Is it a sin to Induce lucid dreams?

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AlanH4

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A lucid dream a dream in which one knows they are dreaming, or a conscious dream. This might sound bizarre if it is new to you but… I promise I’m not crazy, it exists. I want to know it is ok to do the method I use. It is:

I always wake up naturally after 4-5 hours I sleep. I wake myself up a bit more by getting up and going to the bathroom. Then I get back in bed. What I do is I concentrate on being very still and staying mentally conscious while the body falls asleep(weird experience). Eventually a dream starts and I never fell asleep, so I know I am in a dream.

This method comes easily to me and it’s lucid dreams on demand. I don’t do sinful things in the dreams. In the past all I did was fly and eat food. But last night I prayed and I think it’s more productive.

So my questions if this is bad to force lucid dreams. The people I asked didn’t know it existed so they didn’t know.
 
A friend of mine, a lapsed Catholic, is into eastern philosophy etc and said one night as he was in a “dream” a black figure came up beside him and asked “Mind if I tag along”. My friend woke up petrified fearing it was a demon. My advice is not to partake of this.
 
I have had spontaneous lucid dreams. I always found it disturbing and kerfuffly that I’m aware that I’m dreaming while in a dream. Because I feel that way, I wouldn’t, personally, do anything to encourage it.

As to whether or not it’s sin to induce them, I don’t know. I would, however, be cautious. Satan is real and when we are sleeping we are quite defenseless.
 
I am fascinated by dreams, I actually look forward to having them, I write them down, although I have never had this ability. I don’t think I could if I tried:o I don’t feel this is particularly wrong, it just seems more of a personal phenomenon to me. If it were I, and I got a bad feeling from it, I would stop doing it. As long as you don’t feel dark about it, I would say it must be all right with God.
 
I have occasional lucid dreams, usually triggered by something that I see in a preceding non-lucid dream. I have never been able to induce a lucid dream from scratch.

The issue here is the definition of sin, especially mortal sin: 1. grave matter, 2. full knowledge of the gravity of the matter, and 3. commission with full consent of the will. There is nothing in Catholic teaching defining anything having to do with lucid dreaming as a sin; therefore inducing lucid dreaming does not meet the first criterion.

What does matter is what one chooses to do when one is in control. Back in my pre-Christian days when my dreaming turned lucid, I would deliberately choose to do things that I knew were wrong in real life. In those cases, I WAS 1) dealing with grave matter, 2) doing it with knowledge of the gravity of the matter, and 3) fully willing to do what I was doing. By definition, that is a mortal sin.

On the other hand, if you realize you are dreaming and choose the opportunity to preach the gospel to those around you, or if you induce a lucid dream for the purpose of practicing your preaching techniques, I can’t see how there would be a sin there. Even if you induce a lucid dream in order to practice your Superman flying techniques, what’s wrong with that? No sin there.
 
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