That depends… Sometimes the dreams are blurry and lacks details, but then again some looks as real and sometimes even clearer than real life 
The majority of my lds are usually less detailed than when im awkake, but it seems to improve.
This is an interesting topic to me because (several years back) I sort of told myself (while awake) that next time I had a lucid dream (LD) I wanted to look at things real close and see how realistic things were. Incidentally, I agree with what everyone else has said in reply that all this (realism, etc.) varies tremendously from LD to LD. But in my next LD, I remembered that I wanted to test realism. I was flying and I was able to glide down softly toward a small stream to just above the water. I slowed my forward flying movement (still flying) and dipped my hand in the water and was amazed that I saw ripples moving away in circles just like when awake. Neat. And wondered, “how can your mind make a scene like this so realistic”? I still don’t know the answer but these are nice experiences. And I watched as water droplets fell from my hand and made more waves in the water below. I kept looking around and noticed the grass was a deep beautiful green and that tree limbs and leaves were gently swaying in a gentle breeze. Very realistic. During a subsequent LD, there were people so I purposely shook hands with someone (they didn’t seem to mind) and noticed that I could feel their hand and pressure of the handshake and the normal feel of their hand (flesh and bone structures underneath) just like when awake. This all surprised me very much because (while awake before the LD) I had thought that things would not be very realistic to the touch and feel (even if I were successful and remembered to try, ha). Very realistic IMO. During subsequent LD dreams I noticed that the colors of everything (cause I’ve heard that some people only dream in black and white) were very vivid. I have had LDs though that were very much less vivid color wise. It seems concentrating on something, in an LD, like color, makes it come alive and get more vivid. I’ve found that just casually trying to make things happen, while enjoying the experience, in an LD is a lot more effective than concentrating hard and trying to force things to happen. And I’ve noticed the more I try to notice the “rules” and the way things work in an LD, the better I’ve gotten at doing things. It’s a lot, to me, like art and music. An art form as well as a science. I like LDs also because I have become successful at telling myself when awake, that if I have an unpleasant dream, that that is my cue to “wake up” within the dream and realize that because it is a dream, it’s nothing to worry about. Works most, though not all, of the time. Sorry to be so long winded. I am new. Are we supposed to keep our message short? 
Thanks. I’m really exicted now. I hope I have my first LD soon.
When I was a kid, I could often (not always) think of a scenario before going to bed and then dream about it. Kind of like having your own movie theater and making it up as you go along. Sadly, as I became an adult, I mostly lost that ability. As they say, something’s lost, but something’s gained as we move along…
I agree with More Power’s explanation of degrees of lucidity. My lucid dreams tend to be of the same clarity as real life, and only once or twice slightly less (if I was very tired). I can see every leaf on a tree at one, or see the faces of everyone at the beach, move my hand through the sand, feel the ground beneath my feet, feel the wind moving my clothes, hear birds chirping, smelling thicker musty air than normal, the only thing I haven’t tried is taste. I would expect it is as acute as all the other senses.
Now that you mention it, I can rememer picking up sand in an LD and letting it shift slowly through my hands and marveled at the way it fell back to the beach in a powdery fashion. As real as anything while awake. What I do not understand is how this is possible for your mind to create a scene to this extent. Like you said, all this multitude of other people were swimming, eating, talking, kids playing in the sand, multi-colored bathing suits, what have you, etc., at the same time. Cause I can’t draw worth a plug nickel while awake and am ummmm… let’s say artistically challenged (almost, but not quite pathetic). If I was some sort of art genius this would all make sense, but I am not. I was in a skee lodge in an LD and there was a big fire (over in the corner of the room) and was with a group of people (8 or 10) having a lively discussion. Several of them were kind of talking at the same time and laughing, etc. What’s surprising is that I walked over to the fireplace and could feel the warmth of the fire and heard it crackle. While I was also listening to several conversations at once and mostly concentrating on the conversion and thinking about what to say next in the converstion. How did my mind think/remember to make the fire crackle and pop like it did when that wasn’t really even important to the scene. Heck, in real life I can’t remember to do that many things at once. Ha. Almost seems like more than a dream, but in a nice sort of way. More like being there. I came to this website to see if anyone had any insight into this, cause my mind when awake can’t function on near that high a level, ha. Funny, but true. 
(Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining or anything, I think LDs are exetemly interesting whether explainable or not. It doesn’t bother me that I can’t explain it; just wondered what the most knowledgeable people think.)
The reason, from what I know, that your mind can create such exotically beautiful and perfect scenes that you can comprehend all at once is exactly because it is in your mind. If you think about it, it makes sense: there is what you think reality should be like, and this is gained from experience. These experiences are stored and used for determining what to do in future situations. For example, if you fell from a tree as a child, you might remember this next time you climb a tree. But even more subtly, you recognize things that you don’t even notice, you may recognize what the bark feels like or how the wind feels in your hair. Later, you will most likely still remember this if you really try. The reason you are amazed that you could be a magnificent painter in a dream is because in real life you say you are not. However, you could imagine yourself being a great painter in your dream, right? That is what the detail is a product of: what you imagine and what your subconcious decides is relevant enough to recreate.
