Dream Characters: Let's explore them further.....

Dream Characters, DC's,... call it what you will, but they come in many forms and I've decided to delve into this aspect of lucid dreams and study them. Anybody who lucid dreams has met one in one form or another, but I am starting to realize that, although there are an infinite number of possible dream characters, they can be catagorized into major and minor groups and studied much like examining any other life form we encounter on this planet... (or even universe). Who are they? What are they? Why do they behave the way they do?

And I'm not talking about the mindless, zombie-type, people that seem to have no consciousness. I believe they are not dream characters, but just people that populate the dream, especially if you are in a city in a lucid dream and see a crowd. There may be many people, but they are not sentient. And, on the other hand, some inanimate objects can speak and seem sentient and you can feel that there is an 'entity' there. So what I mean by a dream character has nothing to do with what it looks like, but whether it seemed sentient and you can speak with it or it speaks with you. And even if it doesn't speak at times, you just FEEL that it was a presence.

I thought about it and categorized the dream characters into groups base upon how aware they are in the dream and how much personality they have.

1. **The Zombie. **It doesn't communicate and walks aimlessly without purpose (not a DC as I would define, but the most basic type of 'human' we may encounter. BUT not really a dream character I would say even though it appeared human. It is no different than an object in the background really when you think about it.

2. (No name for it) The most common type of DC that I can talk to, but will never know that it is a dream even if you prove it. I can make an object move with my mind and show them, but they will always say something like, "Well, anybody can do that!" Most friends and family members I meet in a lucid dreams fit in this category. You'd think they would have the same personality that they have and we know all so well when awake, but in my experience they don't have much personality and speak only when spoken to.

3. The subconscious incarnate. It knows a lot, and knows it is a dream, but these people, and sometimes just objects that speak, don't have much personality at all and say things matter of fact without emotion. When I speak with them I tend to use questions that have a yes or no answer because otherwise they may start to speak with random words without sentence structure and it gets confusing. I almost feel what they are trying to say, but when I recall it after the dream I have no idea what they meant by those random words.

4. **(no name for it) **The person that has a strong personality and speaks to you without needing to be spoken to, yet when you ask them where they are or try to tell them it is a dream, they too dismiss the idea and will never be conviced. But they have a personality all their own and more developed than #2 or #3.

5. (no name for it) Finally, the people you meet that have both a personality all their own and also know that it is a lucid dream. In fact, it can feel at times like you are meeting somebody on another plane of existence. Complete opposite of the #1 Zombie, these DC's seem to actually know more than yourself and there is no need to convince them it is a dream.

6. **The silent one. **They seem wise and you can feel that they are a alive or an entity of some sort, but it will never speak to you and never answers your questions. I only had this happen once and it may be linked to one of the other types I describe.

So these main types I categorized are based on how aware they are it is a dream and how much personality they have beyond your own in the dream. I believe they are aspects of our own psyche, but that is just a broad idea and want to examine them closer, in more detail. Like studying animals or other lifeforms we encounter in waking life. I want to try to be purely scientific, focusing mainly on the facts, but we have to inject some theories in from time to time too.

So, please share your experiences with dream characters or entities you meet in your lucid dreams and see if we can place them in any of these categories, or prove me wrong (I didn't put too much thought into this, so am open to ideas), or create a new category or whatever. I am curious so I question..... I like to study lucid dreaming, but in a dream, science is thrown out the window so it is hard to study scientifically and it can never be replicated and proven. But it is worthy of discussion.

I think that sometimes these characters can exist not only in lucid dreams, but in normal dreams too. My little brother was in my dream last night (a normal dream, that turned into my frst lucid dream) and he told me that I was dreaming! So I think that would put him as a level 5 DC.

You might have missed one, There's also the DC that you can make, and doesn't do or know anything more than what you want him to do.

Well, once I get the hang of this lucid dreaming stuff I'm going to perform an unusual DC experiment. You can read about it in my thread "Slender Man Challenge" but if you don't know who Slender is, do yourself a favor and don't get curious. :D

I thought of 2 more dream character or entities that I have experienced.

• Animals They behave like an animal, but don't speak. I mostly experience dogs and cats since I have had them as pets before and feel a sort of friendship with them. They are just like the real deal in waking life and although they don't speak, have more essence to them than the first, Zombie-like DC I describe. Even though those first DC's I describe may be human these animals have more personality.

• Sleep Paralysis Monster I use to get this frequently, but not so much anymore, but you can feel the presence in the room even before you see it. They seem to be an entity of some sort and therefore a Dream Character, but usually take on a shadowy form since we don't recognize them as anything we know in waking life. But it certainly feels like there is an entity or living thing beyond ourselves with us at the time.

KungFuPanther wrote: I think that sometimes these characters can exist not only in lucid dreams, but in normal dreams too.

You are absolutely right. I meet people in non-lucid, regular dreams as well, and they are significant to the dream. Mostly friends and family, but sometimes they are strangers, and I take note of what gender, age, and race they are compare to my own. That is significant in dreams. Don't know why and there are some theories, but worthy of taking note of because it was no accident. You subconsciously thought them up for a reason.

But when in a non-lucid dream, I can't question them with a lucid mind which is what I want to experiment with. Like a scientist as best I can.

