Dreams and the Subconscious

[Da Blob]

Dreams with people in them are messages. Others are messages from the Gods. They reflect the unconscious emotions of the Others.

I think you are right, Dreams are messages. However, I think that there is a rather long list of sources for dreams, in addition to gods and the Others ....

Everybody dreams, It is one means of organizing long term memory, kinda like defragging a computer ...

One rather effective means of interrogation involves "Dream Deprivation", you allow the suspect to sleep as much as he wants to, but you awaken him just as he enters the dream-state as indicated by Rapid Eye Movement (REM), It usually only takes 48 hours before he goes completely off the edge and usually they do not even know what is happening...

Everyone can train themselves to remember their dreams and perhaps even learn to manipulate their 'own' dreams to a certain extent.

I do believe that there are some type of dreams from external sources, and almost every culture has delegated a special role to these certain types of dreams. However, I think that most dreams are generated in our own brains in the Right Hemisphere and we experience the dreams from a POV in the Left Hemisphere, that's why time and space are so screwed up in a dream scenario ....

It is kind of a weird way to Write A Note To Self...

 

[Ermine]

Just curious what you all would think of this. I recently had a dream that I was accused of murdering a random person and was being yelled at the whole time by some guy in a parking lot. I'd like to see what your theories are for this.

 

[Kidege]

Um, you're afraid of making irreversible mistakes and are under a lot of pressure?

 

[Da Blob]

Just curious what you all would think of this. I recently had a dream that I was accused of murdering a random person and was being yelled at the whole time by some guy in a parking lot. I'd like to see what your theories are for this.

Okay 'fess up
"Did you murder that dreamed person?
What makes you think, it was a "random" Hit?
How do usually respond to being yelled at?
" " from a 'parking lot?

 

[EloquentBohemian]

Just curious what you all would think of this. I recently had a dream that I was accused of murdering a random person and was being yelled at the whole time by some guy in a parking lot. I'd like to see what your theories are for this.

Are there any more details you have of this dream?
Sometimes a detail or two will be a clue as to why your subconscious is creating this particular scenario.

 

[Ermine]

Okay 'fess up
"Did you murder that dreamed person?
What makes you think, it was a "random" Hit?
How do usually respond to being yelled at?
" " from a 'parking lot?

My dreams are always pretty vague, but here's what I remember. First of all, The act of killing wasn't in the dream. It just started out with me standing over some bleeding dead guy. I know it was random because I didn't recognize the dead guy. Maybe the fact that the dead person is male will say something?

And as for being yelled at in public, I usually hide my face and walk away. That kind of stuff really embarrasses me since I like to keep low profile when I'm out in public.

 

[Da Blob]

My dreams are always pretty vague, but here's what I remember. First of all, The act of killing wasn't in the dream. It just started out with me standing over some bleeding dead guy. I know it was random because I didn't recognize the dead guy. Maybe the fact that the dead person is male will say something?

And as for being yelled at in public, I usually hide my face and walk away. That kind of stuff really embarrasses me since I like to keep low profile when I'm out in public.

Well, I do not see too much to be worried about. a lot of times, a dream is a symbolic exaggeration of a recent event. A Reflection of a minor incident of being falsely accused by a stranger and 'feeling' embarrassed....?
I kinda roam around in my dreams like a ghost, but I get stuck into playing the role of one of the characters in the dream anytime I take something personally or identify with one of the 'actors' .....(!)

 

[NoID10ts]

I once dreamed that I witnessed my father decapitate someone by holding an axe out of his driver's side window as he drove by them. I was deeply disturbed by it and told my mom about it the next day. She said that maybe it was because he killed someone in Vietnam, but I didn't know that at the time.

Probably the strangest dream I have ever had.

 

[Ermine]

The funny thing is that I haven't been falsely accused of anything in quite a long time.

 

[Da Blob]

The funny thing is that I haven't been falsely accused of anything in quite a long time.

You mean you were actually guilty?

 

[Kidege]

I keep dreaming of an invasion. First time that I remember of dreaming of an invasion. Wars, attacks, sure, but no invasions.

