Can you dream with more intelligence than you really have?

Hi, i have a question about a dream i had last night.

Please excuse the odd details, but as you know, dreams rarely make perfect sense. In my dream i had bought a CT scanner, the ones that take scans of the brain, from ebay. It was a real old thing, like those first huge computers. I figured it would me great storage for some of my tools.

So in the dream, i find that the machine is working, and i decide to give myself scan for a laugh. The scan showed that i had some kind of lump growing in my brain which was concerning. Slightly odd i guess.

What i find interesting though, is that from that moment on in my dream, i went through the whole proccess that you would go through if this were to happen to you, and at every stage of the scenario, i knew exactly what the medical professionals were talking about. It was almost as though i had as much knowledge of brain surgery and the workings of the brain as they did.

I'm talking advanced medical techniques and terminology, even as far as them operating on me.......it was as though i knew exactly what they meant and what to do next.

Yet at this moment, i am awake, and i am baffled by it all.

I do have some background knowledge on brain tumours, as my dad died of one and my step-dad has one too. I have been with him throughout his hospital appointments and the whole proccess. I only know the basics that any other person would know though.

I'm not stupid. I have an ok education, and have a good general knowledge of most subjects, but not to the degree i was dreaming last night. It's like i was dreaming using the brain of a consultant neurosurgeon.

I do have a history of what i have been told is lucid dreaming. (I think thats correct). Where i can control my dreams as they go along, and change the course of them whist i am dreaming.

So i just wondered if anyone else has experienced this whilst dreaming?

Can you dream more intelligently than you are in real life?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

CX.

I like the question and I think it opens up some new questions.

Could it be that the time we're awake we're actually more stupid than we actually are? Are you blinded and confused by so many things that we bypass the intelligence and the intuition that we all have inside somewhere.

Perhaps, for many of us, our intelligence is actually one of those things that, the more you reach for it, the more you actually push it away? How many skills are there where people explain the best way to go about it is something along the lines of 'thinking but not thinking' and so on?

I haven't heard of a higher intelligence while asleep, but I would think it's possible.

I would imagine in your dreams and under hypnosis, your true self or ego might also come through. Under hypnosis, a test subject than might have a higher IQ or better recall.

I had one memorable lucid dream and my wife at the time had called the paramedics because of my labored breathing as if dying and wasn't able to wake me. I even went back to sleep the next morning to continue the dream, which from my recall hasn't happened since.

It was more like an out of body experience that apparently involved the supernatural. A dream such as yours might typically suggest your worry about having cancer also.

reply to post by CX

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yes, my husband has told me that when he does remember his dreams, he is usually solving extremely complex math problems, and he understands them, when in real life, he cannot figure them out. My SIL is the same way, she used to do complex math problems, and solve them, and fully understand what she was doing.

I on the other hand must be totally brain dead as I have never had intelligent dreams like that, mine are really dark, and very wierd, and some are way too sexually graphic to post. KUDOS to anyone who has intelligent dreams, i wish I had your brain!

hi
yes im sure of it
in my dream,s im whit the men i,m whaiting for al my life
in real life i just cant fiend him xxx

[edit on 22-11-2008 by tamaravermeer]

Very interesting and thank you for posting such a thought-provoking thread!

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your dad. You mentioned that your step dad also has a tumor. I hope that his doctors are able to treat it successfully and that you and your family won't have to suffer another loss. Prayers to all of you.

My belief would be that you acquired a lot of knowledge when your Dad went through his experience and even from your Step Fathers experience. You may not recall all of the information that you absorbed but it's still available in your brain.

Have you had a CT scan of your brain? Because of your fathers history it might be wise to talk to your Doctor about getting a scan at some point to be sure there isn't anything going on. The technology now is so good they are able to find things that they wouldn't have found just 5 years ago.

