Lucid Living Topic - part II

I have enjoyed reading this topic so much, so thanks to all its contributers!

The concepts of lucid living are not new to me, but it was until this moment I heard a word for it.

I am practising art and have done classes. when you try to draw an object in front of you, you have to stare at it and really understand the object. The ball is not a 2d thing, imagine you can see the back as well. And you can see the silhuette because you can see what is behind it etc. When you spend hours looking at a thing you see new things in the details. Very much like when meditating you concentrate you thought on a small thing, maybe the old “a drop of water in the ocean” and the more you think about it the more you become aware of it.
I feel there is a strong connection with this visual practise of lucid living, althou it´s not the same thing.
One very important visuall property is light. And it´s quite a complex thing to understand.
There is a video that helped me very much:
thegnomonworkshop.com/store/ … t-and-Colo r
It´s not cheap, but it´s amazing :content:
And there are always other ways to obtain things like this…

When I look at the world around me the knowledge of light increases the quality of what I see because I can understand it, and if you can understand only then can you really question it.
So, this knowledge have very much increased my ablility to live lucid!
I also believe knowledge can increase the complexity of your dreams - as an example I was never able to get a clear look at the garments in my dreams. But as I studied their construcion in reality I could pick up a garment in my dreams and see every stitch and fold…and even learn. I could not have done this before. It´s a bit off topic but I just wanted to express how important I think knowledge is to a for me heightened awareness, and how you can use it. (however knowing something can also take away the curiosity and the creative process of imagining…but that´s a whole different topic) :tongue:

Good knowledge will never, ever rob you of the wonder, of the amazement torwards the beauty of the subject. If you really are fond of something, no matter how mch you know about it, you can always go for more, curiosity will always bring you to discover, to abstract, to amaze yourself.
Also, imagining is all the better if you know something in detail (and then you know variations of it too ^^ so it’s something new every time you look at it, or a similar one)

EDIT: Also, I’m very glad my 200th post was in the LL topic ^^

well that was not really the point of my post, but to give another example, I dreamt that I took a drug and it was one of my most surreal non LD experience. Some time after when I had actually tried the drug (mushrooms) I again dreamt that I took it, but this time the knowledge of what it would be like made the dream experience much duller, following my knowledge rather then my imagination. anyway this is another topic like I said, if you want to discuss Im happy if you PM me :smile:
oh and I agree what you said by the way :content:

If you were in a dream, right now, what would you do? Would you continue going your way, doing the same things as ever, always looking in the same direction, thinking the same thoughts as yesterday?
Next time you walk, in a street, in a park, anywhere, look around you; to the left, behind you, upwards: do you see something new, that tree, that house, that children, that cloud, that you really didn’t notice before? Good; now, if that thing was part of your dream, wouldn’t you look at in awe, stunned by its sheer existence? Wouldn’t you contemplate every leaf, every brick, every movement, every minuscle and general shape, and amaze yourself contemplating the power of your mind? After you wake up, wouldn’t you write every single detail down in your DJ, for the only fact that you saw it, you heard it, you smelled it, you touched it, you felt it?
Good news, your mind is doing every single one of these things even now.

When you’re in a station, waiting for your train, surrounded by other students, buisnessmen, tourists, goths, hobos, and whatever else, what if it was a dream, right now? Wouldn’t you embrace all this heterogeneous mass in a single stare, struck in awe, and wonder how can you brain keep track of all their clothing, all their movements, all their characteristics? But now think: the moment you thought it was a dream, you were doing it as well: their clothes, their faces, their positions and movements were all in your mind at once.

Reality is just a bunch of molecules moving about, colliding with each other, every single one going his way, unaware of the others until collision occurs; it’s you that sees the bridge, the oak, the rainbow, the festival, the children playing in the open; it’s you and only you that can listen to the bird chirping, the book falling, the old woman laughing. Reality doesn’t contemplate itself. It’s you that must do it in its place.

And if you think others can interpret reality for you, look at yourself: you even have different ways of looking at the same thing, so how can you pretend different people can look at things, contemplate works, wonder about events, the same exact way as you? Your personal vision is precious as it’s unique, so don’t waste it: use it as much as possible, feeding it and exercizing it as you use it, so that it will grow bigger, wiser, more aware and all-encompassing, each time you wonder, each time you contemplate, each time you really stop and take your time to give a good look at things.

We live our ordinary lives, and look in amazement at our dreams; but in dreams, you are still interpreting what sensory input is given to you, you are still living what happens around you, so you should be no more amazed than IWL, or better, you should be as amazed while going through your ordinary life.
What we gotta do, is stop living our lives, and start living our dream instead.

