[jjacob]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

No, not really. I hardly ever remember my dreams in the morning now, but even from my younger days, when they stuck in my memory pretty vividly, I don't recall any recurring dreams.
You mean the look-at-your-hand trick? I'm not sure I really get it, to be honest. You are supposed to try to take a look at your own hand inside a dream? But if you manage to, wouldn't that mean you have been already lucid-dreaming before that?

Yeah the hand-trick And technically, no: by looking at your hand throughout the day, you're attempting to condition your brain to do that while you're dreaming, instead of just remembering.

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

It's different in my experience. Like some other people here, I also did dream of waking up, for example. And just after this "fake" waking the question of whether it's still a dream or not naturally did pop into my head.

I, for one, never experienced that in a non-lucid dream. I can imagine it's different for everyone, though. Besides, did it occur to you that it might've been a naturally induced lucid dream? If not, couldn't I pose thesame question you asked;

how to distinguish between being aware that you dream and dreaming of being aware that you dream?

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

If it's next to impossible even to explain, then I'd like to know how the lucid dreamers between themselves know they speak of the same thing.

I didn't say it was next to impossible to explain, I said it was hard. I'm no expert, and I've only had it once (tried about ten times), but when I did I immediately knew it was different from other dreams. It could not simply have been a coincedence that I had heard about it days before, and tried it for the first time in the day and evening before I had the lucid dream. Let me quote Wiki though;

Originally Posted by Wiki

Lucid dreaming is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming, resulting in a much clearer ("lucid") experience and usually enabling direct control over the content of the dream. The complete experience from start to finish is called a lucid dream. Stephen LaBerge, a popular author and experimenter on the subject, has defined it as "dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming." [1]


There are many unanswered questions about lucid dreaming, and about dreaming itself. LaBerge and his associates have called people who purposely explore the possibilities of lucid dreaming oneironauts (literally from the Greek meaning "dream explorers"). The topic attracts the attention of a diverse and eclectic group, namely psychologists, self-help authors, New Age groups, mystics, occultists, and artists. This list is by no means exhaustive nor does interest in lucid dreaming apply necessarily to each group. Clear and consistent knowledge about lucid dreaming is difficult to find amongst the many interpretations of the experience, especially considering its highly subjective nature. It may be classified as a protoscience, pending an increase in scientific knowledge about the subject. Researchers such as Allan Hobson with his neurophysiological approach to dreaming have helped to push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm.

Lucid dreamers regularly describe their dreams as exciting, colourful, and fantastic. Many compare it to a spiritual experience and say that it changed their lives or their perception of the world. Some have even reported lucid dreams that take on a hyperreality, seemingly "more real than real", where all the elements of reality are amplified. Lucid dreams are prodigiously more memorable than other kinds of dreaming, even nightmares, which may be why they are often prescribed as a means of ridding one's self of troubling dreams.

You see, this is not an exact science

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

FYI, I remember at least two instances when I seemed to be perfectly aware of dreaming (and used this knowledge to my advantage). I just have no reason to believe that that wasn't actually a part of the dream. If a character in a book behaves like he knew he is just a fictional character, it doesn't make him any more real, ontologically speaking.

That sounds like lucid dreaming to me (and is, according to ^ this Stephen LaBerge guy). And this isn't about ontology or metaphysics, a lucid dream is not more real than a regular dream, even though it appears to be more vivid.

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

As anybody who has ever woken up from a frightening nightmare can attest, our bodys (so that includes brains, too) can react to the imaginary impulses of a dreamworld as they were the real deal. I don't see why dreaming of being in control couldn't engage exactly the same part of the brain that actually being in control.

Yes, that's why the brain paralyses the body in REM sleep, obviously. Still, why would it even have to fire different neurons in the brain to be qualified as a lucid dream? The brain contains billions of cells, and very little is known, scientifically, on the subject of dreaming.