TheOnerous's blog of failures

[TheOnerous]

Ooooooh! 

How

[TheOnerous]

Thought I would have a normal night's rest after the last night's excitement. Went to bed with only the intent to sleep well. I did still have a long dream. One of my "potential dystopia" dreams where the rest of Europe was going to attack the UK and they were going to eat the POWs. Nice.

[Summerlander]

Have you worried before about possible consequences to the UK's non-participation in the Euro?

[TheOnerous]

Argh, politics. Now I come to think of it, I think yesterday I did reflect on somebody's comment (Angela Merkel?) that economic problems in Europe could lead to war.

[TheOnerous]

Here are some thought experiments resulting from an eventful week in dreamland! I tentatively titled this as, "Possible New Technique".


Possible New Technique

The dream “feelingâ€

[Summerlander]

Argh, politics. Now I come to think of it, I think yesterday I did reflect on somebody's comment (Angela Merkel?) that economic problems in Europe could lead to war.

Interesting...

[TheOnerous]

Set my alarm for a WBTB/SSILD at 4am but woke up at 3am feeling ill so scrapped attempt. Had good recall of a NL though. Will try again tonight.

[TheOnerous]

Not much happened last night. My alarm woke me at 4am and I was dreaming about Kevin Keegan going back to Man City. I did my WBTB/SSILD but no recall at all. I was brainstorming for ideas about dreams and awareness before bed and got quite carried away and didn't go to bed till midnight (which is quite late for me). I'm thinking maybe I should be mindful to the fact that SSILD can cause FAs and I may have been dreaming without knowing.

Will try the same again tonight.

[Summerlander]

"Keep in mind that trying to immediately separate upon awakening is a skill of the utmost importance; one that is worth honing from the very beginning, never forgotten."

- Michael Raduga: School of Out-of-Body Travel (p.219)

[TheOnerous]

"Keep in mind that trying to immediately separate upon awakening is a skill of the utmost importance; one that is worth honing from the very beginning, never forgotten."

- Michael Raduga: School of Out-of-Body Travel (p.219)

Nah. It just hasn't been something I've been able to consistently pull off. I will come back to it at some point. I'm thinking of attacking it from a different angle: Maybe start out by attempting separation when waking from lucids?

[TheOnerous]

A good night! 

Dream 1: Heard concorde flying over the house and immediately decided it was an occasion when it would be sensible to RC. However, didn't get to RC. Went to watch it fly over but it promptly crashed.

Dream 2: (Woke about 3.15am and did SSILD)

Felt myself lying in bed face down looking at a green "field" thinking to myself: "How to turn this into a lucid dream?" Before I knew it I was walking around a flat that resembled my real-life living conditions in no way whatsoever but I was convinced I'd gone to sleep there.  I decided to RC anyway. The dream didn't last long. Now that I have had my first LD for a while it's time to strengthen my intention to back up one RC with another, then palpate and consider dream options.

[Summerlander]

Maybe start out by attempting separation when waking from lucids?

This you're s'posed to do, too.  Remember, upon a foul (an undesired exit from the phase) one should attempt reentry.

[TheOnerous]

Four dreams recalled last night.

[TheOnerous]

Woke at 4am and did SSILD. Struggled to get back to sleep but eventually had two dreams. Recall quite poor though.

[TheOnerous]

Recalled one dream last night. An interesting dream where there was a location you could only visit if you went there after 7pm and went to sleep. A step in the right direction.

[TheOnerous]

Eventful night, for both good and bad reasons.

A nasty cold came out of the blue yesterday. It woke me at 2am and I felt awful and cancelled my plans to WBTB at 4am. I couldn't get back to sleep because of aching but after I took some paracetamol I got to sleep at about 6am. Quite an interesting dream where I remembered to ask if I was dreaming, sort of knew it was dream and experimented with the nose pinch RC to see if I could find a way to make it foolproof in future dreams.

[TheOnerous]

Thought experiment

I'm playfully calling this technique "ORILD" which stands for "obsessive compulsive disorder robot induction of lucid dreams". I was reading Luna's blog and realised that my plans on becoming lucid were a little vague. So I tried this thought experiment: What if I didn't just plan what to do in a lucid dream, but obsessively planned to the point that I would become aware of every detail - I wouldn't just say, take a step, I'd take a step and know exactly how far my foot would travel into the air, how far ahead my stride would be, how long it would take me to make the stride. It's a kind of dream incubation I reckon. I've scripted out this dream and I'm learning it now. It includes lots of asking if I'm dreaming, lots of RCing, palpating, awareness and lots of awareness experiments (such as pressing my tongue into the roof of my mouth to see what it feels like in a dream).

[TheOnerous]

Ill last night so no deliberate attempt, but the one short dream I remembered had some dream related content, which is good. Not going to make a deliberate attempt tonight, but if a lucid dream comes knocking on my door I'm not going to say no!

[TheOnerous]

Excellent dreams last night. I teamed up with a group of people and we controlled the height of waves for surfing purposes. I suppose I should also mention the alien invasion and my neighbour opening a pub for children. All interesting, non of them lucid, but I think it's going to be soon

[TheOnerous]

Just shaking off a horrendous virus, but still working on recall and pleased with how it's progressing.

