From: tobritt@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Randall K. Britton)
Newsgroups: alt.dreams
Subject: 1st time lucidity (sort of)
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:09:53 GMT
Reply-To: tobritt@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Randall K. Britton)
Organization: NASA/LeRC

Hello Netters,

This is a first time post for me to this group.  I have been skulking this
group for about 2 weeks now because I have always been rather interested in
dreams.  I have always had difficulty rembering my own dreams however.  So, 
ever since I started reading this group I have been making a
conscious effort to remember my dreams.  Well, last night I did the usual
ritual of repeating to myself that I was going to remember my dreams, etc.
Lo and behold but it worked (with an additional bonus).  Not only do I have 
a very vivid remberance of a dream but also a memory of actually affecting the
dream's outcome in one instance (which seems strange to me because I never 
intended to have a lucid dream).  I must tell you that I woke up this morning 
with quite a rush, because this is the very first time I ever remember 
directly affecting one of my dreams (I suppose it could have happened before, 
I just don't remember it).  The dream itself isn't very spectacular.
Certainly not as bizarre as some of the dreams I've read about in this group.
But, it was (in my mind) rather humorous so I'll relate it here.

My memory of the dream begins with me on an airplane headed for Reno, Nevada
for an Aerospace Sciences Conference.  We had just taken off and had reached 
a fair altitude.  I was speaking with a guy I know from work who was sitting 
beside me.  Suddenly the plane lurched downwards and to the left.  The plane 
began a downward spiral.  I remember looking out the window and seeing a 
smaller airplane in similar trouble.  It was rather odd because, even though 
it was apparant that I was about to die I was not frightened in the least.  
My colleague was absolutely flipping out beside me screaming and so forth.  
Well, as the plane approached the ground a strange thing happened.  I 
remember telling myself, "Wait a minute.  This is stupid.  I just got back 
from Reno 2 weeks ago.  This can't be right." (This is true.  I really did 
just get back from Reno 2 weeks ago).  So I decided that I didn't really want 
to die because that would end the dream. (Pretty silly huh?  Well, it gets 
really dumn from here on out.)  So I got up, and walk right through the side 
of the airplane and out on to the wing.  I walked all the way to the end of 
the wing (right side) and grabbed on to the wing tip.  As the airplane struck 
the ground it began to slide along what for all the world appeared to be a 
runway (which doesn't make a lot of sense).  Anyways, I remember standing up 
on the right wing and riding the wreckage down the runway like a surfboard 
yelling at the top of my lungs "Yee-Haw".  I then jumped off the wreckage and 
dusted myself off.  The pilot (who somehow got out of the plane also) came up 
to me and said, "Those damn downbursts will get you every time."  [For those 
of you who don't know a downburst is an atmospheric phenomena which happens 
very quickly with very little warning resulting in a sudden down rushing of 
air.  Very very dangerous to aircraft, particularly at take-off and landing.  
Also referred to as a micro-burst].

Well, there was a little more to the dream after that but the rest is pretty 
unremarkable.  I'm not really sure what the dream "means" if anything at all.  
But believe me, being able to consciously decide to walk through the wall of 
the airplane and do something as ridiculous as ride an airplane wreck down a 
runway because I *wanted* to was a very powerful experience for me.  I do 
have a question however.  Is it common to have lucid dreams even when your 
not really trying to?  I thought you had to make a real concerted effort to 
do this.  Any comments?

- Randy
Newsgroups: alt.dreams