Whatever they are, it seems that our minds are quite experienced in creating grand illusions of sentience in dream figures. This is attributed to our lifelong exposure to the various types of human behaviour we see in other people. These dream characters can also reflect the entelechy of the theory of mind that we have been developing from the very start of our conscious lives. I believe they are semblances of the various types of sentient beings that we can conceive in imagination and they may be used as mediators in communication between the waking self and the subconscious mind.

Glad you started this thread. I'm going repost something on the subject that I never got a response on.

I'm interested in the roles that DCs play and in particular about conversations/interactions with them, if and how that changes when lucid. Wondering if we put the DCs there for a specific purpose and that's it. Like if they were actors/actresses in some play: they have a role, maybe some lines, maybe not. Then we come into lucidity and suddenly the play can be changed. We interact with them in ways that maybe weren't part of the original script. How good are they at ad-libbing? Maybe as good as we are at helping them with their new lines?

Sometimes my DCs are looking at me as if to say "Hey, I don't have any lines in this dream." Other times they say things, but if I change the subject, they seem lost: Something like "sorry, but that's not part of my data set". Often my dreams seem to be minimalistic in that they only have the bare essentials that are required, and of course in LD we are looking for adventure/excitement.

Summerlander wrote: Whatever they are, it seems that our minds are quite experienced in creating grand illusions of sentience in dream figures. This is attributed to our lifelong exposure to the various types of human behaviour we see in other people. These dream characters can also reflect the entelechy of the theory of mind that we have been developing from the very start of our conscious lives. I believe they are semblances of the various types of sentient beings that we can conceive in imagination and they may be used as mediators in communication between the waking self and the subconscious mind.

I agree. The 'personalities' can seem so real and flawless and yet we are lucid and know what is going on, when we question where they are or who they are, they go duh?!? (sometimes) But we created that sentient personality so real in the first place and if there is a 'consciousness' behind it, that too is created by our own incredible creative minds. The mind is capable of seemingly miraculous things! I am well aware. But I question why?!, I am always aware that they are not real (even if they don't believe it) and after I wake up I question WHY? Why that form? Why did they have a limited awareness of the lucid dream or a vast awareness of the lucid dream? WHY?

I agree with you, but I am starting to ask WHY? Why is hard to answer. At least I learned the word 'Entelechy' <-- had to use the old interweb.

lucidinthe sky wrote: I'm interested in the roles that DCs play and in particular about conversations/interactions with them, if and how that changes when lucid.

I am also interested, but when non-lucid I don't have the thought to even question the people in dreams. I do remember conversations with DCs in non-lucid dreams, but I am not in the frame of mind to take a scientific approach and question them or grill then if you will. Find out what makes them tick and report back what your findings are.

lucidinthe sky wrote: Sometimes my DCs are looking at me as if to say "Hey, I don't have any lines in this dream." Other times they say things, but if I change the subject, they seem lost: Something like "sorry, but that's not part of my data set". Often my dreams seem to be minimalistic in that they only have the bare essentials that are required, and of course in LD we are looking for adventure/excitement.

This sounds like the type of DC that has no personality and only speaks if spoken to. This is very common for me and they are only stumped if you give them an open ended question and allow them to speak freely. Or they may simply say, 'I don't know!" They do 'lose their lines' as you put it.

HAGART wrote:

I am also interested, but when non-lucid I don't have the thought to even question the people in dreams. I do remember conversations with DCs in non-lucid dreams, but I am not in the frame of mind to take a scientific approach and question them or grill then if you will. Find out what makes them tick and report back what your findings are.

I actually did question a DC recently in a non-lucid dream and really got an interesting answer, something totally unexpected (or it seemed anyway). I have to believe most of DCs in dreams are there for a purpose, although some are just "extras" for window dressing. The classical interpretation is that they are all parts of ourselves so we are in a sense "talking to ourselves". When we meet them in a dream there is a reason for the meeting and a conversation will have a specific purpose. However when we are lucid, we start making choices that might not be part of "the plan". At that point we are improvising and the real challenge is to have the abilities needed to continue the entire thing and also provide the dialogs, etc. I am quite good at creating scenery, structures, machines, etc. all complete with real sensory inputs. But when it comes to creating real DCs capable of responding to unprepared-for questions, that's another story. One thing I am learning though is not to ask stupid things like "hey you, have you are ever been in someone's dream? Isn't that really crazy? What do you think of lucid dreaming?" etc. My DCs generally act like I'm stupid when they hear these types of things, or they just deny everything or make excuses why they don't know it's a dream. I tried to show one DC my hands and how the fingers were wrong. I was so excited about showing him, but then he just said "well, you know my eyes aren't that good, bla bla bla.

HAGART wrote: This sounds like the type of DC that has no personality and only speaks if spoken to. This is very common for me and they are only stumped if you give them an open ended question and allow them to speak freely. Or they may simply say, 'I don't know!" They do 'lose their lines' as you put it.

Yes, most of my DCs are like this, but as you say, it's better to not give them open-ended questions. I think I'm going to start telling them what I want instead of asking questions. Like "Hey you, bring my motorcycle over here", or "Buddy, grab me a burger, with cheese and hold the pickles." Let's see what they do with that!

They are beings from other realities. As Tom Campbell would say, if they are helpful, then does it matter if they are in your mind or outside your mind? I agree.

