Dream Thread

[BallentineChen]

I used to have these dreams that I woke up and was brushing my teeth and getting ready for school. Imagine my surprise when I realized I was still in bed. Do you think your dream meant anything? A lot of dreams just don't seem to mean anything to me.

I had a recurring dream during my senior year in college where I was about to graduate but forgot all about one class which I failed to attend all semester. In these dreams my teeth would become brittle and begin falling out. I read that teeth falling out could be linked to feelings of powerlessness.

[Alchemist]

After getting plastered on beer a few years ago, I had an interesting dream.

Vampires invaded my flat and were obviously about to kill me. Instead of screaming, running, or wetting myself, I declared myself a vampire and levitated off the floor like I was about to ascend through the roof. Then I proceeded to kick the crap out of them.

After a while I stopped and told them they could do whatever. So one rips my eyes out, while another rips off my arm. To their utter horror and surprise, my body was made of beer. I laughed, called back all of my body parts (which automatically re-attached themselves), and proceeded to beat them up some more.

Speaking of dreams within dreams, I've had several recurring dreams where aliens attempted to abduct me. Oddly enough, the dreams took place in the exact same house I was living in at the time. I remember the sensation of forcefully being pulled out of my body. I was completely paralysed, and I was filled with such a primal fear that shook the very foundations of my emotion: I had never felt that depth of terror in my entire life. Before I could be pulled out, I shook my head "no" so forcefully that I "woke up". I didn't really wake up, but in my excitement I blurted out to a family member that I had escaped an alien abduction. Then, in the dream, I went back to sleep, where another abduction attempt was made. I shook my head "no" so violently this time that I really did wake up. The dreams kept happening that night, which freaked me out. I've had similar dreams the same year, but I'm glad I don't get them anymore.

-A

[Mort Belfry]

I've always enjoyed dreams where I become the vampire, that's a lot of fun. Especially murdering innocents.

But my question is; why do you wake up when you die in a dream? I've had this happen a couple of times. The most recent was when a meteorite fell from the sky and I watched as the slow wave of destruction came closer and closer to me as I stood there expecting to die. I fell over, lying there knowing I was dying and then suddenly I woke up.

Why is this? Is it like the matrix or something?

[elfinchilde]

Originally Posted by Mort Belfry

I've always enjoyed dreams where I become the vampire, that's a lot of fun. Especially murdering innocents.

But my question is; why do you wake up when you die in a dream? I've had this happen a couple of times. The most recent was when a meteorite fell from the sky and I watched as the slow wave of destruction came closer and closer to me as I stood there expecting to die. I fell over, lying there knowing I was dying and then suddenly I woke up.

Why is this? Is it like the matrix or something?

Freudian theory gives an answer to that, actually.

In humans there is the life force (libido/physis) and the death force (mortido/thanatos). These forces can be outward facing, or inward facing:

so outward mortido: rage against others/animals/things.

inward mortido: feelings of self unworthiness, inadequacy, even suicidal tendencies.

outward libido: general affection and enthusiasm for people and things

inward libido: sense of well being and joie de vivre.

Then there's the id, ego and superego.

What Freudian theory holds is this: taht in normal life, the superego (seat of morality/learnt social behaviour) holds control over the id (the animal instinct), and the ego is what happens when we balance both as we negotiate life.

but in dreams, everything comes out since the superego is not in power anymore.

So those who dream of being powerful more often than not are those who are feeling frustrated/helpless in their lives. Or that they desire power; or that some outward mortido which they can't show in real life. Catharsis, in other words.

Why you wake up before you die: like those dreams of falling and falling, but you always wake up before you crash into the ground:

because for most humans, the physis force is so great, that even in the unconscious state, death is inacceptable.

That is why you wake up.

Even in dreams, the animal instinct is for life. It rejects death completely and utterly.

One who, in a falling dream, can die, is one who has given up on life.

[Mort Belfry]

I remember in one dream I was shot point blank in the face, the shock sent back to the ground and I woke up for a bit, then fell back asleep and went back into the dream for about a minute where I was lying on the ground looking up assuming I was dead. Then I woke up again.

