Interesting thing about inner voices.

[Dthoughts]

We all have auditory hallucinations during sleep. It's completely normal. Sometimes you can hear them while not asleep. In that case it's called a sympton of schizophrenia. I happen to hear those voices quite alot. This tells us nothing about the content of the voices however. I've experienced random sentences and stuff and even voices of violent nature. They don't really come when i force them to. But sometimes they take the form of people i know. They will sound just like them and act the same way. Just now i was overthinking the fact that i just ate some meat from the supermarket. I remembered a friend of mine who advised me to eat Halal meat. I wondered if this piece of meat was halal and immediatly got a voice inside of me that said : It's haram to eat this meat . The interesting part about this was that i had no idea what haram meant. I looked it up on the internet and found out that Haram means ; "Forbidden by the Koran." I had no idea, i mean i suspected it after the voice said It's haram. But beforehand i never knew this word and nobody ever told me what it meant. I'm pretty sure.

[Darkmatters]

Wow, intense!! I never realized those "voices" schizophrenics heard were the same as we hear in Hypnagogia!! But it makes sense... apparently every mental dysfunction is really just a normal state of mind that got 'stuck on overdrive'. I've actually heard those voices at times when I'm not falling asleep... like if I'm really stressed out. Now I feel like I understand to some extent what Schizo's are experiencing (though I'm sure it's a lot worse for them). I wonder if your subconscious mind had the info stashed away somewhere not accessible to regular memory? That would be my theory anyway.

[nina]

Hmm...I hear voices like you described in the OP all the time. I think those are completely different from auditory hallucinations. Those voices are in your mind, you're not really "hearing" them, you're thinking them. I don't know how it works with schizophrenics though. The only unusual part about what you posted is that you don't know what "haram" meant, however I challenge this. Can you be positive you didn't know? Maybe you knew, but you forgot you knew. It seems way more reasonable that you've heard this phrase before and either knew what it meant or inferred meaning from it. Your conscious mind is NOT aware of your entire store of knowledge. The unconscious mind, for example, takes in a million more details every second that you are never even aware of. It often taps into these stores in dreams, and likely, when thinking such things as you were. There's a lot of research about this to back up what I've said btw, if you want to look it up. Also, this shouldn't be in IS but I gotta get to work, so I'll move it later.

[Darkmatters]

Nina, are you SURE it's not the same kind of voices? That would actually make sense. Anyone here who can confirm or deny? And to clarify, when I said I sometimes hear them when I'm not falling asleep, usually its when I'm in bed and TRYING to sleep but I'm really wound up and my mind is racing a mile a minute. I suppose the same "voices" (mental chatter?) are there when you're fully awake too but you don't notice it unless you're trying to shut it down like for meditation or to try to fall asleep.

[Dthoughts]

It's not really intense, its a very subtle thing while in waking state. But once you start focusing on it or interacting with voices they become more concrete and sometimes i subconsiously visualize their appearances and they will be in motion talking to me. But rarely. It's very easy to mix up my own gibberish with talking to my unconsious but once you start talking full sentences it becomes obvious its not completely driven by urself. In audio hypnagogia these voices just pass you by and usually in large amount and at random. Atleast that's how it is for me. When i hear voices like someone in my house. Once when my grandmother went to bed i clearly heared her voice outside of my control saying stuff that where relevant to her day. And in some cases i have conversations with people about relative stuff. I might subscribe to the theory of a collective unconsious we all have and is the same for everyone. And i think everything there is to know is there, like the Akashic Records. Or some kind of dna storing of information. But generally speaking, how i visualize things and who i hear is based on memory. The content is often not.

[Darkmatters]

Oh ok... wow, how did I not realize... I even started a thread about this very subject recently: Accessing the subconscious through imaginary dialogues?

[Dthoughts]

I surely heared the word haram before but i'm so certain i never asked the meaning of it. Or that anyone ever felt the need to tell me. But i can't know for sure. One time i was busy on my computer thinking my own thoughts and hearing someone say things out of my control. When i tuned in to that it said ; I'm from behind the matrix. very clearly. And other stuff i don't remember. When i asked what "it" wanted i get the feelings it wants me to sleep and i might hear voices say it. But i'm not sure if that really is out of my control or my own subtle thoughts i conjure up or am not fully aware of. I might confuse them sometimes. Makes me feel a little gullable sometimes. After i went to sleep tho this day. i woke up without remembering any dreams.

