Thread: Why so many uncertain lucidity posts?

With all of those posts from first time lucid-dreamers that describes a dream and then asks a question along the lines of: "Was this a lucid dream?", "Does this count as an LD?", "Was I lucid?", etc., I've often wondered; are some people simply not impressed by lucid dreams, or are they not really sure what a lucid dream is? Or is there another reason entirely for these types of posts?

I'm only asking because I've had 50 lucid dreams since June last year, and yet I have never once woken up being unsure of whether a dream was lucid or not.

I can comprehend that sometimes recall may not be so great or the vividness of the dream may be low, but my experience is that once I become lucid, it's almost like flicking a switch in my mind that causes a very strong desire to remember the experience due to it's profoundness and impressiveness.

I guess I just find it hard to comprehend the situation where someone who is actively trying to induce lucid dreams will fail to be impressed beyond anything they thought possible when first becoming lucid and awakening into a world created by their own mind. Surely this impressiveness alone should leave anyone without doubt that they are experiencing a lucid dream, no?

most of the time when people say that they are unsure about wether or not they had a ld is because most of those people probably havent had a ld that they remember. Therefore the feeling of a ld is new to them. They probably get excited if they are unsure about whether they had one or not and that is why they ask. The other reason is obviously that they didnt remember the dream clearly.

from the 'uncertain' posts i've seen, it seems that they are usually posted by someone who is unclear what 'lucid' really means. of course, we all have slightly different interpetations and designations regarding levels of lucidity. my 'medium level lucid' could be another's low, or high level.

but it seems the gray area usually involves someone who has had their first low level, and is unsure whether to label it a lucid because they had no control, or woke up right away, etc.

or someone who had a dream where they 'chose' to fly, or change something mentally in their dream, and yet had zero awareness they were dreaming when it occured.

other than those two scenarios, i fail to see where there is room for confusion either...

1) Because people are constantly equating Lucid Dreaming with Dream Control, which is inaccurate.

2) Because people are constantly giving off the impression that there is such thing as "Dreaming you're lucid dreaming, without actually lucid dreaming."

Other than those two, I have no idea.

Originally posted by Oneironaut
1)2) Because people are constantly giving off the impression that there is such thing as "Dreaming you're lucid dreaming, without actually lucid dreaming."

There is such a thing

Iv had many dreams where I thought "im dreaming" but I didnt actually think it, it was more like I was having a dream where the scenerio was that of me having an LD, I might have said it in the dream but that doesnt mean that I really thought about what I said, I didnt concously say "OK, im dreaming all this around me is fake" It was more of "im dreaming" then maybe I would have powers like telekinisis or something, but it was all part of the plot of the dream, I wasnt "lucid"

So yes, judging from my experience it is possible have a dream where I dont actually see that I'm dreaming, I just say it

Hmmm. Now that's interesting. That is the first time I've heard of something like that.
Actually I have a hard time fathoming how that would happen. You're saying that even after your dreamself just said "I'm dreaming," you still didn't know you were dreaming? o.O Every time I've uttered the words "I'm dreaming" I did it because I was aware I was dreaming. Never has it just come out of nowhere.
But, that's not to mean that it doesn't happen to you, so...-shrugs-..if you say so.

I'm with you, Oneironaut. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen to BillyBob exactly the way he says it does, but I can't imagine anything like that happening to me -- if the idea that I might be dreaming appears in my dream, whether it is thought, spoken, or whatever, then I am immediately lucid -- at least at some level.

Yeah... it's kind of hard to explain but I've had a dream where I was lucid dreaming. It was more like a 3rd person point of view where i saw myself realize I was dreaming, but I didn't get the awareness that I was dreaming. It's like watching a movie that someone recognizes they are dreaming.

Originally posted by ataraxis
Yeah... it's kind of hard to explain but I've had a dream where I *was lucid dreaming. *It was more like a 3rd person point of view where i saw myself realize I was dreaming, but I didn't get the awareness that I was dreaming. *It's like watching a movie that someone recognizes they are dreaming.

Yeah its like that

And whats so hard to believe about not getting lucid from your dreamself saying "im dreaming"? I hear people all the time saying how their friends in the dream tell them their dreaming and stuff but they never realize that they are, for me the dreams where I say im dreaming but dont get lucid are steadily alternating from 3rd to first person, and its like everything I say is scripted with no thought behind it

I think asking if you've had a lucid dream is like asking how you'll know when you're stoned after smoking pot the first (few) time(s).