Thanks for reading. :content:

Thanks, Tosxychor. That actually helped me understand better how to Live Lucidly. Although I feel I’ll have a hard time reaching that feeling of awe while awake, but now I think I know how to start :happy:

Wow, now I really understand the whole idea of lucid living.
Thanks Tosxychor :content:

two calibration tools for lucid living are tai chi and yoga
both have the property of allowing you to be immersed in the sensation of sensing, rather than in the confines of the known, which is grey

Glad I could help ^^
I was in a particularly good mood at that time; be sure to jolt down notes yourself too during those moments you feel that well, about your emotions, your thoughts, your experiences, so that you might recreate the right feeling just by looking at those notes.
It can be a tremendous morale and confidence boost, looking at how much can you achieve and how in peace with yourself you can be when you really mean it :wink:
Treasure those moments guys. They’ll last much longer if you find a way to remember/share it. That’s what I did with that essay, and now that is terrbly useful to me too when I feel meh, to keep going the way I really want.

I think Lucid Living is one of the most important ideas, period. The effect it would have on the world if everyone practiced it would be tremendous. How many atrocities are committed because people are not thinking for themselves? How many tragic and life-changing mistakes are made because people are simply not thinking? How many people are suffering from depression, unfeeling and withdrawn from the world? How many people feel their lives racing by as they go through their daily routines without thinking?

Imagine a world where people think before they speak, think before they act, are aware of what they are doing. Imagine a world where people do things because they choose to, not out of habit. Where you are acting on the world, rather than it acting on you. Where you taste and feel and smell in three dimensions, aware of how incredible everything is, how everything is.

That is the power of Lucid Living.

I think Tos did an excellent job of describing the impact this can have on happiness. And obviously it has a huge impact on lucid dreaming: holding lucidity in waking life is good practice for holding lucidity in a dream, and for WILDing.

Being lucid constantly is a huge goal, but a good start is staying lucid for just a few minutes. If you can stay lucid for a 20 minute period while doing other things and being distracted, just do that when you go to bed and you should be able to WILD. So I am thinking of lucid living as WILD practice, and I am starting right now.

It is hard, though. I kind of want to start a movement, a way of life that makes it easier to keep it up, with a supportive community. Does anyone know anything like this that exists, and is not affiliated with a religion?

Zen is often associated with buddhism, but in itself, it isn’t a religion.

I really agree with your opinions, Tosxychor.
If you perceive your reality as a dream, you will perceive your dream as a dream.

Another thing, besides paying attention on your environment,
Pay some attention to your feelings, does it feel like a dream?
When you wake up in the morning or recalling your dreams,
That specific feeling of the dream is coming back to you, THIS is the feeling I’m talking about.
I guess that’s what naturals do, they just recognise that particular feeling of a dream.
They pay attention to their environment AND their feelings.

This is a great topic. I’ve read so many inspirational thoughts by various people. Amazing! :content:

I was unfamiliar with the concept of lucid living until now. I like it, although it seems to mean something different for each person. Personally I think there are many connections between the dream state and waking life. And I recognize some of the points made by others, such as the idea that real life is just as amazing as dreaming. But I wouldn’t want to use lucid living as a label for the best way of living.

Some people seem to think lucid living is about becoming aware of yourself and your feelings. They say that this would make you happy. I would disagree. Sometimes is important to think about yourself and place in life, but if you do it to much you will become reactive and eventually depressed.

I think life is all about having the right kind of energy. People are happiest when their energy is positive and directed outwards. If you focus your energy on your environment and the people in it, you can work on actively shaping it. If you focus your energy on yourself and your own awareness, you will focus mainly on your reactions to others. You will have little opportunity to be creative and your reactions will start to become negative.

So again, I like this concept of lucid living. But self awareness as a concept is overrated. It’s much more important to be aware of your environment and the people in it.

^ above

the self is destructive, awareness on the outside will divide you from the self.
the outside is destructive, awareness of the self will divide you from the outside.
success of both is promoted by the knowledge they yeild.

there both over and under rated because WE are the creators of our own deception…but thats ok because ignorance is bliss :smile:

How does one remember to Lucid Live? I keep forgetting during the day :sad: When I do remember I get distracted after a while, which expected in the beginning, I believe. The problem is then it lakes me hours to remember to do it again! :cry: any tips? how do you guys do it?

Well, to put it in a way that’s close to us dreamers, you could start an experiment.
Resolve one morning that the whole day is gonna be one of your dreams (where you will be just following the plot :tongue: and carry out your normal activities). If you’re concerned about lucidity, then you’ll have no problem remembering :tongue: Put intention and effort in it, and I’m sure you will see some great results.

I do that from time to time, and it’s amazing to me how I can manage to keep my attention high this way, plus learn to appreciate things happening around me that much more, not to mention I’m just so more relaxed during this day, it being only a dream that will be no more after I “wake up”, or better, go to sleep again :lol:. It can be a little tiring at first, I won’t deny it, but it’s a wonderful way IMHO to go through an ordinary day.