Jemison

I think so. I don't have good reasons to agree, because they are dreams, but i have received information that I shouldn't from dreams. For example, I was having a dream that I walked into a park restroom and I was surprised to find a lion in there. I wasn't afraid of her, because she was just laying there. The back of the restroom was open to the park. I woke up, and the lion image was still in my eyes. I woke up facing the tv. the image was still there and it "popped" out of view gradually. I was surprised... I said "we dream with our eyes". Another I was having was lucid. I was shopping in a glass mall, and I was touching things and I was telling myself, "remember this when you wake up, it is REAL". And another, I was looking at the ceiling from my actual bed, and a shape that looked like my dog became more realistic. It was a 2d dog shape, that colored in like a picture, and I was laying there trying to make it come to life. I was concentrating really hard to make it live. It came alive, but still looked like a picture, I called to it to come closer.. it blinked and began walking. Then it faded back to a picture and a large locust flew by and landed on my headboard. I knew it was going to land on me next, and it did. It hit my hand and flew off again. I woke up right at that moment, and I was still laying in the exact position I was in my dream... and my hand still felt like it had been hit by the locust. I could still feel the sensation. I think I am trying to tell myself something about the abilities we have in our dreams.

Yes, well... I see dreams where there are things that obviously point to an inner genius. Like I write a book and it is complete in my dream. Or build some really incredible machine with blueprints and all.

It is like that when I don't remember the dream perfectly. But then when I do remember it completely it is easy to see that the logic of it all is flawed - The book would be just illogical babble, the machine would not work...

So my question is: Do you really *REALLY* remember the neurology issues in your dream? Or do you just remember that there was some really smart babble about it? Cause when I remember these dream things well I notice that they are mostly just smart babble, sounds really smart, but completely illogical and meaningless when analyzed.

On the level of imagination dreams are of course on the level of a supergenius artist, but the logic tends to be complete nonsense when remembered correctly after waking up.



[edit on 22-11-2008 by ukuli]

reply to post by CX

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first - I have no clue about what is actually happening

but dreams fascinate me - I'm always interested in learning more about what they mean - and why we dream at all

there's something in your question/experience that I think is really unusual - both your father and your stepfather had/have brain tumors

2 people - related to you

what are the odds?

do you see that as being significant at all?

I think it's possible that there are parts of our minds that are more aware of what's going on and absorbing information than the part that we recognize and seem to inhabit the most

so, maybe we are all capable of thinking faster/better/more deeply in our dreams - maybe that's what they're for

I could see that your mind would be working on that particular subject - and juggling any information you've learned - it's always hard to tell with dreams - it's a chicken or the egg thing

but one thing I've always considered is - maybe you're being given information from an outside source

I don't pretend to know anything about that - but, I've had interesting things show up like that in my dreams - sometimes I recognize that it's relevant at the time - sometimes I don't see it until much later

but maybe you're being given information you can use - either from outside - or even from that part of your own mind that's been working out something you need to know

I immediately went to the idea that buying a CT scanner on Ebay was a practical thing, and that you could use it for your tools.... Tools being information or knowledge. Perhaps the knowledge you have you should be used in a practical way, such as going to the hospital and having yourself checked out, since you "know" a lot about tumors. I would go get checked. Even if in your mind you are just being practical.

We are not humans having a spiritual experience, we are spirits having a human experience.

What if you knew the truth that your spirit is connected t the source that breaths all that can ever be known? Your ability to recognize this has merely been grounded out by your ego.

You know everything already. You just have to remember that you do.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to get a scan yourself to see if their wasn't a literal message to your vision.

Think big, and behind the veil of what most see, there truly is a world behind the scenes. It is actual an ocean of possibility.

AAC

Dreams are symbolic.

I read this as you going through an internal shift and understanding why/how it is happening.

It is not about thinking like a neurosurgeon, it is about a thing that is developing inside your head (metaphorically speaking) and your understanding of that thing.

From years of analyzing dreams i have had, I have come to the conclusion That Once we are able to escape our ego's, We will be capable of anything.Maybe its possible that mankind at one point Had something so tramatic happen to them that It put us in the state of mind we are in now.

