AMA: I've been lucid dreaming recently

[rong]

What's the difference between ld and me staring out the window at work day dreaming about w/e? It's still a controlled fantasy. It can last quite a while, is pretty much controllable and can be quite vivid.

[boost]

What's the difference between ld and me staring out the window at work day dreaming about w/e? It's still a controlled fantasy. It can last quite a while, is pretty much controllable and can be quite vivid.

Maybe for some there wouldn't be a difference, or some people are able to experience the intensity of a dream while awake, but I can assure you that would not be a common ability. Try to imagine how real a dream feels, despite how absurd it may be. Now imagine that you can actually control that. You can essentially alter reality through shear act of will. Sure you can sort of do this while day dreaming, but when lucid dreaming you don't have reality to contend with the attention of your conscious and subconscious mind. Obviously you have to be aware that it is a dream, and therefore not real, but it sort of becomes an alternate reality.

The best analogy I could make is that day dreaming is like writing a book-- you can get extremely detailed and stop and pick it back up at anytime, while lucid dreaming is like watching a movie in the theater-- but you're also directing and staring in the movie in real time.