E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
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E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
Volume #10 Issue #3
March 2003
ISSN# 1089 4284
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http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
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Download a cover for this issue!
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed10-3cov.jpg
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C O N T E N T S
++ Editor's Notes
++ The Global Dreaming News
Events - Updates - Reviews - More
From Peggy Coats - www.DreamTree.com
++ Column: An Excerpt From the Lucid Dream Exchange
By Lucy Gillis
++ Article: The Dream Journal
By Linda Lane Magallón
++ Column: A View from the Bridge
Report on the World Dreams Peace Bridge
By Jean Campbell
++ Dream: The Impact of a Man's Life
By Stan Kulikowski II
++ Article: New Trends in Dream Brain Research
By Richard Wilkerson
D R E A M S S E C T I O N : Volume #616 - #632
With Editors Elizabeth Westlake and Harry Bosma
D E A D L I N E :
March 19 deadline for April 2003 submissions
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Post Dreams and Comments on Dreams to:
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to:
Peggy Coats <
web@...>
Send Articles and Subscription concerns to:
Richard Wilkerson: <
rcwilk@...>
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Editor's Notes
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Welcome to the March 2003 issue of Electric Dreams, your portal to dreams
and dreaming online.
If you are new to dreams and dreaming, please join us on
dreamchatters@yahoogroups.com and we will guide you to the resources you
need. To join send an e to
dreamchatters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
We have quite a mix of items for you this month.
Lucy Gillis offers a selection from the Lucid Dream Exchange. This month
includes tips for lucid dreamers. The tips are for beginners as well as
advanced lucid dreamers.
Linda Magallón continues her excerpts from "How to Fly." Last month she
looked into the importance of recording dreams. This month she delves more
deeply into a dreamer's most important tool, a dream journal.
Jean Campbell continues to be a key player in 21st Century dream activism
and this month has an update from the most active online project, the World
Dreams Peace Bridge. In "A View from the Bridge" Jean describes current
projects and how you can participate. There is also information about the
website worlddreamspeacebridge.org
By popular demand, Stan Kulikowski's dream journal is back with a special
selection called "The Impact of a Man's Life"
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of REM dreaming, I am including my notes
on the dreaming brain research that is in process of going through a new
revolution. The two camps: One side sees dreaming as something initiated by
the lower brain and the higher brain is seen as a sleepy partner that does
its best to handle the noise from the lower brain. The other camp sees the
higher brain as having the ability to dream on its own with or without the
influences of the lower brain. Now, the two camps are starting to come
together and build a complex model that is sure to influence the research
in dreams for another 50 years.
I have named my notes-collection "New Trends in Dream Brain Research" and
will have updates as the year goes on.
Do you want a cover for your copy of Electric Dreams? We produce a cover
every month. This month, I'm contributing the cover, taken from an anxiety
dream I had about war. In the dream my dad lands an old WWII plane on the
deck of an aircraft carrier and we all run out to greet him. He tells us
that our weapons are "too archaic" and we are really taking a beating. End
dream.
I'm not sure what he meant, but I took this to mean that we definitely need
a new approach.
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed10-3cov.jpg
The Dream Section, beautifully edited by Elizabeth Westlake [with the help
of Harry Bosma's editor program], is full of dreams sent in to us over the
last month. Re-dreaming, kidnapping, jails and sweet kisses ... be sure to
read the dream section!
If you have dreams you want published, don't send them to Elizabeth
directly, but rather enter them in the form at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Or you can put them in the dream flow directly by subscribing
to:
dream-flow-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
--------------------
For those of you who are new to dreams and dreaming, be sure to stop by one
of the many resources:
http://www.dreamtree.com
http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/library
--------------------
Planning to join the 2003 ASD International Dream Conference in Berkeley?