I am also interested in conversations that we have with Dream Characters and wonder if anybody has some interesting questions to ask them. Perhaps questions that have no right or wrong answer, but will provide insight into their psyche as if we were a psychiatrist probing their minds. (or probing our own I guess).

Here's an interesting conversation I had once. The person was an elderly Chinese woman, and I felt she was the subconscious-incarnate-type character:

(When I first saw her I thought to myself, should I talk to her?) Then I said: Hi! She said: You should say, hello! (implying, why was I so shy to talk to her and even have to consider it?)

I said: Did you just answer my first internal question I was asking my self only now? She said: No.

I said: Do you think independently from me? She said: Yes.

I said: Do you know who I am? She said: Yes.

I said: Do I know who you are? (thinking she was my subconscious) She said. Yes.

That's all I have written down and forget what we talked about after that.

If anybody else has interesting dialogue with a dream character, this is a great place to share it. I am interested and I bet a lot of you reading this are too. If you are not interested THAN WHY ARE YOU HERE STILL READING THIS MESSAGE?!

It's interesting because just the past 2 nights I've had a lot more dialog with DCs than usual. Maybe it's this thread that got it going. :) A lot of what I'm getting back is really off-the-wall stuff.

Last night I had 2 time travelling LDs, one past and one future. Going to post about those in the Share Your Lucid Dream section. I actually did quite a bit talking and asking questions last night and even got up to write some it down. In all cases it's been difficult to get much information out of any of them. Here's a sample: A man brings in an airplane that he has built and is ready to fly. It arrives on a trailer being towed in a vehicle behind us which we can see from the car we are in. I'm driving the car and this guy is sitting next to me. So I ask him "I'm building a helicopter. When it's done would you fly it?" He looks at me and says "No way!". I ask "I built an airplane how about that?" He says "What's it's name?" I answer "Uh, actually it doesn't have a name." He says, something like "NO name! That's a problem". Then he says "O.K. if that airplane were the captain of your life, what would you name it?" "Well, of course I would name it Captain." O.K. there you go, it's Captain." So that was the end of that conversation. Not much wisdom there, but at least I got something out of this DC.

HAGART wrote: I am also interested in conversations that we have with Dream Characters and wonder if anybody has some interesting questions to ask them. Perhaps questions that have no right or wrong answer, but will provide insight into their psyche as if we were a psychiatrist probing their minds. (or probing our own I guess).

Here's an interesting conversation I had once. The person was an elderly Chinese woman, and I felt she was the subconscious-incarnate-type character:

(When I first saw her I thought to myself, should I talk to her?) Then I said: Hi! She said: You should say, hello! (implying, why was I so shy to talk to her and even have to consider it?)

I said: Did you just answer my first internal question I was asking my self only now? She said: No.

I said: Do you think independently from me? She said: Yes.

I said: Do you know who I am? She said: Yes.

I said: Do I know who you are? (thinking she was my subconscious) She said. Yes.

That's all I have written down and forget what we talked about after that.

If anybody else has interesting dialogue with a dream character, this is a great place to share it. I am interested and I bet a lot of you reading this are too. If you are not interested THAN WHY ARE YOU HERE STILL READING THIS MESSAGE?!

Fascinating. Everything she told you was true. "You should say, hello" could have been the expression of an internal option for a greeting that pre-consciously originated in your mind but was eventually ignored in favour of "hi". Now lets say that in the dream world, there is a lot of potential for more thoughts to be voiced and heard by the conscious self. If you favour the utterance of a particular word, there is still potential for the more unconscious alternatives to manifest rather than being repressed. In this fashion, as my thesis goes, if you won't say it a dream figure in your lucid dream might.

So, instead of the woman, as a conscious entity, implying that you were shy and should say "hello" to her, the lucid dream could have been merely expressing an alternative that was ultimately substituted. The outcome was "hi" instead of "hello". Note that you even included a comma between "say" and "hello" rather than typing a continuous phrase. Was this more conscious or subconscious?

When you asked the woman if she had answered an internal question the answer was no. And she didn't. At this point, in the light of consciousness, the mental mechanics had already established a presentable outcome - one that you could accept and tolerate. Your toleration in lucid dreams is very high anyway because you are lucid and know the deal. Even if the outcome doesn't make sense, it doesn't matter, it doesn't have to make sense and you can handle this.

When you asked if she thought independently of you and she answered "yes", she was indeed telling the truth but there is an ambiguity here. As a mental manifestation, she originated from the same unconscious source as you but the difference being that she is closer to the unconscious. As a thought form, she is independent of you because you did not consciously will her into dream existence. The unconscious determines her being just as it determines your being too. Another feasible possibility is that you pre-consciously imagined her uttering a shocking "yes" to that question. In a similar fashion, what we fear can have a high potential too.

She could have depended on you, from your perspective, had you decided to consciously control her. But even if you had taken charge in manipulating her, don't be fooled. You still wouldn't be the author of the will to control. The great unconscious, with its mysterious mental clockwork, would be determining your wishes and giving you the illusion of power. You merely sit at the surface. Meanwhile, the mental quicksands beneath you determine your movements as well as the other elements in dreamland.

In saying this, do try to control your lucid dreams if you wish to do so. By all means go ahead even if ultimately we are just conscious puppets.

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If the dream character that we may wilfully control is the sock, we are the cartoon character. The unconscious is the cartoonist.

