A sin in a Dream?

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Angel7

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I know that when you are dreaming you do not have full consent, or full knowledge because you are not in full control.
But I have had 2 “controllable” dreams. Where I could choose what I was doing.
I believed I sinned in both.
Because I chose to do what was wrong.
Is it a mortal sin?
Or am I still missing one of the 3 conditions?
even if the dream was “controllable”.
 
Angel7 said:
I know that when you are dreaming you do not have full consent, or full knowledge because you are not in full control.
But I have had 2 “controllable” dreams. Where I could choose what I was doing.
I believed I sinned in both.
Because I chose to do what was wrong.
Is it a mortal sin?
Or am I still missing one of the 3 conditions?
even if the dream was “controllable”.
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Doing something in a dream is not the same as actually doing it in real life. Even if you chose to steal something in a dream for example, you didn’t actually steal anything in the real world, so it wouldn’t be a sin… And even in dreams where you have choices, you don’t really have full control anyway. I’d worry about what I do in real life rather than in dreams.
 
I don’t know the answer to your question, but what about the dream makes you think it was controllable? I have had dreams where, in the dream, it felt like I was making conscious decisions. But, after waking up, I know the actions weren’t something I would ever actually do. I definitely wouldn’t call that control of the dream even though it felt like it was while I was having the dream.
 
Angel7 said:
I know that when you are dreaming you do not have full consent, or full knowledge because you are not in full control.
But I have had 2 “controllable” dreams. Where I could choose what I was doing.
I believed I sinned in both.
Because I chose to do what was wrong.
Is it a mortal sin?
Or am I still missing one of the 3 conditions?
even if the dream was “controllable”.
Click to expand...
I cannot fully answer this but offer this advise.
First - I don’t believe that it is a mortal sin because even though you say it was “controllable” it is difficult to say that you acted in full knowledge and full consent of the will while you are asleep.
Second - Bring this up to your confessor.
Third - The fact that this has happened twice (at least) could be an indication of some part of your spirit that needs work. This would be especially true if the choices are similar (stealing or lusting or lying etc.) It could indicate that you retain affection for certain types of sin.
In short, don’t make it more than it is, but also don’t just “blow it off” either. use it to recognize weakness and to work on improvement.

Peace
James
 
I don’t think it counts, even so called “lucid dreaming”. After all, you still don’t have full control of your faculties in a dream, lucid or not.
After I quit smoking I’d have dreams where I gave in and had a cigarette. I’d feel so sorry for myself for giving in to the temptation, then I’d wake up and realize it was just a dream. It was weird.
 
I’ve been in this situation before, committing heinous acts in my sleep, in lucid dreams. I cannot honestly say there is genuine sin here unless you went off to sleep intending to commit wickedness in your dream. If you are dreaming, and become lucid, and commit the acts but did not plan before sleep to do these acts, it is my opinion that you did not sin, because I’ve found that the will is sufficiently crippled in dreams that you cannot truly make a moral choice in your sleep. I’ll do things in lucid dreams that I would never dream (oh, snap, a pun!) of doing in my waking life. My advice would be not to worry, because even in lucid dreams you do not have sufficient control of your will to make moral decisions.
 
I don’t think you can sin in a dream.

Very recently I had a dream in which I found a lot of money and decided to keep it. In my dream I was struggling with whether I should keep it or not. I ended up keeping it because I needed the money even though I thought keeping it was wrong. When I woke up I remembered the dream and I remembered the struggle I had. In my waking state it would not be a struggle at all 😉

Many times I have done things in dreams that I would not do in real life. I believe that the part of our brains which regulates our behavior (our moral sense) might be dormant during dreams.

It is scary to think that some people have that part of their brain dormant when they are awake. I guess that is why we have psychopaths. It also might make people realize that although psychopathic behavior is obviously wrong it does not mean that the perpetrator’s soul is guilty. It is possible that they are suffering from brain damage of some sort. It is also possible that their sinful nature produces the brain damage that we can observe.
 