Weirdest part is that my mother is having the same dream. We're taking it as a message, but can't interpret it fully.

It'd better not be about a real invasion, oh crazy people north of the border.

 

[Raku]

Last week I had the weirdest dream. Normally when I dream and I wake up I can just play the dream in my head and try to make sense of it. But last week was different. I dreamt about some faceless girl (not actually faceless, just noone familiar) and how we would intimatly cuddle/snuggle. Now this normally wouldn't be a problem, but after the dream if felt so.... in love? I wanted to get back to the dream so badly. I stayed in bed for a couple of hours after that, feeling really weird.

It's passed now, but I can't remember anything like it...

 

[Da Blob]

I keep dreaming of an invasion. First time that I remember of dreaming of an invasion. Wars, attacks, sure, but no invasions.

Weirdest part is that my mother is having the same dream. We're taking it as a message, but can't interpret it fully.

It'd better not be about a real invasion, oh crazy people north of the border.

There's lots of different types of invasion
For instance this comment is meant to be 'invasive'......

 

[Da Blob]

Last week I had the weirdest dream. Normally when I dream and I wake up I can just play the dream in my head and try to make sense of it. But last week was different. I dreamt about some faceless girl (not actually faceless, just noone familiar) and how we would intimatly cuddle/snuggle. Now this normally wouldn't be a problem, but after the dream if felt so.... in love? I wanted to get back to the dream so badly. I stayed in bed for a couple of hours after that, feeling really weird.

It's passed now, but I can't remember anything like it...

Perhaps you've met your soul mate,
if you're lucky you just had a precog experience

 

[Barachai]

I remember dying once in a dream. And I felt it. I woke up very freaked out.

 

[Ermine]

You mean you were actually guilty?

No, I'm just never accused, period.

 

[Sapphire Harp]

I had a dream recently I would appreciate if anyone pitched in on interpreting. I won't include it here, as it's quite a bit of text, so I'm just going to leave this lil' link here to it.

I wouldn't bother, but it has caught my attention more than dreams usually do because it was so complete and coherent. What I first thought after having it was:

"It was rather like dreaming through a memory of something I did. I’m hesitant to say the words ‘past life’, but if I ever have had an experience that could have been a past life memory - this would be it."​

 

[Kidege]

Well, I for one believe in past life memories, even if I can't offer proof.
So, if you want to treat the dream as possible memories, the questions would be:

• What was the club like?
• What were you like? did you look as you normally do?
• What were you and other people wearing?
• Can you pinpoint a time/location?
• What are your psychological differences with the person you were in the dream?
• Was your father in the dream your current father? some other person? someone you haven't met in this lifetime?

These last questions could give you a clue as to why are you remembering now. IMHO, when you remember stuff, it's for a reason. Maybe something is happening in your current life and you need to draw upon the past experience to live it through. Or maybe your current circumstances are very different and your subconscious is telling you to let go of the bad stuff.

 

[Da Blob]

I had a dream recently I would appreciate if anyone pitched in on interpreting. I won't include it here, as it's quite a bit of text, so I'm just going to leave this lil' link here to it.

I wouldn't bother, but it has caught my attention more than dreams usually do because it was so complete and coherent. What I first thought after having it was:

"It was rather like dreaming through a memory of something I did. I’m hesitant to say the words ‘past life’, but if I ever have had an experience that could have been a past life memory - this would be it."​

Supposing that the dream-structures are symbolic (which is a big IF....)
forts are often symbolic of defense mechanisms (see Wiki)
People are usually quite defensive about their beliefs (the Christians)
Obviously, if this is the case
then in your dream
you were dedicated to destroying the beliefs
of those who may have 'destroyed" your 'father-figure'
The fact that you were willing to destroy (the beliefs
of) two 'bystanders while operating in a vengeance mode
seems to indicate a certain degree of close-mindedness ....
What is interesting is that you did not destroy your targets
in a similar manner, but rather simply herded them into a fire,
as if you were allowing the 'Fire' to pass judgement on them (?)

