Dream Time

[peter]

The passage of time in dreams is a thing that is somewhat difficult to pin down. That is the rate of passage of time.

We all know (I guess) that dreams are said to occur very rapidly and that what appears, in the dream, to be proceeding at the normal rate - say a ten minute stretch of time - in reality is occurring in mere seconds or fractions thereof in our brains as we lie asleep. Neither is it unheard of for external events to intrude seamlessly into dreams in ways that would tend to confirm the above: say the family is sitting around waiting for the arrival of a guest and then comes a knocking at the door...... only to wake up and find that someone is knocking at the door in reality. The implication of this type of event is that the entire dream sequence has been constructed around the (real life) knocking at the door - and has been done so in the second or so since the first knock permeated your sleeping brain, no matter how long in the dream, you and your family have been seeming to sit waiting for the event to occur.

And then there is the physical sensation of touch, of feeling in dreams. I don't know about you, but in my case actual touch sensation in dreams is a pretty rare phenomenon. I tend to see dreams vividly, but not feel them on my skin (as it were). I have dreamt that I was engaged in a kiss with a woman on more than one occasion, and have been subliminally aware that there is no 'inside', inside her mouth. (Perhaps the less said about those dreams the better, but you get my drift.)

Then a couple of nights ago I had a dream that made me wonder if dreams are not formed (and experienced) instantly in one complete chunk as it were, with the passage of time within the dream being mere illusion as a whole (as we know that it is already illusory in terms of its rate of passage). I dreamt that it was (maybe) after Christmas or something. There was a tree behind my living room table (as we are wont to put at Christmas) and as my wife and I went to remove it I saw a butterfly fall down behind the table (I'd seen Superman with a butterfly on his hand in a movie earlier in the day in reality, so perhaps this explains this bit of the dream). I reached down behind the table and picked up the butterfly (it was a large, diaphanous thing, rather than a real world butterfly type) and as I did so I was pleased to see that it pulled itself upright on my finger, still alive. It stayed there as I conveyed it to the window to release it and then suddenly I felt a stab on my finger where it either stung or bit me, at which point I woke up.

Now here's the point. Did I experience a small arthritic jab of pain in my finger, around which the whole dream was built before my brain was able to register the experience? I've heard that the brain is a bit odd in this manner; that sensations are received (and often acted upon) by the brain, before a conscious representation of them is constructed. The time lag is short, but real nevertheless. Similarly, the process of decision making seems to occur in a different place from where the conscious act of making the decision is actually constructed for your experience. That the decision has actually been made, elsewhere in your brain and out with your conscious involvement, before the illusion of making the decision is constructed for your conscious mind to grasp.

Is something like that going on here? Was the dream built up, after the jab had occurred, but before a representation of it had been constructed for my conscious brain to experience? If so, the dream would have had to have been made and dumped, pretty much fully formed, into my sleeping, but dream conscious, mind - and experienced as such, but still maintaining the illusion that time was progressing in the normal manner and at its normal rate.

[Avatar]

I don't really dream. Assume it's the aphantasia.

--A

[Fist and Faith]

Never thought about the sense of touch. Very interesting

[peter]

It's not absolute Fist - but by and large that particular sensation is not the same thing in my dreams as it is in reality. Smell I can't say about - I don't recall a dream where it has featured, but touch is clearly a truncated version of its waking counterpart.

Hearing tends to be as normal insofar as if I'm having a conversation or whatever it seems to pretty much mimic the real thing.

[Fist and Faith]

I can't read in my dreams. Apparently my imagination just can't conjure up that kind of detail. This comes into play with tornado dreams. I've had many many many tornado dreams in my life. I've always wanted to see a tornado, and every time I have a dream with one, I'm so happy that I'm finally actually seeing one rather than just dreaming about it. Then I wake up. So, realizing I cannot read in my dreams, whenever I see a tornado, I now look for something to read. If I can read, I know I'm actually awake, and actually seeing a tornado. Yippie!

Only it turns out I can fool my dreaming self into thinking I'm reading. And then I wake up and realize there were actually no words visible. Just the usual blur. But at the time, I was sure I was reading something.

It's more than a little aggravating.

And I have yet to see an actual tornado.

