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I would have been really interested in the kinds of dreams people would like to have (my last thread, no replies) but maybe some people would be more interested in sharing their actual dreams.

At the end of my last dream I was talking to some guy who wanted to buy my shirt with a rare stamp from his relative's stamp collection. If I didn't get around to telling him, I was planning on saying no once it really dawned on me that I couldn't sell the shirt because it was a gift from someone. Typical mediocre dream.

Yesterday morning, however, I woke from possibly my first true lucid dream (I can remember two others in which I thought I was lucid in the dream but, in retrospect, I've never been sure that I truly was). I was looking at a report on tv (just text) saying that they (presumably the city) would not be confiscating items from the red houses as they had previously planned (this dream was a continuation of a dream that I had woken from earlier. That happens sometimes). I think I asked myself, "Am I dreaming?" Either way, the realization dawned on me (the reality checks that I've been performing lately probably helped) and a voice echoed, "This can't be happening, this is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream," throughout the room. Everything went weird (like shaking), I looked at a nearby window (I'm sure I moved toward it) intending to open it, jump out and fly while I still had the chance but I woke up then.

I've heard other people say that when they had a lucid dream they woke up soon after realization, or even slipped back into non-lucidity. You'd think I'd be so excited that I finally had a lucid dream but I was completely underwhelmed and unimpressed. Part of it might be that, in retrospect, the sensory perception in my dream didn't seem identical to waking perception. Not 'less real' but not entirely the same. Another part of it is that I've been in such a bad mood lately (I don't know if a 'mood' can more or less last for weeks or months) with my mid-life despair, body image agony and the unbearable realization that none of the women I'm attracted to would be attracted to me, low libido and low energy, anxiety about the future (mother passing, no income, turning 40, ), this deep boredom with life, etc. that I couldn't really take pleasure in it.

Last night, however, I was thinking so what if the sensory perception isn't the exact same, if I had one I might eventually have others and maybe they'll last longer (it's hard to look forward to dream sex because I have no libido, as much as I want to want it). The one thing that has always 'turned me off' about lucid dreaming is realizing that the dream characters I'm interacting with aren't actually real (i.e. don't have minds) so I actually started entertaining the ridiculous notion that maybe a brain can cause the existence of multiple distinct minds at the same time, even if my dream characters were brought into existence by my sub-conscious, LOL. If I could truly believe that then lucid dreaming would be the best thing ever, it would be my wildest fantasy come true, everything that I want for myself out of life (magic, sex and romance, certain sensory experiences, adventure and other minds I can trust and feel safe with whom I could share these experiences with). I planned to ask some dream characters I interact with in my next lucid dream, if I ever have one, if they are real or to probe that possibility (not that it could ever be conclusively confirmed or refuted but I'm sure there would be some neurological evidence for this if it were true), I had this idea that maybe I could bring them into the same lucidity I experienced.

By this morning my interest had gone and I just don't care anymore. I doubt I'll ever have another lucid dream, if I do it will underwhelm me. I doubt I can convince myself to take the possible sentience of my dream characters seriously either.

Off the top of my head, I believe the Aboriginal Australians (their ancestors) believed that when someone dreams they travel into a different world, or something like that (I should read more about it). That's something I want to look into, I can't believe that we enter into parallel universes when we dream but it's fun to entertain the possibility.

Share your theories about dreams, what they mean to you, your actual dreams (not necessarily your last) and your general thoughts on the matter. Does anyone here lucid dream?

I wish my dream journal notes were neater (my first journal at least/especially), that and the awkward content would make anyone finding it really embarrassing. Maybe I'll share some days/weeks/months/years-old dreams if anyone is interested in this thread.

As a teenager, I often had erotic dreams, but I always found them "painful," probably because while you're asleep you're still lying on a mattress, under the covers, and that "weight" around the body in the dream is something you can feel. Or at least, I could feel it.

I've always had a lot of lucid or semi-lucid dreams. I even had conversations with a "character" from my dream, using them as a sort of psychologist. I met them in several different dreams—sometimes continuing the conversation, other times starting from scratch. The problem is my inability to keep focus on the character, so they have a short lifespan; they change quickly, as does the setting. One moment I was talking to a person, the next I was chasing a fly, trying to talk to it.

