From: s_titz@ira.uka.de (Olaf Titz)
Newsgroups: alt.dreams
Subject: Re: 1st time lucidity (sort of)
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:59:54 GMT
Organization: Fachschaft math/inf, Uni Karlsruhe, FRG
NNTP-Posting-Host: irau33.ira.uka.de

In article <1993Jan27.150953.19006@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> tobritt@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Randall K. Britton) writes:

> 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 
Not strange as this sort of semicontrol does often happen without
being aware of it and without intending it in the first place. That is
why I separate "awareness" from "control". (I actually use even more
such parameters to characterize dreams.)

> 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.

Surely it did happen. If we could remember what we forget, we would be
astonished about *what* and *how much* we forget...

> 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 

Hmmm, professional interest coming through :-)   (sorry, couldn't resist...)

>...
> 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 

Reminds me of the collapsed hotel in "Blues Brothers" :-)

> 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.  
Surely it doesn't "mean" anything (at least not something obvious).
This looked to me like the usual snippets from your mind, heavily
scrambled to produce a new "mind working set". (This is not to
invalidate any thought about your dreams, but an explanation how
dreams occur.)

> 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?

It is common, but since people don't care about dreams, they forget
these occurences and when confronted first with the concept of lucid
dreaming react with "Impossible!" or "Is this dangerous?"

People who care about their dreams will probably come across lucid and
controlled dreams sometimes even without deliberate effort. The whole
training thing is about making it more regular, as well as improving
your awareness about your dreams in general.

Olaf

-- 
| Olaf Titz - comp.sc.student  |   o     | uknf@dkauni2.bitnet | old address |
| univ. of karlsruhe - germany |  _>\ _  | s_titz@ira.uka.de   | is still    |
| +49-721-60439                | (_)<(_) | praetorius@irc      | valid       |
  "My heart is human - my blood is boiling - my brain IBM" - Mr. Roboto
Newsgroups: alt.dreams