Comments on: Dream #9: Dreamsigns & The Hilarity of How Dreams Mock Us

By: Joshua L

Joshua L — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:38:22 +0000

Which aspects of the dream do you want to control? If you want to control the physical components of the dream, then one technique is to simply say out loud what you want to be changed. However, controlling dream objects is unpredictable and tricky. For example, in one lucid dream, I wanted to make sure that I was dreaming, so I thought I’d try some “magic.” I looked at a chair, told it to go away, and snapped my fingers. I was intending for it to just move away, but instead it shot up into the air at an incredible speed and dissolved into nothingness before hitting the ceiling. That convinced me that I was dreaming. I decided that I wanted to eat a hamburger, so I told it to appear in front of me and snapped my fingers. Nothing happened. I repeated this several times, but still nothing appeared. I ended up getting my hamburger by just asking someone for it.

Perhaps you mean that you want to control the behavior of other dream characters and keep them from mocking you. I haven’t had any unfriendly characters in my lucid dreams, so I can’t speak from experience. But from what I’ve read, the best idea would be to talk kindly to the people harassing you and ask them why they’re doing it.

On the other hand, maybe you just mean that you want to be able to wake up at will. Running away from your fears in dreams isn’t exactly a good idea, but if you feel that you simply can’t deal with the stress of the dream and must wake up, you could try laying down, closing your eyes, and “falling asleep” in the dream. You could also try keeping your eyes perfectly still, staring at a single point. I’ve never wanted to wake up from a lucid dream, so again, I’m not speaking from experience; this is just what I’ve read in books.

Hope that helps.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:15:19 +0000

Hi. I know this is totally off subject and I appologize. I’ve never thoroughly studied dreams before but after reading on this site about how most ppl do not know they are dreaming while they are dreaming, I came to realize that while I’m dreaming I am fully aware of that fact. I don’t have too many nightmares but to me, the dreams that I have are worse. In my dreams, I am always in a situation with ppl from my past. I’m always in a situation where I am being mocked or “beaten” in some way, not physically but in a pride sort of way. I’m always scared. Now that I have found out about lucid dreaming, and I know I’m dreaming in my dreams, how can I control them? I had a very troubled past w/ addiction. One day, after coming off a long period of very heavy use, I had what I now know to be false awakening. I was sleeping and “awoke” to the sound of numerous big men running up my the wooden stairs outside my window. Now, in my dream I knew it was a dream. I remember telling myself over and over you gotta wake up, there’s danger, you gotta wake up. I could feel myself struggling to gain conscienceness, the pounding on my door grew louder. I grabbed a gun (I didn’t own a gun and remember consciencely knowing this in my dream) I ran to the door and then awoke for real. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

By: Joshua L

Joshua L — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:21:08 +0000

I wouldn’t characterize this phenomenon as mockery. In fact, I think it is almost the opposite: a partial wish fulfillment.

When trying to become lucid, we want two things to happen:
1. See a dreamsign.
2. Become lucid (as a consequence).
The issue is that most people’s minds aren’t naturally inclined toward lucidity. Our mids don’t seem “comfortable” with the idea of behaving rationally in a dream. Now, in general, when we diligently ask our minds to do something, they respond. When we ask it for the two things listed above, it grants our request, but only the part of our request that it is comfortable with.

So I don’t think these “pranks” are really mockery. Our mind simply grants our request to see a dreamsign, and respectfully declines to give us lucidity.

When I was little, I might ask my mother if I could
1. Ride my bike.
2. Go to another neighborhood.
And she might respond by saying that I was allowed to ride my bike, but not to another neighborhood. She wasn’t comfortable with me straying too far from home. But she wasn’t mocking my request. She simply didn’t understand that the whole point of riding my bike was to get to the other neighborhood.

I hope this makes sense.