Be sure to register early!
http://www.asdreams.org/2003
-Richard Wilkerson
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G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S
February 2003
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If you have news you'd like to share, contact Peggy Coats,
web@.... Visit Global Dreaming News online at
http://www.dreamtree.com/
This Month's Features:
NEWS
- Lucidity Conference in Hawaii
- ASD 2003 International Dream Conference
- ASD Dream Auction Online
- "Dream Wisdom" Readings by Alan Siegel
- Volunteer Positions at ASD
- How to get ASD News
WEBSITE & ONLINE UPDATES
- Dream Wisdom site offers articles
- Scott McLoud Dream Page
- Change in Behavioral and Brain Science Articles
- Electric Dreams articles moving
- ASD 2003 Conference Abstracts
DREAM CALENDAR for February 2003
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N E W S
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>>>>> Lucid Dreaming in Hawaii
DREAMING AND AWAKENING, KALANI, HAWAII,
MAY 9-18, 2003
A 10-day Residential Training Program
in Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga
with Stephen LaBerge and Friends
Kalani, Hawaii, May 9-18, 2003
Awareness enhancement and fun at the beautiful Kalani Retreat Center on the
Big Island of Hawaii, with Stephen LaBerge and friends. See website for
pictures and details:
http://lucidity.com/daa/
>>>>> 20th Annual International Conference of the Association for the
Study of Dreams
June 27 - July 1, 2003
Berkeley, California
Dreaming by the Bay - Over 100 events over five days, including workshops,
papers, panels, symposia, art, and multimedia shows!
DREAM FILM FESTIVAL: At this year's conference, ASD will offer an expanded
dream film festival ( we supply the popcorn!) with nearly continuous
showings of feature and documentary films. With the help of dream film
gurus, Drs. Bernard Welt, Deirdre Barrett, Jim Pagel, and Kelly Bulkeley,
ASD will offer commentaries, symposia, and even repeat showings of popular
dream-oriented films ranging from Le Guin's, The Lathe of Heaven, to
Bunuel, Hitchcock, Sayles, Dr. Suess, the Rugrats, Star Trek episodes and
much more. Highly requested documentaries such as the Wise Old Dog, The
Power of Dreams, and Goodnight Moon will also be included.
SUNSET DREAM CRUISE ON THE BAY: As a special treat at this year's
conference, ASD will offer a cruise on the San Francisco Bay. From a dock,
right at the hotel, you will set sail into the sunset to savor the
spectacular views, and the sights and sounds of the bay. This is a rare
opportunity to share an evening with friends and colleagues from the
conference.
CE PROGRAM: ASD will be offering 30 Continuing Education (CE) Credits from
the ASD Dream Studies Continuing Education Program which will include
in-depth clinical and interpretive workshops with Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D.;
Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.; Ernest Hartmann, M.D. Alan Siegel, Ph.D.; Roger
Knudson, Ph.D., Paul Lippman, Ph.D. ; Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D. Min.
BOOK SALES AND AUTHOR SIGNINGS: Browse through dream-related books and
obtained personalized signed copies from world-famous authors.
JURIED ART EXHIBIT: The deadline for submitting work to the 2003 Dream Art
Show is March 1, 2003. Artists may submit up to ten slides of their work.
For more information check the ASD web site, E-mail Richard Russo, M.A. at
RR@... or send a SASE to Richard Russo, 835 Peralta St. Berkeley, CA
94707.
HOT OFF THE PRESS RESEARCH: The conference will include one or more
"Hot-off-the-Press" sessions, during which individuals will be given five
minutes to present recent research findings.
2003 CONFERENCE COMPUTER CAFE
The online 2003 Computer Cafe will offer quick access to many conference
events and presentations, including the 2003 Dream Art
Exhibit, Presentation Abstracts, Conference Program Schedules and the
Annual Dream Telepathy Contest. You can access the cafe via the 2003
Conference website at
http://www.asdreams.org/2003
>>>> Online Dream Auction at ASD
The Association for the Study of Dreams offers and online auction for those
who want to donate and purchase items, the benefits going to ASD programs
and the international dream movement. Here is you chance to pick up
autographed books by famous dream researchers and pioneers, pictures by
dream artists and various ASD items from past conferences.
