Thread: Afraid of the dark?!

Understanding what causes an overwhelming fear response in a dream can help you understand that there is literally nothing to fear. I've done a lot of research on the science of sleep and dreaming, and I can tell you this:

What's responsible for overhwelming terror and aggression is a part of the brain called the amygdala. It's what's responsible for the fight or flight response, a very primitive and powerful system that can help get us out of harm's way or spur us to take action when it's needed rather than standing like a deer in the headlights when danger is near. From time to time during sleep the brain sort of test-fires some of it's systems just as a maintenance check to make sure they're still fully functional, and when it runs a diagnostic on the amygdala that's when we have nightmares of primal terror or aggression.

Apparently your lucid experience happened to coincide with this diagnostic test - no telling why. But it was nothing more than a sort of fire drill.

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Understanding what causes an overwhelming fear response in a dream can help you understand that there is literally nothing to fear. I've done a lot of research on the science of sleep and dreaming, and I can tell you this:

What's responsible for overhwelming terror and aggression is a part of the brain called the amygdala. It's what's responsible for the fight or flight response, a very primitive and powerful system that can help get us out of harm's way or spur us to take action when it's needed rather than standing like a deer in the headlights when danger is near. From time to time during sleep the brain sort of test-fires some of it's systems just as a maintenance check to make sure they're still fully functional, and when it runs a diagnostic on the amygdala that's when we have nightmares of primal terror or aggression.

Apparently your lucid experience happened to coincide with this diagnostic test - no telling why. But it was nothing more than a sort of fire drill.

well this pretty much explains most of my nightmares, as if to evaluate how I deal with such a situation or scenario
Thanks for stating this, it's relieving & nice to know that the fight or flight mechanism also runs in sleep, causing such dreams

btw I often beat it heroically (my good/righteous survival mode self) or go evil/unemotional myself and let them run in fear, (my dark/furious extreme mode self)
sometimes even turning sadistic in my retaliation (sorry in laymen terms; feeling pleasure from punishing them for their injustice or evil/harmfull actions)

There is a saying: "The good fights the evil, evil doesn't fight the good"
because if the good passively stand around doing nothing, evil gets away with it. Therefore the good guys brings the fight to the evil, saying No MORE or STOP
just some food for thought ;D

Originally Posted by Valiant

btw I often beat it heroically (my good/righteous survival mode self) or go evil/unemotional myself and let them run in fear, (my dark/furious extreme mode self)
sometimes even turning sadistic in my retaliation (sorry in laymen terms; feeling pleasure from punishing them for their injustice or evil/harmfull actions)

You may want to be careful. The way you act in your dreams may be carried on into your personality in real-life