TL;DR --- Main Points you may be interested in for this post include: (But I think it is all interesting!)
Please Share YOUR experiences and ideas!!! (Last paragraph)
Media Related Dream Seeds
How they influence your dream content
How we can use them
Re-framing media for dream control and expectation
The Holodeck, The Force, Superheroes, etc.
Fun similarities between certain media and lucid dreaming or dreams in general
So after talking with people on the telegram chat and during live-streams, this topic came to the forefront of my mind. We've talked about "dream seeds" before; parts of waking life that influence your dreams either that night, or within the next few days or weeks. I have noticed since regularly recording and analyzing dreams in my journal that many of my dreams are influenced by various forms of entertainment and media.
For example, I have been watching a lot of episodes from various Star Trek series, and have had dreams in which I am a Starfleet officer, or dreams where main characters from the shows are there, or imagery from the series are present such as random people in Starfleet uniforms. I remember Daniel saying older people may dream in black-and-white more often as they watched TV in that fashion for a long time, thus influencing their dreams. I have also had a fair amount of dreams in which I am "playing video games", or at least dreams related to gaming. For example, during a given dream I could be holding a controller and really playing, OR I have been dissociated from my dream body and more of a floating "point-of-view" if that makes sense, similar to a "first-person point-of view" from certain games (Minecraft creative mode camera?) I could also physically be in a video game location. I think this has helped with the ability to control my flight pretty well when I do become lucid, as I have an expectation of what it seems like to move about worlds like that in games.
Which leads me to the point of re-framing for dream control, as Daniel spoke about during the lockdown series. I personally love sci-fi and fantasy, and movies and shows such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, Inception and lots of video games such as No Man's Sky and the God of War franchise. When Daniel spoke about using things you are used to in order to "re-frame" your expectations in the dream world, such as using the Holodeck from Star Trek to spawn things or change locations, I thought that was a great idea. I now think that I was already subconsciously doing that to a small degree, given my decent flight abilities which seems to come naturally, as it feels like I use things from waking life to relate to flying, such as flying in video games, swimming, or imaging a roller coaster propelling me forward. So we can potentially not only enjoy our favorite media, but also use it to aid with our dreaming expectations and control.
Some other fun ideas I've had that I really want to try, and maybe you can try, would be to use The Force, the Infinity Gauntlet, or a Dr. Strange Portal. Superheroes and their powers could be great: Iron Man could relate to flight expectations, Antman for shrinking down, etc. I've personally thought about Thor during a dream, combined with the God of War video game and was able to spawn a lightning storm. Maybe I'll try and fly to the moon using my spaceship from No Man's Sky or perhaps the Enterprise!? Get creative with it and tailor it to your interests.
Also, I've noticed as I know many of you have as well, that certain media relates to lucid dreaming. Specifically for me anyway, the best example of this has to be Star Wars. Star Wars is my favorite franchise ever and instilled a lot of good lessons in me. What's funny is that the Jedi philosophy and being in-tune with The Force relates a lot to dream control. Just go watch The Empire Strikes Back, where Yoda is training Luke in the ways of The Force, and replace the topic of The Force with lucid dreaming. Luke can't believe that Yoda is able to use The Force to lift the x-wing out of the swamp. "I don't believe it..." he says, after failing himself. Yoda responds, "That, is why you fail". This is literally dream control and expectation.
Tie these Yoda quotes to the topic of lucid dreaming, and the similarities are startling:
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
"You must unlearn, what you have learned."
"The greatest teacher, failure is."
"Pass on what you have learned."
You can really related anything YOU are interested in to lucid dreaming, to build dream signs and associations, to have fun, or influence your dreams. We can purposely relate some of our favorite movies, games, etc. to lucid dreaming. That positive association could be beneficial for both reality checks, and overall enjoyment about the topic of lucid dreaming during the day. Let me know if any of your favorite movies, books, shows, or games have influenced your dreams, or if any of them have aspects of them you'd like to try in dreams, etc! Up to you, anything related to this topic is interesting. OR if you know of any interesting forms of media you feel relate to dreaming. It could be spot on about the topic, obviously, like Inception (not realistic but really good and thought provoking movie, lots of inspiration for lucidity for me personally). Or it could more distanced relationships, like the similarities between lucid dreaming practice and Star Wars Jedi training.
Sorry for the long post, there is just so much to this topic, I'd love to hear what you all have to say, your thoughts, experiences, goals and ideas are welcome!
This is a great idea. Thanks.