Stop by
http://www.asdreams.org/auction
>>>>> Dream Wisdom reading by Alan Siegel, Ph.D.
Alan Siegel will be presenting on dreams in March at:
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Alan Siegel will present a parent education seminar at Marin Country Day
School on Tuesday morning, March 4
Sunday, March 9, 2003 at 2 PM in Corte Madera CA
Alan Siegel will read from Dream Wisdom and sign books at:
Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA on Sunday afternoon March 9, 2003
51 Tamal Vista Blvd Corte Madera, CA
(415) 927 0960 (800) 999 7909.
This event is free and open to the public.
http://www.bookpassage.com/bookstore/
>>>>> Volunteer Positions at the Assoc. for the Study of Dreams
Help out the Dream Movement by volunteering at the Association for the
Study of Dreams!
The Association for the Study of Dreams is a non-profit, international,
multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the pure and applied
investigation of dreams and dreaming.
Their purposes include promoting awareness and appreciation of dreams in
both professional and public arenas; encouraging research into the nature,
function, and significance of dreaming; advancing the application of the
study of dreams; and providing a forum for the eclectic and
interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information.
If you can help this organization in any way, you will also be helping the
Dream Movement get the message out about dreams and dreaming.
Included below are volunteer positions and tasks at ASD, mostly online.
For many of the positions, you do not have to be an ASD member.
(You can be come a member for $100 at
http://www.asdreams.org )
If you are interested in one of the volunteer positions or willing to take
on one of the tasks, please contact Richard Wilkerson,
rcwilk@...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code Keyword from ASD Journal issues into the HTML of the Abstract Pages.
o Code Keyword from ASD Journal issues into the HTML of the Abstract Pages.
Description: The ASD journal Dreaming posts its abstracts online each
quarter and these can be located by various search engines. However, these
engines could locate the material more efficiently if the keywords provided
by the journal were collected together and coded in the META statements.
Task: For each issue of the journal Dreaming, collect the keywords listed
at the bottom of each abstract. Eliminate duplicate keywords. Code these
into that issue's HTML Meta statement in the following format:
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT=".,.,.">
EXAMPLE:
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="ASD Journal Dreaming, dream, dreams,
dreaming, intuition, research">
Please include for the first keyword "ASD Journal Dreaming"
Send the finished HTML in ascii format to Richard Wilkerson,
rcwilk@...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search Engine Expert or Apprentice
o Search Engine Expert or Apprentice
Description: The Internet search engines is the primary way people find the
ASD site, yet the rules for each one are different and changing. The ASD
site needs someone interested in keeping up with these rules and developing
reports for the electronic communications committee that will advise on
compliance with the rules.
Task: The search engine volunteer (SEV) will need to have access to the
WWW. The SEV will research the main search engines and become familiar with
the rules for each engine. (apprentice SEV will get training from the ASD
web manager, Richard Wilkerson) The SEV will also develop two kind of
reports, at least quarterly: The first will be a report to the ASD
Electronic Communications Committee with suggestions about how to improve
the ranking of the ASD site with the major search engines. These reports
may be more frequent. The second report will made in cooperation with the
ASD Web Manager, summarizing the changes made that quarter to the ASD
website regarding search engines. This second report will be included in
the quarterly ASD Online Report made by the ASD Web Manager to the ASD
executive board.
This position may also coincide with the ASD Online Ambassador position.
We recommend that the SEV join the following e-list:
searchengineguide@yahoogroups.com
searchengineguide-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
We recommend that the SEV becomes familiar with websites related to search
engines, such as
http://www.searchengineguide.com/
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
http://www.rankpilot.com/cgi-bin/seranker/seranker.cgi?submit
other helpful sites:
http://www.northernwebs.com/set/
Apprentice SEVs will be instructed on all points, including:
1. What are search engines and portals and how to register with them?
2. How to increase a site's ranking on a search engine?
3. What meta statments are and why they are important to search engines.
4. How to read the site statistics and search engine rankings.
5. Why links from other sites are so important.
6. How a websites keywords and key phrases are important.
If interested, please contact Richard Wilkerson,
rcwilk@...
