Dreams and Dreaming

Last night I had the most vivid dream I have ever had. It is now 11 AM and I still can't get over this dream. What the dream was about is not even relevant to my utter fascination. It was the fact I knew I was dreaming and was directing my mind consciously to look around and take it all in. It was like watching high def TV - it was awesome.

I have always been a lucid dreamer, I sleep light and often know that I am dreaming. But last night's dream was the first time I was actually directing myself within the dream. I also tend to have recurring dreams where the scene or the venue is familiar, like a house that I know from top to bottom but have never seen in real life. In fact I have two houses - one that is mansion-like and gorgeous and one that is a wreck (also a huge, hulking house but is in serious disrepair and with a basement I dare not venture into).

Often my family is there, but just as often I am in the company of complete strangers. Many dreams find me in a "defense of the castle" scenario where I am fending off thieves, robbers or murderers after society has broken down. Obviously I watch too many movies.

The other recurring dream involves me driving large vehicles, trucks, buses etc with really, really bad brakes. I would guess this one is because once I was actually driving a bus (converted into an RV) with my young family when the brakes went out - going downhill. We lived.

I am fascinated with dreams and dreaming and often wondered what sleep-time dreaming was all about. I have read many articles and books on the subject and have a good understanding from a physiological point of view as to why we need to dream. Dreaming helps to embed learning and to form memories. What really intrigues me though is the bizarre nature of dreams. There are so many aspects of my dreams that cannot possibly come from my own experiences - places I've been to, people I meet, things I can do that defy my waking reality. Where does this come from? TV, books, movies? Well, some of my dreams are more far out than any Sci Fi movie I've ever seen. No, these dreams are not offspring of visual or mental stimulation during my waking hours.

What about past lives? What about parallel dimensions? Is it possible that your energy, your soul, exists in a multiverse? Perhaps when in a dream state you can pass between these dimensions and experience just for a brief moment your alter ego's world. What else can explain dreaming experiences and having associations that have no basis in your own reality. I don't have answers, no one really does. Science can explain many things, but like faith, dreams are inexplicable.

Dream on, see where it takes you...


CW