Thread: What is the point?

Awake.

You make the assumptions that dreams serve a specific purpose, namely, inspiration.

The experience of flying itself is enough inspiration for me.

Originally Posted by XeL

Awake.

You make the assumptions that dreams serve a specific purpose, namely, inspiration.

The experience of flying itself is enough inspiration for me.

I don't make any assumptions. But dreams do serve a purpose. It's a way for our subconcious to delete information in a way. I find many times the contents of my dreams contain things that have been recently experienced by me. It's a pretty essential part of the human mind. Everyone dreams even if they do not remember them.

Did you ever think that perhaps because you're conciously trying to control your dreams you're just having dreams where you're in control of your dreams? True lucidity comes from being aware not so much that you're dreaming but that what is happening is actually happening, from having concious thought inside your dreams. I attain this with no effort or trying. I do not think my dreams would be as successful if I actually tried to have them be lucid.

Originally Posted by Mattrick

I don't make any assumptions. But dreams do serve a purpose. It's a way for our subconcious to delete information in a way. I find many times the contents of my dreams contain things that have been recently experienced by me. It's a pretty essential part of the human mind. Everyone dreams even if they do not remember them.

Did you ever think that perhaps because you're conciously trying to control your dreams you're just having dreams where you're in control of your dreams? True lucidity comes from being aware not so much that you're dreaming but that what is happening is actually happening, from having concious thought inside your dreams. I attain this with no effort or trying. I do not think my dreams would be as successful if I actually tried to have them be lucid.

I disagree with you. I find the content of my dreams to be fairly uninteresting. Everything that occurs can be tracked back to day residue and habitual reactions. I agree with that the Bön tradition followers say: "It's better to be the the dreamer, rather than being dreamed". The content of dreams is not important in comparison to the nature of the dream.

This doesn't mean I dislike my non-lucid dreams. Quite the opposite actually. I see my dreams as experiences. But as with lucid dreams, I also prefer to be in control of my waking state. This makes sense right?

Originally Posted by Mattrick

Doesn't that make the entire journey of dreaming inane?

Not at all.

Originally Posted by Mattrick

For many dreams are sources of inspiration. I know dreams have certainly inspired me. Dreams have placed me in situations and scenarios and forced me to react to the events that unfold. Some of these things have been normal, some of have outright terrifying.

I think many of us here can say the same.

Originally Posted by Mattrick

As much I hate some of the dreams I have, I can't imagine spending my single escape from reality being so maleable.

This is the age-old debate: Is one wasting their life, if they are not spending every waking moment being "productive", in some way? Who is more "properly" utilizing their time on this Earth - the kid with no social life who has always done very well, academically and financially; or the streetwise kid with a million great friends and amazing life stories of unual experiences that few people can relate to?

Which is the more respectable taste in literature - Fiction or Non-fiction?

It's all subjective. The reason you don't understand is because you refuse to see beyond your own, perceived "purpose of the dream state."

But the very fact that you can make yourself fly in a dream means it no longer has any meaning or deeper purpose. Your subconcious is no longer expunging itself of anything.

Not true. When in control, though you may not be experiencing those same emotions that you might if the situation was uncontrollable (terror, uncertainty, fight or flight circumstance), your mind is still experiencing other sensations (awe, empowerment, levity, freedom).

Another important point is that most of us can't say "all our dreams are lucid," and seeing as how you likely don't remember every single dream that you actually have, I'd say that there is a good chance that all of yours are not. Sometimes I remember 8 dreams a night, some times I don't remember a full dream for a week. I would find it incredible that your recall is so good that you actually remember every dream of every night enough to ascertain that every one of them was lucid. The question is - if most of us can only control a fraction of the dreams we have - what are we taking away from our overall dream experience? Much less than you're suggesting, I would think.

And because of this, the impact of my dreams is far more severe. Because I conciously experience these things instead of conciously controlling these things, they become memories for me.

You don't consciously experience these things. You consciously experience a simulation of these things. The point where you realize that what you're experiencing is not real, is the point where your dreaming experience becomes just as inherently "inane" as someone who decides to control what happens next. You can react as a human, but you cannot "fake" terror, with any sort of perfection, so whether you decide to find your way out of the labryinth, or fly to the top of it and walk along the walls, you're still "reacting" with the knowledge that this is just a dream. For some people, the thrill would come from solving the labyrinth, and meeting whatever dangers it had to offer, in stride. to others, the thrill would come from flying out of the corridor, landing on the top of the maze, and looking out over its perimeter - seeing the dark, mist-covered architecture stretching out into the horizon. That is a completely different sense of wonder than the former person would be able to experience, but every bit as "severe." This is compounded by the fact that, being in a newer setting (on top of the maze), you might run into more situations that your mind associates with being at that vantage point (such as a dragon swooping down on you from out of the sky, which you might not have ever come across, had you stayed in the maze itself).

Originally Posted by Mattrick

As someone who wants to enter the world of filmmaking, specifically horror, these experiences will limitlessly help me.

As an artist who loves fantasy and sci-fi, being able to "think outside the box" in given situations allows me more room to be creative in real-time scenarios. I'm not as limited by what I can do/see/experience as I would be, if I didn't even have the "option" of controlling aspects of any particular dream. As someone who wants to enter the world of film-making, I'm surprised that you, yourself, aren't more sympathetic to the thrill of "directing." Sure, it's fun to see what your mind can throw at you (which you can still allow it to do, if you're in control), but it's also fun to create your own imagery, and have it presented in front of you, in flawless detail.

All that being said, the biggest difference between your perspective on this and mind is that I understand and respect both attractions. I still have plenty of lucids, even nightmares, where I decide to just "go with it." Just because I "can" control something, doesn't mean I always choose to. But, there are also times when I want to experience that which could never be experienced in waking life. If I'm dropped into an arena and pitted against an army of monsters, am I going to choose to run around like prey for the remainder of my dream - until I inevitably get eaten - or am I going to orchestrate the biggest, most balls-out battle royale against 100+ snarling, slashing foes, employing superhuman athleticism and explosive magic?

Go on...take a guess.