 

[Sapphire Harp]

What is interesting is that you did not destroy your targets
in a similar manner, but rather simply herded them into a fire,
as if you were allowing the 'Fire' to pass judgement on them (?)

Actually, I understood the results of this being more than simply death for them, but painful death by burning. The dream ended before I witnessed it, but that was the conclusion it was headed for.

Maybe I'm being obstinate in how I think about it, but one of the most curious things about it was how little it seemed to have to do with my life as it stands. When I woke up, I could just tell there weren't any stand-ins for people who are in my life now - it was like witnessing an event that stood completely alone.

My dreams are usually narrative based, not visual - so I don't see a lot of detail. What I noticed, I included, except it felt vaguely 1400s-1800s Europe. I might have assigned that afterwards, based on other detail clues from within the dream.

I don't think destroying beliefs captures it, as lately I've been moving towards being more accepting of other people's beliefs, rather than less...

There is something in this 'collapse of the US' topic that keeps coming up in the news, but it feels like there are something like six steps between that and this dream that I have no idea about. It's certainly a tricky puzzle to me.
​

 

[Da Blob]

Maybe I'm being obstinate in how I think about it, but one of the most curious things about it was how little it seemed to have to do with my life as it stands.

Yet you have not discounted it as nonsensical(?)

I personally believe that some dreams do have an external source. However, there is one clue, that suggests a symbolic interpretation, rather than some type of memory. There were no glass windows in forts, during the time-frame you "felt vaguely"...

My dreams are usually narrative based, not visual - so I don't see a lot of detail. What I noticed, I included, except it felt vaguely 1400s-1800s Europe. I might have assigned that afterwards, based on other detail clues from within the dream.

Cool, I have never had a narrative-based dream. My dreams are much more like interactive television, where I have the option of assuming the role of one of the characters of a dream scenario..


It's certainly a tricky puzzle to me.
​

Is it a puzzle, because you see it as a yet uninterpreted message?

 

[Fleur]

I keep dreaming of an invasion. First time that I remember of dreaming of an invasion. Wars, attacks, sure, but no invasions.

Weirdest part is that my mother is having the same dream. We're taking it as a message, but can't interpret it fully.

It'd better not be about a real invasion, oh crazy people north of the border.

This reminded me about the weird things about my war-dreams. In my dreams, people never use modern weapons (guns, bombs, etc.), but they're always using swords and knifes. And it's always an invasion - and I'm in the middle of it, preparing to run straight in the heat of battle, but there some unexpected adjunct which makes me to do something absolutely unplanned and - sometimes - insane. In some cases I'm attempting to lead people to safety; sometimes I can't find my weapons; once I was desperately running around and looking for something while everybody's fighting.

However, one way or another, I never get to the battlefield.

 

[MattSeven]

My first post here on the forums. Go me.

I did not read the 12 pages of this thread. I've run a dream group and plan on starting another soon. I recommend Gayle Delaney's "Living Your Dreams" as an excellent start to exploring your dream world. "Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill" is a good dream book, but Delaney's book is more instructive and experiential.

 

[Kidege]

A dream group? How does that work?

 

[MattSeven]

A dream group? How does that work?

Well, I'm sure every person runs it differently. There are schools / programs that standardize formats etc.

For me, it really depends on the group and how deep they're willing to go. Some people go into it with very superficial expectations, and would be intimidated if people started poking and prodding into their personal life. Others go into the group with reckless abandon. They can freak people out if things are not managed well. So first you have to spend some sessions getting to know each other, why dreams are of interest to each person, establish expectations and boundaries, etc.

Within a framework of intimacy that the group is comfortable with, the dreamer will relay a dream that they would like to understand more deeply. Each person in the group provides their insight into the dream symbolism using principles found within the books I mentioned. The important thing is to avoid telling someone what the dream means, and instead focus on a number of promising angles by which the dreamer might explore the meaning for him/herself. Or perhaps a particular symbol will resonate with a member of the group quite strongly, and they can help the dreamer grasp it with greater depth than the dreamer would alone.

No one has the answers (if there are any) but the dreamer. The group simply provides mental pathways or angles that the dreamer can use to further explore the symbolism found there.

