mystic… i think i simply misunderstood what you meant. define what you mean when you say that you’re “addicted”
[i]He who stands on tiptoe
doesn’t stand firm.
He who rushes ahead
doesn’t go far.
He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
He who defines himself
can’t know who he really is.
He who has power over others
can’t empower himself.
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.
If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go.
-Lao-tzu (Tao Te Ching - Chapter 24)[/i]
rushing ahead is warned about in many of the books i read. when you used the word “addicted” that rushing ahead is what i pictured in my mind. shrug just make sure you consider your actions sincerely. can’t correct 20 years of error overnight
One thing I learned with LDing is that you may never try to overdo your practice or try to hard, so I always have that in mind.
I find myself addicted in a sense that I always try to feed my need to know more about it. Do you know this feeling? It works véry addictive. I’m constantly thinking about it in some way or another, even when I’m studying for exams. I can’t help it I think.
I know this ain’t the correct way according to taoism, but I’m aware that this “addiction” won’t last forever. As I said, I need to find my equilibrium first; afterwards we’ll talk about living in harmony with Tao
It’s a bit hard to explain, but I hope you understand my weird line of thoughts
Every 5 minutes in my waking life I do reality checks on habit.
I sleep in any chance I get.
I question both realities all the time and have long philosophical thoughts about what else there could be.
The effect of lucid dreams on my mind seems to take a load off of everything. It’s like my brain gets to push beyond it’s limits and do the thing it’s always wanted to do without bounds.
When I have really great lucid dreams I wake up feeling awesome and the feeling stays with me for many days.
It has both filled a void in my life that I have always felt as well as opened another void.
I was quite obsessed by lucid dreaming in the beginning but then I found out that applying lucidity in “real life” (being more conscious, attentive) can also be awesome so it’s much more balanced now. Lucid dreaming and lucid living in balance seems to be much more healthy than being obsessed about just one part of life and neglect the rest.
I practiced lucid living a while ago, but due to school and stuff I forgot about it after some time. I’m glad you mentioned it, it reminds be that I need to practice it again during the holidays
so i’m trying to have LDs. I haven’t had a single one yet, which is probably why my motivation has plummeted (the Enron ride of lost dreams-ish). During the first two days I was completely obsessed with it and it was all I could think about for those two days. With no success, however, now it’s just another thing I need to work very hard for
I’ve got a question: What happens to you when you DO have your first lucid dream? Should I “invest” a little more effort into this?
Having my first vivid, fully lucid dream was one of the most amazing things I’ve experienced in my entire life… quite possibly the most amazing. I could hardly stop thinking about the phenomenon before this point, but afterwards I also couldnt stop talking about it. It became my Passion.
For me, it has become a revelation: I am now studying psychology, thanks to my increased interest in dreams and the workings of the mind. I have seen friends have lucid dreams as a result of my coaching. And it is the main element of my anti-materialistic philosophy: why struggle so hard to attain material things in life when, potentially every night, we have access to our own personal Utopia, entrance being free of charge?
Lucid Dreaming has also lead me to become increasingly frustrated with the world around me though. I can’t stop thinking about whether people’s actions would be different IF they only knew the potential of lucid dreaming. When I listen to debates about politics and philosophy I often feel an understanding of lucid dreaming could help people come to different conclusions about life. I’m no master lucid dreamer but it has changed my outlook dramatically.
So lucid dreaming has isolated me somewhat from our way of life but I think this is a good thing. I just wish more people could wake up and see materialism as such a criminal waste of our lives… a good first step would be lucid dreaming classes in schools!
And I agree with the posters who said it is important not to neglect your waking life… BUT would you say lucid dreaming has helped focus your waking hours?
Since becoming a fairly regular lucid dreamer I look at some things I used to dedicate my time to in waking life as a bit of a waste of time. For example, I no longer play video games (not knocking anyone here who does by the way) and instead play Chess. I read a whole lot more than I used to. I refuse to waste my money in bad clubs that play bad music and demand I wear a shirt to get in. I am now committed to returning to studying and despise 9-5 office culture.
