Lucid Dreaming

I had one of the most fantastic experiences of my life recently on a plane flight to the Philippines.

I drifted off to sleep for a while in a very uncomfortable chair and woke later and started chatting to a couple of people next to me. Then as odd things started to happen, I began to realize that I was in fact still asleep! Everything was crystal clear, just like everyday reality.

When this happened in the past I woke up immediately, but in this case I remained 100% in the dream state and could wander around the dream-version of the plane cabin to my heart's content. I started to do experiments such as pick up a glass of water and shake it to see how well my brain simulated the physics of liquids. Then I found that the plane cabin was connected to other rooms filled with all kinds of other activities and I enjoyed exploring the rooms for a while.

Then, suddenly, the dream stopped because a real-world cabin attendance bumped into me and woke me up. I was filled with amazement at the dream, and closed my eyes hoping it might return. Lo and behold, I immediately went back into the lucid dream and continued from where I had left off. This happened again a few minutes later and once again I was able to jump right back into the dream.

The experience was so incredible that it made me wonder what life might be like if we could do this at will; harness the power of our own minds and live in a self-contained virtual world!

Comments

[Fantasy Writer Guy]

Greatb stuff. I would love to be able to do that again. It was happening when I was adolescent and on anti-depressent medication which fucked with my mind quite fantastically in other ways (it's great how we test medicine on adults and then inflict it on children).

[Keith]

I was basically going to say the same thing as Fantasy Writer Guy. Ever since starting anti-anxiety medication, my dreams became more lucid and more controllable--both the ability to control my actions in the dream and my ability to restart the dream after sleeping. I have been slowly tapering off the medication and the effect is going away; it's the one thing I'll miss about the drugs.

[James Snell]

This kind of thing happens to me whenever I take Vicodin. A few months ago after surgery, I was on Vicodin for a week and ended up having a series of related lucid dreams over the course of a week. I can still recall every detail and actually had to convince myself that the dream really was a dream.

[Graham]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments! I must be a lightweight, for all I had was a couple of glasses of white wine!

Cheers,
Graham

[Yannick]

Hi Graham,

There are books about interpreting dreams (don't remember the names) that talk about the fact that you can live this kind of experience. Apparently, there is a way to provoke them that requires a little practice. To be short, you have to look at yourself in a mirror and think very hard that you are going to be able to do it just before going to sleep. While dreaming, you try to visualize your own hands. That seems to be the trigger. Never managed to do it though, but you just remind me of trying that :o)