I've certainly had my ration of myoclonic leg jerks that have awakened me, but I don't remember any accompanying dreams. Then again, I'm not very good at remembering dreams anymore. However, I do remember dreams in which I was aware that I was dreaming -- and, if I remember correctly, it served to defuse tension in the dream. That seems somewhat along the lines of Eric's Dream Overseer.
When I was a kid and on up into my twenties, I used to dream I could fly -- mostly just by willing it. Wow, do I remember those dreams! They were incredible. Unimaginably (you would think) realistic. I can only guess that my source of flying perspective came from movies. It was so real that I would wake up giddy, knowing that I could fly. In some dreams I would have to press my arms against either side of a doorway as hard as I could and that, somehow, would allow me to overcome gravity. I haven't tried that in a waking state -- I'd hate to be disappointed. [Now that I think of it, didn't we as kids press our arms like that and then drop them by our sides -- didn't they rise up as a reflex? Maybe that explains that.] In some dreams I'd have to concentrate on flying -- I mean like totally -- otherwise I'd start falling. I never hit the ground, but there were some close calls. I'm telling you, dream-flying's not as easy as it looks.
I once had a dream where God appeared to me. No message, no dire prophesy, or new religion -- just dropped in to say hello, but he didn't actually say anything. Cecil B DeMille got God right -- an extremely bright, slowly pulsating circle of white light. Holy Jehosephat! That was something else again. I remember mostly an intensity of joy. My soul was magnified. I was still a believer then. It was an amazing dream. I wish I could have it again. Without chemicals, I mean.
Now I only dream of problems. I can't remember any of the details, just that there was a pressing, vexing problem that I had damn well better fix or else. If perchance we dream in death as Hamlet feared, I hope it's of flying, not problem solving.
Mike Geary Memphis----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Yost" <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 12:39 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: philosophical dreams
John asks > Does anyone here have philosophical dreams? Mine is about the myclonic jerk.You ever have one of those dreams in which you are falling from a wall or slipping from a ladder, only to have a myclonic jerk of your legs partially awaken you? The dreaming pedaling of the legs is translated into a physical peddling of the legs by the myclonic jerk, and it causes partial awakening. Many people have them.That means there's a Dreamer persona, your character in the dream. Above that, is the dreaming body which is aware of an impending myclonic jerk *and* writes it into the script of the dream.Holistic self is aware of impending myclonic jerk. Somehow, the Dreamer gets a dream-script in which the (physical) myclonic jerk takes place. The (physical) jerk of the legs "fits in" to the (representational) ongoing dream, and had to have been "set up" some moments previous to it.That means another persona or more comprehensive self than the dreamer is aware of impending events and prepares the dreamer for it. Jeez, I just thought it was my unconscious!------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
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