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Dreams

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Anonymous

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I have a recurring dream (one of several) where I can fly. It is great - I can fly like Superman, control my descent, feel the wind rushing past me, fly really close to the ground or soar high up into the clouds. It always gives me such a thrill to think about it because it is such a good feeling.

My question to everyone is - some of what we experience in our dreams (such as flying) we have never experienced in real life. So, how do our brains know what it feels in order to be able to produce the experience.

Kinda makes me wonder if there is more to dreaming than just the brain reorganising itself at the end of each day..............
 
probably the brain doesn't know how it feels (since there is no way of testing this experience in reality it can neither be proved nor disproved). it's more likely that the mind is reacting to subconscious or latent desires in a symbolic way and so the mind is predetermining the emotional content of the dream before it actually takes place. for the dream to work it has to be vivid in order to be emotive.
 
ted maul said:
probably the brain doesn't know how it feels (since there is no way of testing this experience in reality it can neither be proved nor disproved). it's more likely that the mind is reacting to subconscious or latent desires in a symbolic way and so the mind is predetermining the emotional content of the dream before it actually takes place. for the dream to work it has to be vivid in order to be emotive.
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But then, people have had dream experiences that are verifiable. Someone who has never flown or otherwise been way up can dream of looking down from a great height. They can then get in a plane or go up on a mountain or tall building and verify the appearance.
The problem is that there's probably no experience that has not now appeared on film or tape, so we can no longer perform such experiments -- and in any event we'd have to rely on the subject's subjective report of similarities....
Well, when I was a kid, before I had such experiences in reality I dreamed I was making out with a girl. The physical sensations turned out to be quite accurate when I did engage in that activity.
Possibly there are dreams based on instinctive or semi-instinctive activities that have some innate sensory images, and others that have to rely on imagination.:kissers:
 
flying dreams are fantastic. I like the dreams wher I have magical powers to.

On the dream note though. When I was learning to drive my dad was teaching me to drive a stick shift. We went out several times without me being able to do it. Well one night I dreamt I could drive a stick shift and what my feet were supposed to do. I got up the next day and told my dad to let me take the truck to the store... he said no you can't drive it, I said yes I can I dreamt I could. We took the truck to the store and I drove perfectly... been driving Stick shift cars ever since.
 
RobH2O said:
Kinda makes me wonder if there is more to dreaming than just the brain reorganising itself at the end of each day..............
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Interesting idea.
 
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Who here can read in their dreams?

I have often heard/read that it's impossible to do so, because dreams are supposed to be centered in the right (image-based) side of the brain rather than the left (linear/verbal) part of the brain; but I have done it since I learned to read. Sometimes the words slip around a bit and frequently they don't make any sense, but I've read books, signs, and product labels in dreams.

Last night, for instance, I was in a megalomart shopping, and found that the peanutbutter came packaged with CDs in German. My German is rusty, but I was able to read the labels, and snapped up the one containing Melissa Etheridge singing "Come to my Window" in German (though I can no longer remember how it was translated).

Anyhow, I can believe that the skill is rare, but I can't believe I'm the only one who can do it, and I bet we can turn up a bunch here.
 
I read in dreams, too. I've found that when I really want to focus on a long text, like a book page or note because it's "important" the words and letters become confused. Otherwise, signs and other short words change just as much as the background of the dream (frequently) but are still comprehensible.
 
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I sometimes wake myself up by reading aloud in my sleep. It's always a meaningless jumble of words, though, and puzzles me.

Edit- nah, it no longer puzzles me as I've just realised what it means. It's to do with dyspraxia.
 
I've read a little in dreams,but it is usually difficult.
When I try to focus on the words and their meanings they usually become blurry or else my mind will go on to some other dream imagery.
Interesting though,that there's a reason that it is difficult for most people.

On a side note. I've also died in my dreams...which I've heard that if you die in your dream you die for real. Obviously not so.
I've just felt the life slip out of me,actually kinda relaxing.
Also,I've felt physical pain in my dreams...often as an attempt to prove or disprove a dream state I would bang my hand against something.

As far as flying and trying to prove or disprove a dreamstate I'll focus intently on details, again proof of nothing as I would eventually wake up in bed rather than remain outside flying.
 
I have felt physical pain in dreams also. Just the other night I had a dream that I was being attacked by some kind of creature and it got me for a second and it really hurt! I have never died in a dream, although I have come close to it. Once I dreamt that there was a flood and I was drowning; however I woke up before I actually died. That really scared me because I had also heard that if you die in a dream you die for real, and I came very close to dying in that dream.

Maybe whoever said that got it wrong. Maybe you can die in a dream without dying for real, but if you die in your sleep you do dream that you are dying. Just a thought, I don't know.
 
If I'm reading ( or writing ) in a dream it can really upset the other dream characters. They somehow realise I'm doing something I shouldn't and they try to stop me. Its very weird cause they can't physically stop me so they do silly childish things like put their hands over my eyes or make loads of noise to distract me. But whilst the methods are childish they do seem very angry and frightened.

