I think everyone has a little philosopher in them and that sharing your ideas on the workings of the universe/life should be primarily for fun. I ask that you share your theory on dreams. Why do we have them and so on? Mine is this which I will try to keep simple. My beliefs are wide and I wont go into them though I will state that I do believe in a sort of "rebirth". |
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Last edited by Cirvivor; 03-28-2013 at 02:38 AM.
One scientific theory I've heard is that we might dream to prepare ourselves. (learn how to fight animals without actually being in danger, and so on) |
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"I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process."
-Vincent Van Gogh
And if it is a preview of the afterlife, will hell be your nightmares and will heaven be be those awesome dreams that we will never forget? will we have eternal and omnipotent powers at our disposal? |
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Lucid Dream Count: 5
[✔]Lucidity [✔]Stabilize []Speak to Subconscious [✔]Fly []Shape Shift
[SIGPIC]Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream![/SIGPIC]
My theory on dreams is pretty straightforward. Our dreams are just a by product of our brain analyzing memories. I don't know how exactly we go through our memories, it probably isn't an extremely efficient method based on the randomness of our dreams. The reason dreams seem to have an apparent storyline is for our own good. For the purpose of survival we can't see what goes on in the unconscious mind, and I think our dreams are just a conscious interpretation of our subconscious mind's work. Obviously lucid dreams are a far more complex process and I don't really think they are part of the process. |
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I rarely dream about anything remotely close to my memories, and when I do it is something so fantastical and abstract that the relevance is more of a slight reference used to describe some greater realization which is beyond my ability to relate through invention alone. The dreams themselves become more potent than my memories and have a life of their own, far beyond any machinistic source. What they are influenced by is my lucid mind in the wake of this awesome reality, something happening in the moment. For example I've never become lucid because of remembering induction training I did while awake, it is always because I realize the great potential of the world I am and decide to make use of it, knowing I have the power to enable that potential. |
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Last edited by Finnegan; 03-27-2013 at 08:22 PM.
Upon quick thinking it could perhaps be explained (in an interpretation) as mirrors and light sources in the brain. Light sources could represent brain activity i.e. Memory processing etc. and the light ray itself could represent many things, the dream itself and what happens which could explain the link between memories and dreams. The mirrors could be a result of our conscious mind turning these mirrors until a total internal reflection is achieved thus achieving Lucidity. Multiple mirrors may perform this event but not all which could represent vividness, or the quality of the light in general. Also the mirrors could be foggy or blocked, effectively stopping you from achieving the state of Lucid Dreaming or just remembering dreams all together |
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“It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
- I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. [Stolen from I can't remember where]
-Superadam051 |
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Last edited by Finnegan; 03-27-2013 at 09:36 PM.
It's an interesting analogy but a quite hard one to understand. I don't really see how you are pulling lucidity into it, to me lucidity is quite separated from dreaming, infact I think lucidity is closer to being awake then it is to be asleep from a conscious point of view. |
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I think dreaming is simply a product of evolution. Its pretty much a virtual reality in which you are completely immersed (not counting lucid) in which you are faced with tasks and challenges. |
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Last edited by Alucinor XIII; 03-28-2013 at 12:24 AM.
Rawr!