-----------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> How to get ASD News
Although the Global Dreaming News tries to bring you all the information we
can on dreams and dreaming, we don't always have the room for all the
projects at the Association for the Study of Dreams. You can get all the
details, new each month, at
http://www.asdreams.org/enews/index.htm
or you can subscribe to the ASD eNews and get the monthly news via
email. Subscribe by sending an email to
asd-enews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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W E B S I T E & O N L I N E U P D A T E S
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Do you know of interesting new websites you'd like to share with others? Or
do you have updates to existing pages? Help spread the word by using the
Electric Dreams DREAM-LINK page
www.dreamgate.com/dream/resources/online97.htm. This is really a public
projects board and requires that everyone keep up his or her own link URLs
and information. Make a point to send changes to the links page to us
>>>>>New Articles on Dream Wisdom
Alan Siegel's "Dream Wisdom" explains how dreams can be a source of special
insight and healing during life's transitions. Using more that 140 actual
"turning point" dreams as examples, Siegel helps the reader to use dreams
as a window into hidden needs, unconscious feelings and unexplored wisdom,
which can enhance the ability to understand and resolve life's major
challenges.
Many of the techniques are available online
http://www.dreamwisdom.info
>>>>>Scott McLoud Dream Page
http://www.dreamscott.com
"Welcome to my brain. Please enjoy the movies of my mind in text and
illustrations that date all the way back to childhood (online since
'99). I love sharing dreams with good folk."
>>>>> Change in Behavioral and Brain Science Articles
The special issue on dreams and dreaming has been moved.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal #23. Dreaming and the Brain:
Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/sleep.html
>>>>> Electric Dreams articles moving
Although the main index for the Electric Dreams articles will remain the
same, the articles are moving from telocity.com to improverse.com If you
just link to the index at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-articles
then you will have no problem with the transition. But if you have linked
to individual articles at telocity.com you will need to find these articles
again through the index.
>>>>> ASD 2003 Conference Abstracts
The abstracts are now online for the 100 plus presentations of the 2003
international Association for the Study of Dreams. This is a fabulous
resource for students and researchers, as well as the rest of us who would
like to see what is going to happen at the Berkeley conference.
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D R E A M C A L E N D A R
March 2003
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***** JURIED ART EXHIBIT: The deadline for submitting work to the 2003
Dream Art Show is March 1, 2003. Artists may submit up to ten slides of
their work. For more information check the ASD web site, E-mail Richard
Russo, M.A. at
RR@... or send a SASE to Richard Russo, 835 Peralta
St. Berkeley, CA 94707.
***** Alan Siegel will be presenting on dreams in March at:
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Alan Siegel will present a parent education seminar at Marin Country Day
School on Tuesday morning, March 4
Sunday, March 9, 2003 at 2 PM in Corte Madera CA
Alan Siegel will read from Dream Wisdom and sign books at:
Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA on Sunday afternoon March 9, 2003
51 Tamal Vista Blvd Corte Madera, CA
(415) 927 0960 (800) 999 7909.
This event is free and open to the public.
http://www.bookpassage.com/bookstore/
End News <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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An Excerpt From the Lucid Dream Exchange
By Lucy Gillis
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The Lucid Dream Exchange is pleased to announce a new reader-supported
feature called "Tips and Techniques" where readers can help fellow lucid
dreamers by sharing their tips and advice; from how to induce lucid dreams,
to how to achieve specific goals in lucid dreams. Below is a "sneak
preview" of this feature in the up coming issue, LDE number 26.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Beginner Lucid Dreamers
1) Near Misses. If you are trying to have a lucid dream, make note of your
lucid dream "near misses." What's a lucid dream near miss? These are the
dreams in which you speak or think about lucid dreaming to yourself or
other dream characters. For example, you may have a dream in which you are
reading a book on lucid dreams, or talking to a friend about lucid dreams.