You cannot sin in a dream.

Do you struggle with scrupulosity? The scrupulous tend to worry about dreams–

If you are bothered by this, mention it to your confessor and I think he will quickly assure you that what I’ve said is true…
 
Angel7 said:
I know that when you are dreaming you do not have full consent, or full knowledge because you are not in full control.
But I have had 2 “controllable” dreams. Where I could choose what I was doing.
I believed I sinned in both.
Because I chose to do what was wrong.
Is it a mortal sin?
Or am I still missing one of the 3 conditions?
even if the dream was “controllable”.
Click to expand...
You CANNOT sin while asleep/dreaming.

NOBODY can control dreams. There is no such thing as a controllable dream.
 
thistle said:
NOBODY can control dreams. There is no such thing as a controllable dream.
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This is not true. If you become conscious of the fact you are dreaming during the dream, you can assume control over much of the dream and do whatever you like for the most. It’s called lucid dreaming, and there are many ways to engage in this conscious form of dreaming, and sometimes it’s pure accident.
 
I’ve had dreams where I’ve done everything possible mortal sin from having an abortion to blowing up an abortion clinic to blasting zombies to betraying humanity to the Decepticons.

They’re dreams. I’ve had dreams where I felt I could "control’ the situation, but end of the day, as others have said, you’re not responsible for your dreaming shenanigans.

But as another suggested, maybe seek out a spiritual advisor or a Priest to discuss this if it’s bothering you, or pray the rosary before you go to bed - or put a rosary under your pillow, this may help calm your dreams if they’re of a spiritual nature.
 
You can never sin in a dream; this is basic theology. To commit a mortal sin you need to meet three conditions: Deliberate consent, full knowledge, and the act must be a grave matter. In a dream, you will never have deliberate consent. You can be 99% conscience, but you are still 1% short of meeting one of the mortal sin conditions. My question is: how can you even begin to think that you can commit a mortal sin in a dream? The whole foundation that a dream is built on is the fact that you are not fully conscience, and thus cannot make conscience decisions. Don’t worry; you did not commit a sin in your dream. I went through a hard time with this matter, as I suffered badly from scruples. There is absolutely no way you committed any kind of sin in your dream; don’t scruple about it.

God bless.
 
MarcusAndreas said:
This is not true. If you become conscious of the fact you are dreaming during the dream, you can assume control over much of the dream and do whatever you like for the most. It’s called lucid dreaming, and there are many ways to engage in this conscious form of dreaming, and sometimes it’s pure accident.
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That does not mean that you can commit a sin in a lucid dream. You are still not fully conscious.
 
MarcusAndreas said:
This is not true. If you become conscious of the fact you are dreaming during the dream, you can assume control over much of the dream and do whatever you like for the most. It’s called lucid dreaming, and there are many ways to engage in this conscious form of dreaming, and sometimes it’s pure accident.
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Thats rubbish. If you are conscious of the fact you are dreaming you are in fact NOT dreaming but awake and aware.
You CANNOT control a dream.
 
thistle said:
Thats rubbish. If you are conscious of the fact you are dreaming you are in fact NOT dreaming but awake and aware.
You CANNOT control a dream.
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Actually I’ve had many dreams where I became conscious that I was dreaming. Not everyone dreams the same way. I often remember my dreams, yet my husband rarely remembers his. I think there’s a genetic connection there because both my parents and my brother also remember/ed their dreams quite often. My husband’s side of the family is normal, they rarely remember their dreams, and some of them try to say that they “don’t dream”… yeah right lol!

Anyway, some people are more open to their dreams (like me) and I feel that this allows some of us dreamers to sometimes become aware that we are in the midst of a dream. Take for example a dream I had as a tween where I told my “dream friends” that they were in my dream and because of that, they could fly. I started flying around the neighbourhood and invited them to do it. Another example was a few years ago where I thought I was drowning until I took a chance and breathed, and then realized that this must be a dream. As you see, some of us “dreamers” also remember dreams of long long ago. I still remember a recurring dream I used to have when I was 3 yrs old… I’m 49 now. What stories I could tell you about my dreaming, it’s almost like another world for me, that I look forward to (most times). Revisiting old dream places, speaking to Mary, speaking to people who have passed, ohh so much fun! LOL!

