Dreams are, in fact, in our minds, but..
How big are the minds that our dreams take place in? What about collective subconscious or genetic memory?
(side note: even though I just found the site, I am glad it's back!)
I have had my share of negative experiences in my dreams as well, although so far I have always been able to turn them off when they get too intense. My personal take is that our dreams are full on interaction between our conscious minds and 'the rest' of our minds. Lucidity in dreams is just a measure of control, but the subconscious/superconscious part is still very much there (as my recent experiences reveal.)
I don't feel as though I control my subconscious as much as access it. Occasionally the subconscious presents an alternative to what I was planning to concentrate on (Hey, look at THIS, it might be important!) Here's a metaphor..
The conscious is the man in the theater, the subconscious is the man in the projector room. The Conscious can request a movie, but the image on the screen is the ultimate responsibility of the subconscious. The Superconscious is the theater manager, and dictates what is available in the projector room.
As far as brainwashing goes, the conscious mind doesn't always know what is best. It is important to be open to what the rest of the mind has to say just as it is important to have an open mind in waking reality. I wouldn't want to turn that off or rein it in too tightly.
Quote:
What this means I do not know, what realm if any are involved I do not know. I guess now I’m just careful. [/b]
Quote:
I'm not saying I cannot believe that another dimension or another 'state' exists - I'm just saying that the majority of the time, a dream is special in the mundane way. They're all unique, just like the other Tongue And generally internally induced (imagination)[/b]
Here's something interesting about the persistence of consciousness. We 'dream' everything that we experience. The same brain apparatus that we use to visualize dream information is used to interpret visual sensory input, and we can't turn it off. What we percieve as physical reality is an interpretation of that input, and everything that you 'know' is based on your personal model of reality.
When we look at, say, an Apple, our brain interprets the visual/olfactory/etc. input and triggers our section of memory that contains all of our 'Apple' experience. We don't need the entire chemical composition, physical structure, dna sequence to know what it is. If we have an 'Apple' experience that does not conform to our memory, we either need to alter our memory (change our minds) or map a new entry (Granny Smith.) If we didn't take this shortcut, we would need to figure out what an Apple was every time we experienced one. Our brains are powerful mapping tools. We contain the entire space from our front door to our workplace in the space of a few hundred neurons and have room for the kitchen sink.
When we dream, we merely need to access our map. We create a new space in our map for our dreams and fill it with various pieces of content from our memory. Instead of waiting for our sensory input, we take cues from our many levels of consciousness. The space exists in our mind, not in physical reality. If we dream of an Apple, it still has width and depth and weight (what we approximate that Apples should be.) The only congruent 'dimension' that exists between dream reality and waking reality is time.
(point) We create other dimensions in our dreamspace. (/point)
The questions remain: what consciousness exists in our dreamspace dimension? Are we alone in our minds, or can we communicate with a consciousness that is not inherently 'ours' (gods, angels, demons, other dreamers?) Is our dreamspace self-contained or does it overlap with other dimensions/realities?
I think I'll take a break and ponder, but I'll leave with this..
We are always dreaming, waking reality is just louder!