This is a great thread and it is nearing its entelechy! :mrgreen:

Summerlander, I like your reply and will read it again and really think about it.

But I think I can sum it up in a simple way: WE ARE TALKING TO OURSELVES. That is what I think about lucidinthe sky's example too.

Although it doesn't feel like it, and I swear I didn't put words in her mouth, perhaps I did, at a subconscious level. I have a feeling if I met the same type of dream character and asked the exact same questions in the same order I may get a different result.

Unlike true science, exploring and examining a lucid dream is altered by the observer. Which makes me more interested and we should consider this and think about it further!

It's fascinating and (I looked it up again..) is becoming ENTELECHY! (Dream Characters are the main aspect of any lucid dream and are the "main vital principal that guides the development and functioning of an organism or other system or organization." OR in a philosophical way, they are the 'soul' of the dream.

More reason to get to know them.

HAGART wrote: But I think I can sum it up in a simple way:WE ARE TALKING TO OURSELVES.

That's true, but we are talking to parts of ourselves that may be hidden, repressed or somehow inhibited in our waking lives so these "other" people in our dreams may tell us important things that we might not otherwise be able to find out. I am often surprised by the some of things DCs say and they often don't make sense until I dig deeper. I don't necessarily hear what I want or expect, but usually what I need. When I asked one of my toe people if they have their own personalities separate from me, the answer was a question: "how long is an era?" That has nothing to do with the question, but has a lot to do with where my life is going.

Some of what they say remains a mystery to me and a challenge to understand. I had lots of conversations with DCs in my last LD which was about time travel. None of them could understand the concept of time, they could understand a date or a year, but not how much time had passed between the years. It's left me thinking, and I guess that's the great part about DCs. If they make you think about things, maybe you will discover something new.

I rarely meet dream characters in my dreams. When I become lucid and demand clarity any "people" disappear, leaving me wandering around a silent environment. On the rare occasions I do encounter dreams characters to speak to I wil usually exchange pleasantries to he polite and then ask something like "do you have any information for me?" Or "tell me something I need to know." But, before they can answer the dream always ends. It's very frustrating. Recently I flew through space from one planet to another at the speed of light, landing in a body of water where I encountered a group of "worm men". It was awesome but then the same thing happened as soon as I asked for information. I must be doing something wrong. My girlfriend interacts with her dream characters, spirit guides and even other lucid dreamers regularly in her dreams and has learned some fascinating stuff.

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HAGART wrote: I have a feeling if I met the same type of dream character and asked the exact same questions in the same order I may get a different result.

I wanted to try this and so finally I had a lucid dream and did. Here is the story, (and as always poses more questions than answers.....)

First off, I promised KungfuPanther I would try to use telepathy to guess his number from another topic. Something I put to rest a long time ago, but since he asked recently and I like to have a dream-task anyway, and dream characters can say the darndest things anyway, I just wanted to get that done as well as my experiment and kill two birds with one stone. Here's what happened:

*(I was on a beach, apparently watching a movie (movie dreams are common to me), and I was thinking about how when I was younger I was interested in the sand castle (this thing was huge and ornate like a sand sculpture), but now that I am older I like other aspects of this 'movie'. And I saw a girl in a green bikini. :oops: I just said, "hey you, why don't you come over here?" (Which is completely out of character for me and when she did, I had my Eurika moment and realized I was lucid dreaming. But I had a task to complete and I managed to use my other head for thinking....) :lol: *

I asked: Do you know KungfuPanther's number? **There was no answer. **In fact, as I was trying to remember KungfuPanther's name, I looked away and when I looked back, she was gone.

I was sitting on the beach and I looked along the length of it, and it was crowded. Lot's of people, but the kind I would describe as zombie-like with no character. I called out, "Does anybody speak?" No answer.

*Then I saw a woman walking in my direction amongst the crowd and I just felt immediately like she would be a talker. She was in her 50's, short and stalky, and seemed like a cross between Eastern-European, and Asian. She was carrying things like bags with straps (purse sized, but not a purse), and they were oddly shaped like nothing I have ever seen, (and yet just knew they were bags of some kind). *

She was about to walk past me and ignore me, so I asked, "Do you speak?" She said: yes. (with an accent I cannot place, but not my own.)

Then out of nowhere to my surprise, before I could ask another question, she spoke again! She said: Isn't the food here grrrrripe! (not a rolling 'r', just almost like she changed the word she was going to say mid-word)

I thought, alright, I need to remember that because I knew at the time I would be writing about it now.

Then I asked her: What is KungfuPanther's number? She said: I don't know.

I asked: Does anybody here know? She said: No.

I asked: Do you think independently from me? She said: Yes.

*Then I thought, what was the next question going to be?..... I just couldn't remember! I didn't want to stall for too long, because I thought I would lose focus. Then I heard people talking in real life and it woke me up. *

It was a very light-sleep-lucid-dream just in the morning when I happened to fall asleep again. It wasn't expected anyway and besides, it is easier to remember a conversation verbatim if you wake up right after. And after I woke up the questions I wanted to ask came to me with no effort. It was hard in the dream no more than 10 seconds prior, but with a waking mind it was easy.

I have my own theories about what happened and possibly why, but I'd rather wait and see what others think first.

Summerlander wrote: If the dream character that we may wilfully control is the sock, we are the cartoon character. The unconscious is the cartoonist.