[labyrint]

BBC NEWS | Health | Voices in the head 'are normal' Hearing Voices or Seeing Things? Cut Back on the Coffee | World of Psychology

[labyrint]

I just like to give one scientifict fact because linking imaginary voice (you can hear auditory hallucinations like coming from outside or inside your head but still separete from the thoughtflow you experience as your own) to schizophrenia is fairly common and held true. This is why it's a tabu and should be conversated more freely. Schizophrenics hear voices - that is true. Almost five prosents of people do this, and it's nowdays not considered as mental illnes. (I'm guessing that there's even more) Stress might add it, as not sleeping and by reasent study coffeine. They are not always negative, and many people have no problems with them. There are periods with negative voices, schizofreniacs have them when they are struggling with their state. But also other people can have negative voices. BTW interesting topic

[Ilumirath]

I have this too lately. I hear someone saying something (like I hear them say my name and some wispering about me) I look to the person and they are not even looking at me and they are just doing their thing, they are meters away sometimes. So confusing, like Im picking up their thoughts about me? I don't know...

[Darkmatters]

Thank you labrynt! And I used to drink a LOT of coffee around that same time. Probably some days around 7 regular cups (I used to fill a medium drink cup several times). DC, you're just hearing echoes of Stalin speeches... Interesting though.. you say you hear it as if it could be someone nearby talking. For me it never sounded like an actual external voice, I always knew clearly that it was inside my head. But labrynt did say it sometimes sounds internal and sometimes external.

[Unelias]

I'd say that the voices those who are mentally unstable hear are far more vivid than the one we hear during HH. But the core concept is the same, I believe. It is the notion completely born from your auditory lobe of the brain and the ears and receiving organs are completely uninvolved. We all hear "voices" in our head, but the problem that most schizophrenics posses is that they hear voices all the time and they are unable to perceive the reality and origin of those voices. Add visionary or touch hallusinations and you will have a hard time to see delusion from reality. I was skimming some old patient records that were released to research and many schizophrenics had a though that ie. their arm is talking to them and they engage frequent conversations with the voices in forms of asking for opinion, arguing or being threathened by them. I hear voices too as you all said, but I'd say they are just echoes more than voices. If you have tried hallucinatory drugs sometimes you'll know what it is most likely for schizophrenics. HHs don't come that close compared to that. Also, we all most likely have feelings like DarkComrade posted. That can also be explained with electrical surges in your brain synapses that cause brief sense disturbance or memory retrieval. I sometimes hear my name whispered with my friends voices too. ( and no one, I said no one, is going to make a forever alone reference on this )

[Darkmatters]

Hahaha!! Had to google Forever Alone. Oh yeah! It's THAT guy! When I take Galantamine for lucidity I sometimes have lucid dreams where I find myself laying in bed at the beginning and I'm hearing loud voices like there's a party going on in the next room, or people standing right behind me talking loudly to me or about me, and I can't move to see them. Sometimes the voices get abrupt and LOUD!! And sometimes it's like they're threatening or angry or screaming, though I know I'm lucid dreaming and it doesn't frighten me. Once years ago I had a really bad stress nightmare that I heard my mom whispering in a hoarse voice form her bedroom. I could just barely hear it, but her voice was filled with terror, and this time I did get frightened. I got out of my bed (in the dream, but I thought I was awake) and went down the hall to her room and listened. I could just barely hear her, and she said "Help me, I can't breathe!" I woke up terrified and had to go check for real, because she had COPD (a respiratory disease). This was probably the closest thing I've ever experienced to what schizophrenics hear.

[Unelias]

I have same kind of hallucinations when I am half-sleep during then night. Once I had a sex dream ( while sleeping with my ex ) and I kind of woke up. Not completely, but still. And I saw this another girl I was having sex, even though it was my ex. But the hallucination was so vivid. I thought probably it was still a dream. The strangest thing was the feeling in my mind, not the sensory input I had. Even though, I *saw* another woman, more frightening was that in my mind.. well, I think I *knew* it was this another woman. After I realized it was my ex, I was kind of freaked out.