[SoulBiter]

Dreams are funny. The incorporate past experiences with things that don't seem connected but when you have time to think about them, there is usually something that connects it all.

One of the things we did as a project when I took psychology in college was to leave a notepad by your bed. For two weeks every time you woke up from a dream, write down what you were dreaming about. If you have never tried that you should. What you will find is that you start remembering more of your dream by reading your notes. Other times you will read your notes and struggle to remember more than vague memories of those dreams. Keep in mind this interrupts your sleep cycle somewhat because the act of waking up and writing brings you more fully awake.

[peter]

Given the choice I'd go with Av's situation and abandon dreams altogether. By and large my dreams are not ones I enjoy very much, even when they don't go so far as to qualify as actual nightmares. There is just something about the feel of them - a sort of ever-present threat in the background - that I don't much care for. I do however remember one from many years ago where a girl I was sweet on at the time had a baby, and showing it to me shortly after the birth I was aware that the child had an almost Christ like quality to it; it was like seeing an angel surrounded by a halo of diffuse gold light and accompanied by a sensation of glory. That was an odd, but very pleasant experience, but in the main my dreams are not ones I choose to remember.

[SoulBiter]

My dreams are usually plain and uneventful. Many are my body telling me to get up and go pee. Usually those revolve around not being able to find a bathroom but having to go really bad, or being stuck in line to get into a bathroom.

Outside of that I have had few action related dreams. Years ago I was being chased in the woods and I remember clearly looking around and finding things I could use as weapons to defend myself. I set up traps of sorts, and even remember climbing up on a limb so I could hit the person as they came by. But I woke up before anything ever happened. I also had dreams when I was in the service about being in a firefight and my gun jamming over and over. When I would get the bullet to eject, it was always bent. Stupid dreams.

[Fist and Faith]

Flying dreams are among the best. At least potentially. I usually can't do any serious flying. Even more frustrating is when I realize I'm dreaming, and should be able to do anything I want, and still can't. I mean, come on! Also frustration is that, usually even when I am able to fly well, there are just power lines everywhere! No matter how high I go, I'm still running into them. Christ.

But those times when I can fly really well, without the power lines... Those are good times!!!

[peter]

Like the sound of flying dreams Fist! That's the kind of dream I might get to enjoy.

I had a repeating dream about being driven up a tree by a bull, which was always just on the verge of getting me (at which point I would no doubt have been pounded into the dust by the brute). I was working with large animals on a daily basis at that point and so it wasn't too hard to see where that one was originating, since the risk of the same happening in reality was ever-present.

Other repeating themes have played on my fear of heights (up really tiny ladders and on very narrow window-sills and the like).

Interesting, the needing to urinate dreams SB: do you actually experience the sensatation in dream form alone, or is it always an accompaniment to a real life need to do so? Is the dream sensation as intense as the real world equivalent can be (if it is the case that it occurs in dreams without a real world stimulus lying behind it)?

[Skyweir]

I mostly love dreaming … I never know what they mean … fears, insecurities, joys, losses, all sorts of strange things unravel in dreams. Alas I don’t dream so very often nowadays or so it seems.

I love flying dreams too

I don’t enjoy dark dreaming where your fears seem to play out … I whilst dreaming unpleasant dreams try to reverse engineer them if outcomes get too scary for me.

I have however, dreamed in vibrant colour, with taste, smells etc … they were usually enjoyable dreams too.

Among the most enjoyable dreams of all are sex dreams - in which I’ve had some of the best sex of my life lol but even in those dreams there can be awkward twists lol

[Fist and Faith]

As many tornado dreams as I've had, I've had more snake dreams. Lots and lots of snake dreams. Sometimes just a huge one, sometimes like Raiders of the Lost Ark. I guess it's my totem animal. Many years ago oh, many many years ago, in high school, a friend told me I must have shown Kundalini energy. I had no idea what it meant at the time. Only years later did I ever learn about that.

[Skyweir]

Being unfamiliar with Kundalini/serpent power I looked it up

Interesting - described as a great power, creative power, feminine power. It can create and destroy - hence its form as a snake or two headed serpent.

https://medium.com/mindfully-speaking/k ... 42f8aa39ed