You may even say to yourself in the dream, "This reminds me of a dream"
without becoming lucid and aware! Whatever the case, don't despair! These
"near misses" suggest that you are making real progress in achieving
lucidity. It indicates that your inner self has picked up on your waking
interest in lucid dreaming. So keep trying! And pay attention to those near
misses. They can show you where you need greater critical awareness.
Intermediate Lucid Dreamers
1) Lucid Trifecta. So, you wake up at 5 am, and can recall a lucid dream,
and make notes in your dream journal - great! But don't stop there --- in
my experience, once you have had one lucid dream in a night, the conditions
are right to have two or three lucid dreams that same night. So write down
your lucid dream, and think about a goal that you could have achieved with
a little bit more awareness in that lucid dream, and then intend to have
another lucid dream! Experience has taught me that when the conditions are
right, keep going -- the probability of success is high.
Advanced Lucid Dreamers
1) Next Level. So, you are once again lucid. That's great. But this time,
instead of flying, having an intimate rendezvous, or interacting with dream
characters, announce to the dream that you want to go to "The Next Level."
See what happens.
In my experience, the lucid dream makes a complete shift on a number of
levels. But, see for yourself. And, if you would, send your experiences to
the Lucid Dream Exchange.
The above Tips and Techniques are courtesy of Robert Waggoner.
*```*```*```*```*```*```*```*```*
Paying attention to, and taking advantage of "dream signals" is another way
to trigger lucid dreaming. With practice you can learn to easily recognize
your own personal dream signs, as C.S. does:
Excerpted from C.S.'s dream:
C.S.
"I woke up twice previously but was too tired to recall my dreams. . . I
suggested "I want to have a lucid dream, and will have a lucid dream."
Immediately:
Energy flowed around me (my lucid sign), mostly at my sides, down around my
feet and around my head. The noise associated with it, at this time, was
low. I felt really happy so I sang a fast, joyous song."
*```*```*```*```*```*```*```*```*
Some lucid dreamers have their own "tricks of the trade" when it comes to
maneuvering within a lucid dream. For example, if you experience difficulty
in flying to distant locations you may want to try what Katie does:
Excerpted from Katie's dream:
". . . I spy a cluster of buildings, dominated by a pointy one, both off in
the distance and higher up in the air. I do my trick where I determine a
spot and arrive at it rather than physically fly (as I'd been doing
earlier, flap flap like a bird straight up). I do this in short increments
rather than all at once."
If you have any tips, tricks, techniques, or suggestions you'd like to
share we'd love to hear from you!
********
The Lucid Dream Exchange is a quarterly newsletter featuring lucid dreams
and lucid dream related articles, poetry, interviews, and book reviews. To
subscribe to The Lucid Dream Exchange send a blank email to:
TheLucidDreamExchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or join through the Yahoo Groups website at
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/TheLucidDreamExchange
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The Dream Journal
(c) 2003 Linda Lane Magallón
(Excerpted from "How To Fly")
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The Dream Journal
(c) 2003 Linda Lane Magallón
(Excerpted from "How To Fly")
A dreamer who had kept dream journals for many years decided she wanted to
give them to posterity. So she offered to donate them to a dream library. I
had a chance to look at her journals before the library directory declined
them and I could quickly see why they were refused.
The dreams were all in cramped handwriting that was very difficult to read.
There were no dates. There were no titles. The dreams were unnumbered and
there was no index or table of contents. There were no comments about what
had been happening in the waking life of the dreamer. Not even an
indication of the gender or age of the dreamer. Just dream after dream
after dream.
Record keeping is usually set up to suit your own purposes. That's fine, as
long as you play hermit. For example, one dreamer of my acquaintance uses a
"dream drawer." She simply writes down her dream on any old piece of paper
and flings it into the drawer. However, your purposes might not suit anyone
else. The director had her library patrons in mind. When dreams are made
available to other people, there are very good reasons to keep a
well-organized journal. So you can share and compare with a dream group. So
you can be of real use to a dream researcher. So someone else can actually
read them! Hey, how is your penmanship at 3:00 in the morning?