[Dthoughts]

I've been having stress on and off yesterday. And it's very true what u guys are saying. Especially when u are stressfull you just get echoes of hate thrown at u. I heared all sorts of nasty shit yesterday. But what i noticed is that when i'm not in HH or anything like that the voices are only active at certain points. For example, when i make a thread on DV i hear a lot more voices. I hear opinions, of people about the stuff i say. When my grandma sleeps here. As soon as she goes to bed i can hear her voice talking. If you allow for the theory that we all are one consiousness. That we all come from the same immaterial source but we inhabit different vessels what im saying is not that far-fetched. And if ur interacting with friends ur interacting with their unconsious not their consious. But i think that it's possible to be aware of this. The way i look at this is that these voices are the same as shared dreaming. Just less intense, it uses the same system. whatever that is in shared dreaming. And Unelias. Do u mean u where having sex with ur ex but thought it was someone else in a dream? You have to make a method for how to do this. I'm sure loads of people will be interested.

[Unelias]

Yes, well the idea of universal conciousness would explain it all. It is possibility, but let set it aside, because it is all hypotethical at this point. Well, that is how it happened. It has happened couple of times. I think there is no way to simulate it rather than chance. I guess, it just takes right timing and you gotta be in the border between dream and waking life. I have moments like that often. For example, I have also pseudo FAs in addition of normal FAs. I can woke up, rise up from the bed and the realize that my walls are off colour or the room is different than my own room. Then I do RC and it doesn't work. Couple of blinks and I wake up and I am still standing there. Maybe I have tendency to move in the border of dream and waking consciouness. Or maybe I am loco. You decide. I am pretty much up for both answers, maybe even simultaneusly. ^^

[Dthoughts]

I'd say u have a special gift and you should nurture that ability. Especially if you have any interest in learning about mental disorders. I've had mild hallucinations while sober before. Where the walls start breathing and slight visual distortion. I've never really been able to make my inner vision override the external completely. Or have things change colours but i have been in this dreaming/awake state once. When the heater on my bedroom wall morphed into a snake. I've been focusing on the audio hallucinations and talked to people.( i had strong audio hallucination of my dad yelling in the other room even tho he wasn't) I was slightly tripping but on a very low dose. By interacting with the voices i've been able to turn it into a visionary/auditory state. But i had my eyes open completely so i was still awake. But i was aware this was all taking place in my mind. This whole time i felt my heartbeat extremely intense. I've actually once treated reality like a dream. I did a noseplug reality check and nothing happened. I insisted on treating it like a dream tho an i decided to rub my hands together in an attempt to increase vividness. This resulted in the most vivid picture of the real world i have ever seen in my entire life. No hallucinations, no visual distortion. Well i had hallucinations at the time but they where safely located inside my mind. But the scenery was more vivid than i have ever seen. I guess what i'm saying is that when ur in that state try expirementing with it. Who knows what u might find out.

[Unelias]

I'd say u have a special gift and you should nurture that ability. Especially if you have any interest in learning about mental disorders. Actually, the one core reason why I am very interested of psychology and considered to pursue it as career is that I am not that sure of my own mental stability. I often think I am dancing on a razors edge, hence the reference. I believe that the real difference between so called sanity and insanity is almost nonexistant and drawn in the water. Your experience seems somewhat similar what I have. I have used external substances in my life in order to learn more of the reality. Somehow it seems that I don't really need psychedelics, since my brains seems to offer me chances to do that without any. As I have repeated in some threads, I believe it is just all about altering your consciousness level. Drugs do that for you, but I think humans are capable of manipulating it with practice. Dreamstate is another state we all are familiar with since we are lucid dreamers, but at the moment I am most intrigued by this.. twilight state, if you will. I've actually once treated reality like a dream. I did a noseplug reality check and nothing happened. I insisted on treating it like a dream tho an i decided to rub my hands together in an attempt to increase vividness. This resulted in the most vivid picture of the real world i have ever seen in my entire life. No hallucinations, no visual distortion. Well i had hallucinations at the time but they where safely located inside my mind. But the scenery was more vivid than i have ever seen. I guess what i'm saying is that when ur in that state try expirementing with it. Who knows what u might find out. This is what supports my thoughts. Our brains are incredibly powerful tool and if we can trick it to believe, like in your case, it has the power to distort our sensory information. What I think is that human mind crystallizes after it cumulates enough experience, which is natural. A child can believe all kinds of things, which adult mind knows are false. These beliefs are so intertwined with our psyche that it needs very powerful means to separate those two ie. drugs, altered mindstate where our conscious brain is not dominant etc. What can I say, I love to be able to "shape reality" even for a brief moment and only in my head. It is so much more real than shaping lucid dream, which of course is exteremely enjoyable as well.

