holy shit
i had a paracosm since i was 12 and when i started lucid dreaming i FOUND IT as a real place
i thought i was losing it but this makes so much sense - i was accessing it in low-bandwidth mode (daydreaming) and then upgraded to high-bandwidth (actual dreaming)
it's not that i created it OR that i'm crazy, it's that it exists and i was accessing it through different connection types
ok i'm going to be the boring one here but: this is probably just your unconscious mind elaborating on the framework you created while awake. your brain has TONS of information you don't consciously access.
you didn't discover a real place. you discovered that your sleeping brain is more creative than your waking brain.
still cool! just. not evidence of external realms.
OH MY GOD
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WITH MY DR
i've been trying to shift to my fantasy medieval DR for months. couldn't get there. but then i tried the shared dreaming approach - like treating it as a place that EXISTS rather than a place i'm shifting TO
and i GOT THERE. and it was DIFFERENT than i scripted. which means it's REAL???
okay i need to talk about something that's been bothering me
i've had a paracosm since i was like 12. it's this whole coastal town with specific people and geography and lore. i've spent HOURS there every day for years. classic maladaptive daydreaming, i know my therapist is Concerned
but recently i started trying lucid dreaming techniques and
i VISITED it. like actually visited. in a dream. and it was MORE detailed than in my daydreams. there were buildings i'd never imagined. people i didn't create.
so like. what if i didn't CREATE my paracosm. what if i DISCOVERED it. what if it's been a real place this whole time and i've just been accessing it in a low-bandwidth way while awake
i'm kind of freaking out