Are all dreams happening simultaneously?

[Rodrodrod]

I had a really long lucid dream where the scenes changed many times (different dreams depending on how you look at it). Upon awakening I started to note down my dream(s) and struggled at some point to know the order of a particular scene in the dream. I've had this happen before where I can't quite tell which part of the dream happened first. Only this time there was also a really strong feeling that "it doesn't matter" or that "it all happened simultaneously". This feeling happened in the same way that in our dreams we just "know" that a DC is our brother, or how we "know" the way to a certain place despite having never actually been to that place before. When this kind of feeling happens to me in waking life i generally see it as the "source" communicating with me, or the language of the soul, or instinct as some would say. It is usually a revelatory feeling. Anyways, this got me to thinking about how everything is happening right NOW, always; and I'm just wondering if other people have had trouble recalling the order of events in dreams, and if they have ever felt what I am describing. That all our dreams may be happening simultaneously. Could this be true? Let me know what you guys think, and perhaps why we usually experience dreams seemingly in chronological order in the first place. Thanks!

[ParanoidLlama]

I've certainly experienced this before, but never really minded it the way you do. I just find it was poor recall of the events on my part. But I certainly don't think all the dreams occurred simultaneously. I may not remember the order of the things I did a week ago, but I wouldn't think it happened at the same time, it just doesn't make sense. Since time is constantly flowing, you can't be doing two completely different things at different locations at any one moment, and I think that this applies to dreams too, since time keeps going while asleep. But this is definitely a very interesting thought. I think the reason we classify dreams in chronological order is because we're used to it. We're used to saying, "this event happened after this one". And I certainly believe that there is always a chronological order in dreams, and I always love to classify it that way, but in my opinion it certainly isn't the best way. It's easy to say what happened next when it makes sense. Dreams are usually never that way, so it's difficult to do it that way. One minute in a dream you may be walking down a path, then the next you may be planning an invasion against an alien race, in the same dream. I think that's why it's difficult to place events in chronological order, but at the same time we're so accustomed to doing it that we try to find a link. Thank you for posting this thread. Interesting concept I think everyone can benefit from. Sweet dreams...

[OneUp]

I read this blog a while back by OmkAR where he stated that he would go through certain layers in his dreams. Suddenly his vision would start seeing into another dream that was starting to overlap the dream he was currently in. He talks about how many dreams are going on at once and you can change layers to go into different dreams. He also talks about how one time he was in his room in a lucid dream and he could feel his cat touching his leg and purring or something like that. He changed layers and sure enough his cat was there rubbing against his leg, but only in that dream. Hope this made sense, let me know if its too confusing lmao.

[b12]

sleep_cycle_REM_8_hour_graph.jpg If you look at a typical sleep cycle, you notice that you enter REM sleep multiple times per night. REM sleep is where you have the interactive dreams, whereas "dreams" in the other stages are more like "feelings," or "ideas." I've never heard of having more than one dream occurring simultaneously, but it's well known that you have many dreams per night, regardless of whether you remember them or not. However, I have heard a theory that may explain the feeling of "timelessness" you experienced. The dreams we remember are the dreams that we have right before waking up, and we're a lot more likely to remember them if we wake up in the REM phase of sleep. I have heard a theory that, the dreams you remember are actually completely created in the few seconds where your brain is going from sleep to wakefulness. It's your body's response to whatever stimuli you are experiencing at the moment. That means, in the 5-10 seconds you wake up, you could live a whole life (because dream time is not the same as real time). So a disjointed feeling where everything "occurs at once" and the chronology doesn't really matter could mean that your entire dream was manufactured by your brain in such a short amount of time, that all of the dream information basically hit your brain at once. Again, this is just a theory!

[robertcox88]

But of course... because everything happens in the here and now (philosophical voice). I just look at it as my mind trying to make sense of left out details... It's not even that I forgot them they just never were explained. My mind wants to some kind of order so it makes up stories that fit.

[Rodrodrod]

Thanks for the responses guys, it's much appreciated. You guys have provided me with a lot of stimulating thoughts and explanations, so I guess it makes sense for us to arrange dreams chronologically since that's how we arrange waking life. It's still fascinating the merging of time and timelessness and how bizarre the in-between ground seems to be. @ParanoidLlama - It certainly doesn't make sense when we think about it, but there seems to be a timelessness from dreams that may make this possible. Since we are able to dream of the past, and future. But it looks like our mind is always trying to simplify things in order to cope better. @OneUp - Yeah I've heard of that before too, but had forgotten about it. There's a thread by FlowOfMySoul about the layers in dreams. http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...i-layered.html @B12 - I've experienced 'feelings' and 'ideas' in early stages of dreams, so it's probable that those are always running in the background. I like that theory very much. And it makes some sense too, the translation of stimuli into dreams. But I'm not sure that it's always like that. Or perhaps 100% like that. Who knows...

[Rodrodrod]

Lately I've noticed that in a lot of my dreams I go through an event or story until I reach its conclusion only to find myself back in the same story but now knowing how everything turned out already. When I am back I don't go through the exact thing I just went through but it is still the same story and characters whilst the DC's also seem aware that everything just happened. Maybe what is happening is just a theme of the dream, but it still feels that the order doesn't ultimately matter but rather that I still have to experience that particular dream scenario. Though it seems that it is obviously going in order, perhaps this is so only because my awareness is changing how I view it. Just thought it was interesting seeing this kind of timelessness from within the dream itself and it seems connected to this thread so I thought that I'd share