unsystematic

20 Sep 2008

How do you dream?

After my last post I began thinking about my dreams. I don’t often remember them, but when I do I rarely forget them. But I’ve never thought about how I view my dreams. And after talking with a friend about our dreams, or how we view them, I was somewhat surprised to see differences. Now I’m curious as to what those differences mean.

She said that she views her dreams first-person; through her own eyes, actually experiencing things. Whereas in mind, I never see my face and the “camera” is always behind me at a 3/4 view facing the back of my head. I still experiencing things, and “feel” things the same, like my mind and body are connected yet separate at the same time. Very weird.

I found this after a quick search:

Your viewpoint or perspective in a dream can be insightful. First person, where you play ‘yourself’, shows that you have a fixed identity or character. This is particularly common in nightmares and anxiety dreams where you are quite caught up in your role as dream actor. The other most common perspective is third person where you witness the dream from an audience viewpoint as a disembodied watcher or point of awareness. Sometimes, though not always, this can point to feelings or situations which are not being felt or experienced (i.e. ‘you’ are ‘removed’ from the scene). A balanced blend of these two perspectives is a good step toward lucid dreaming. http://www.dreams.ca/interpretation.htm

So apparently these two types of dreams are the most common… I wonder what other kinds of perspectives are out there and if I can experience them “consciously” or at will. Maybe if I think about a certain perspective before I go to sleep I can somehow trigger it?

Lucid dreaming. I’ve always wanted to experience this and I think I can come close, but it usually happens on it’s own, which is hardly “lucid” at all. I’m still working on this one though and one day I’ll be able to harness the subconscious while still fully conscious and see what interesting things happens. I’ll be sure to write about it as I’m sure it’ll be quite an experience.

I think the most interesting thing about dreaming is that it happens when you least expect it. You can’t plan it and you can hardly control it, and that the truths that are expressed, whether we choose to see them or not, can tell a great deal about us.