Taking 'dream knowledge' into the real world is always very weird. Things that make perfect sense at the time just fall appart as you start to wake, like some horrible intrusive sense of logic is butchering the beautiful associations. It can be quite distressing, as the glorious revelation you've just recieved turns into incomprehensible nonsense.
 
If I'm reading ( or writing ) in a dream it can really upset the other dream characters. They somehow realise I'm doing something I shouldn't and they try to stop me. Its very weird cause they can't physically stop me so they do silly childish things like put their hands over my eyes or make loads of noise to distract me. But whilst the methods are childish they do seem very angry and frightened.

Taking 'dream knowledge' into the real world is always very weird. Things that make perfect sense at the time just fall appart as you start to wake, like some horrible intrusive sense of logic is butchering the beautiful associations. It can be quite distressing, as the glorious revelation you've just recieved turns into incomprehensible nonsense.
 
I had a recurrent dream for years that I was being stabbed, always in the right side, and the pain would wake me. I'd be clutching my side and gibbering in terror.

One day it occurred to me that I was causing the pain myself by grabbing at the site of the nonexistent injury. So next time I had the dream, when I started waking up I consciously relaxed my right hand, instantly stopping the pain and curing the nightmare forever. :)
 
I was reading the opening credits to a sequel to The Wizard of Oz made in the 1940s in my dream last night. It was called Welcome to Oz. Beulah Bondi was in it, playing Auntie Em, I think (I didn't really recognise her). The special effects weren't very good and Judy Garland was nowhere to be seen, but it was intriguing and I was disappointed when I woke up.
 
I have a regular dream that I'm the manager of a zoo. In each dream the layout of the zoo is slightly different and I seem to focus on different animals.
 
I had a weird series of dreams last night.

I woke up at about 1 o'clock after hearing an exceptionally loud mechanical buzz. It really made me jump and my heart was hammering.

I didn't locate a source for the sound so I assume I must have dreamt it.

I also woke several times as a woman was calling my name in a really scary way. Difficult to describe in words.

I was dreaming about tornados and rough seas as well.

Very strange night indeed.
 
Hallybods notes:

I have a regular dream that I'm the manager of a zoo. In each dream the layout of the zoo is slightly different and I seem to focus on different animals.
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Maybe these zoo animals are all your "spirit guides" and you really are taking care of them...? Does one animal in particular hold your interest?
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Speaking of animals in dreams...I dreamed about two nights ago that there was a chestnut colored horse leaning against a fence. Suddenly, two guys (maybe 20 years old,) in hockey-type uniforms either ran or skated very fast and slammed into the side of the horse. This infuriated me and I began giving them a lecture. Something along the lines of: "Horses helped build this country. They broke their backs and died to work for us. They deserve your respect!"

I woke up angry.
 
Most of my dreams are about me protecting some sort of animal or animals also. Sometimes they are animals that don't exist outside of my dreams. Once it was this weird squid-like creature with elephant-like tusks protruding from its face. Some guy was trying to topple the fish tank it was in and I woke up just before I probably would beaten the guy up. I tried to re-enter the dream (you know, to make sure the squid was alright) but I couldn't.
 
Originally posted by Bannik
Most of my dreams are about me protecting some sort of animal or animals also. Sometimes they are animals that don't exist outside of my dreams.

I've had a few zoo dreams myself,but usually it's pet shops that I'm visiting.
Often there are really strange animals some which I've never seen.
In one of these dreams I was visiting the reptile cages and saw this tiny little green humanoid in one of the tanks.
In my dream I realized he had been captured and sold to the petshop by someone who really didn't care that this creature was an intelligent and sentient alien being. He appeared really sad,frightened and lonely.
This outraged me as I have seen quite a few animals in real life petshops treated with little regard.
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I don't think dreams happen in anything like real time, because:

I was dreaming that I was on the tube in London. I turned around and there was this big guy with a skinhead, who then threw something at me. When this connected, I woke up. As you can imagine this incident seemed like it took several seconds.

However, I woke up because someone had in real life thrown something at me to wake me up. My mind had, I suppose, invented an "explanation" for it, but that explanation had been played out over what seemed like a longer period than the split-second between the object hitting me and me awaking.
 
Faggus said:
My mind had, I suppose, invented an "explanation" for it, but that explanation had been played out over what seemed like a longer period than the split-second between the object hitting me and me awaking.
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I've often had similar incidents and wondered just how the dream and the action synchronized.
I felt it was more likely that part of my mind was aware of things going on while the other part slept and dreamed.
The dreaming part was acting in synchronicity with the extra-sensory part to create the imagery that led up to the event although the imagery and the event were not the same.
For instance,I've dreamt of a series of happenings which seemed as if they would have to have taken several minutes at least that led up to an explosion while in real life a door was slamming.

I have considered the mind's tendency to explain things too,through a time-compressed version.
Realizing how time is not always percieved at the same rate.
Similarly,the use of hallucinagens can make a tiny fraction of time seem like it goes on for minutes so I guess it's possible for the mind to do the same with the many chemicals it has in it's composition.
 
I was once dreaming that I was wading through a foul-smelling sewer and gagging on the stench. The awful smell woke me up.

