What's YOUR voice on this matter?

[Demars]

Lately I've been pondering the current status of dreaming as it relates to a large, social context. I have formulated some of my own opinions, but I'd love to see what everyone here thinks. Seriously, I want to hear your voice! Here's my main question: When you share your dreams with anyone, what's the biggest problem you encounter? Do you believe there is a social stigma attached to sharing your dreams? If so, do you wish there were better ways to show the world your enthusiasm? Are these issues even important to you? (I guess I've just been super curious as to how worthy of a pursuit is it is for us to try and further dream-sharing on a social-scale.)

[Tygar]

When you share your dreams with anyone, what's the biggest problem you encounter? Regular dreams: I only share very interesting dreams with others. This rarely causes any issues, unless they secretly think I'm crazy. Lucid dreams: I rarely share them with anyone but my wife, or people who have genuine interest in lucid dreaming (which are few and far between in my life). Do you believe there is a social stigma attached to sharing your dreams? If so, do you wish there were better ways to show the world your enthusiasm? Normal Dreams: No, I don't feel there is a social stigma. Lucid Dreams: Yes, I do believe there is a social stigma. I feel most people, who are unaware of lucid dreaming, feel the practice is "strange", "New Age", "Occult", or just plain crazy. I once mentioned it to a friend who refused to believe it was even possible, and that I was just dreaming that I had control of my dream but really didn't. Are these issues even important to you? These issues aren't particularly important to me. LDing is a personal hobby and I can always tell my wife about my amazing adventures.

[Screen]

I've yet to have shared lucid dreams, and don't even know where to begin to have them. I guess like all techniques, the method will vary upon the individual. But it's not really high on my to-do list. The only thing about it that is important to me, are the potentials we're missing out on by not making it more common knowledge, so more can use it. It would arguably be one of the best ways to teach beginners. Though, some people here don't even believe shared lucid dreaming is real. The problem is understanding how it might possibly work. Lucid dreaming has already been proven, but shared? A work in progress. But most lucid dreamers never bother to ask themselves while lucid how to share dreams or how it's even possible. I think it's primarily the lack of inquisition on the subject that leads to much of the confusion and doubt. That aside, the only reason I can see to use lucid dreaming with strangers is for educational purposes. Anything else, and you're opening up a lot of your personal business. This is a problem I mentioned before about shared lucid dreaming. Ex: what's to stop your subconscious from telling someone your most personal secrets if asked? The solution would be to develop forms of self-defense, but that's unnecessary unless shared lucid dreaming does become that popular. And even then, if you open yourself up to a stranger for whatever reason.

[Demars]

Screen, I'm super pumped to see your excitement, but when I brought up "sharing dreams" I meant the physical act of telling someone your dream, not the particular phenomenon of co-dreaming that you speak of. Don't worry, it's no big deal. And Tygar, you bring up some valid distinctions between lucid and normal dreams. Lucid dreaming in particular has a long way to go as far as even being socially recognized. Perhaps if there was a hub where people could create genuine quality works of self-expression with the purpose of sharing them with the world, more people would (at the very least) be curious about exploring dreaming a little deeper. I'm just tossing around ideas at this point, but for those of us fortunate enough to have awesome dream experiences, we understand all the ways dreaming (lucid and non-lucid) can positively affect our lives.

[Kageonite]

I regularly share my dreams with family and friends, however i am reluctant to introduce them to lucid dreaming. Like Tygar stated, there is social stigma surrounding the concept and people don't want to believe in something that is new or they can't do themselves.