I think you make a lot of good points and have some interesting ideas and perspectives. And as I said I make no pretense at being an expert on this subject. But it’s sort of like you said, you don’t have to paint a masterpiece in order to appreciate it and remember it. It’s still amazing to me how many people in these LDs have their own differing and distinct personalities, very different from mine, and are able to discuss points of view with me that I am not even aware that I am aware of, ha. Does that make any sense? If I could create characters this interesting and articulate in writing, while awake, I could make some money as a writer, ha. I can certainly live with my subconscious being smarter than my conscious, ha, (hey, I’ll take help from wherever it comes) and quite frankly I like it. Makes it a lot more interesting. Some of these people in LDs know more about certain subjects than I do.?.? Hey, it sure ain’t boring this way. And part of it, I think, is that your conscious (the one that is your moral and ethical code or superego if you prefer) speaks to most everyone in dreams. I think people who have LDs tend to remember more and more detail becasue they are fully aware that they are both dreaming and “awake” at the same time. Just my 2 cents. What’s interesting to me is, I may go serveral months without a LD, then have 5 or 6 in the same night, ha. Kind of like making up for lost time. I mean sometimes continuing the same dream with the same or similar cast right where the prior dream left off. Other times I’m real tired and am aware I’m awake in a dream, but sort of ignore it. I can remember being so tired in an LD after a LONG hard day at work, that I decided to sit this one out and laid down in a reclining chair to rest! Ha. I couldn’t even stay awake in my dream?!?? But, I do heartily recommend this experience to everyone cause it does actually help with problem solving somethimes and examining your own motives. Sometimes I even get a pat on the back for doing something well. Take care.
It’s also possible that the dreamworld is a real place, instead of being a mental conjuration. Despite what scientists want us to believe about them knowing everything, I think there’s still plenty of mystery left. Plenty of things they can’t explain…
It’s also possible that the dreamworld is a real place, instead of being a mental conjuration. Despite what scientists want us to believe about them knowing everything, I think there’s still plenty of mystery left. Plenty of things they can’t explain…
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Ahaaa. That’s what I was hinting at in my earlier post (was kind of afraid to say it) and there may be more truth to what you are saying than any of us know for sure. Some of these characters in LDs have told me that as well. That it is a real place. Interesting concept. Of course since you are at least partly asleep on some level, you don’t really know for sure where all this is coming from when it happens. I have had some interesting discussions in LDs about all this. Some of these characters are just sooo different from me when I am awake, it is hard to think they are just generated from my subconscious. Please note that I am a real conservative, “down to earth”, no nonsense guy in most ways. I don’t have multiple personalities, mental illness, don’t drink or take drugs, or anything of the sort. Just a regular working stiff in most ways. I’m a health care professional (not psychology or anything like that, either), as a matter of fact. Don’t hear voices or anything strange, am not psychic, at all in my “normal” waking state. I don’t come from a spiritualist background or anything of the sort so it’s not a case of wishful thinking or self fulfilling prophesy or anything. If I weren’t a natural LDer on a regular basis, I might even poh poh the whole thing a little bit and wonder if it exists or just someone’s imagination. I want to stress that there is nothing scary at all about my experiences, though. Actually the opposite. I have unpleasant dreams very infrequently, but when I do, this is a way to diffuse the situation when you know you are dreaming. But most of these are pleasant dreams from the get go, some just fun, and some are very profound and insightful. As I said, I think a lot of this may happen to everyone, it’s just the LDers remember more and remember more details. (i.e., insightful discussions with characters in dreams that seem quite different on several levels from my silly, “regular” dreams characters - I have those regular silly dreams that don’t seem to mean anything, too.) I think everyone is given certain and differing talents and this is one of those talents, some can learn to do this if they try, and that’s just the way some people are. As I said though, I find all this interesting, but I make no pretense at being an expert or knowing what all is really going on.
The reason I don’t believe that the dream world is truly seperate from I mind and a “world” in itself is because it can be better explained in terms of what we do know about how our mind works than in terms of what we know about alternate realities and higher dimensions (in this sense, only little bit anyway).
Better explained or explained away? 
Some 400 cattle were recently mutilated in Argentina. Official explanation: Mice. Evil Mice. 
(see www.rense.com )
I don’t know how dreams work, but it seems wrong to take it for granted that they’re a product of our mind, without (seriously) considering alternatives. Maybe they are all mental, but what if they’re not? We could be wasting billions of dollars exploring space, while a whole other universe is sitting under our noses. Okay, not wasting, but you know what I mean…
We’re getting off topic here, aren’t we? Quick, More Power! Give us another example of how realistic LDs can be! 