Some people are quite adept at parsing out the symbolism, while others have a more primitive approach. It can be surprising how intelligent people will overlook the primal or emotional elements of their dreams. Everyone has a useful tool to offer. Some people take a spiritual approach, others are more psychological. Most are just curious.

 

[AndOhh]

I typically have extremely vivid and complex dreams -- I'm also usually aware that I am dreaming (at least the dreams I remember). I also find myself reflecting on my dreams while I'm dreaming which I find to be somewhat interesting. I truly believe my efforts of trying to be aware in my dreams have made me more geared towards that.

The dreams themselves are fairly random and I can often attribute some of them to a recent event in the last week or so. I've also heard/read somewhere that we have many dreams every night. If that's true, I don't remember all of my dreams. The dreams where I am self aware I seem to always remember.

 

[AndOhh]

I thought I would comment a little more on this after remembering a dream this morning from last night.

I believe my dream to be a direct result of the "What is a drunk intp?" thread I posted on last night.

The latter portion of my dream the portion I really remember:

I was at a party drinking and such. I vividly remember much of the imagery now. When I reflect on this I find it interesting how in it I didn't really interact with anyone -- I recall making eye contact with some chick and thinking -- she's cute I like her. Eventually the cops came -- they were wearing street cloths but I figured them as cops immediately. They started that "everyone get our IDs out bit" I wasn't concerned in the least because I knew I was of age and am pretty good and comfortable with dialog with police. Logical and concise.

One thing I found interesting:
Right when I awoke this morning, I must have been still dreaming, I did the thing where I remembered the dream briefly while it was fresh then it seems to escape my consciousness unless I try to retain it which I didn't.

I remembered the dream; however, after thinking about this thread while making breakfast. I tried to remember but had no clue what it was them BAM it came back when I wasn't actively trying to remember it.

 

[Kidege]

"Raiding a Giles de Rais-ey palace."
Also interesting, again I'd like to hear more.

Because I promised:

I dreamed the younger catholic priest in our town had an isolated palace in the mountains, in a place with very cold weather. He had the habit of taking boys and girls from the village and locking them up there. Some of them tried to escape while he wasn't there. They started the escape attempt by lifting parts of the roof and climbing up.

Although my notes don't say it, I remember going quickly through the front door and climbing up several stairs, taking the girls with me to the roof. Some, most died in the attempt. I saw the most scared girl (who seem traumatised and didn't talk) fall down, perhaps a 100 meters.

Only a boy and a girl made it out of there, with a baby. They gave the baby up for adoption.

(This is a march 2008 dream.)

 

[Venture]

When I do remeber my dreams they are usally about something that is currently going on in my life that reoccurs.

 

[Felan]

I tend to dream lucidly and can often set the stage of a dream, seeding it if you will with a prior dream that has been conceptually refined by daydream and thought. The absolutely best moments in dreaming for me are when I am nearing wakefullness but yet still nestle in needles of piney dream. When I gain too much control in my dream though it falls away into dust.

I am often a woman in my dreams.

In one of the more interesting dreams a goddess, born of myself and the repenting ghost of one the demons that Christ cast from the woman into the pigs. The ghost and I surrender ourselves to a union that creates a goddess that is tasked with labors between the heavenly and hellish. I journey to a world out of balance, either too good or too evil. The premise is that too far either way leaves too little room for choice and it becomes impossible to weigh one soul against the will of God.

Yeah maybe that test about me being a Pagan was right.

 

[Venture]

I tend to dream lucidly and can often set the stage of a dream, seeding it if you will with a prior dream that has been conceptually refined by daydream and thought. The absolutely best moments in dreaming for me are when I am nearing wakefullness but yet still nestle in needles of piney dream. When I gain too much control in my dream though it falls away into dust.

I am often a woman in my dreams.

In one of the more interesting dreams a goddess, born of myself and the repenting ghost of one the demons that Christ cast from the woman into the pigs. The ghost and I surrender ourselves to a union that creates a goddess that is tasked with labors between the heavenly and hellish. I journey to a world out of balance, either too good or too evil. The premise is that too far either way leaves too little room for choice and it becomes impossible to weigh one soul against the will of God.

