Do we have freewill in Dreams?

Question

In my dreams i often feel like i can guide and make choices as to what happens. Is this true freewill or is it the perception of freewill as i am following a preset course?

Answer 1

Well I don't but other people might.

Answer 2

Yes, we have freewill in dreams, but i think we only have it if we know that we're dreaming.

Answer 3

You can't really choose what you're going to do in a dream, like you can never pinch yourself in a dream to see whether you are dreaming. Dreams a re usually reflections or abstractions of our feelings and emotions. They might also be related to a book you're reading, music you're listening to and heaps of other things.

Answer 4

In normal dreams, I would say no.

In lucid dreams, there is a degree of free will. If you are fully lucid (ie, conscious) then you have excellent decision-making abilities.

Are your dreams exceptionally clear and vivid? Have you tried setting a dream intention - for instance, saying, next time I become lucid, I will fly up through the clouds and into space.

If you can achieve that (which lucid dreamers can), then you are exercising free will.

If you want to polish your lucid dreaming techniques and have lucid dreams regularly, there is a course by Bradley Thompson that has some great advice: http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/l...

Answer 5

It's called lucid dreaming and you need to be aware that you're asleep while you're in the dream if that makes sense. Some people are more adept at it than others and from what i've heard it is possible to practise to achieve lucidity - take a look at this page on Wikibooks: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_Dream...

Answer 6

Yes, but it is very unlikely that you will do that.

It depends on what stage of REM sleep you are in.

Answer 7

I don't believe we do have freewill in our dreams if you have ever had a night mare or any dreams about anything you can't control and have no decision over then you are not having that dream by way of free will.

Answer 8

Yes in my dream the other night night i was trapped in my house with these people that i didnt like and i couldnt get them to leave and my dream ended there so i woke up and when i went back to the dream i fought them and wedged them under a table until police arrived.

Answer 9

As a young child I used to have a recurrent nightmare. Each time I would make some decisions based on that fact that I knew the outcome. What I didn't know and couldn't control was when I would wake so it was pretty terrifying. I think it's probably a perception of freewill but that's only my opinion.