And I think a lot of this is a result of lucid dreaming! While we are asleep we can have these thrilling adventures and so while we are awake we should concentrate on the stuff that REALLY matters. The exercising of body mind and spirit… the famous quote by some Tibetan monk sums it up for me, about how many people sleepwalk through life without thinking. By becoming aware in your dreams you become more aware in your waking life.
Hmm… is this that “lucid living” you guys have been mentioning?
That reminds me quite a lot of some hippi-ideas, connected to Timothy Leary:
Free acid trips for anybody, so people will notice how stupid wars etc are.
Not really SUCH a bad idea, but irresponsable, since most people just can’t handle a trip, especially if they aren’t prepared properbly.
However, with LDing it could be a different thing.I think most people wouldn’t have much problems handling lucid dreams.It’s the “softer” method:
Perhaps not as powerful as LSD, and harder to achieve, but much safer.If you made it a class in school or even kindergarden, I am sure people would have quite an easy time learning it.It could be the instrument for a mass-revolution of the mind.
The question is: How to get there? Why would the gouvernment want a mass revolution of the mind?
I don’t think it’s up to the government to “announce a mass revolution of the mind”. By the time these bureaucrats have the will to announce something like this, humanity has already wiped out by an asteroid.
It’s up to ourselves. If more and more people would become interested in LDing then there will be more to read about it, more articles or programs on TV about LDing, so that even more people know about it. Eventually this may lead to an overall psychological change in behaviour. A revolution if you like. I think there’s already a spiritual revolution happening. There is much more spirituality now than a century ago, as for example the growing of the New Age movement shows us.
It’s like the upcoming of the green consciousness: more and more people are getting concerned about the world. They recycle their garbage and they are searching for green, clear energies. People are starting to accept other organisms on this planet as living beings instead of toys who were only made for the pleasure of man.
I hope that these kind of revolutions will also happen with LDing. Perhaps it has already begun. I mean, I don’t think there were lots of people who actually knew about LDing 20 years ago. Nowadays, even 11 year old children are posting on forums talking about their LD adventures. It definitely looks promising for the future
Lebowsk1, not that i’m necessarily disagreeing with you, i think that you should be careful. it’s easy to say that lucid dreaming is the best thing ever and that those who don’t LD are “criminally” wasting their lives (especially on a board full of lucid dreamers)
i don’t think that that’s a fair statement to make. i think the world would be better if people had a better understanding of themselves. whether they choose to do that through lucid dreaming is of little consequence. there are many paths to the same goal. i do martial arts for instance, and i see people who learn about themselves, who strive to improve themselves, through the martial arts. same with people i see in the gym working on their jump shot. i don’t look at people playing basketball and say “hey stop wasting your time with that, you should come over here and do martial arts with me” i say “hey they’re doing the same thing i’m doing, just in a different way”
it’s important to not be so narrow in your view of the world, but what i really wanted to do with this post is ask you a question:
if lucid dreaming has given you so much understanding, why are you so frustrated with the world around you? if LDing has taught me one thing, it’s that even my mind doesn’t do everything i want/expect it to do. wouldn’t that understanding make you more at peace with the world instead of frustrated w/ it?
My social life doesn’t exist but never really did. I have always been completely solitary. I have never been very “worldly” either. It seems to me that there isn’t much of great value and importance in this world.
I have not the slightest interest in sex, or with anything to do with personal status. So when you take out sex, egotism and social relationships there isn’t really anything left to do.
As for neglecting balance, you will find this idea among the Taoists but not to any real extent among the renunciant Buddhists for example. Most of them care for nothing but realising the ultimate truth. I am with them.
So of course this is just me, and everyone else may be totally different and think that I am missing out on life. But I concur with what Solomon said:
“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit”
Ok… to explain why I’m angry and frustrated I’ll have to be a bit personal about my situation.
Basically I feel I’m really onto something here and I’m really improving myself. I’m exercising my mind more by reading. I’m getting my body into shape by swimming. I’m exercising my spirit by lucid dreaming and music.
(Martial arts is great because it does all three!)
BUT… I’m increasingly getting the impression the world around me doesnt give a s*it about any of this. The wider world doesnt care about ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’… it seems to be all about ‘Money, Money, Money’!