Yeah maybe that test about me being a Pagan was right.

How often do you have lucid dreams?
and did you have to master or do they happen regulary?

 

[Felan]

How often do you have lucid dreams?

Hmm, pretty much any time I don't have to obey the alarm clock.

 

[Concojones]

Lucid dreams: I've had a few, usually around dawn. It's nice to able to steer your dream.

Dreams in general: most (that I remember afterwards) are scary/anxious though. There's always going something wrong. In such cases, my mind will briefly think of a possible negative next event (=my N in action), and BOOM!, there it actually happens in the dream! That way I often find myself in one stressy situation after the other. Like when (long ago) I dreamt I fell into the sea and everyone started yelling at what was apparently a shark heading to me, and as I was climbing on the shore, the boulders/stones appeared all slippery so I fell back in the sea every time I tried, with this thing closing in on me. When I realized it was hopeless I turned around determined to fucking fight that monster with my bare hands! As it opened its mouth, I woke up. Anyway, note how anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Like a negative spiral once I'm in an already stressy situation.

 

[Venture]

Is there something you did to have the lucid dream?

 

[Concojones]

No I can't decide whether or not to have a lucid dream. However, I can analyze in what conditions I've had such dreams: when I had a habit of going to bed sufficiently early and thus getting a great rest. This makes sense because as a result I tend to wake up slowly, smoothly, and with a clear brain at the time when lucid dreams are possible (morning).

 

[Felan]

For me its just having an unhurried morning as its too easy to lose track of time and external stimuli don't really wake me. Occassionally I've had lucid dreams during the night. I haven't really thought about how it happens.

 

[Venture]

I always have uninturpted sleep but usally I go to sleep around midnight and wake up just before noon around 10 or 11.

I wonder if a more formal sleep could have an effect.

 

[Felan]

I go to bed between midnight and 2AM most nights. I wake up around 8AM most mornings and sleeping in is usually not much more than 11AM.

 

[Venture]

This morning had a strange dream though now it keeps escaping my memory.
toward the end I realized what I was doing and opened my eyes, I was not sure if I was dreaming or thinking the final event of my dream but if it was lucid I woke up immediatly.

Another thing is that I was planning and imagening possible approach to something, I would have thought this would be me thining but I didn't remeber me waking up before, and my thought prosess was different.
So I think this could very well be a lucid dream.

 

[Concojones]

This morning had a strange dream though now it keeps escaping my memory. Toward the end I realized what I was doing and opened my eyes.

Sounds like a lucid dream indeed, or at least the beginning of one. I remember that in quite a few lucid dreams, I had a choice either to wake up completely (open eyes, go to the toilet, ...) or continue to dream (turning it into a lucid dream). The first time that happened (I was a kid), I decided to go pee for a sec, but when I stepped back in bed a few seconds later and wanted to continue dreaming, I couldn't for the sake of god remember what I had been dreaming about! The dream had been fantastic, so that sucked!! On the next occasion, I didn't make that same mistake again.

My point: on more than one occasion, I've had the choice to either wake up or continue the dream in a lucid way. I don't know whether this is typical for lucid dreams (I haven't had any lucid dreams in quite a while - due to sleep deprivation, a bad habit of mine).

 

[preilemus]

yeah, usually when I realize I'm dreaming I'll wake up automatically. although sometimes if I wake up in the middle of a dream, I can go back to sleep and continue it

 

[Venture]

yeah, usually when I realize I'm dreaming I'll wake up automatically. although sometimes if I wake up in the middle of a dream, I can go back to sleep and continue it

Are you sure you were not just thinking about the dream? Because that exactly what I do when I think I'm having a lucid dream.

 

[Anthile]

Hm, last night I dreamed of vampires and zombies. And then I got eaten alive by the zombies. For some reason it was more a funny dream.
And before that I had a dream that could be easily described as a crossover between Lord of the Rings and Independence day. It was pretty weird.
I wonder what that says about me.