When I was practising Lucid living I found the most important thing is not to be frustrated when your mind does wander. If you do get frustrated, your motivation will nosedive, you’ll get angry and give-up. I found it helped a lot to think, yay I remembered, well done me, now lets see how long I can keep it in mind this time. The time between each remembering got shorter too, although it took time for it to do so, the first times between remembering could stretch up to a day. I ended up getting wrapped up in life shortly after this and didn’t keep it up. I had to “focus on what I was doing or I’d make mistakes” :roll: Kinda ironic in a way. Resolving to make it something you were going to put effort into today, as tosxyChor suggested also helped me a lot too.

Thanks :smile:

Yeah, I’ve been trying this. Just like meditation, it’s normal for the mind to wander I guess.

I feel I REALLY need something like Lucid Living to boost my lucidity… :sad:

I have just realise what the idea of lucid living means and I was wondering why is everyone intent on doing it 100% of time. I just don’t really think that its possible.
I mean, surely just a few moments is special enough. Just now I was walking down the stairs pretending I was in a lucid dream when I just stood and stared out of window for a few minutes. The sky was inky blue and the orange street lights shone through the wings of a moth on the window pane, and it looked beautiful and peaceful. I never normally would have noticed something like this and it made me very grateful.

I’m going to resolve to practice this at least once everyday and good luck to anyone else trying to achieve lucid living :smile:

lucid living is a deep thing

it is about a state of transformation and freedom

the best parallel i have to it is tai chi mastery
BEING HERE NOW in clarity
life is a dream in a different way than sleeping dreams, in that everything is still illusory and fleeting, and only the pure awareness of yourself existing and being eternal and not bound by time and space remains

the tai chi master stops time, transcends space ,

they know your thoughts and intentions , better than you do , and cannot be beaten combatively speaking ,

the yogi is also in this state, they call it the fourth dimension, or the fifth ,

the reason for thinking about life as a dream is to reclaim our innate sovereignty, the right to flourish and be happy, and take nothing seriously , so that, through selective attention, we will skip thru the mine fields of hypocrisy and ghosts , and find our way to our beautiful perfect life of our choosing, holding onto only what serves us

it would be like there is a straight line to a beautiful healing water fountain on a hot day and people keep pestering you along the way asking you to sign waivers and go on wacky adventures, but with lucid living you have the clarity to dismiss them and not take them seriously, and find only companions that will walk to the water with you

it is about thinking very deeply about the nature of realty not repeating affirmations all day long though those are useful

:

example :

you have a dog, the dogs nature is confined to it being a dog, with dogness, but it can be shaped by your interacting iwth it into a “bad dog” or a “good dog”
and if yo9u are INSANE then your dog will do things that irritate “you” and you will react blindly and yell " bad dog" which creates the dogs infinite potential of being ANYTHING you wish it to be in your SOUL into being that which you are calling into fucs, i.e. “bad dog”

lucid living is the uncoloring of attachment and aversion to all situations and circumstances to gain a favorable sense of peace and freedom

when you realize the dogs behavior is not real then you can work with the dog to elicit and entrain proper and rightful patterns, and it will be healed but until you realize that there is no hope of changing the circumstances

every time we do anything we are looking at dreams, our col orations of thought-forms, if we send money we are having some sort of thoughts and feelings come up

and we can choose those differently and think and feel differently so as to believe different thoughts about money which then influence out future in conjunction with the types of thoughts, perceptions, feelings, imaginations, we are offering, through our focus.

Every time we spend money we can feel gratitude that we have some to use for our enjoyment, and ask that everyone has enough abundance to be flourishing in joyful happiness, and we can then strive to feel sure that this money will come back to us 1000 fold, because we intend for it to, and its our dream so why not ? This will make us eel good, and feeling good will create our future into congruence with the feelings.

so lucid living is an incredibly deep and simple thing
if someone says " money doesn’t grown on trees"
and someone is a millionaire and says " money comes to me with ease"
both are right, because its our individual liberty to create our experiences through focus that equates into lucidity

my typo of “focus” looks like a swear word, i didn’t mean to do that but it fits perfectly with the example, sorry

Nice explanation, thanks. :smile: But I’m still a little confused, are you saying that Lucid living gives us the freedom to shape who we are (like the dog and owner), or to shape the world around us (like the money analogy) or even both.

Is what you called Being Here Now, one of those moments when you suddenly realise how amazing it is just to exist and be you? I have these fairly often, I kind of assumed that lucid living is just like this feeling but all the time.

Also, I’m interested to know if you believe it is possible for an ordinary person to achieve it, I mean without say going into reclusion or something. Surely the real world is just too big and distracting?