The interest you have in dreams probably has an extremely strong correlation with how vividly you remember them. For me, I remember my dreams perhaps too vividly. Sometimes I honestly wake up thinking what happened really did just happen, and I slowly have to come to the realization that the recent "events" in what I thought was my life have just been erased. Usually, I'm very relieved, occasionally though it can be very sad, and it actually makes me depressed for a while. Now, this doesn't happen often by any means, it actually happens very rarely that dreams are this real to me, but when it does happen it's truly fascinating. For example, I remember a dream I used to have when I was about 10 years old when the doll Chucky would constantly try to steal my little brother. This wasn't a reoccurring dream in the sense that the it was the same dream over and over, but instead I would always pick up right where the last dream left off. This happened every night for about two months, and it was like living two different realities for a little while.
Biologically, there's no clear answer to the purpose of dreams. Rapid Eye Movement was a big discovery, but it doesn't really tell us much besides the apparent fact that we only dream for a couple of hours every night. As usual, there seems to be two extremes in an argument about dreams that both probably go a little too far about the entire thing. On one side you have people saying that dreams are basically rubbish, and can and will one day be controlled and explained scientifically. On the other side you have people who claim that our dreams prove that everything is based entirely on the perception of our senses, and nothing is actually real. Well, that sounds good when you're high I guess, but actually while we're awake, we're in a universe full of constants and guided by strict laws that can be tested over and over again. In each of our dreams though, we are guided by different laws. Some of us can fly, shape shift, time travel etc. However, our senses certainly do seem to defy us while we sleep. I can be in no real physical danger, but my senses trick me into thinking I'm getting attacked by a bear. While the world we live in may be real in the sense that it is there and constant, our dreams allow us to transcend this reality and every single one of the constants that we have come to know us unwavering fact, including time and matter. I'm sure you've all been asked or wondered, if given the choice would you dream through your life, or live in the world full of harsh realities and constants? You would think evolution would have weeded out sensations and thoughts like the ones in our dreams, as they are completely unnecessary and even distracting to our survival.
I could go on about this, but it's 1am. If you like this kind of stuff I recommend the movie Waking Life. What are your thoughts and what do you dream about, 4 people that read this?
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I have extremely vivid dreams, with a lot of color and sound ... I am often moving, talking, singing, shouting, flying .... I often remember them, at least parts of them, the next day, often after something happens that is somehow associated with some sensation in my dream from the night before, and it will trigger this immediate, vivid replay of some of the dream's scenario. Anymore, I usually don't remember my dreams long term, but part of that it because I think that actually takes some effort -- you actually have to mark it in your memory, tell a few people about it, write it down, so that it takes on a light more importance & weight in your waking mind. I do, however, still remember some of my dreams from my childhood, because they were so freaking vivid and scary that I thought I was watching a horror film!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I figure out I'm dreaming and I don't wake up. That's when I fly, it's amazing. I remember always thinking to myself "this honestly couldn't feel more real" everytime.
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