Could any of it be that because the narrative of the story of your dream is so undermined by the hero dying, that there's nothing else that can possibly happen in the dream and you wake up?

Do people never dream about being in their believed afterlife?

I've never had the falling thing, I've jumped down ridiculous heights and survived, I've also just flown away at times.

[elfinchilde]

Originally Posted by Mort Belfry

I remember in one dream I was shot point blank in the face, the shock sent back to the ground and I woke up for a bit, then fell back asleep and went back into the dream for about a minute where I was lying on the ground looking up assuming I was dead. Then I woke up again.

Could any of it be that because the narrative of the story of your dream is so undermined by the hero dying, that there's nothing else that can possibly happen in the dream and you wake up?


Do people never dream about being in their believed afterlife?

I've never had the falling thing, I've jumped down ridiculous heights and survived, I've also just flown away at times.

in order:

-Sweetheart. Could simply be the shock of having your face blown off.

-If anyone has had such a dream, i should like to know. Not dreams about heaven/meeting deceased loved ones, which are common, but has anyone ever dreamt of the exact transition between life and death? when you actually die? (it would completely contravene the life instinct to do so.)

-what's the difference between jumping down and falling?

ya know what some of the lines in the Sandman are? When you dream of having sex, what you really want to do is to fly. When you dream of flying, what you really want to do is to....


edit: has anyone ever had a lucid dream?

[WobblyStilettos]

I dreamt last night that I was on a boat with my mum, trying to get my yearbook. We couldn't find it anywhere and it turned out the people who made them had only made about half of what was needed. Each one had a person's name it on, and, try as I might, I could not find mine anywhere. Me and my mum then got off the boat and went shopping. We went to cambridge and up a massive hill towards the shops (there are no hills in cambridge) and it was all really hot and I didn't really want to go shopping. On our way down the hill we looked over at a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) hill made out of red and green peppers. There was a tractor on top. We laughed because it had rained two days ago and scattered some of the peppers. I wondered why I had never thought much about the pepper hill before, as it was always there, and somehow every couple of days they took all the peppers that were there and sold them in supermarkets. They then replaced the old peppers with new ones. As my dreams go, that was an incredibly simple one. A couple of nights ago I was trying to escape from a pink childrens insane asylum via a swimming pool and a tightrope. A few weeks ago I was trying to save people from tank-driving poisenous-hedgehog-weilding bad guys.

I do the dreaming I've got up and got realised I'm still in bed thing a lot I once tried to wake up from a bad dream (can't remember what it was) and when I opened my eyes there was a giraffe looked down at me. I realised I was still asleep so I tried again, got up, went to the bathroom still thinking everything was normal, then I looked in the bathtub and saw the cartoon puppies from 101 dalmations playing in it

[Alchemist]

Whoa, those are bizarre.

I started having lucid dreams in the fourth grade, mostly 'cos I'd stay up really late reading. It's great to fly and explore in them. It's gotten to the point where flying is a second nature of mine. Even if I don't realise I'm dreaming, I somehow know that I'm able to fly, and just take off. If I'm inside a building, I pass through the roof like a phantom.

Sometimes I share dreams with strangers, in which case, I try to teach them to fly.

Lucid Dreaming Guide

The above is a good guide for lucid dreaming if anyone is interested. I mean, who wouldn't be? It's a great form of entertainment.

As a final note, I've died in my dreams and not waken up, but that's old news already. Other people experience this too. A thread on Astral Dynamics can be found about people who have died in dreams.

-A

[BallentineChen]

I've been trying to have lucid dreams but haven't succeeded yet. Thanks for the link, Alchemist.

I find the most interesting part about lucid dreaming is that you can potentially apply the experience you gain in the lucid state to the real world, this idea grew from having watch the movie "What the **** Do We Know?". It defies the law of conservation, or is at least more efficient in leveraging our experience. It can bring something into reality that otherwise would never occur. So much potential.

[prplchknz]

I had a disturbing dream last night about my room mate and her mom. I was over at their house and everything I did I got put down for by them. Like I was doing a puzzle and my room mate was like you have not done anything on that puzzle, and the edges were done. I pointed out that the edges were done and I was taking my time. But no matter what I did or said I was shot down. I woke up feeling really depressed.