I tend to have nightmarish dreams anyway—with zombies, monsters coming out of the walls, rooms with walls made of flesh spreading like an infection into other rooms, labyrinths, mosquitoes nesting inside people's bodies, and stuff like that... Even when I have lucid dreams, I try really hard to keep the environment from turning horrific. I often fail.

Other than that, I don’t really have any particular theories about dreams. I don’t think they have any real meaning—I see them more as the brain sorting through garbage (everything I see on the internet, my thoughts, etc...), and I don’t see dreams as anything more than a reworking of what I’ve experienced. It’s not uncommon that when I’m back at the computer the next day, I realize which YouTube video a particular dream scene might have come from.

Not Forever wrote: Sun Oct 05, 2025 7:41 pm As a teenager, I often had erotic dreams, but I always found them "painful," probably because while you're asleep you're still lying on a mattress, under the covers, and that "weight" around the body in the dream is something you can feel. Or at least, I could feel it.

I've always had a lot of lucid or semi-lucid dreams. I even had conversations with a "character" from my dream, using them as a sort of psychologist. I met them in several different dreams—sometimes continuing the conversation, other times starting from scratch. The problem is my inability to keep focus on the character, so they have a short lifespan; they change quickly, as does the setting. One moment I was talking to a person, the next I was chasing a fly, trying to talk to it.

I tend to have nightmarish dreams anyway—with zombies, monsters coming out of the walls, rooms with walls made of flesh spreading like an infection into other rooms, labyrinths, mosquitoes nesting inside people's bodies, and stuff like that... Even when I have lucid dreams, I try really hard to keep the environment from turning horrific. I often fail.

Other than that, I don’t really have any particular theories about dreams. I don’t think they have any real meaning—I see them more as the brain sorting through garbage (everything I see on the internet, my thoughts, etc...), and I don’t see dreams as anything more than a reworking of what I’ve experienced. It’s not uncommon that when I’m back at the computer the next day, I realize which YouTube video a particular dream scene might have come from.

I also don't think that dreams have any symbolic meaning (especially or at least not in terms of your sub-conscious trying to tell you something. Why doesn't 'it' or whoever just tell me? There are people who will claim that if you dream about x it categorically indicates y, and that's circumstantially possible, but I don't see what their evidence for this is. I care less about the meaning of dreams than the opportunity for beautiful experiences). I assume they result from the mind trying to make sense of random memories by forming them into as coherent of a story as possible but I won't pretend to know what causes dreams/why we dream (I once, not so long ago, tried to prime myself to dream of a radio that worked without batteries, that night I dreamt that I turned my vacuum cleaner off but it wouldn't shut off even though it wasn't plugged in. I don't have time to get into an interesting point about certain associations the sub-conscious seems to make and research involving that in dreams). That we do dream is a fascinating thing, it's natural virtual reality, but I'm so bored with most of my dreams lately (not bored in the dream necessarily but in retrospect, when I wake up). I once read that it's rare for people to use computers or high-tech in non-lucid dreams and they never do math because engaging with those things requires our higher cognition or something like that but I can think of a few dreams where I was browsing the internet or checking an e-mail.

On rare occasion I'll have a disgusting or even sad dream, it's even rarer for me to have a scary dream. My dreams with zombies or some kind of threatening villain/force or conflict tend to be exciting. In August I dreamt about Chucky, being in some haunted house; or something like that, and leftist activists coming to my school and trying to massacre us (not that I remember feeling excited in those dreams, I'm not sure if I was at some point in some of them. I know that in the Chucky dream I was upset when Andy Barclay was killed near the end and in the school massacre dream I was upset when a youtuber died or at least I think they might have been killed, etc.). My most interesting dreams involve paranormal things (also in August, I dreamt I was at some apartment building where every floor was a different parallel universe and I was going back and forth between them. I forget the vast majority of it though, I just remember that vague abstract).

It seems as though lucid dreaming is overrated, for a lot of people. Would you say that or do you enjoy at least some of them?