That's a great analogy. We are in the middle with limited control. But metaphorically speaking, is there a way to get to know the cartoonist? Not control it, but understand it and how it works, and I think dream characters are the gateway to that knowledge. They know us and our subconscious, I mean, why wouldn't they? They are both 'us' (self aware conscious selves) AND the subconscious (lizard brain if you will) and they are the bridge.....

I think I am on to something... Still don't know what I am looking for, but I just want to question dream characters and understand them for now. What makes them tick? I want to get into their heads.

We probably may never fully know the unconscious as it is bigger than us but we can be inspired by its many manifestations in the dream world and use its insight to make a better person of ourselves. Although we are unable to look at the cartoonist square in the face, there is much we can learn about his psychology by observing what he has drawn around us as well as paying attention to our own feelings and behaviour.

Come to think of it, you are right! It is a great analogy! :D

By the way, you seem to be on a similar quest as Robert Waggoner. He shares a similar fascination. Have you read his book "Lucid Dreaming: Gateway To The Inner Self"? It is a great read! 8-)

This post has been a great read...I posted the other day about how I keep letting DC's hijack my LD's.

I seem to have 2 types of DC's.

1. The "I Shun You" DC's - these are the ones that I talk to but who try to pretend I'm not there and won't answer me and won't look at me, but I know they hear me. Sometimes they glance at me and then look away real quick as if they feel very awkward, like they know something that they don't want to tell me. Or they just keep turning their head and won't look at me and walk away.

2. The Interactive DC - this type will look at me and talk and maybe even answer my questions but it's either totally nonsensical or they are talking about something that makes sense but is completely different than what I asked them. And I often can't remember anything they said post dream. That's very frustrating.

Lately, these interactive DC's have been distracting me so much that I lose lucidity and it turns into a normal dream. I hate it when this happens because my memory of the lucid part is all fuzzy and dreamlike rather than lifelike, like it usually is if I wake after the lucid dream and remember details of it right after to implant it into my memory (this method works fine for me, btw...as opposed to having to write it all down right after the dream...anyone else this way?).

I know exactly what you mean beadietux. I've come across all the types you mentioned. Some will even tell you that you don't need to perform techniques to maintain the lucid state because somehow they are taking care of that for you and the lucid dream will not collapse. Don't listen to this advice. You'll end up losing your mental faculties and waking up somewhat disappointed.

There is a way to manage contact with dream characters and achieve the best results. This can be another area of practice that will help you to tackle two common problems when you converse with them: silence or waking up. The other common problem is where you manage to communicate with one of them but what they tell you is nonsensical.

What must always be remembered when communicating with dream characters is simultaneously performing techniques to keep the lucid dream going. Have a background sensation like rubbing hands while you speak to them. Another one is to manifest vibrations by straining your dream self and keep them going throughout conversations. These background sensations will also help to prevent oneself from becoming too absorbed in what is being discussed to the point where the fact that one is dreaming is forgotten.

If you approach someone in a lucid dream who is unresponsive, do not force communication. Usually, when they are silent, they are reflecting our stresses or pessimistic expectations. Keep calm, treat them gently and opt for a passive interest in communication. If they still won't talk to you, find someone else.

By the way, sometimes it is hard to remember lucid dreams. Other times we seem to be missing part of our mental faculties in them. But our waking states don't differ that much. Just today, in waking life, me and my wife were watching a program on TV. Then she put a comedy DVD on and we could hear the sound from both because we have surround sound. It wasn't until she pressed the AV button a couple of times that it settled solely on the DVD sound and picture. Anyway, while the sounds of both TV and DVD aired, I thought that my kids had turned their telly on really loud when it was past their bedtime. I was about to go upstairs to tell them off when it dawned on me that it would really have been out of character of them to do that.

I had made an assumption about reality that didn't really fit the norm. All this when I was awake! Then I had my moment of lucidity. Our reasoning can fail us even in the waking state. Sometimes we can be like Shawn at the beginning of "Shawn of the Dead". The bloke is walking around zombies completely unaware as he goes about his daily routine. Meanwhile, the zombies seem more aware than him. I love that ironic part in the film. :lol:

beadietux wrote: The bloke is walking around zombies completely unaware as he goes about his daily routine. Meanwhile, the zombies seem more aware than him. I love that ironic part in the film.

Great example...thanks Summerlander. And thanks for the suggestions on keeping myself from getting distracted by these crazy DC's. I think doing something wtih my hands will be the trick..that's my go-to RC.

Is there any way to prevent the whole Sleep Paralysis Monster situation? Or halt it when it starts to happen? It scares the ever loving crap outta me and it happens a lot more than I'd like it to... They always bust through my door and I'm frozen. Probably a good thing to cause if I could move I'd end up shooting holes in all my walls, haha.

Tell then to get lost if they bother you - they will as you create them and give them the power to last.

They are great to use to get lucid so dont try to stop them instead use them if you can. Observe the detail and dont let your emotions rise as that gives the illusion power

I agree with Peter.

If it gets too much in terms of discomfort, however, don't stick around. Try to break the paralysis by calmly focusing on moving a finger. This is a good way to do it. Also, remind yourself that the presence is not real. If you feel that you are not ready to enter the lucid dream world in absolute terror, just abort.