I wouldn't say the conscious mind fully awakens during lucidity - if it did that then we'd be actually awake! There's just some particular part of the conscious apparatus that goes online during dreams that causes lucidity, without fully waking us up. We know that we can often become lucid for a moment just as we're waking up, but if we do fully wake up then of course the dream ends. So it seems like some kind of cheat or hack - making just the right part of conscious awareness kick in without fully activating it which would just wake us up. |
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I see dreams a lot like dutch, as memories being pulled through the brain, but it is a little different. |
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Reading this entire thread made me wonder whether all or most of you could be right. What if the subject was why do we have arms, and one person suggested it was so that we could carry stuff, another person so that we can reach stuff, and a third so that we can hug oneanother, etc. They would all be right of course. Dreams may well serve many functions and be usable for many purposes including to prepare us to fight/survive/solve problems, to help prepare us for an afterlife, to help us relax/have fun/resolve issues and stress/wish fulfillment, to send us messages from the subconscious, to process memories, to allow random neurons in the brain to fire so that neural pathways benefit from it somehow, to reach enlightenment, and many other possible uses. Just as all of us do not use our arms in all possible ways, we do not all use dreams in all possible ways, but that is the beauty of such multi-purpose things like arms and dreams - they can serve different needs of different people in different circumstances. No wonder God gave us dreams and evolution ensured we retained them. |
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I'm often curious why daydreams are rarely considered on this site, they have an amazing potential that definitely deserves inclusion in the discussion of lucid dreams. I have written a thread on the topic, and I'm in the middle of a project that will showcase the abilities that come with mastering the LDD - Lucid Day Dream. here's the link |
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I think "dreaming" is an inate, undeveloped capability we all possess, and the possibilities of what could be developed is almost limitless. What is the purpose of outer space? Its there, and we can look up at the stars, or we can decide to build ships and go there. Why electricity? We can watch lightening bolts or figure out how to harness it and enter the information age. I think it is a God given ability that man has mostly ignored but now many are investigating and maybe we are on the edge of discovery. |
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Hope you guys like this one. I've been tring to figure out what exactly I think dreams are, lately. It's weird because I always thought that I knew, until a few days ago when I tried to explain to myself what dreams are. And I couldn't. I think about dreams so much that it didn't occure to me that I needed to form an opinion on what they actually are. I'd have to take what some would call a "Scientific" stance on how I think they work for the most part. Now, why we have them is a different story that I'm not addressing here, just so to not negate the possibility of spiritual meaning. But anyways, here it is. |
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We may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon." H.P. Lovecraft
Nerq your response is very interestingly pro-thinking contra-emotion biased, so that I bet in the Meyers Briggs test result your third letter is a T. (EDIT: After re-reading your reply I realized that I may have inserted a bias into it by reading it from my own biased viewpoint - if my claim about your bias is inaccurate, I appologize). My third letter is an F meaning that my personality is such that I trust emotions over thoughts. You say that emotions distract us from the rock solidness of thinking. I say for some of us emotions have such great value that we cannot say they distract: thoughts without emotions are sterile and dangerous, a fully thinking non-emoting person is In my opinion more likely going to be a sociopath and not a desirably "objective" person. Rather than stearing us away from truth, emotions help ensure that our truth is human and not like that of a robot. To me love and compassion and tolerance have way higher value than reason. A person with a pure heart but with limited intelligence can still be a wonderful person, whereas a genius without emotion is likely to not know right from wrong and likely to do things that most of us would consider evil. |
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Last edited by JoannaB; 03-28-2013 at 08:48 AM.
I have a unifying theory. |
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REALITY CHECK
Hmm I think I will read up on this because I don't think the conscious side of the brain has much to do with it. The dream is formed by only taking stimuli from our memories which is an unconscious action, as is interpreting external stimuli. I don't think that consciousness itself triggers any specific events. As I said I think I should look into it first, there is bound to be some articles or papers on the subject. |
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Last edited by dutchraptor; 03-28-2013 at 06:04 PM.
Non-lucid dreams are an accidental conduit to the ocean of knowledge, experience, and spiritual surprise that is our unconscious minds, our true selves, our souls. Lucid dreams are are an opportunity to dive into this ocean, fully self-aware, to learn, explore, and unite with our complete selves. |
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JoannaB, I understand what you were getting at and I think you might have misstaken the meanings I intended for those words. When I said distorted, I wasn't implying any negative distortion. I was looking for more of a literal meaning, the word distortion itself does seem to have a negative tent to it. The meaning I more wanted to bring out, is how emotions animate our logic based thought. Rock solid in the sense that it would be unwavering instinctual thought, but not in the sense where it would be more complete. I agree with you that emotions are very necissary. If we didn't have them, we would behave like wild animals. |
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Last edited by Nerq; 03-28-2013 at 10:17 PM. Reason: Spelling.
We may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon." H.P. Lovecraft
Cirvivor: |
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I've been reading over a few more of other people's ideas. Dutchraptor, it's not like I have any solid data to back my theory but I was wondering if you had any information about how our brain would access memory during sleep? It's an interesting idea. Also I think it would line up pretty well as another facet of where I'm coming from. |
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We may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon." H.P. Lovecraft
What I think: |
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Last edited by Box77; 03-29-2013 at 10:54 AM.
“It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
- I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. [Stolen from I can't remember where]
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