It was my Best Friend under the bed, dogfarting. :cross eye
 
I've had the flying dream a few times - sometimes it feels quite an effort to keep aloft and I have to make a conscious effort to stay flying - usually involves flapping arms. I can read and write in my dreams but it doesn't make any sense. Also I can compose really brilliant (in my dream state anyway!) songs but can never remember them in the morning. BTW I am not musical at all.
I often dream that I can't walk properly - that my legs are half paralysed and sort of twisted round each other. I try to walk and everyone is staring at my pathetic efforts. I always assumed that I had cramp and this was my dreaming self making sense of it, although I've never woken up with cramp after this dream.
Another regular dream is that I desperately need a pee but just can't find a loo that I can use - either there is just an armchair where the loo should be, or there is no door, or it is too dirty to use. Of course, when I wake up, I am desperate to go, so this dream must be a "don't wet the bed" warning!!
Although I have lived in about a dozen houses in my life, about once a week I dream about the house where I lived from age 4 -14. Suppose it was when/where I was happiest.
Ok, got to get back to work. Sorry for drivelling on folks!!
 
"Another regular dream is that I desperately need a pee but just can't find a loo that I can use - either there is just an armchair where the loo should be, or there is no door, or it is too dirty to use. Of course, when I wake up, I am desperate to go, so this dream must be a "don't wet the bed" warning!!"

I know that dream.
 
I was going to share my 'telepathic stray dog dream' but ...

Quite frequently I have the 'missing loo' dream. Most often I'm by myself in a very strange building, but sometimes I'm with a group of friends who, no matter how I try to hide, still see me. The loo is missing, or is some odd shape (more like a large flower pot), or is completely missing. (Not even a hole in the floor.) I usually have to open some bizarre door, or squeeze through a partly ruined wall. (Exposed beams and all that.) The reason I remember these dreams is that the search goes on and on ... I go room to room, ask directions, climb up sloping walls, move decaying furniture out of the way, and still can't find it !!! One time I found the gent's room, and the loos were all shaped like barber chairs, and were overflowing with human waste. (Ugh) I put these dramas down to the years I drove a lorry through lonely rural areas, and would pull over to relieve myself in abandoned buildings. The interiors were sometimes quite shocking in their filth.
 
(hi, it's my first time writing on any ForteanTimes forum... so i'm unrealcas, hi) ... (oh yeh! how do i give myself a picture by my nickname? Avatar? or is it too late to do that now? thanx)

i've had some seriously strange dreams in my time, often with complex storylines that normally leads me to solve some amazing mystery. Of course when i wake up i instantly forget what this revelation was or the revelation seems alot less important. I've got loads of stuff to say on the subject of dreams but one of the weirdest things, which i was reminded of by someone on this forum, is that if i leave a pen and paper next to my bed i sometimes wake up to find that i've drawn pictures or written things. I really don't know if this common but i thought i'd mention it after reading that people could read and write while they were actually in a dream.

I have blu-tacked a picture on my bedroom wall that i drew while i was asleep, it's not amazing but it's weird. There's what looks like an underground multi-storey carpark with a man laying in a pool of blood on top of a camper van, again it's not very good, i'm not very artist but it's understandable. The roof of the carpark has a hole in it where the man appears to have fallen through. Remember this is underground. Grass, or lines that are possibly grass, covers the ground surrounding the hole and then above it in the sky there's a stick drawing of what appears to be a flying dragon. I've probably made that sound alot more complicated than it is but i'm sure somebody will be able to tell me that it's commonplace to draw in ones sleep and ruin my interesting fact about myself ;)

I used to sleep walk, talk, pretty much sleep everything at one point. Just another tie-in to the other posts: when i was around 7yrs old i used to set the burglar alarm off at home when i would sleep walk downstairs. One night i came down and was lucky that my parents were still up, as i was almost certainly going to use the bureau drawer as a toilet. Maybe i was having the missing toilet dream and my subconscious felt that the most logical place to relieve myself was infront of my parents the living room :eek:

Anybody else experience anything like this?

Seems like the missing toilet dream is just an extension of the naked dreams that most people get from time to time. I used to have flying dreams when i was at school where i would float up to the ceiling during a lesson and my head would seem to be lodged in the tiles. I also have a recuring flying dream that i am flying over an endless wood where a weird creature is running. I know it's waiting for me to land and every so often i have to land to rest/build up my power to fly, or something. It's always a close shave. Anyway! sorry that this is such a huge post, just have alot to say on the subject :D
 
Hooo, just remembered a dream I had last night.

I was putting on my Doc Marten 'nurse' shoes, the big clompy thick-soled lace-up sort.
I slipped them on, first the left, then the right, and carefully tied the laces, first left, then right, and looked down at them approvingly.

They were definitely my feet, my hands and my shoes.

All very good, except that I have elastic laces in those shoes with slip-toggles so I don't have to tie them.

:confused:
 
Slightly weird fragment:

I was at a fair (medieval type, not funfair). In one of the booths was a display of the mummified remains of holy man who'd mortified the body by cutting away the flesh from between his ribs until, finally, his lungs collapsed and he died.

The shrivelled brown lungs could still be seen hanging in between the empty ribs like deflated balloons.
 
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