a question from a newbie

Hi, I’d like to briefly say “hello” to the forum; i’m new to both this community and the intoxicating experience of lucidity. Although I’ve had more (unintentional) experience before I “started,” I’ve only had about one ld a week since I began keeping a diary and spending time editing/analyzing it. But, of course, I hope to develop my experiences and share them (among other places) here!

I do have a question for the more experienced folks: Does anyone have problems once they tell someone, in a dream, that they are only part of a dream? The last ld I experienced, I revealed to my girlfriend (while dreaming, of course) that she was part of my dream, and could manifest things by opening the glovebox, for example. She promptly created a lunchmeat parade and pterodactyl which attacked our car.

My question, I suppose, is: Is this me losing control of my lucidity, or is this something that happens even to seasoned LDers? Thank you for any feedback, and, again, Hello!

I feel that even though you have total control over your dreams, they can still be extremely unpredictable. You may have been losing lucidity, but it was probably just one of the many weird things that happen in our dreams.

Pterodactyl attacked your car eh? Why does this make me think of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? That movie was practicaly one giant dream.

No idea about whether or not your losing your lucidity though. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was your sub-c trying to take control again.

The simple answer is that there are different levels of control. You might only be in control of your dream-self, while the world around you is still at the wild and whimsical mercy of your imagination. On the other hand, with a higher level of control you’re able to (optionally) influence much more of the dream, including the behavior of dream characters, and events that happen in the dream-world itself. Personally, I prefer to limit my influence to my own actions, and leave the world a complete surprise to explore and interact with.

That doesn’t necessarily imply that control over the world is represented as a higher level of lucidity. I rate the strength of your lucidity based on how clear and stable you percieve the world, rather than how much control you have. To the experienced lucid dreamer, control is often something you can actively request, or leave up to your subconscious. I don’t know if I’d like my car to be attacked by a pterodactyl, though. :smile:

Anyway, welcome to the forum, and good luck with your quest for lucidity!