I truly believe that when we pass on from this life we will be all knowing. We will find out that The answers we seek are just one great thing. Peace and harmony is a great feeling. An Out of body experience will give you a taste of whats to come.

This could also Be a message from beyond. Communications from loved ones passed. A subject that could be discussed for many years and never be answered for sure. But definetly worth the time to discuss.

I bet you do use different parts of your brain because I always remember in more detail than when awake.

You have to keep in mind, that the doctors are also you. So it makes sense that you understand them in your dream, since the doctor and the patient is the same person.

It's odd... I never thought about it this way. Even if you wouldn't have understood them, you gotta ask yourself where their medicinical mumbo-jumbo comes from, since it's you that dreams them. Odd...

reply to post by SiONiX

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I tend to agree with this too. Maybe dreams do have this ability to grant us knowledge, maybe not. I do know this, many times when I am slowly going into a dream, or just about to go to sleep, I sometimes have various new thoughts (that I never remember) but the only sensation I do remember is that what ever it was, made a lot of sense. It was the feeling that I knew - maybe I did know something new, or maybe It was a natural release of chemicals in my brain that have the ability to do that from time to time. Uncertain, but I would like to believe in the hidden knowledge

What an interesting concept and a subject that has been near and dear to my heart for years.

I often dream of building things with detailed blueprints, etc. The odd thing about the "building" dreams is that IRL I can't read a blueprint at all.

I invent a lot of new gadgets/gizmos in my dreams as well. I still keep a pen and paper by the bedside in case I'm able to wake up and capture some of the dream. The few times I have been able to realize (while I'm dreaming) that the dream is important enough to wake up and jot down, have not proven useful. The next morning I find that I've written something like "turbo times 4". ?????

If there really are machines that project a visual image of your thoughts onto a screen, I think that dream research would provide a gold mine of new information.

our brains are computers. terrabytes of information are constantly flooding our neurons. perhaps everything we experience via our senses is recorded whether we conciously remember it or not. and perhaps the idea that dreams are the brains way of cataloging that information is more accurate than we imagine. maybe one day we'll be able to access that ability at will and remember everything we experience via our senses whenever we please. interesting ideas OP.

Thank you all for such interesting replies.

I've only been scanned a couple of times in my life. I used to box and took a particulary nasty knock one time, then another time i got hit round the head with a gin bottle whilst on duty sorting out a pub fight, both times the scans were clear.

My dad's tumour was a result of him falling down the stairs and smacking his head hard, and my step dad, they say his would have been there since birth but has only just started growing. Actualy he had it removed a couple of years ago, but it grew back and is now sat there doing nothing.

It is a good point about "Did i REALLY understand the neurological issues in my dream?". I think i did. As the dream was going on, i was hearing terminology that i knew was real, but beyond what i usualy used myself or heard from the consultants at the hospitals.

The techniques whilst removing the tumours, they all seemed so real, so advanced.....and so right! I know that sounds bizzare, i mean when you think about it, the dream could have been taking me through any proceedure that i didn't know.....does'nt mean it was the correct one in the real world.

Oh well, thank you again for the replies again, they have got me thinking about this subject in a whole new way.

CX.

This is something I was thinking about a few weeks ago. I had a similar kind if dream, where I gained knowledge over a subject I know absolutely nothing about. But then something else struck me as odd. While sleeping, my dream felt like it lasted 2-3 days. I remember doing simple things like showering, cooking, reading papers, talking to people, going to bed(in my dreams, yes), and various other things. When I finally awoke, I was wondering how a 7-8 hour dream can literally make you feel like you lived 2-3 days.

Now, I'm going to go off topic for a second, but hear me out. After this dream, I started to think about technology a little. What if they had some kind of virtual reality device that made us feel like we lived 3 weeks, in the span of only 1 hour. Do you understand how much knowledge you could gain from being in such a device, if such a device actual existed?

Anyways, good thread, I was about to post something similar.