I once heard an intruder during the hypnagogic state. He sounded like a big man coming up the stairs and growling that he was going to kill me. In terms of perception it was absolutely real. I was lucid enough to realise the unlikelihood of the situation even though I was still terrified. I found it hard to shake the fear but eventually I shouted: "Fuck off!" and the whole thing vanished.

If you wish to tackle these profound fears as a challenge next time you lucid dream, then go for it. But bear in mind that the lymbic system of the brain has a lot to do with the horrors that manifest during sleep paralysis and half-sleep states. The amygdala becomes active in SP and it is linked to emotional states such as fear. Sometimes this causes the release of adrenaline and you may sweat, sense a temperature change and get heart palpitations. It can be unpleasant but it is natural.

By the way, beadietux, I'm glad to be of help. I only wish I had been helped like this when I started. I'm so glad to see well-informed people like Rebecca around.

I used to get a lot of paralysis when I was over tired or stressed. Try going to bed earlier and avoid any electronic stimulation for an hour before bed.

I had a paralysis recently and went OBE but instead of floating out I kind of fell out onto the floor, I could feel the carpet and everything, it was weird.

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The same happened to me once. I separated from the body and fell to the floor but my legs were still stuck inside the body I had left behind. Eventually, I broke free with force only to be chased by a giant spider in a darkened abode replica afterwards. :shock:

Wow, that sounds nasty. While I was in the floor, although I was in my astral state I still felt some of the effects of paralysis which might explain why I wasn't floating. But, when I looked at my bed the covers were drawn back and it was empty apart from some kind of residue which, at first, looked like blood where I would have been laying.

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I didn't respond in a while and it is not because I didn't read all the posts or am uninterested. I think this topic has a life of it's own and can go in any direction. (I think I may make a suggestion to Rebecca to make a topic-category about dream characters alone.)

Anyway, back to ME! 8-)

I had some more experiences with dream characters I would like to share and I will keep it brief. In one dream, I called out for someone to show up and sure enough someone did... it wasn't human but a bird of some kind. A crow or raven, black and big, and it landed on my forearm as if it were my friend. We spoke for a bit, it started speaking in a random-english-type-tongue, it even cracked a joke with me, but then after I asked if it thought independently from me and it said yes, I decided to play a little game. I said, I will think of a number and you should guess it. (By this time the bird was gone and I was just speaking to a voice that emanated from my head. Still different than talking to yourself because it answers beyond your control). Anyway, I thought of the number 3 in my head and it said, out loud for me to hear, "3". I thought 5, It said, "5". I thought, 6, 7, 8, 9, and it kept up with me as fast as I thought it. Then I tried to throw it off and thought, 2. It said "2". Even though it cleary said it thought independently from me, I knew and prove that it didn't. I never did tell it that though, I just kept it to myself.

And just last night I had one of those OBE type lucid dreams and some people came in my house. They were friendly, but I didn't will them to be there and left my house in search of a better dream. Ifelt bad and even apoligized to them. I basically said, you guys can have fun in the house, but I am leaving. It's not you... it's me. They had so much personality I actually felt guilty leaving the house and not wanting them around. I truly felt like I was hurting their feelings. They are the most realistic dream characters.

I completely forgot about this topic when in the lucid dream, and wish I had spoken to them. There is always next time. It's those really realistic ones with a personality I want to get to know.

You should have spoken to them they might have been guides or even other dreamers.

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wen it come to DC's, one character even told me that " what are u looking at? this is not a dream." i was like :) then all the sudden like this :? . the thing is he is there to distract me, and the sad part is, it worked. the LD became an ordinary dream. :x

boardsenseless wrote: You should have spoken to them they might have been guides or even other dreamers.

yea, I know. I wish I did. During a deep OBE lucid dream like that, the DC's seem to know it is a lucid dream too and can even feel like they are somewhere else in this world, lucid dreaming on their own, and you somehow 'met up on the astral plane'. However, I don't believe in that and I want to get to know them for that very reason. I am a skeptic and believe they are all manifestations of my own mind or aspects of ourselves. But I am open minded and want to get to know them better and maybe they are something completely different for all I know!

R99 wrote: he thing is he is there to distract me, and the sad part is, it worked.

He wasn't placed there by a divine force, but perhaps in the back of your mind you had a slight disbelief yourself and that is how it was created. And of course any distraction can make you loose focus. What came first, your distracting thought or the dream character? The DC may have represented your other self focusing on a different perspective of the dream? The one in disbelief. (Which is very common for DCs that know. To disbelieve it is really a dream.)

it was extremely vivid dream, and i was in gud control . after he said that, its a lost dream. may be it was a challenge for me. and i failed. dont worry ill get him next time. also in one dream i cannot open a door it was heavy, then i thought. can i have someone to help me with this situation? suddenly the door was opened. and the wonder part is that when i walked out of that door there are 2 teenagers holding the door for me. :o yeah it was amazing.

I recently met a dream character who was very vivid, which is extremely rare for me.

I was standing in what could have been a shopping mall, train station or similar, with a large crowd around me, everyone was in a rush. I looked around to see if there was anyone worth talking to and I saw this guy making his way through the crowd. It was so obvious that I was supposed to wait for him, it's almost as though everyone else was out of focus. He walked up to nme and just said "follow me." He may have even grabbed my arm. He wasn't aggressive or anything just assertive but I strongly sensed I could trust him and so I followed. I tried to engage him in converstaion "who are you, where are we going?" that sort of thing but he wouldn't give anything up. Eventually we a reached a place (it starts getting a bit vague here) and he told me what I had to do or where I had to go from there, but I don't recall the specifics. I decided to ask him "are you a spirit guide?" But, he just smiled and said calmly, yet almost dismissively, "no."

