th. In all cases of this dream, I already knew of a racing tactic: hug the sharp corners as much as possible and take the most direct route possible. Then, when I bursted out, because I was 30% faster, I was going about 5 mph coming out giving me a much bigger boost of 58 2/3 feet. Here, because my gliding ability saved me big, I came in first in the race! The bullies were extremely upset that I won and they came in 3rd and later. The friend that helped came in second. It was such a peaceful and amazing ending, so much I wish I could revisit the dream [thus hoping it reoccurs as a few of my dreams have].