Help: A Black and White Dream I don't Really Understand

I'm new to lucid dreaming and astral projection. I didn't know much at all about it until I had this dream. I shall describe it below:

Friday 4th April 2014.

I was having trouble getting off to sleep. I had company. One of my friends was staying over and she was sleeping beside me. I couldn't tell if I was drifting in and out of sleep or not, but I knew that I was hot and couldn't settle so easily. Eventually, I kicked the covers off and I turned over onto my back.

At some point, I fell out of consciousness and I began dreaming, but it was unlike any other dream I had before. There wasn't a significant transition between wanting to sleep, feeling sleepy and then actually sleeping. It was as if I just shut off, despite having trouble sleeping.

First of all, it was in black and white, and the dream began with me standing before my living room window. I saw myself from behind standing before the window, and then I returned to my body and was looking through my own eyes.

When I looked out of the window, I saw chaos. Swirling black and grey chaos. There were tall buildings, and swirling mists. There was a dragon like creature breathing fire onto a nearby sky scraper. There was a large fish, much like a plaice, floating in the sky to my left. On the ground, there were no people, just swirling clouds of mist. Everything was moving so fast, but so slow at the same time, and I was turning my head this way and that way, in awe at what I saw. I wanted to understand and capture everything so quickly.

I wasn’t scared or exciting. I didn’t feel any apparent emotion. There was also nothing there that reminded me of anybody, of anything significant, other than the fact I was still in my own home, but just everything but myself and the window was in darkness.

The only way I can see to describe the atmosphere of what I experienced was when Frodo puts on the ring in the Lord of the Rings series and he’s transported to a different realm.

And then after feeling a serge of intensity coarse throughout my body, I suddenly became conscious. I'd awoken so suddenly that I'd sat bolt upright, and gasped out loud. I looked into the archway of my kitchen (as I was sleeping in the living room) and saw a grey mist. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and without even getting up to use the toilet or get a drink, I went straight back to sleep. But I had a 'normal' dream, in colour, and I woke up in the morning feeling like I'd slept well.

I really want to understand this. Can anyone relate? Would love to know.

[Michelle11]

This dream is showing you where you are currently living, your outlook on life, how you are perceiving it. As much as we may think we are conscious of our thoughts and feelings sometimes we are actually unaware. This is something you want to bring out from your subconscious (fish). There is a tendency for you to see things as black and white, likely all or nothing. You have an idea and become very passionate about (dragon) it but in the process you may go too fast, get overwhelmed by it all and loose sight of what you were doing and become a bit confused and it subsequently falls to the weigh side. I think this dream basically points to a trait you have to go after things with guns blazing but because you may rush too fast you lose the plot and things don't pan out. The dream to me is basically say to try and slow down a bit so things don't overwhelm you.

[Rawnrr]

This dream does not seem to be a lucid dream or astral projection.
In a lucid dream you are vitally aware that you are dreaming, while in the dream, and as such you would walk about the dream with a level of consciousness close to your waking level, being aware that you are actually laying in a bed, having the dream.

What you have sounds more possibly like a vivid dream.
You do have somewhat more consciousness involved in a vivid dream, and that is why the images can be more striking to you. Vivid dreams also tend to carry more of an emotional experience due to the increased level of consciousness, but since you said there was little emotional reaction, that may indicate that the consciousness was not too deep.

But, it does sound from your reaction that the dream would have been more vivid than you are used to, so because of that it is indicative that your consciousness is growing to become more aware in the dream state, and it could be a start on your journey to lucidity.
At this point I would still look at the dream as a dream and try to work out the symbolism. Looks like Michelle11 gave you a good start on that.

Originally Posted by foreverseekingpeace

I'm new to lucid dreaming and astral projection. I didn't know much at all about it until I had this dream. I shall describe it below:

Friday 4th April 2014.

I was having trouble getting off to sleep. I had company. One of my friends was staying over and she was sleeping beside me. I couldn't tell if I was drifting in and out of sleep or not, but I knew that I was hot and couldn't settle so easily. Eventually, I kicked the covers off and I turned over onto my back.

At some point, I fell out of consciousness and I began dreaming, but it was unlike any other dream I had before. There wasn't a significant transition between wanting to sleep, feeling sleepy and then actually sleeping. It was as if I just shut off, despite having trouble sleeping.

First of all, it was in black and white, and the dream began with me standing before my living room window. I saw myself from behind standing before the window, and then I returned to my body and was looking through my own eyes.

When I looked out of the window, I saw chaos. Swirling black and grey chaos. There were tall buildings, and swirling mists. There was a dragon like creature breathing fire onto a nearby sky scraper. There was a large fish, much like a plaice, floating in the sky to my left. On the ground, there were no people, just swirling clouds of mist. Everything was moving so fast, but so slow at the same time, and I was turning my head this way and that way, in awe at what I saw. I wanted to understand and capture everything so quickly.

I wasn’t scared or exciting. I didn’t feel any apparent emotion. There was also nothing there that reminded me of anybody, of anything significant, other than the fact I was still in my own home, but just everything but myself and the window was in darkness.

The only way I can see to describe the atmosphere of what I experienced was when Frodo puts on the ring in the Lord of the Rings series and he’s transported to a different realm.

And then after feeling a serge of intensity coarse throughout my body, I suddenly became conscious. I'd awoken so suddenly that I'd sat bolt upright, and gasped out loud. I looked into the archway of my kitchen (as I was sleeping in the living room) and saw a grey mist. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and without even getting up to use the toilet or get a drink, I went straight back to sleep. But I had a 'normal' dream, in colour, and I woke up in the morning feeling like I'd slept well.

I really want to understand this. Can anyone relate? Would love to know.

Sounds like a premonition to me. Part of it anyway....
I have had many dreams like that in the past.
One dream of a crowd of us hiding in a large shed while the earth raged about us.

Deepsea

Was this a lucid dream?

..

Yes it was and quite frightening....I remember it was at the time when storms were raging in the UK and there were hints that maybe the time was coming that the world was going to end.

I believe I was shown the way to get of this.

A way over a bridge from one part of the world to another...
One side was raging and if I could get to the other side,I was safe.
I was in the dream...

Originally Posted by deepsea

Yes it was and quite frightening....I remember it was at the time when storms were raging in the UK and there were hints that maybe the time was coming that the world was going to end.

I believe I was shown the way to get of this.

A way over a bridge from one part of the world to another...
One side was raging and if I could get to the other side,I was safe.
I was in the dream...

And how did you handle it (in the dream)?

I made the other side of the bridge and found that side was untouched..

No storm,no angry wind....Someone suggested to me that I had visited the spirit world....