After that point I was no longer lucid and the rest of the dream is too vague to recall.

I hardly ever find DCs to interract with and the fact that this guy seemed so vivid and physical makes me think there was something more significant about him.

Is there any problem to kill DCs? They are kinda annoying lol

lucidity inv wrote: Is there any problem to kill DCs? They are kinda annoying lol

Umm... I don't really think there is a problem with killing them but, I'd say have respect for them because they're aspects of yourself.

lucidity inv wrote: Is there any problem to kill DCs? They are kinda annoying lol

I've actually killed many dream characters in countless ways. There's no problem. Essentially you are putting them out of your mind, not out of existence in real life. Sometimes they certainly do get annoying and I cast them aside and they splatter on the wall into fine points of dust.

There is also DCs which are really real people, this I know can appear in normal dreams and so I assume would also be coming into some lucids too.

I had a dream many years ago now in which my daughter was in my dream. I'd gone to her aid after she was screaming for help as she was being attacked (her head was being beaten. I saved her and at that moment woke up. Seconds later I hear her cry from the bedroom upset something like mum! mum! I had just had a terrible dream. It turned out she had been in my dream and remembered it as I had, the ones attacking her, being hit over the head and me coming to her aid and saving her. The only differences in our dreams was she was playing herself and I was myself.

This experience really gave me something to think about as far as dreams and their characters.

boardsenseless wrote: You should have spoken to them they might have been guides or even other dreamers. I had a vivid WILD type lucid dream and met a dream character with a full personality and spoke with them. They are not like the others and seem to know who you are and what is going on in the dream. Here's the story and conversation and it starts out funny....

She said: "Micheal!" (That's my real name.) I said: "Hi! Do you know about the study?" (I'm taking part in a dream character study)

She said: "No." I said: "Do you know what a dream character is?"

She said: "Yes." (but a little hesitant and uncertain. I said: "Do you think you are a dream character?"

She said: "Yes." I said: "Do you think I am a dream character?"

She said: "Yes." I asked: "What do you represent [in this dream]?"

She said: "The cutting edge of fashion and business." I said: "There are more questions I was going to ask, but I forget them. I'm going to go have some fun [in this lucid dream]."

**Just before I left I asked: **"Isn't it interesting that we both share the same mind, but neither of us get full access to it?" Now she had turned into a male form and said: Doesn't it feel like you are on to something big?"

I felt a grin from ear to ear curl on my face and I walked away saying something like, I can't talk now, but later we will again........

I feel like she represents the opposite of me that is my other half that complements me. I am neither fashionable or a go-getter-business type person. But perhaps I am and she was that half of myself. I'm not going to start my own fashion magazine after this, but I think the personality that motivates here is worth thinking about.

HAGART wrote: I was swaying and floating in a tumultuous void, I was wearing a robe and felt the cloth flapping as I let this transitional phase take me. The robe felt like it was open and I was exposed in front with my *cough :oops: showing, and finally saw something that looked like a stone column of a building.

:lol: that is what you get from going to bed naked.

I was in a city street and I just walked around, letting it all hang out, and the other dream characters looked away as if they were embarrassed. I somehow wandered into what felt like a busy mall setting and I had enough with their reactions so I willed them all to stop and it was like a just snapped my fingers (but with my mind) and they all stopped staring at my at the same time in unison and carried on meandering.

You could of punished them for looking away by making them be your sex slaves. (I think my mind is a bit warped tonight). :twisted:

Had a brief conversation with 2 dream characters in a lucid dream this morning. Wanted to see if I could get some romance from a DC, at least some touch, but found it hard with them being total strangers. Went up to one DC that looked kind of like a mannequin with strange artificially colored hair (weird shades of light blue and pink) I asked: "I'm looking for someone here, is it you?" DC says no and points to another. The second DC seemed more interested (and a lot more real looking)and we just put our heads together literally with the side of my head touching the side of the DCs. Very realistic feeling. I explained to the DC that I would enjoy having some "sexy talk". (actually any kind of talk with a DC would do!) The reply was: "Does that mean that you are going to say the F word?" No, I replied. "Good, I'm kind of young for that!" The DC was obviously an adult so the comment surprised me. I asked "So how old are you anyway?" "Well, I'm at least 10 years old." I said "Yes, I'll say! And quite a bit older than that!" That's about as far as it went, woke up at that point. The whole experience was really enjoyable, just talking with our heads together which felt totally real. Had really good, warm feelings, especially knowing it was dream.

I've never connected heads with a dream character before. I have had 'sexy talk', I must admit. I only report my more intellectual conversations, but there is another side to me, and a lot of my lucid dream character encounters are sexual in nature. I'm reluctant to admit it and any details may go against the 'rules of the forum'! :oops: But I still learn from those experiences too: The do's and don'ts and what you can and cannot do in a lucid dream... ect. Even just through playing around for self gratification, you learn a lot.

Connecting heads sounds intriguing and I wonder what would happen if you MERGED with that person and became one?

