Explaining why shifting is NOT and CANNOT be lucid dreaming
And why antis should stop saying it is...
First of all, I need to define lucid dreaming for you guys. I'm copying this definition off of Wikipedia for simplicity sake, but feel free to look it up for yourself.
The definition of a lucid dream is "a type of dream wherein the dreamer realizes that they are dreaming during their dream. The capacity to have and sustain lucid dreams is a trainable cognitive skill. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of volitional control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment, although this control of dream content is not the salient feature of lucid dreaming."
By definition, a lucid dream REQUIRES a person to recognize they are in a dream. From there, they may or may not be able to control their dream. Controlling your dream isn't the defining feature of a lucid dream, though. The defining feature is the lucidity, when they become aware that they are dreaming.
If you compare this to shifting, you can EASILY see why shifting cannot be a lucid dream. If someone claims that something was not a dream, that what they experienced was real, that means that what happened CANNOT be a lucid dream. Because, again, lucid dreaming BY DEFINITION means that they were aware of the fact that they were in a dream. If anything, it would be called a vivid or realistic dream, not a lucid dream.
I honestly don't even care if people don't believe in shifting, it's the misuse of terminology that they clearly know nothing about that bothers me. I'm definitely not an "expert" by any means, but it's extremely frustrating for people to say "it's just lucid dreaming" as if that's not insulting to BOTH the lucid dreaming AND shifting communities.
So, long story short, shifting CANNOT be lucid dreaming. If someone says that it is, they very obviously don't know what they're talking about and are just parroting an argument they heard from someone else without even looking into what they are saying.
Feel free to use this argument against any antis who are being disrespectful towards you, or simply ignore them knowing that they can't even be bothered to look up a definition for lucid dreaming.