*deep breath in* FLDs! Oh noes!

It’s not a question about them. It’s more a discussion concerning them. I think there’s a lot of confusion concerning them, and I have some personal thoughts on mine. I’ll start in that order, since I feel the second is going to be longer. :peek: I considered putting this in QFL or General Lucidness because of the first part, but I figured it would fit better here since my main point is my personal experience with them and what I do in my dreams.

First off. I believe there is a lot of confusion concerning FLDs. It seems that it’s very common for those who are newer to LDs to classify dreams that they are confused about as FLDs, when in reality they really were lucid. I have seen one or two that actually were FLDs, but often they’re lucid and simply woke up quickly. That said, I always want to emphasize one point.

FLDs are dreams in which you act as if you are lucid, but you are not actually lucid. You may do things that you would normally do lucidly, like flying, but you don’t actually realize that you’re dreaming. If you realize that you are dreaming, it’s an LD. If you don’t but do lucid-like things, it’s an FLD. If you don’t do either, it’s an ND.

Really, it makes me wonder sometimes how well that is explained.

[23:22:29] <@ZRVera> ? FLD
[23:22:29] <&Lucidus> FLD == False Lucid Dream - you are NOT realizing that you’re dreaming but still you act likea lucid dreamer and do everything you want to do - you have the behaviour of a lucid dreamer, not the consciousness.

I think it is explained well, but maybe there is something I’m not seeing. So, enough of that rant. I really don’t see what else I can say about it without repeating myself.

WARNING: If you are new to LDing, do not continue reading! My first point is simple enough, but my second point is intended for discussion with experienced members only. I know that if you’re new, you probably have a lot of questions, and the rest of my 1400 word post will only confuse you more! Thus, I would only like those who already are more experienced and knowledgeable to read the rest of this post and comment on it. I may post a simplified version some time in the future, but if I do, it will be for a different topic like awareness. Thus, if you are new here and are reading this, thank you if you don’t keep reading. I don’t want to be guilty of confusing you more. :tongue:

Now, on to my second point: my personal experience with them. This is the main reason for my post, since I want to hear discussion and thoughts on how I want to approach mine. It’s not really asking for help; I just want to hear opinions.

FLDs have been a common occurrence for me as long as I can remember. I have powers in NDs as well as LDs. Flying is the most common, and usually the only one. Usually. I do have others randomly. In fact, one of my dreams that I learned a new flying technique from probably my best flying episode ever was an ND. I do say ND because that’s how I’ve always seen them. Normal. They weren’t abnormal for me, so even though I knew they were technically FLDs, since I have them rather often, I classified them as NDs.

Then, the other day, I thought about it. Why even split FLDs and NDs? Really the only time I would call them FLDs was when someone mentioned them. Last week, I had a dream that made me reconsider my thinking of my FLDs. Basically, what I remember of the dream consisted of this.

I was getting chased by Agent Smith from the Matrix. I was running, but knew he’d take over someone soon and I wouldn’t be able to get away. Soon enough, he had caught me, and was ready to shoot me. Of course, I begged him not to kill me and not to shoot me. Still, he had me caught and was pointing the gun at my head. At this point, I’m thinking various things. Those things ran along the lines of “I wonder how much it’s going to hurt; But it’s not supposed to hurt so much” (I’m not sure how majorly I was considering that I might actually die, but I’m pretty sure death was pretty far back in the possibilities) “After he shoots me in the head, what else will he do to me and how much will all of that hurt?” I don’t recall whether he shot me or not, but I know that if he did, I survived and the dream continued with the struggle.

After I woke up, I wanted to kick myself for not becoming lucid from that. (I became lucid once from a battle with Darth Vader.) But as I was thinking about, I realized that my thinking in that dream would be exactly like my lucid thinking. I’ve done thinking just like that in other NDs and LDs. I’m sure that IRL, I’m not going to be thinking about how much getting shot in the head is going to hurt when I’m in the actual situation rather than the fact that I’m about to die (though I often wonder if I’d have time to register the pain).

