Research case · Cities & buildings
Flying out of the bar
Not stated · Date unknown · contemporary study
It began with a family dinner that I did not want to attend. Then I found myself serving drinks in a bar, and I became lucid while focusing on opening a bottle of wine, because it gave me a sense that something was abnormal. I then covered my eyes with my hands and could still see them too clearly, despite my eyes being closed. I also pinched my nose to check whether I could still breathe. These were the main reality checks I performed in the dream whenever I felt disoriented or noticed that the environment was beginning to fade. The first thing I did was jump out of the window of the cramped bar and fly over a very large and bright square. I then wanted to paint on a canvas in order to send a message, although I do not clearly remember what the message was. To find a canvas, I contacted some friends, who took me to a room with empty walls. Then the alarm woke me up.
Open this dream in the galaxy →
- Source
- Virtual reality as a metacognitive training tool for lucid dreaming — Supplementary Materials — Andrea Signorelli, Francesco Tormen, Bruna Dal Bianco and Nicola De Pisapia, 2026. Supplementary Materials, Reports of Lucid Dreams, Report L2
- Record type
- Research case
- Place
- Not stated · Italian
- Date
- Date unknown · contemporary study
- Uncertainty
- Moderate — De-identified lucid-dream report. The English text is the study authors’ translation from Italian; the calendar dream date is unknown. Chinese title and translation are AI-generated editorial drafts, not human-verified.
- Imagery
- House · Storm · Flight · Light · City
- Feelings
- Calm
Another way to look at this dream
Notes on the images in this dream from psychology, myth, folklore and semiotics. Each names its source.
House
Whose house was it — one you know, or one you only know in the dream? Which room did you spend the most time in?
Jung · The house as psyche
In 1909 Jung dreamed of a house whose cellar led down into older and older layers — Roman, then prehistoric. He later took it as an image of the psyche, with the oldest layers at the bottom.
C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962)
Phenomenology Philosophy
Gaston Bachelard argued that the house “shelters daydreaming”: the attic and cellar of a childhood home stay with us as places to imagine from.
Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (1958)
Chinese fiction Literature
In chapter 5 of Dream of the Red Chamber, Baoyu dreams his way into the Land of Illusion, a palace of cabinets holding registers of the household’s fates.
Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber, ch. 5
Storm
Was the storm far off or already on top of you? Were you looking for shelter, or standing in it watching?
English drama Literature
The Tempest opens with a storm raised by magic, and Prospero later says: “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on.”
Shakespeare, The Tempest, IV.i
Early dream research Dream research
Ellis recorded his own dream of a cyclone threatening the house, and connected it to the wind outside that night.
Havelock Ellis, The World of Dreams (1911), ch. IV
Flight
How did flying feel — effortless, effortful, frightening? Is there something in your waking life you would like to rise above, or see from higher up?
Jung · Compensation
Jung thought dreams often compensate for a one-sided waking attitude: they show the side we leave out. A flying dream can be read either way — lightness someone lacks, or a height they have climbed too fast.
C. G. Jung, “General Aspects of Dream Psychology”, Collected Works 8
Early dream research Dream research
Ellis gave flying and falling dreams a whole chapter, “Aviation in Dreams”, and explained flying mainly through breathing sensations during sleep.
Havelock Ellis, The World of Dreams (1911), ch. VI
Classical Chinese medicine Historical medicine
The Lingshu says that when the upper body is in excess, “one dreams of flying”. This is a historical theory about the body, not medical advice and not a way to diagnose anything.
Huangdi Neijing, Lingshu ch. 43 “Yinxie Fameng”
Exploration notes, not a diagnosis, a prediction, or evidence of real events.
Dreams that share its images
- Floating, burning objects in the kitchen Not stated · Date unknown · contemporary study
- Already at the hospital, so no need to go Vienna, Austria · c. 1895
- Stair after stair in endless series Edinburgh, Scotland · c. 1867–1871
- Leaving the Kitchen During an Alarm Not stated · Date unknown · contemporary study
- Arranging an Empty Dorm Room Not stated · Date unknown · contemporary study
- The shop assistant who had moved England · before 1911