Just wondering if the fascination for VR is - at least to some extent - connected to the practice of lucid dreaming. Since both ‘techniques’ offer the most immersive experiences available apart from reality, I’m curious if you guys are familiar with (at least the concept of) lucid dreaming.
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Is your question out of fear, or hope, or ‘for a friend’?
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I’m practicing lucid dreaming for years now and am fairly successful as a VR artist. For me, both feelings are deeply connected - leaving reality only to become immersed in something even stronger (if done right).
Anyhow, good lucid dreams are so powerful and real, that I’m guessing VR will never achieve THAT level of immersion.
Just wondering if the fascination for VR of some of you guys is maybe rooted in an understanding of lucid dreams?
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Not really for me, but gaming (and VR in particular) may well be interconnected in subconscience.
I found a link where those two come together: Video Games And Lucid Dreaming: A Match Made In Heaven?
https://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/comments/4d8iq8/game_induced_lucid_dreams/
Its called: Game Induced Lucid Dreaming, or GILD.
Im not sure what to make of it. Never thought of it really. Fun read though. Is there any use for it?
I am asking ‘for a friend’.
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Thanks for the interesting reads!
What do you mean by ‘any use’? And why ‘for a friend’, implying it’s too embarrassing to be interested in lucid dreaming?
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Just a tongue in cheek approach, because I asked you first whether you were serious about it. A bit of self deprecating joke as it were, really. 
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Haha, didn’t understand it the first time either, since lucid dreaming is helluva lot of fun and nothing to be embarrassed for.
It’s everything we hope the 8K to be + its next future 6 updates 
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I used to be able to direct my dreaming when I was younger, to a point where I could simply fall down in bed and immediately fall right through my matrass to the other side and sit upright again in a lucid dream. Pretty cool.
It wasn’t until years later that I saw anything resembling attempts at VR but I never linked my interest before. Maybe because the level of difference between our tech and lucid dreams is so great. It would be great ofcourse to experience dream-like realities in VR and maybe with the right amount of clarity of the screens and GPU power, we can have great brain controlled scenes play out but for me VR is a very technical application in a headset.
And my interest is very much technical and seeing how well we can create a convincing virtual reality by placing technical devices on our human senses.
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Yeah, very true. I think in the end it still comes down to just tricking our fleshy brain though. To find just the right stimuli to convince this thing in our head, that this input is ‘real’.
Observing what it takes for dreams to convince us and noticing which dreamt experiences have the strongest impact on our (sub)consciousness is quite valuable to also make great VR experiences I guess.
My artistic VR works so far achieved very strong (positive) reactions from the audience, since I always try to replicate the feeling I have when inside a captivating dream, distancing myself from ‘conventional’ game environments and glossy computer looks…
I had the most immersive VR experiences in simulations that had quite subtle effects, like the movement of a small shadow, natural phenomena like rain/snow, sound. I find this quite interesting. I guess the best VR experiences don’t (always) have to be in your face with action and sensory overkill to be captivating.
What do you think?
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You have got me thinking about my lucid dreams again. It’s been over 20 years since I had any.
The thing with lucid dreams is that you are aware you’re in a dream world, or an out of body experience, as it sometimes feels, and you don’t push it away. A lot is then directed by thought alone and not really by walking and touching. For instance, you can just float somewhere, go through walls but also feel like you are in a current running situation.
That last part being the biggest difference with a VR experience I think. In VR you are watching a movie or are inside a movie experiencing an unknown storyline progression, bit of interaction here and there. While in a lucid dream it is also more 4D with time going back and forth, it is very much a ‘physical’ presence of thoughts.
I also think VR and lucid dreams are right and left brain differences but maybe in experience it could meet, if VR is good enough.
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Thanks for your detailed insight. Very good points!
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I am a 8k backer and have had experience with lucid dreaming about a year ago. I have never had one and became obsessed with achieving a lucid dream so I rigorously practised reality checks and after 8 months I had my first one. It was amazing but only lasted for what seemed like a minute. That unfortunately was my only experience so I stopped practising. I was wondering what techniques do you use and do you have any tips?
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I was very young and it kinda happened by itself at first and I just cultivated it by basically not resisting and keeping the flow going.
The only thing I actively did was relax my muscles completely, hands on my chest and resting in a way that they could be ‘forgotten’. Once my body was hard to mentally ‘feel’ then I could more easily have my mind wander or even rise up from my bed. I could only do it when I was around 10 and was very open to this and I guess you need to be able to be vulnerable too because any tension in your body keeps you grounded. That’s all I can say I think
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Thanks mate…think I’m gonna give it another go and will probably try the GILD .methoD aswell👍
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A few years ago I mastered the art of lucid dreaming and was able to have such a dream every other night.
Those have been my most immersive experiences ever, also compared to real life. In my opinion, a perfect lucid dream with the highest order of sensual awareness is the single most desirable experience in existence. Just to set it into perspective I’m an artist, traveled for 2 years the whole world, am an agnostic, have a deep relationship with my girlfriend, am no weirdo nerd, yet read every post in this forum 
still, nothing beats the perfect dream.
Short: perfecting the control of your dreams to have maximum vision, perfect hearing, the most beautiful voice, incredible sexual experiences, being able to meet oneself, FUCKING FLY EVERYWHERE, be weightless, EAT EVERYTHING (it works) and get to know your own consciousness - is better than any drug out there.
But VR is a fairly nice substitute while awake
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Imagination is the ultimate experience if one taps into it.
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What worked for me like a charm is this: whenever there’s something slightly weird happening in real life, you close your nostrils with your fingers, trying to breath through the closed nose.
Naturally this doesn’t work.
BUT eventually you’ll start to do this behavior also in your normal dreams, except THEN you’ll be able to breath, realizing you’re actually dreaming.
Then try to calm the hell down immediately, because this realization can be very powerful and makes you wake up pretty fast otherwise.
Then secret dream hack: look at your hands! This helps every goddam time to stabilize the dream, calm you down and enhance your vision.
A lucid dream is possible in countless sensory variations. Your senses don’t just automatically enhance once you’re gaining lucidity. You have to concentrate on a certain goal, like vision or hearing.
Just my 2 cents, that turned into a nickel way fast I’m afraid.
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The mind houses nirvana. VR is just gimmicks compared to that.
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Might be an enhancement to reach within though. VR is immersive, so it could be a ‘match’ to start a ‘fire’.
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Did you ever hear of a thing called the brain machine?
Basically just flashing LED’s that you put over your eyes with your eyes closed. It will blink a certain frequency and your brain starts to sync somehow. It is really powerful in effect. I had very sharp images in my minds eye with this brain toy. I guess a VR headset can do the trick too if we know the correct frequencies.
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