 

[Concojones]

sometimes if I wake up in the middle of a dream, I can go back to sleep and continue it

True. IMO, it depends on how long the break is. Every second gets you more in tune with reality and less in tune with your dream. Going to the toilet at night is apparently too much of a break for me. Even if I rehearse the dream in the meantime (to be able to continue it) it doesn't work (although sometimes I will accidentally get back to it later in the night).

Which reminds me... sometimes when dreaming, I realize that I've had the dream before. I guess that's a lucid moment. And then I dream a different variation on it (lucidity disappears).

 

[hope]

My dream last night: There is a medieval battle; two sides collide in a mass of steel. With my shield i push through enemy lines and make a startling realization, I'm the last man standing. I die and then awaken

 

[Hawkeye]

Weird

did you die then awaken or did you awken as you died?

 

[Carnap]

Talking about the subconscious in waking life, I used to have flashes of images in my mind when I thought about marrying my fiancé. It was usually me sitting at a table with him and an adult male in my life (someone I look up to??) and me coughing up blood.

I used to get these images a lot, too, really quick in my mind of me coughing up blood or vomiting in class (not this year, but two years ago).

 

[preilemus]

O.o


i think my dreams may be linking themselves together. something insubstantial i dreamed months ago came back last night as the horrifying focal point. luckily it helped me put things in perspective in my actual life...

(not the first time this has happened, btw)

 

[Felan]

Another frequent dream I've had is a kind of purgatory one. My arrival in this world is during an eclipse, which causes my gender to switch from male to female. I'm falling into a forest canopy and cry out as branches abuse me.

I'm black out for a few moments and awake naked and confused. Looking around I see a nearby satchel, I grab it to look inside. Some strange rustling causes me to look up and I see several "demons" coming towards me. I start running away from them, my feet getting shredded by branches and rocks, but I run on.

Suddenly the way in front of me opens into a canyon and with the pain and attention paid to the pursurers I tumble forward into some very cold water. I struggle to the shore, exhausted and sink into exhausted surrender as the demons approach again but the eclipse is ending and they hesitate and then flee into the foilage.

Inside the satchel is some clothes, which I don and then I just lay there with my feet in the river. Also in the satchel is device that looks like an electronic price tagger and a manual. It's titled "Welcome to Purgatory."

It tells me about some of the rules of the world:

• The demons come during the darkness to carry away those who arrive to them into demons.
• Men arrive during the day.
• Women arrive during the night.
• A tagger is provided to each new arrival and must be activated, the new comer is vulnerable until it is activated. If another human were to tag the tagger before it was activated the new comer would become the property of that human, a rule that alters the mind of the new comer to utterly accept.
• The tagger is used to mark items found in the world as belong to its owner. Every day at dawn the state of any item tagged is restored to its state when it was originally tagged.
• Any benefit from a tagged consumable is not reversed, though the tagged item will be restored to its tagged state.
• Only one place can be as the tagger's home. The tagger can make temporary shelters but their protections dissipate with dawn.
• Any tagged item left someplace else will be returned to owner. The tagger can optionally set a position that is the items home. If the position is too distant from the tagger or tagger's home the item can be claimed by other taggers.
• If something is modified it must be untagged and then retagged in order to change its restore state, for instance fixing the engine in a tagged car the car would have to be retagged to make sure it doesn't restore to its unfixed state at dawn.
• Any injury short of death, being dragged away by demons, or becoming the property of another will be undone with dawn.
• The tagger can also be used to create a seal on a doorway to protect against demons.

I find an abandoned shack near the river and set my seals on the doors and windows a couple of hours before night fall and fall into a troubled sleep. The morning sees my feet healed and I set out to explore and survive this new world.

 

[Felan]

One of the interesting things about the Purgatory dream is that it did not always start with the welcome manual. My arrival in that dream land was always during an eclipse and I was always pursued by demons and sometimes other humans.

The rules of that dreamland were always consistent though and as the dream repeated my knowledge of those rules at the point of my arrival grew. I'm curious if anyone else that has repeating dreams has had a similiar experience where the successive dreams were better understood in this manner?