Ok, you may say, I know better than to become a slave to money and become a ‘consumer’. But I do not have a wealthy family behind me. So to even get by I am going to need to sell 8+ precious hours of my day to a corporation so I can do a menial task all day. Its the grim reality (unless I can afford to complete my studies, which I hope I can)
All I’m saying is that if the wider world started to see the benefits of the kinds of things we are doing, started seeing what really MATTERED, then we wouldnt have to sell our souls to the almight dollar/pound. This goes for all things that are of little material cost: lucid dreaming, martial arts, whatever (I agree many other activities can produce the same ‘awakening’ effect that lucid dreaming has helped have on me). Things that are not soley concerned with money, status and power. This is what lucid dreaming has helped teach me matters in life. And the sooner everyone realises, the easier it will be for us to merely get by! Surely life doesnt have to be a race against everyone else…
Lol, I guess I’m halfway between spiritually enlightened and angry political activist.
Oh and finally your point about people wasting their time with some activities.
I have no problem with athletic activity as it clearly is a ‘Body’ activity, and mayeb sometimes even a ‘Spirit’ one.
BUT I also believe that to really understand yourself you need to work on other aspects too. For example, I saw Tim Henman (english tennis player) recently in an interview say he doesnt read because it is ‘boring’… and I felt like reaching into the screen and slapping him about a bit lol
(just kidding. I was just mildly dissapointed)
And its the same if you had a bookworm who only ate fast food and weighed 35 stone saying “I don’t like exercise, its boring”
Its all about balance. And society at large, you cannot disagree, is way out of balance. I’m working on mine but I dont see society doing the same…
I gave up my webcomic for a couple of months since I heard about LDing. I did one yesterday, but apart from that I haven’t touched it for ages. I’ve been posting on here and in the chatroom so much, I haven’t had any time on the computer for it.
Lebowsk1, interesting response… i have to agree that it indeed seems that society, as a whole, is only caring about money money money
these are deep-seated habits habits that many don’t care or are too lazy to work towards reversing. i’m not going to say i don’t find it annoying, but i’ve learned that worrying about others and letting their actions (or lack of actions) affect you negatively, only detracts from your own practice.
as for those who see the world in terms of money only, it’s becuase it works! The problem is it doesn’t work for everyone(everyone is not rich) and you need balance like some people mentioned in other posts which ultimately depends on the person. The reason why society is so wrapped around money is becuase society makes money to be the most obvious way to achieve happiness. You can achieve complete happiness through money, but the problem is that not too many can keep up with their spending and increase in material possesions. Usually one contrdicts the other and creates a problem unless your VERY rich or understand balance(don’t go out in spending sprees often, moderately buy stuff). Also materialism doesn’t teach any values except pure caveman morals. He who can work hardest gets the new toy, he who can run faster than his pals can get the last item on the shelve, and without money there is no other alternative for happiness. It never really goes beyond simple morals and lessons. It’s simply work and recieve, I think society would be better off people learned to be more self sufficent for happiness and not rely on material items. Unfortunely, No one is gonna advocate(politically or at least suceed politically) it becuase it cane bring down the downfall of the US economy(people buy less and the economy goes down the toliet). So the way I see it, just see self happiness as a advantage over materialism. While others get angry over not affording something, you can be happy anyway, and these people who fiend over money help support the excellent economy so that we can LD on nice comfy beds with affordable prices.
One point I’d like to put some more emphasis on: I agree with Mystic, it will take a grass roots movement to increase LD awareness. I don’t believe the general attitude of society is up to becoming aware of something as fanciful as Lucid Dreaming but, I do believe that many will listen if it is presented to them. And once the awareness is there, then self-motivation will take over.
Many grade schools and high schools have clubs after school. Why not start a Lucid Dreaming Club? And there are libraries, community centers, adult education, etc. where we could give classes and increase awareness. There is also the side benefit that reading and talking about Lucid Dreaming has been known to increase Lucid Dreams.
And wouldn’t it be great if we could organize Lucid Dreamers all over the planet and have a “Lucid Dreaming Awareness Day”!!! (like Earth Day or No Smoking Day)
Lebowsk1: Lucid Living is currently a sticky at the top of this forum. Check it out!
