From: bdsm@fermat.WPI.EDU (Billy Don McConnell)
Newsgroups: alt.dreams
Subject: Re: Lucid Dreaming - What Is It?
Date: 6 Oct 1992 21:04:33 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: fermat.wpi.edu
Originator: bdsm@fermat.WPI.EDU


In article <DLB.92Oct6143031@fanny.wash.inmet.com>, dlb@fanny.wash.inmet.com (David Barton) writes:
|> In article <1992Oct6.172611.17086@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>
|> S_TITZ@iravcl.ira.uka.de (Olaf Titz) writes:
|> 
|> 
|>    In <1aqvqpINNljd@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> lestat@cats.ucsc.edu writes:
|> 
|>    >  But anyways, I have been able to control my dreams completely
|>    >  since I was about 6 years old, and can still do it. I refined
|>    >  the ability to the point where in the bottom of the 'screen' for
|>    >  lack of a better term or the visual that i see, at the bottom is
|>    >  a control box. In it are digital displays, including elapsed
|>    >  time and such. I can at will stop a dream and replay it, edit it
|>    >  if i am unhappy, or even erase it and start over. I can on the
|>    >  fly switch the entire dream to something else and this is
|>    >  easy.... would this be considered lucid dreaming?
|> 
|>    Yes. And the degree to which you gain control is astonishing :-)
|> 
|> Astonishing, indeed.
|> 
|> Damn!! I wish I could do that.
|> 
|> 					Dave Barton
|> 					dlb@hudson.wash.inmet.com

I'm in awe.  The closest I've come to that type of dream control is dealing
with the Lucid Dream state like the Holodeck on the (Next-Generation) 
Starship _Enterprise_.  All I have been able to do is shut off a particular
dream ("Computer, end program"), or stop it for a very short time ("Computer,
freeze program"), or call up vague characters or situations ("Computer, give
me this-or-that").  Not that these techniques always work well (or at all), but
I have been pleasantly surprised the few times I've used them.  (Actually, I
haven't used them that much, because I get so caught up in observing and 
interacting with the dream that I forget completely about altering it.  It's 
like meeting the Queen of England or someone like that and forgetting all 
those really cool questions you've always wanted to ask.  But I enjoy just
interacting in the Dream World without taking control, so I rarely feel too
disappointed with myself when I wake up.)

Incidentally, the first time I used "End Program", I did it on a whim.  And,
interestingly enough, the dream scene faded into that gridded wall pattern
of the uninvoked Holodeck!  Seconds later, the grid pattern began to swirl
around, and I lost some control, but I was able to establish a new dream
scene with Holodeck commands.  I was thrilled to have a simple set of rules
for dream control.

I would suggest Holodeck commands to those Star Trek fans who wish to alter
their dreams, since the Lucid Dreaming parallels so well the nature of the
Holodeck.  That is to say, the Holodeck commands seem to fit with Lucid
Dreaming naturally.  I say this because I think it's important (at least to 
me) for beginners to have some experiential grounding to help them out.  To 
illustrate my point a little, I would like to give a somewhat embarrassing
account of my experiences flying.

Flying isn't something we _do_ naturally.  So it isn't something I was able
to do elegantly in a Lucid Dream for a while there. The only techniques I have
seen "in the real world" for flying are "Superman-leaping" and "flapping-one's-
arms-like-mad". In the beginning, I had to flap my arms.  I felt really stupid 
doing it, but it _worked_, and I was thrilled.  Superman leaps just made me jump
pretty far, but I couldn't maintain altitude without some arm flapping.  I think
it's because I didn't "believe" that I could fly without my arms flapping...I'd 
never seen it done before.  Nowadays, when I have a Lucid Dream, I have no
trouble just "thinking" myself into slow hover to any height, and then 
gliding wherever I want to go.

I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear, here, so please pardon me.  But to 
restate the point, I think that Holodeck commands (because we see them used
often enough in _StarTrek: The Next Generation_) are "natural" to us, and we
could easily "believe" that they would work on the Holodeck-in-our-heads.
Give it a shot, if you think of it.  And let me know how it goes.

Wishing I were more articulate,

Don