Realizing that I was thinking lucidly without actually being lucid made me rethink my opinion of FLDs. What are they really? Am I really looking at them the right way? As I was thinking, I came up with an idea that I recall AniCator saying something very similar to. My subconscious is lucid and acts according to the dream state. I, however, am not aware of this fact. I am already lucid, but I never stop and think “Yes, I’m lucid, now let’s not go through the motions!”

I guess I shall try to explain this more. We are all used to the laws of the universe and its physics, whether consciously or not. We do things as we know they should be done and can be done. We don’t stop and question why we’re eating. We know we do it because in order to survive in this universe and the “real world”, we must take in nutrients. We don’t stop to consider that “I’m eating this food so I can continue to live because that is how nature works here and that desire is innate in me.”

Similarly, my mind is used to the dreamworld and what I can do in it. It may not do everything I’m capable of, but I don’t do that either in real life. Sometimes things take practice in both worlds. I digress. Since my mind is used to the dreamworld, I do things that I could not do in waking life without really thinking about it. Since my mind knows I can fly in dreams, I do that without questioning. My mind knows that since it’s a dream, I can fly. I don’t usually think “I’m flying because this is a dream. It’s possible right now because I can do anything I want to in dreams.” I just fly in my dreams because it’s so natural to me.

So really, it boils down to awareness. What if I really am lucid in those FLDs but just don’t think about the fact that I AM lucid and dreaming? I do things IRL and don’t stop to think about the fact that I’m awake and living and that that’s the reason why I’m doing such things. If so, I’m lucid quite often! I just don’t stop to think about it and put it to better use. Same thing with everyday life. I can go through my day and not stop to think about the possibilities of the day and what MORE I can do with it.

Yikes. I’m lazy. I don’t like having to work to be more aware. Yet being more aware in real life will help my LDs. I’ve noticed that my dreams reflect my awake life. When I go through life hazy and not noticing the outside world, my dreams are hazy and mindless as well. I know what I’m getting at about the awareness is just like lucid living… but it seems so hard to accomplish on a regular basis.

But my point is, if I look at my FLDs in this new way, it changes a lot. I don’t need to get lucid; I already am quite a bit, and have been for years now. It’s just a matter of maximizing it to its potential and making sure I’m actually aware of myself and my situation. I’ve already been lucid. I just haven’t been aware of that fact. Of course, to achieve that, I need to maximize my WL potential and awareness as well, otherwise that will never happen in dreams.

:whew: I think that’s most of what I meant to say. If not, I’m sure if someone replies to this that I’ll be reminded of something else I wanted to say (or maybe think of something else entirely).

I agree with you! You can actually compare that situation with every day routine, you do normal everyday things for so long that they don’t take your 100% awareness, like flying in dreams, if you know you can fly that’s it and as lucid feature once it can trigger full lucidity but sometimes don’t…

So basically, you’re saying we should all think like scientists. I’m not sure if that’s how you look at it, so let me provide an example. Normal people all know “Fire is HOT!”, and they should avoid it. A scientist would ask, “Why is fire hot”? In the same way, a normal dreamer will figure out they can fly, or have false memories implanted in them about their invulnerability to bullets. A lucid dreamer would suddenly ask “Why am I impervious to bullets” and become lucid from drawing the conclusion that could only happen in a dream. Of course, even with these parallels, the logical part of our brain that allows us to ask “why” is normally turned off during dreams; this is why we regularly do the impossible without thinking about it and why lucid dreams are so rare (for me, at least).

This is part of the reason RCs were developed, so that we perform them out of force of habit to check if we are dreaming. What I understand is that instead of doing RCs, we could instead form the habit of stopping what we’re doing every so often and asking ourselves why we’re doing it, and how it’s possible. If you’re writing on paper, ask yourself how the ink or graphite gets onto the paper, and why that’s possible. Forming cognitive habits (in my experience, at least) carries over to dreams. Of course, this carries the same problem as RCs, in that we get lazy and don’t perform them, or we just completely forget about them. It’s really a good idea to hold these in the forefront of our mind.

Going somewhat off topic, I think the distinction between FLDs and NDs is non-existent. What defines a dream is the impossible happening. The only defining feature of an LD is awareness, not actions.

So I guess I just spent two and a half paragraphs saying I agree.