John_Doe wrote: Sun Oct 05, 2025 8:49 pmI also don't think that dreams have any symbolic meaning (especially or at least not in terms of your sub-conscious trying to tell you something. Why doesn't 'it' or whoever just tell me? There are people who will claim that if you dream about x it categorically indicates y, and that's circumstantially possible, but I don't see what their evidence for this is. I care less about the meaning of dreams than the opportunity for beautiful experiences). I assume they result from the mind trying to make sense of random memories by forming them into as coherent of a story as possible but I won't pretend to know what causes dreams/why we dream (I once, not so long ago, tried to prime myself to dream of a radio that worked without batteries, that night I dreamt that I turned my vacuum cleaner off but it wouldn't shut off even though it wasn't plugged in. I don't have time to get into an interesting point about certain associations the sub-conscious seems to make and research involving that in dreams). That we do dream is a fascinating thing, it's natural virtual reality, but I'm so bored with most of my dreams lately (not bored in the dream necessarily but in retrospect, when I wake up). I once read that it's rare for people to use computers or high-tech in non-lucid dreams and they never do math because engaging with those things requires our higher cognition or something like that but I can think of a few dreams where I was browsing the internet or checking an e-mail.

On rare occasion I'll have a disgusting or even sad dream, it's even rarer for me to have a scary dream. My dreams with zombies or some kind of threatening villain/force or conflict tend to be exciting. In August I dreamt about Chucky, being in some haunted house; or something like that, and leftist activists coming to my school and trying to massacre us (not that I remember feeling excited in those dreams, I'm not sure if I was at some point in some of them. I know that in the Chucky dream I was upset when Andy Barclay was killed near the end and in the school massacre dream I was upset when a youtuber died or at least I think they might have been killed, etc.). My most interesting dreams involve paranormal things (also in August, I dreamt I was at some apartment building where every floor was a different parallel universe and I was going back and forth between them. I forget the vast majority of it though, I just remember that vague abstract).

It seems as though lucid dreaming is overrated, for a lot of people. Would you say that or do you enjoy at least some of them?

I had heard something similar related to reading, but I’ve found myself in some dreams having to read and even reread. I’ve also dreamt of playing video games and replaying certain parts because I wanted to “perfect” the run. But while on the second attempt or second reading I could more or less repeat the scene, by the third or fourth time everything would start to distort and condense, until it simply changed. I also remember dreams where I was reciting lines or poems from memory, even a password I actually use in real life. I think I’ve done some calculations too, but in a very superficial and extremely difficult way — like in slow motion.

I remember how, in the dream, I had my face pressed up against some text, reading it letter by letter, afraid it would change. (It was a semi-lucid dream.)

Honestly, I see a lot of similarities between that and when you roleplay with an AI. Especially when I look at those video games made 100% with AI (those real-time generated videos), I think it could easily replicate the way a dream constructs itself — as long as we weren’t so rigid about keeping the scenario consistent.

I don’t really have “sad” dreams either — I mean, I often dream of people dying, pets I don’t actually have dying or getting lost in dangerous places, me dying (though that’s more of a masochistic thing for me, so it falls into the erotic), but it’s never really tied to sadness. At most, I feel confusion or fear. Even in the more disgusting parts, fear tends to be the dominant emotion. For a while, I used to dream frequently about meteor showers — the sky would have this strange color and the stars would slowly get bigger, as if they were on a collision course with Earth.

Anyway, about the question — I’m pretty indifferent to whether a dream is lucid or not. Actually, in a way, I don’t really believe there’s a clear difference. I almost get the impression that the dream becomes lucid when I need it to be. Since I tend to have a lot of horror-themed dreams, and I have some phobias, I often try to trigger them with the conscious goal of waking myself up. So if I can’t take the dream anymore, I’ll do something extreme within it just to try to wake up in bed. (Which often doesn’t work, since I either wake up too tired and fall asleep again immediately, or I just dream that I’ve woken up.)

That said, when I was a teenager, lucid dreams were definitely useful, since they were a good outlet for certain fantasies. But after that phase, the usefulness of lucid dreaming has been mostly limited to escaping overly horrific moments.

Lately I mostly had bad dreams, the common theme being betrayal.

