Originally posted by Taosaur
Quote:
I've concluded that dreams are much like an altered state created from drug use.
That holds up, as far as it goes. I would add that dreams are also very much like the trip of waking life, and the same goes for drug experiences. In waking life, we're just tripping on external rather than internal data, and we have more opportunities to check our perceptions against other sources.
I do like the \"reboot\" theory--that the brain actually winks off for a second, then has to rebuild ego from the system architecture. I think I've read something similar before, about how we die each night and a new personality wakes up in the morning, almost identical, but not quite. It's also similar to the bardo teachings in Buddhism--that the process of sleeping and waking is a microcosm of death and rebirth, and each moment is likewise a microcosm of the whole, with each of us dying and being reborn each moment, clearly related to the person who was sitting here a moment ago, but not quite continuous with them. (that was just one way-oversimplified take on the bardo teachings, btw).
I know this is not quite what you meant, but what do you think?[/b]