The Dream State
As I analyse this topic, the line that defines whatever the topic means becomes hard to pinpoint. It is fair to say that most people dream when they sever awareness of objective measurements of reality, namely language and sensory information. Unfortunately some people, myself included don't remember the dream state so often due to the dominance in awareness of the "objective" reality we interact with.
Examining my thought patterns it is obvious that they are not at all objective, and while it is not in focus, the place where I derive thought from is basically a dream state; a culmination of all the information I have integrated mashed into one absurd, subjective and symbolic running stream of reality.
The dream state could simply be the natural function of the human brain and whatever fraction of it we devote to awareness tends to dominate our perception, which is why we need to fall asleep and lose awareness to dream. We don't have an awareness of that state because we have been taught to take certain definitions and isolate them from everything else to communicate and describe an objective reality, but if people don't get to immerse themselves in a dream via sleep at least occasionally then they go fucking crazy.
So what extent does dreaming dominate reality? Is it a nightly vacation or is it an all encompassing companion to human reality?
Examining my thought patterns it is obvious that they are not at all objective, and while it is not in focus, the place where I derive thought from is basically a dream state; a culmination of all the information I have integrated mashed into one absurd, subjective and symbolic running stream of reality.
The dream state could simply be the natural function of the human brain and whatever fraction of it we devote to awareness tends to dominate our perception, which is why we need to fall asleep and lose awareness to dream. We don't have an awareness of that state because we have been taught to take certain definitions and isolate them from everything else to communicate and describe an objective reality, but if people don't get to immerse themselves in a dream via sleep at least occasionally then they go fucking crazy.
So what extent does dreaming dominate reality? Is it a nightly vacation or is it an all encompassing companion to human reality?
Comments
I think dreaming, dreamland, the dream state, drug-induced states, spiritual experiences - whatever you want to call it, it's all really the same shit - is very real. It is reality.
Well, Reality is reality is Reality; it is all real but at the same time it is often subsets of a larger reality. It is very real to me to be on an acid trip but it usually requires navigating a material plane to get to have that other reality available.
Most people have non ordinary and ordinary states that they exist in; ordinary being what is nessisary for terrestrial survival and navigation. What I am getting at is that even in ordinary conciousness, at least for me I am aware of the dream like way I subconcioussly percieve the world. I am just curious how prevelant that is in most peoples perception, ordinary or otherwise. I am not talking about if it is "Real" because that is a meaningless term, but if our perception of the material world is actually just a selective aspect of our dream state.
I believe our perception of a material world, this world we are constantly defining, creating through consciousness, dividing reality into separate 'things' and separate 'events', is a fall from eden. Full submersion in this 'dream state' is the way our ancestors perceived the world.
Consciousness, individuality, the fear of death and the opportunities for control which it creates, are all symptoms of this fall.