That said, when I was a teenager, lucid dreams were definitely useful, since they were a good outlet for certain fantasies. But after that phase, the usefulness of lucid dreaming has been mostly limited to escaping overly horrific moments.

So do you no longer have these fantasies/desires or use your lucid dreams to explore them?

Given how hard life can be I wish that everyone was at least guaranteed a beautiful dream, lucid or non-lucid, when they slept (something they would have a vivid memory of so it could be source of comfort in their waking life. They could know how lucky they were to have had that experience and hold on to the possibility of another dream like it in future). Most people will have some relatively nice dream eventually or once in a while, I'm sure, but I wish we could live out our perfect fantasy life for 20-45ish minutes (however long our longest dreams last. The record for longest REM cycle is apparently past 3 hours, not that dreaming only occurs during REM sleep, but one source claimed that 20 minutes is the typical length of the longest dream we'll have in a night, another claimed around 45 minutes or maybe that it rarely exceeds that).

What little I can remember of one of my dreams early this morning- I was in some haunted/cursed house and things got bad enough that I decided I had to leave. In the forest (the forest was cursed too) I met these two little girls so I had to stay to keep them safe or something like that. We were in a tree at one point. Leaving the forest there was a third kid, a boy, whom I was suspicious of (because where did he come from), I thought he might be an agent of the malevolent force that had cursed the forest/my house. After having left the forest, in a bathroom in some building he was a 'dissolving' pile of food (spaghetti, I think) in a sink and I felt bad for him, convinced that he wasn't what I thought he was. As he was disappearing or whatever I think I said, "I forgive you, Fritz."

Again, it would change everything for me if I could believe that dream characters are sentient (if, given certain subjective common sense standards that I have to hold; because I know I could never confirm or refute their sentience conclusively under any objective standard, I could view it as probable or even just take the possibility seriously on an emotional level).

John_Doe wrote: Mon Oct 06, 2025 8:43 pmSo do you no longer have these fantasies/desires or use your lucid dreams to explore them?

I no longer experience erotic dreams; I don't believe my interests are intense enough to bring them back, nor do I find myself attempting to eroticize moments during lucid dreaming. It's not that I lack fantasies or that having them in dreams wouldn't be pleasurable, but perhaps the drive simply isn't potent enough once I actually drift into sleep.

I had a whopping three lucid dreams this morning. I'm kind of fuzzy on parts of the last one. None of them lasted very long (the first one might have lasted mere seconds, the others not much longer, if at all) or allowed me to control my dream world. I won't go into detail.

When I heard people say that lucid dreaming was overrated and they couldn't control their dream world I was hoping they assumed that because their dreams were only semi-lucid so they didn't have a proper reference for what 'true' pure lucid dreaming could be. I don't think that's the case with my dreams this morning (I think I woke up as early as I did precisely because I was fully lucid). I don't know if things will get better, I'm not sure what I can do to increase my lucid dreaming 'skill' (I've heard people say that people who can't control their dreams and think lucid dreaming is overrated for that reason lacked the skill to do so, which is kind of a meaningless point if it's not a skill that can be learned but maybe their point is that it can be. One person said they had been lucid dreaming for years, maybe over a decade, and they could never control things or have it last for as long as they'd like). I'd be a little happier if they just lasted longer even if I couldn't control things but could explore my environment (and have sex. I tried this in every dream. I didn't in my last lucid dream days, maybe weeks, ago I think because I was only semi-lucid at times although there was a romantic aspect at one point. In total, I've had 7 semi or possibly fully lucid dreams in my life that I can remember, 5 of them in this month alone).

https://www.prophetic.com/

I'm curious about the Halo lucid dreaming device from Prophetic that I think I mentioned in another thread. Does it virtually guarantee lucidity? If it does, would I just wake up seconds after I become lucid? When is it coming out? Anyway, my interest in lucid dreaming has mostly died out since it doesn't seem like the prospect of a nice, relatively long lucid dream will be something for me to look forward to. I don't think the people who claim that their lucid dreaming is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to them are exaggerating and I hope they're not and at least some people can experience that. It doesn't seem to me that everyone is going to be as lucky.