Anders Sandberg wrote:
> "Ross A. Finlayson" <raf@tiki-lounge.com> writes:
>
> > Does anyone have dreams remembered where they are not themselves? In all
> > dreams that I recall, I am myself. If we have dreams where we are someone
> > else, are they separated?
>
> I have had plenty of dreams where I was not myself. I have been
> everything from disembodied observers over interstellar economies to a
> Axiomatically Invincible Hero to the god Odin.
>
> (The Axiomatically Invincible Hero might need an explanation. In one
> dream I encountered a box containing something awful breaking out,
> just like the start of Jurassic Park. But this beast was an Axiomatic
> Beast, which meant that it would - by definition - devour any victim
> it pursued. I only had moments to prepare - so I redefined myself as
> axiomatically impossible to defeat. Since the Beast couldn't eat me
> without causing a paradox, it escaped into other parts of my dream...)
>
Lucid dreaming, where one has visceral control over the dream, is interesting. I think it's possible to train to control at least waking dreams, ie those that occur when the alarm goes off, etcetera. I find that all the dreams I remember are in the context where I realize that I am dreaming. That is, if there is any memory of the dream, then it is associated with awareness of it being a dream. I generally don't exert control over dreams, but feel comfortable in dissassociating myself from the dream state and observing it when my clinical side takes over.
You mention invincibility, most of my dreams I might as well as have had a bottle of tequila. I have had numerous dreams about combat or with martial context. This is in the same context as sports arena.
>
I think it is not so unusual. You sound powerful in your dreams. I have some
dreams that have wormholes with disembodied talking heads that chant like
Tibetan monks, although it's been some time. They are out there.
> > Recent dream tokens are aborigine, red truck. Favorites include mountain
> > and flight. Levitation is interesting.
> >
> > Makes me think of pseudo-science. Dream interpretation and all that.
>
> While a lot of dream interpretation is junk, dreams are after all
> information about our minds. I would say that our dream "landscapes"
> say a bit about what kind of people we are, what is going on and what
> worldviews we inhabit.
>
> Yes... my internal world seems to be quite unusual :-)
>
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
> asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
> GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
Existentialism, Castaneda.
Dreams often have an extrapolatory ability not present to the conscious, ie, an opening of the floodgates of the subconscious. Some people note prescient dreams, or in general, deja vu, I often see this is a rational extension of the parallel nature of the brain, which might predict events before they occur, unconsciously. I haven't had any good deja vus in several weeks, but am not concerned.
Aerosmith.
Have a nice day,
Ross