Everything what you experience during LD comes from your own memories, that’s why it feels so real, and if you do something what you’re never done before (for example jumping on the moon) your brains will construct that activity from the expections you have about the task. So that way unreal activities and scenerys will look, feel, smell, react ect. like real places.
Lucid dreams are not real.
Soothsayer-you sound like you “know” which is kinda not too good attitude:)
As to how we feel,see,and so on in lds and why its such an experience-ill stay with my beliefs-its because we recieve it all by our brain,in a way straight away-without service of our limited senses…Therefore we can see more(i.e music waves),hear more so on.Propably:)
Jack: I use this wonderful device called ‘common sense’.
Lucid dreams are just dreams, great dreams, unbelievable, special dreams while our brain is strangely almost fully awake with full conciusness.
OBE’s are also lucid dreams, but the starting sequence is something absolutely great, we remember where we are and still feel the bed where we are, and then we go…
UFO’s are just natural phenomena, could be anything from swamp gas to weather balloon and skunkworks Aurora.
Abductions are just one kind of lucid dreams (more like false awakening with sleep paralysis) this could happen to dreamer who doesn’t even know the concept of lucid dreaming, no doubt that could be very real like and frightening experience.
Well, I’m Soothsayer what else I could say? 
ok but how do you explain when the people go missing for days? and why dont they wake up in their beds with scars or what ever on them? im not saying i believe in aliens but i believe there is a lot of things humans dont know or understand, things that would seem stupidly imposible… people have been able to record spirits or ghosts, that would be solid proof of them but no one will listen and find out because they are scared of what they will find. even in reality there is still infinite possibilities.
“I use this wonderful device called ‘common sense’”- for centuries ppl used common sense to say thunders must be from god or that air does not exist.Then we developed tools which let us say what is what.Till then we had no idea.Also common sense was telling them that objects heavier than air cant fly.There are 100000000 examples.
I do understand what you are saying…but…i still have this “but” in my head as things are not solved yet.We dont even know what Rem was made for,why we dream, so on…how to be sure of anything here?
and “common sense” is just another way to say “in my subjective opinion”
Hope u dont take is an argue:)
Well put Jack:
I love that… It is very true (as opposed to kind of true 
). I agree with everythin you said Jack, but I do think that there are some things we have some evidence for certain explanations. But, as you pointed out, there are millions of examples of heavy things not flying. As far as aliens go, soothsayer, I think there is some explanations required and that we can’t say that they are natural occurences. Sightings, perhaps, but abductions, I am going to guess about 70% are not made-up internally (that is, a “lucid” dream). The best evidence I know of could support alien abductions as either 100% psychological or 100% demonic (yeah, I know…). So, I am not trying to force an opinion on anyone except for this one: do all the research you can, because it is good for you and others!
Soothsayer, I agree on that 
A good article on this can be found at:
theness.com/articles/hypnagogia-cs0102.html
A little exerpt:
Reports of apparent waking dreams can be traced back to the Middle Ages when men and women recorded nighttime visitations of a sexual nature by demons called a succubus or incubus. In Newfoundland this visitor was called an Old Hag due to its frequent resemblance to an old woman. In the 19th century they were thought to be witches. Each culture and time interprets events in light of their outlooks and beliefs. Today, many people conclude that they have been visited by aliens.
To answer the original question, lucid dreams can feel even “more” real than reality. Many of my Luicd’s could be described as astral projections (undecided about “reality” of OB’s and AP’s) and cause I always seem to have extra senses in my lucids it can can seem more “real” than reality.
Senses like feeling the atoms of a material you pass through, knowing about the object you see before interacting with it etc and all the time feeling completely comfortable with this knowledge makes it seem like our “reality” is just a pale imitation of the true “reality” of a lucid high dream.
Of course thats only to be expected as my mind is in charge, so its no proof of the reality of a dreamed world or the reality of a spirit double of yourself being able to move around or the reality of the astral planes of existance.
I do “feel” that psi (extended human abilities yet to be proven by mainstream science, they do not take cumlative evidence) can become wrapped up in what we lucid dreamers do in our “un-normal” sleep.
I seen posts on forums where lucid dreaming is not known about, where the people who clearly don’t think they are asleep have been attacked by what we would call fears of our own mind. They have been left physically scarred (claw marks etc) by the attacks however and objects left behind, its never happened to me and I only truely belive what I experinece myself but I didn’t beleive they were lieing, just scared.
Shared dreaming, healing dreams, prophetic dreams etc I think are all do do with psi states that are easier to access in a lucid or dream like state. As for the other unexplained, ufo’s, astral dimentions etc, no-one on this forum knows one way or another, thats the only thing I can guarentee!
I think there’s a fair case for astral dimentions, mathermatics and physics seems to more and more allow for them and if they exsit I’m sure they could be accessed.
As I said I only beleive when I’ve experienced somthing, however maybe I have but like many other people can’t even prove it to myself. 