[Darkmatters]

Actually, the one core reason why I am very interested of psychology and considered to pursue it as career is that I am not that sure of my own mental stability. A dude named Sigmund invented Psychotherapy for the same reason.

[Dthoughts]

Great post, i love how you name things. Twilight state sounds excellent . This is what supports my thoughts. Our brains are incredibly powerful tool and if we can trick it to believe, like in your case, it has the power to distort our sensory information. What I think is that human mind crystallizes after it cumulates enough experience, which is natural. A child can believe all kinds of things, which adult mind knows are false. These beliefs are so intertwined with our psyche that it needs very powerful means to separate those two ie. drugs, altered mindstate where our conscious brain is not dominant etc. What can I say, I love to be able to "shape reality" even for a brief moment and only in my head. It is so much more real than shaping lucid dream, which of course is exteremely enjoyable as well. I never believed that beliefs had anything to do with how things work. But i'm beginning to think it's pretty true. That's probably why a dark room works. Because you are completely cut off from any external system it can give rise to ur inner world. In my experience, waking hallucinations have more chance to occur in reflected light. I've been able to see an image of some dear "acquintance". Where i focused on his appearance and it worked, i could see it. What i didn't consiuosly project tho was that i saw his face alright. But he had a long nose like pinoccio. Gut tells me it's because his current mindstate about me might say he thinks i'm a liar (which saddens me greatly) . Obviously the only symbollic connection between my memory with long noses and this vision. Someone was telling me about some sad memories and when i looked into her reflection in the turned off tv i saw her appearance change and a dark scene form for some seconds expressing pain and misery. Another event with voices happened 2 days earlier. I was reading trough some thread here in the lucid dreaming section while i was tired and bored. When i got halfway i sleepily played with my mouse scrolling up and down for just a few seconds. When i heared myself think to myself. "Hey, it's him again". I didn't think too much of it, but when i scrolled down to keep reading i noticed 2 posts after the last one i read Wakingnomad said something. I realized that had i kept on reading when i saw his post that's exactly what i would say to myself. Cus i've seen him in other threads just minutes ago. Just lost a huge wall of text, not sure if that's such a bad thing tho . haha. I want to show a link of a Ted talk where they explained that our brain actually gives off signals before we decide something. They showed a few experiments with some compelling results but i can't find it right now. I'll post it up later when i do find it tho for anyone interested i think it's some nice food for thought.

[Darkmatters]

I never believed that beliefs had anything to do with how things work. Hahaha!! Classic!!

[Darkmatters]

Awesome! Stabilizing IRL FTW!!! I really like this idea, treating waking life as if it's a dream. At times it's very dreamlike, at times it's more surreal than any dream.

[nina]

Explanation. Hypnagogic imagery is often auditory or has an auditory component. Like the visuals, hypnagogic sounds vary in intensity from faint impressions to loud noises, such as crashes and bangs (exploding head syndrome). People may imagine their own name called or a doorbell ringing. Snatches of imagined speech are common. While typically nonsensical and fragmented, these speech events can occasionally strike the individual as apt comments on—or summations of—their thoughts at the time. They often contain word play, neologisms and made-up names. Hypnagogic speech may manifest as the subject's own "inner voice", or as the voices of others: familiar people or strangers. More rarely, poetry or music is heard.

[Dthoughts]

Damn nina. i just posted a big wall of text. I think we both submitted at the same time and my post didn't get trough and i lost it now. Btw, i send you a pm and you still didn't respond. Can you let me know if that is ur avatar im describing and if u have it please send it to me so i can take a closer look at it.

[nina]

I have no idea what avatar you are talking about. Also, my post had nothing to do with yours not getting through, it's just your computer/internet. People post at the same time all the time.