A Critique of Sleeping and Dreams.

A Critique of Sleeping and Dreams.

Interestingly enough, dreaming, lucid dreaming and sleeping have their scientific possibilities. I can observe my dream worlds as if I was walking through a garden as a botanist. In my dreams I can create imagery, or somehow the imagery forms on its own. I can examine that imagery, albeit through a foggy lens, in the hopes of making some sort of sense of it when I awake. For a while now, I have been recording all memories of my dreams as soon as I’ve awoken. These are my observations on sleeping and dreaming.

Observations

1.
Sometimes, I don’t remember anything from the hours during which I slept. I cannot say for certain whether I dreamt or not during those times. I can fall asleep and seemingly wake instantaneously several hours later.

2.
If when I fall asleep one way, and I awake in a different position, I do not remember when, why or how I moved.

3.
One thing I’ve found while dreaming is I cannot for the life of me disconnect the objects in my dreams from my experience and memory. Everything has its roots in what I’ve sensed and experienced throughout my lifetime. If I see a horse, it is a culmination of many horses, or maybe it resembles my favourite horse, the one that holds the most esteem in my memory. I can dream of a beautiful place, even a paradise, but that place always shares qualities of places I’ve seen or experienced. It is known that a man who has been blind from birth dreams without any form, for he has never witnessed any form to dream of. My dreams are somehow connected to my sensual experience and the memory I have of it.

4.
I’ve dreamt I was trapped in quicksand, only to awake and find myself tangled in blankets. I’ve heard voices and had conversations with people in dreams only to awake to hear people chattering in the street. I’ve smelt coffee and toast, I’ve heard bells and dogs and I’ve seen my worlds brighten as the lights get suddenly turned on. The senses do not stop. I am paradoxically conscious of my surroundings while remaining ‘unconscious’ at the same time. This is why I awake at movement in the bedroom or at the sound of my alarm—my senses are still fully functional. My body is still conscious.

5.
Dreaming will affect the body—any man can attest to this. Dreaming can cause movement in the eyes, in the muscles, in the voice, in overall bodily arousal, even to the extent of walking to another room. I have had complete coital experiences while asleep (maybe too much info). My actions within my dreams manifest physically, causing bodily movement, arousal, stimulation, vocalizations, pulse and breathing fluctuations, but my memory of that physical manifestation always evades me.

6.
Despite the apparent connectedness between objects in the awake and the dream world, there is an extreme deficiency of any sort of physical or natural law. Objects morph in form, men fly through the clouds, animals talk, and the dead live again. If lucid, I can almost play like God (although the result is very fragmented and un-sensual, and not as vivid or spectacular as real life in my opinion). There is no grip on reality in dreams.

In Summary

My body isn’t disconnected from the brain during sleep, as actions in a dream can cause reaction in the body. My senses do not fully sleep, as sense datum can penetrate a dream. Objects in the dream world resemble fragments of objects from my past experiences. When I wake from sleep, whether I have dreamt or not, I don’t remember the state of my body in the hours during which I slept.

Questions

Many question arise in myself from my observations. What is missing here? Why is the dreamworld so detached from reality despite the abundance of real imagery? Why is there never any context in the dream world? Why do I hardly remember anything on awakening?

What is it in me that actually sleeps?

Originally posted by NiNjABackflip

A Critique of Sleeping and Dreams.

In Summary

My body isn’t disconnected from the brain during sleep, as actions in a dream can cause reaction in the body. My senses do not fully sleep, as sense datum can penetrate a dream. Objects in the dream world resemble fragments of objects from my past experiences. When I wake from sleep, whether I have dreamt or not, I don’t remember the state of my body in the hours during which I slept.

Questions

Many question arise in myself from my observations. What is missing here? Why is the dreamworld so detached from reality despite the abundance of real imagery? Why is there never any context in the dream world? Why do I hardly remember anything on awakening?

What is it in me that actually sleeps?

edit on 16-10-2012 by NiNjABackflip because: (no reason given)

It is because most likely when you lucid dream you are going into the fourth dimension. In here anything is possible including encountering beings never seen before. Imagine space time not really existing and everything is compacted together.

But thats just a theory

I just wanted to point out that while one is asleep, they remain aware...So you are still awake to a certain extent, and especially can still hear. I have had many of these same experiences at one time or another, and likely most of those reading this have as well.

I do like the fact that you documented your observations in such a scientific manner, as it makes what you have to say more appealing than it would have been otherwise. That is probably just my personal preference and bias however. I did enjoy reading your thoughts, and thank you for writing this thread.