Is lucid dreaming like the film Inception?

Lucid dreamers like myself have been looking forward to the new 2010 blockbuster film Inception from Christopher Nolan. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and if you enjoy action packed films with a good story you should certainly give it a try.

This post is for people who have watched Inception and wonder if the type of experiences shown can be relived through lucid dreaming.

Detailed Environments

Inception shows dream worlds as detailed as real life that can be experienced with all your senses. This is true of lucid dreams. It would be possible to touch the floor and know what material the carpet is made of. You can walk through imaginary cities and worlds and really feel as though you are there.

Dream World Manipulation

Inception is a big budget film that includes scenes such as cities folding in on themselves at the will of a dream architect. Lucid dreamers routinely play with their dream reality. We blow things up, create objects or creatures and invent our own locations. We can and do experience some of the big budget effects that you witness in the film.

Time In Dreams

It is difficult to gauge time in a dream. You can't use a watch or clock because they behave erratically. The concept of having a dream within a dream forcing your brain to work faster and time to slow down is a great concept for the film, but not something you should expect to experience in a lucid dream. However, time can seem much longer in a dream because your mind takes short cuts to progress the story. For example, when dreaming about driving to work, in reality it may take 30 minutes but in the dream it may take seconds if there is no story to play out during the trip.

Independent Dream Characters

The film shows dream characters created by the dreamers subconscious that act independently and unexpectedly. This is also true of lucid dreams. People will appear (some that you know, some that you don't) and interact with you. Although your mind creates them you have no idea what they will do next. You interact with them as though they are real.

But There's More

In Inception the dreamers are limited by physical constraints. Lucid dreamers have no constraints. We can jump in to the air and fly, toss a car down the road, walk through walls. We are only limited by our imagination. Let me also reassure you that dying in a dream is not dangerous and you do not end up in limbo :)

I hope this gives you some insight in to lucid dreams and how you can use them to create your own blockbuster experience. You may not be able to hook in to each others dreams like in Inception, but you can always share them in our lucid dreaming forums instead.