Mind's Eye Re: Dreams, Why we dream and how to interpret our dreams.

"Was it a vision or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:- Do I wake or sleep?"

"Ode to a Nightingale"- John Keats ll.79-80

You are right we were talking about sleeping dreams. Sorry for the
spillover but I think there is a splash effect in the brain.
I left a note to myself about a Nova program on dreams on PBS- maybe
it is a repeat.//I do have an irritating habit to some of hopping
branches of thoughts. I may be too old to change, however. Maybe it
comes from hunting allusions, images, etc. in literature, primarily,
but elsewhere, as well.

On Aug 27, 6:03 pm, Molly <mollyb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sleep state dream...I thought that is what we were talking about.
>
> On Aug 27, 7:14 am, rigsy03 <rigs...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Another function of dreams- and one could add daydreams, imagination,
> > drugged states, etc.- it to buffer one agaiinst life's realities and
> > the myth of "unconditionals". Perhaps that is what created the myths
> > and religions, all powerful gods and paradise, in the first place.
>
> > On Aug 21, 4:42 am, andrew vecsey <andrewvec...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Anyone interested in dreams and would like to give their opinions and vent
> > > their ideas about them????
>
> > > Below are my opinions and ideas in both video and text format. Video format
> > > is found at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk6lpV-rWPc
>
> > > A summary of my essay is:
>
> > >    - Dreams are like the cleaning-up operations of computers when they are
> > >    off-line. Like defragmenting a fragmented memory.
> > >    - * *In your dream you are putting your memory of the day in short term
> > >    memory into your long term memory.
> > >    - Dreams are like when we put a picture away and see an old photograph
> > >    of a long forgotten event that raises our interest.
> > >    - Dreaming of our past lives makes each human brain a cosmic eye for the
> > >    cosmic brain allowing it to experience the cosmos.
>
> > > Text of video:
>
> > > Our personalities are split into a conscious part that we are aware of and
> > > a subconscious part that works automatically without our awareness. The
> > > conscious part dominates when we are awake, and our subconscious dominates
> > > while we are sleeping. When we go to sleep, the conscious part, having
> > > recorded all our reality as we experienced it disconnects its sensory
> > > inputs and also goes to sleep.
>
> > > This happens over our entire life time. Whenever we sleep, we dream every
> > > couple of hours. The dreams last from about 10 minutes at the beginning of
> > > the sleep and increase to about 20 minutes at the end. We remember our
> > > dreams only 5% of the time, if we wake up while we are dreaming or if they
> > > are sufficiently vivid with emotions and sensations to be worth
> > > remembering.
>
> > > Our dreams can feel so real that sometime we do not know for a while if we
> > > were dreaming or not. Whenever we are surprised by extra ordinary luck, we
> > > pinch ourselves and hope it`s not all just a dream. When we are shocked by
> > > real horror, we really hope it`s only a nightmare. When we wake up from a
> > > nightmare, the terror or anxiety is so real to us that our body reacts as
> > > if it was real by increasing heartbeat, breathing and hormone production.
> > >  As realistic as dreams are, once we are fully awakened into reality, we
> > > have no problems in knowing what is real and what was only a dream.
>
> > > Dreams are like the cleaning-up operations of computers when they are
> > > off-line. Like defragmenting a fragmented memory full of holes and
> > > rearranging to make more space, we dream to be able to forget and in this
> > > way make room to record more information. In dreaming, we move short term
> > > memory to long term memory compressing it, keeping only certain information
> > > that we want to remember. This could be a smile, a wink, or the color of
> > > dress, type of shoes, hairstyle or smell of perfume. All other data in our
> > > photographic mind is greatly compacted or erased, for most, except for some
> > > autistic savants who can retain long term photographic memory like it was a
> > > photograph. Some, like the man Kim Peek, depicted in the movie Rain Man,
> > > was able to recite by heart entire telephone books he has scanned thru in
> > > the past.
>
> > > While we dream, our eyes move in a way called rapid eye movement or REM.
> > > All mammals experience REM. Dolphins experience minimum REM, while humans
> > > remain in the middle and the opossum and the armadillo are among the most
> > > prolific dreamers. A 10 minute event we dream about takes 10 minutes of
> > > dream time. Time is not sped up or slowed down or distorted during dreams.
>
> > > Sleep deprivation, depriving dreams, results in rapid deterioration of
> > > physiological functioning.  During our dreams many external stimuli may
> > > bombard the senses and the brain often integrates them and makes them a
> > > part of a dream to ensure continued sleep and continued dreams.
>
> > > People all over the world dream of mostly the same things- their personal
> > > experiences from the last day or week. Most people dream in color.  The
> > > visual nature of dreams are generally reflective of a person's memories and
> > > experiences, but often take on highly exaggerated and bizarre forms
> > > blending into each other.
>
> > > The most common emotion experienced in dreams is *anxiety*. Other emotions
> > > include abandonment, anger, fear, joy and happiness. Negative emotions
> > > dominate positive ones. Sexual dreams occur no more than 10% of the time
> > > and may result in orgasms or nocturnal emissions called *wet dreams*.  *
> > > Sleepwalking* is where our subconscious part, like a hypnotist hypnotizes
> > > our conscious part to do certain things without our knowing and remembering
> > > them. *Lucid dreaming* is when we have a certain level of control and
> > > awareness while dreaming because our conscious part is still awake when the
> > > subconscious starts to move short term memory into long term memory. Many
> > > people experience *recurring dreams*.
>
> > > *Example of a dream and how it can be interpreted.*
>
> > > You went horseback riding in the morning and attended a surprise birthday
> > > party for your friend in the afternoon. In the evening you saw a film. You
> > > go to sleep and the next morning the alarm wakes you up. You wake up
> > > sweating and your heart is beating as if a lion jumped at you. You realize
> > > that it was all a dream. You dreamt you were with your brother waiting for
> > > your sister to come home for dinner. When the doorbell rang, you opened the
> > > door just to find a lion jumping at you. Then you woke up.
> > > **
> > > *Why such a dream?  *In your dream you are putting your memory of the day
> > > into your long term memory. The horse you rode was put into your animal
> > > compartment, the birthday event into the surprise compartment and the film
> > > you saw into the film compartment, filled with the many films you saw with
> > > your brother. And the alarm was the doorbell. As your brain opened up the
> > > various compartments, items that were previously stored there were
> > > re-examined. This is like when we put a picture away and see an old
> > > photograph of a long forgotten event that raises our interest.
>
> > > Vivid and colorful dreams can give a creative thought or a sense of
> > > inspiration. Sometime we dream about people events and places that are
> > > totally unfamiliar to us. In some cases it has been discovered that people
> > > dreamt about unknown people in unknown places who turned out to be real
> > > people who had died long ago. The simplest explanation to this is that
> > > memories of our past lives are uncovered and shown to our conscious part in
> > > dreams. This is the greatest gift of dreams. It opens doors to newly found
> > > treasures of remote memories beyond the short term and long term memories
> > > found in the brain.  This makes each human brain a cosmic eye for the
> > > cosmic brain allowing it to experience the cosmos.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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