The Daily Planet -or- Lucid Dreaming in Israel
This dream interpretation is about lucid dreaming. Many dreams sent to the International Institute for Dream Research have this type of dreaming as a theme. I do not practice lucid dreaming, although I have experienced it and as the dream below reports, it all seems very "real". Here is the dream;
Nathan, 26 Israeli
I was dreaming that I'm with some friends in my friend's house when suddenly all the scene changed. I found myself standing in a weird looking cage that has a fence floor, and through it you can see an endless bottom. I remembered I looked around myself and the paradoxical structure of it made me remember that I was somewhere else before. how than could I got there? That very moment I realized I was dreaming. I stayed calm although I was bursting in excitement since I was hoping for so long for this to happen - to control my dream and to experience a Lucid Dream.
I told my friend in excitement that I can fly, took his hand and flew with him like Superman and Louis. We flew over water and the view was just SHARP, as if the dream was actually High Definition. I then realized that I can simply do anything, so I just flew in light speed to space!! Then I began firing plasma balls out of my bare hands and there was simply nothing I couldn't do! I've raised buildings from the ground. It was simply the most amazing thing I've ever felt. All senses were working and felt like reality. In some point I really had rough time to see whether this is dream or reality. But what made this dream super special to me is that before going to sleep I told myself that I want to fly and that really happen. I really hope it will happen again !!!
Superman in High Definition -or- The Mind can Build Almost Anything
In the film "Inception" one dialogue between Cobb and Ariadne goes something like this;
Dom Cobb: Well dreams, they feel real while we're in them, right? It's only when we wake up that we realize that something was actually strange. Let me ask you a question, you...you never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.
Ariadne: I guess, yeah.
Dom Cobb: So how did we end up here?
Ariadne: Well, we just came from the...uh...
Dom Cobb: Think about it, Ariadne. How did you get here? Where are you right now?
Ariadne: We're dreaming?!
Much like the dreamer in "Up the Down Staircase" (or Inception) you experience a "paradoxical structure" and then you remember and realize you must be dreaming, thus giving way to a lucid dream. Flying like Superman, or Neo in "The Matrix ", is one thing, the firing of plasma balls out of your hands seems somewhat over the top in that you appear to be bringing the Hollywood dream factory film "Iron Man" into your lucid dream scenario.
As for the building part that you experience in your dream, Dom Cobb gives you an answer for that as well;
Cobb; "They say we only use a fraction of our brain's true potential. Now, that's when we're awake. When we're asleep, our mind can build almost anything."
On a final note, the problem with lucid dreaming is as you say, that you no longer can tell the difference between the dream and reality. Isn't that the "real" tragedy of "Inception" was all about, that Cobb's wife could no longer decide what was a dream and what was real?