OBE & Lucid Dreaming Multimedia Resources Thread

This is a great video.  I had to laugh at the middle class accents of the old BBC documentaries.  Once upon a time, I wondered if lucid dreamers only dreamt that they knew they were dreaming but to see one communicating with the outside world so clearly demonstrates that they really are conscious during their dreams.

It’s so weird that isn’t it. I read Celia Green’s book about Lucid Dreaming. I only read a few pages before going to sleep. She mentioned in the opening that even reading the book, might result in a Lucid Dream. I was amazed because she was right, I had a lucid dream that night. I had them on and off occasionally over a few months after reading the book. I don’t really know much about it. but I seemed to step into a scene, and could look around if I didn’t focus too much (I think). Aware I was in the dream, amazingly real and three dimensional. But I never could stop myself focusing on something, which popped me out of it. I built up the time to what seemed like 30 seconds... but could never stop myself focusing on something... never had them for while now.

 She mentioned in the opening that even reading the book, might result in a Lucid Dream. I was amazed because she was right, I had a lucid dream that night.

I have found that the main prerequisite for having lucid dreams is being interested in having lucid dreams.  It seems to be a prerequisite for many other strange events in life too, having an interest in such events.

It’s so weird that isn’t it. I read Celia Green’s book about Lucid Dreaming. I only read a few pages before going to sleep. She mentioned in the opening that even reading the book, might result in a Lucid Dream. I was amazed because she was right, I had a lucid dream that night. I had them on and off occasionally over a few months after reading the book. I don’t really know much about it. but I seemed to step into a scene, and could look around if I didn’t focus too much (I think). Aware I was in the dream, amazingly real and three dimensional. But I never could stop myself focusing on something, which popped me out of it. I built up the time to what seemed like 30 seconds... but could never stop myself focusing on something... never had them for while now.

As I mentioned, I had several lucid dreams after seeing this documentary. I have them occasionally now, but not very frequently.

As I mentioned, I had several lucid dreams after seeing this documentary. I have them occasionally now, but not very frequently.

Yes, just seen that now. It's weird though isn't it... Celia was very clear that this could happen (was very likely to happen), just reading a bit of the book could trigger a lucid dream... here are three of us, saying this is exactly what happened to us.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything similarly innocuous as reading a few pages of a book, or watching a TV program, that could cause my dream-type-stuff perspective and self-awareness to alter?

I never finished her book... so not sure what her conclusions were... she was into things like apparitions (great book), and false awakenings etc., suggesting all experience was metachoric IIRC. She - as far as I remember - was trying to get away from the idea that an apparition (information/hallucination) was appearing within an objective scene (like a room), instead suggesting the whole scene, including both the room and apparition, was a hallucination, and that perception couldn't actually be separated into real/not real.

As I mentioned, I had several lucid dreams after seeing this documentary. I have them occasionally now, but not very frequently.

I didn't have a lucid dream last night, but there was a point where the "narrative" of a dream jumped forward and I asked myself what was going on. Rather than concluding that I was dreaming, I persuaded myself that the narrative hadn't really jumped forward. But when I have had lucid dreams, they have generally started with something nonsensical happening, and causing the penny to drop. It seems that really is more likely to happen if you've been thinking about lucid dreams in the daytime.

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, here's a talk by Alex De Foe from the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research's 2018 Mini-Conference, entitled "Exploration of High-Realism Veridical Perception in OBEs". It's mainly based on a survey of Facebook users, but also includes an overview of other work:

I didn't have a lucid dream last night, but there was a point where the "narrative" of a dream jumped forward and I asked myself what was going on. Rather than concluding that I was dreaming, I persuaded myself that the narrative hadn't really jumped forward. But when I have had lucid dreams, they have generally started with something nonsensical happening, and causing the penny to drop. It seems that really is more likely to happen if you've been thinking about lucid dreams in the daytime.

Its has been a  yearor so, but the last series of lucid dreams i had . Involved me reading a text. Usually on what appeared to be parchment.
Then after about a paragraph, seeing the words turn to sandscript or begin to melt on the page.
Then becoming aware that one part of my consciousness was creating theater for another part of my mind

Its has been a  yearor so, but the last series of lucid dreams i had . Involved me reading a text. Usually on what appeared to be parchment.
Then after about a paragraph, seeing the words turn to sandscript or begin to melt on the page.
Then becoming aware that one part of my consciousness was creating theater for another part of my mind

"sandscript"  - do you mean literally written in the sand, or was it perhaps Sanskrit you had in mind?

Sanskrit (संस्कृतम्)
Sanskrit is the classical language of Indian and the liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is also one of the 22 official languages of India. The name Sanskrit means "refined", "consecrated" and "sanctified". It has always been regarded as the 'high' language and used mainly for religious and scientific discourse.

Often as I'm falling asleep I see a jumble of words in handwriting using the Cyrillic script, which I can't read but it was the way my father used to write in his native language. It seems I'm not intended to actually read the text, the meaning if any, is in what it represents. Though I often see incredibly sharp and colourful images of physical artefacts such as decorated or man-made objects at that time, (before sleep) which seem more intense than things I see when I'm normally awake.

Its has been a  yearor so, but the last series of lucid dreams i had . Involved me reading a text. Usually on what appeared to be parchment.
Then after about a paragraph, seeing the words turn to sandscript or begin to melt on the page.
Then becoming aware that one part of my consciousness was creating theater for another part of my mind

I remember once, I started to wake up after a non-lucid dream having discovered the meaning of life in a newspaper.  I had started to forget it and tried desperately to read it again but the words dissolved into colourful chaos before I woke up completely with no memory of what the meaning of life was.  It felt so disappointing!

I've also had the experience in a lucid dream of trying to read words and numbers, only for them to turn out to be a meaningless set of disjointed blobs when examined closely.