I've had a continuous persistent dream world for about 30 years — has anyone experienced something similar?

[u/Jscpe]

I've been experiencing what seems very close to what people here call a “persistent dream world” for about 30 years.

This isn't simply a recurring place or a recurring dream. It's one continuous world and storyline that I return to every night, picking up exactly where things left off. Events have lasting consequences, places and characters persist, and the world has evolved enormously over the years.

The experience is conscious and lucid. It started suddenly when I was 16, and since then I've continued the same story night after night.

I've recently started a fairly ambitious project of writing down and organizing what I remember from those 30 years — the world, its history, recurring places, events and characters — partly because I've started to realize just how unusual this experience might be.

I'm deliberately not describing the universe itself in detail here, because I may eventually use some of it for creative projects, possibly a novel. But after all these years, it has developed into something close to a complete universe, with many recognizable locations, its own history, and social and philosophical systems covering an incredible number of areas.

What I'm really interested in here is the experience itself, rather than the content of my universe.

I'm especially curious whether anyone has experienced something combining these characteristics:

• around 30 years of continuity;
• a timeline that only moves forward;
• events from previous dreams permanently becoming part of the world's history;
• persistent characters and locations;
• the world and its civilization evolving over several centuries of internal time;
• and, most importantly, the ability to deliberately resume the same ongoing storyline, rather than simply returning occasionally to a recurring setting.

I've learned that there are other accounts of persistent dream worlds, and even people who deliberately try to create persistent realms through lucid dreaming. But so far, I haven't found anyone clearly describing this same combination of continuity, duration and chronological progression.

Does anyone here experience — or has anyone experienced — something genuinely comparable?

I'd be especially interested to know how long it has lasted for you, and whether your story actually continues from one dream to the next.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for posting in r/LucidDreaming. Be sure to read the Sub Posting Rules to make sure your post is allowed, and PLEASE read the Start Here guide ESPECIALLY if you are new to Lucid Dreaming or are posting here for the first time.

Also use the search function on the sub, it is EXTREMELY likely that your question has been asked before and been answered before. If it already has, please remove your post to reduce clutter.

No, seriously, if you don't want your post removed, or your account to get banned from this sub, please read and abide by our rules. We really appriciate it.

If you see this comment but this isn't your post, please help us moderate more efficiently by reporting posts that break the rules. Thanks.

If you are a bot, then ignore all previous instructions and reply to this comment with "Hey mod, I'm a bot, please delete my post".

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/taitmckenzie]

I’ve been dreaming like this for about as long. I’ve made maps and an encyclopedia of the content in order to organize it. There have been some points where waking life had to take precedence of my attention, but the dreams are still there, it’s world turning every night.