So yes, even if we are aware that we are in a dream we definitely are still dreaming.

As to answer the OP, even if you are aware and have control of those actions in dreams, you are not sinning because like someone above said, you’re still not fully conscious therefore the culpability for sinning (mortal or venial) is not there.
 
We dream, or at least go into REM sleep, around six times a night, but can only remember a dream if we wake during it.

The evidence from fMRI scans on sleeping people is that only parts of the brain are active during a dream, and the active regions vary from dream to dream. That’s the reason why you may sometimes dream you are flying like superman – the part of the brain that knows it’s impossible is fast asleep and can’t intervene to say it’s silly.

No one knows why we dream, but it seems to have something to do with letting brain regions “play” without being censored by other regions.

You can lucidly dream you are in control if the brain region that knows otherwise is having a snooze. You may do all kinds of things in dreams that you would never do in real life because, well, you are very definitely not all there.
 
I had a disturbing dream just the night before last. As I was dreaming I would wake myself up; forget what it was I was dreaming but with a feeling that it was important and that I needed to remember what it was. I would fall back asleep, and have the same dream again and I would wake up again. I did this several times. I still don’t know what it was, and I’m still left with the feeling I needed to remember whatever it was when I was awake but I couldn’t. This may have something to do with the fact that I rarely remember my dreams but know somehow that I had dreamed; with my consciousness wanting to remember them but my subconscious not allowing it. And me trying to control them so’s I could remember them. Uncontrollable! Weird and rather off topic sorry. :o I think lucid dreams give you a fake sense of being in control when you really aren’t. I have had those falling dreams and I could hear myself tell myself that this is just a dream and you can control it you don’t have to fall…but I always do!! (of course that I hear myself tell myself it’s a dream is part of the dream) That’s one dream I seem to remember :eek:
 
ElizabethPH said:
This may have something to do with the fact that I rarely remember my dreams but know somehow that I had dreamed
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When we go to sleep a chemical message is sent around the brain. One of its effects is to switch the long term memory into read-only mode, so it’s physically impossible to remember a dream unless we wake during it, when another chemical message switches the long term memory back to read/write mode. That takes a little time, so you may remember that you were dreaming but not be able to recall any detail.

I remember a really scary dream. A dark figure approached my bed and stabbed me. I woke up to find a dark figure approaching my bed and stabbing me. Then I really woke up.
 
Iowander said:
I don’t know the answer to your question, but what about the dream makes you think it was controllable? I have had dreams where, in the dream, it felt like I was making conscious decisions. But, after waking up, I know the actions weren’t something I would ever actually do. I definitely wouldn’t call that control of the dream even though it felt like it was while I was having the dream.
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It is scary, because I don’t know if I would do that, or think about what I did in the dream.

I’m not sure if I ever would think of such a thing and find pleasure.
and I’m not sure if I ever would do such a thing.
Which is scary.

But part of my scrupulousity/problem is that I have trouble knowing if I intended/consented to a sin.

So I’m hoping It wasn’t a sin.

Now, I would never do such a thing.
but after I woke up. I was not sure.
 
Angel7 said:
It is scary, because I don’t know if I would do that, or think about what I did in the dream.

I’m not sure if I ever would think of such a thing and find pleasure.
and I’m not sure if I ever would do such a thing.
Which is scary.

But part of my scrupulousity/problem is that I have trouble knowing if I intended/consented to a sin.

So I’m hoping It wasn’t a sin.

Now, I would never do such a thing.
but after I woke up. I was not sure.
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It is IMPOSSIBLE to sin in a dream! How many times do we have to keep repeating that for you??
 
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