[TheOnerous]

Recall good again last night. Also, for three consecutive nights I've experienced a conscious awakening. Last night I decided to take some action and try to separate but my mind was instantly flooded with images of a slide-show, with each image lasting about half a second. Then I decided to try rotation and experienced quite strong feelings of rotation. They gradually faded. It's not been my intention to try indirect techniques at the moment, but with three (unintended) conscious awakenings on consecutive nights, maybe it's time to think about indirect techniques as an option again when I'm through with my recall experiment?

[TheOnerous]

Just another exciting blog post to inform you that nothing major happened last night but my recall was, again, good. No conscious awakening last night, though.

[TheOnerous]

A good night, generally. I was in a dream and remembered about lucid dreaming. I did a nose pinch RC but, although I could still breathe, I kind of disregarded the result and carrried on in the dream without being lucid. Stuck in a bit of a rut.

[TheOnerous]

Three dreams recalled last night. All very poor clarity and recall was poor, even though I know the second dream lasted for a long time. The first two were about the phase, which is positive.

In the first dream I was with a group of people who regularly entered another state. I think it's reasonable to guess that the state was the phase.

In the second dream I was staying at a holiday venue where all the people could enter another state (possible another dimension though).

The third dream is so vague I cannot remember a single detail, but know it occurred!

[TheOnerous]

Recall poor for two consecutive nights despite a lengthy WBTB and MILD techniques. Maybe it's time to take a break. Interestingly, last night no less than five dreams popped into my head about 8pm. What was amazing to me was how I could remember being IN the dreams - experiencing the sights of the dreams and all the emotions that went along with it, yet when I woke in the morning I had no recollection of them whatsoever. In each of the dreams I could remember experiencing what can best be described as "The feeling that something is up", like I was, perhaps, on the road to lucidity and was already starting to suspect it was a dream but didn't complete the journey.

[TheOnerous]

No recall at all last night. There are only so many things you can control, I guess.

[TheOnerous]

At last! Dry spell ended last night. Possibly a degree of simulated lucidity or maybe I lost a little lucidity in the dream, but I'm taking it as a great step forward. In the dream, someone pulled a knife on me and I realised it was probably a dream at that point. I did a nose pinch check and could breathe perfectly. I took off and had ideas about being a dragon (no idea where that came from) and I terrorised some people on the ground. At one point I picked up a man on the ground. I wanted to fly to the top of a local building but started thinking about how it would take too long. That woke me up. Looking back on the dream and going forward, I made a few schoolboy errors and need to work on them (I need to remember to palpate and attempt separation at the foul)  but hopefully I've got past my block.

[Summerlander]

Yes, work on your memory and intention (especially if you are using the dream consciousness method to reach the phase state).  You can also turn your planned actions in a conscious dream into deepening and maintaining.  If you wish to turn into a dragon, for instance, do try to feel what it's like to be one with all your sensations.  Feel your fangs, spit fire and feel the warmth in your mouth, listen to your growls, move your heavy body about and flap your wings... feel your tail and control it.  Perhaps revise the Primary Skills chapter of SOBT concerning transmutation.

Another piece of advice concerning translocation by concentration on a remote object.  Do not think about how long it might take to reach something.  You're in the phase, man!  You can do anything there.  Don't let such thoughts put you off of doing what you want.  Next time you see a building in the distance, peer at one of its minor details and have a great desire to study it up close.  The stronger your intention, the quicker you get there.  At best, at lightning speed.  Don't be concerned with fouling either, and, even if you do, separate again and be brave enough to apply separation-translocation in order to arrive at the roof of that building. 

Free yourself of worldly conceptualisations if you have to.  Distance in the phase doesn't have to equal time spent as we are not dealing with a physical universe and its natural laws.  What we deal with is a phantom world with a potential to reach hyperrealistic proportions and yet fundamentally illusory in nature.  So, discard any doubts you might have about your limitless capabilities in said state and fill your mind with confidence.  If you fail trying to reach a goal, try again, repeat the process, practice, see where you've gone wrong.  Have confidence, focus, intention and desire.  Break all barriers.

I can only show you the door.  You're the one who has to walk through it.  Free your mind, Neo.  Free your mind...

[TheOnerous]

If you wish to turn into a dragon, for instance, do try to feel what it's like to be one with all your sensations.

Not entirely sure where the dragon idea came from. I'm not really into the fantasy/wizard thing like my wife is. I think the idea of breathing fire appeals though. I'm thinking that transmutation may come at a later stage of my lucid journeys. (I change my mind regularly though, ha.) Being a sphere is a challenge I'm thinking of.

Another piece of advice concerning translocation by concentration on a remote object.

Did I read in SOBT somewhere that focusing on a distant object can cause you to foul?

separate again and be brave enough to apply separation-translocation in order to arrive at the roof of that building.

I'm definitely going to try that.

I can only show you the door.  You're the one who has to walk through it.  Free your mind, Neo.  Free your mind...

I will definitely get there.

[TheOnerous]

Intriguing night last night...

Dream 1

A tidal wave dream, non-lucid. An area of the sea had been drained away and I visited the area. Needless to say, whatever was keeping the sea back failed and I saw a gigantic tidal wave heading straight for me. I woke up at that point.

WBTB

I woke up at 4am, stayed up for half an hour (yes, I raided the fridge ) and visualised dreamscenes and did some mantras. Next thing I  knew, I woke up at 7am without any recall at all. Odd how the cookie crumbles like that sometimes - I repeat the procedure the same as the night before and get different results. Pleased with the tidal wave dream though.