HAGART wrote: I've never connected heads with a dream character before. I have had 'sexy talk', I must admit. I only report my more intellectual conversations, but there is another side to me, and a lot of my lucid dream character encounters are sexual in nature. I'm reluctant to admit it and any details may go against the 'rules of the forum'! :oops: But I still learn from those experiences too: The do's and don'ts and what you can and cannot do in a lucid dream... ect. Even just through playing around for self gratification, you learn a lot.

Connecting heads sounds intriguing and I wonder what would happen if you MERGED with that person and became one?

It was an interesting experience having our heads together which in dream language might be something like the proverbial meaning of two people putting their heads together. But the physical feeling was exactly like it would be in waking life. Could feel the boundaries of my head against the DCs and even the hair felt just as it should.

Seems to me like DCs are usually not prepared for conversations, mostly when I'm lucid. The responses are often really odd. But that also could be because they are responding in a different language (symbolic dream language) So if they put their head together with you, that could mean "we need to both put our heads together to figure this out" I think you still have to use the normal dream interpretation even though they are speaking in your language.

The Merger idea could be very interesting, that may be have been what I was really seeking in the encounter. That could be better than any sexual encounter.

I am very careful to do things in lucid dreams just as if I was awake, this seems to keep the dream much more stable since I'm still a newb. Doing crazy things because I know it's a dream is telling myself that it's not real and of course it starts to become less real. Besides that, because it so real, there is always some hesitation and disbelief that it isn't real, hence the caution. Plus I really love that feeling of lingering doubt about whether it is really a dream, love to wake up shaking my head in disbelief.

This is about as close as I would get to sharing intimate encounters in a dream on a forum, although we might ask to have an adult's only page for such things, one that has one of those "click here if you are over 18" buttons or whatever. Not sure I would share then either though!

lucidinthe sky wrote: although we might ask to have an adult's only page for such things, one that has one of those "click here if you are over 18" buttons or whatever. Not sure I would share then either though! We cannot lie to ourselves and we all have our own unique experiences, and dreams are rarely rated G (or 'U' I think in Europe...). They can get a little rated R or X at times and we don't need the details, but at least we admit it. I think that is what you are saying and it is for our eyes only.

Anyway, I am comfortable with myself and my dreams, and no need to go into details with strangers, but I am glad I am not the only one. And anyone who says I am perverted and not like them.... is lying! (perhaps to themselves)

But at the end of the day, (or morning?) we can learn a lot just by doing things in lucid dreams not matter what they are. So I am not ashamed of my endeavors, however, they are classified, for my eyes only... and James Bond. Ok, just me and James Bond! Nobody else! (Bad joke and if nobody gets it I don't care!)

lucidinthesky. That's one thing I love about DCs WHEN one can actually get them to talk back (which they usually dont to me, I often get grunts or single word answers or they ignore me) is the strange things they say. They make me laugh. Im always thinking while this is going on.. what strange thing will my subconciousness be coming up with next.

I wonder why he said he was too young? Interesting comment. Maybe somewhere within you were were a bit hesitant/uncomfortable about doing anything sexual with a strange DC so subconciously created that excuse. ........

I cant currently remember if Ive every done anything sexual with a DC when in a LD (thou have in my OBEs). Its so hard just to get them to interact well with oneself (and I havent tried much to create a sexual DC). If I do ever get a sexual DC LD encounter happening.. the DC will probably just do something quite off putting eg start screaming fire!! fire!! at the crutial moment and run out. I never trust what those strange DCs are going to go and do next. I mostly see them as objects of study.

taniaaust1 wrote: lucidinthesky. That's one thing I love about DCs WHEN one can actually get them to talk back (which they usually dont to me, I often get grunts or single word answers or they ignore me) is the strange things they say. They make me laugh. Im always thinking while this is going on.. what strange thing will my subconciousness be coming up with next.

I never know either what they will come up with, but often it's nothing. What surprises me too is what I come up with. Things like: "I'm looking for someone here, is it you?" Is that a bad pick up line or what? I've never said that before. That's kind of a strange thing to say to someone and where did it come from? But when I think about it, it's probably a good way to talk to a DC. I think I'm starting to learn how to talk to them in ways they can understand.

taniaaust1 wrote: I wonder why he said he was too young? Interesting comment. Maybe somewhere within you were were a bit hesitant/uncomfortable about doing anything sexual with a strange DC so subconciously created that excuse.

That's probably correct. The whole thing was very uncomfortable at first, just approaching a stranger like that. And these things are so real, I can't just switch modes like that and say, "well it's not real you know." When there's this 3 dimensional touchable person right next to you looking at you it's hard not to take that seriously.

lucidinthe sky wrote: I never know either what they will come up with, but often it's nothing. What surprises me too is what I come up with. Things like: "I'm looking for someone here, is it you?" Is that a bad pick up line or what? I've never said that before. That's kind of a strange thing to say to someone and where did it come from?

It sounds as if your waking self is still under the influence a bit of your subconciousness and hence you dont speak as you usually would.

I dont tend to get surprises coming from myself as Im usually the same with my thinking as in waking life. Its only if Im not as lucid in my waking consciousness as I usually are.. will I catch myself saying or go to say or do something odd to me. (thou I can act a little different in LDs as I know I dont have to mind things such as my manners and do not have to treat those LDs how I would real people)