There are also important reasons why you would want to keep a written dream
log for yourself. They might include:
-- Ease of finding a favorite dream
-- Aid in dream analysis
-- Ability to track down a precognitive dream
-- Inspiration for dream creativity
-- Pump priming for further flying dreams
Gabriele Rico, author of *Writing The Natural Way,* advises, "Find the
pattern in your life - and celebrate it!" But it's impossible to find the
pattern of your dream life unless you have your dreams gathered in one
place. While you might discover what circumstances favor flying today, you
may not know the best option from the sweep of the past. And while you can
take the temperature of any single dream on a separate sheet of paper, to
feel the steady pulse of your dream health requires records that help track
your dreaming life over the span of time.
Dream Log IQ
With a well-kept dream log, you can answer questions like these:
-- How often do I have flying dreams?
-- What was the content of my last birthday dream?
-- Have I ever mapped my route through the dreamscape?
-- What's my funniest dream title?
-- What's the best month for recalling dreams? Time of the week?
-- How many mythic creatures have I dreamt about?
-- What was the most helpful dream character? Can I locate that dream?
-- When was the last time my dreaming self sobbed or laughed out loud in a
dream?
-- What's average weather in my dreamland?
Other Than Dreams
My first dream journal was comparatively small and spiral bound. The thick
wire dissuaded me from free form dream recording, except on the right.
Thus, I wound up with journal entries on only one side of each page. This
turned out to be fortuitous. Unwittingly, I had allowed space for things
other than dreams to be added to my journal. They included:
-- Doodles of dream objects difficult to describe in words
-- Quick notes when I recognized a symbol or theme that corresponded to
what had been happening the previous day
-- My first stumbling attempts at symbol interpretation
Unlike a bound book, I didn't feel that I was desecrating my journal when I
ripped a page out of the spiral notebook, after I made a mistake or created
a "rough draft" of dream fragments out of order.
Nowadays, I use a binder. To help clear the way for new dreams, I grab my
notepad, tear out the perforated sheets of paper and place them in my
binder (I've also invested in a 3-hole punch in case it's needed).
The Table Of Contents And Classification Codes
Each of my binders contain hundreds of dreams. Sometimes people number
their dreams, but it's much easier to remember one with a title than to
picture what #124 was about. And even though I title each of them, it still
can be difficult to locate any particular dream after the fact.
So, in the front of each binder, I keep blank, lined pages. About once a
month, I bring my dream report binder into the family room to work on while
I'm watching TV. During a dull program or commercial, I list the dates and
titles for the dreams on one of the blank pages. Suddenly, I've got a Table
of Contents. I list my dreams and number them only when there is more than
one dream in a single night. For instance, on December 8th I had only one
dream; during the previous days I had two each. But which of them were
flying dreams? From the title, I'd be able to tell that the first dream on
December 6th was a flying dream.
12/2 #1-Me, The Blonde Man And A Toddler In The Water
12/2 #2-Stuff On Fire
12/6 #1-After A Sky Banner, I Fly A Boy On My Back
12/6 #2-Slipping Down The Mattress To The Dresser
12/8 Nuclear Explosion Near L. A.
The second of December 6th was a flying dream, too. How do I know that?
It's because I added something extra. Alphabetic notations and
abbreviations appear on both my dream report first page and in margin of
the Table of Contents. They are part of a code I developed to help me
locate a dream quickly. Much of the code is simple initials, but I also use
short words or abbreviations. In addition, a musical note stands for the
fact that the content contains music, perhaps a song, perhaps a melody. An
orange dot from a felt tip pen means that the color orange was a prominent
feature in the dream.
Here's some samples of my classification codes:
A-Astral/Out-of-Body
C-Conversation
F-Flying
Fr-Contains fear
H-Hypnogogia
Inc-An incubated dream
Interp-An interpreted dream
Jan-A dream with Jan in it
L-Lucid
N-Nightmare
Pun-Contains a dream pun
Read-Printed words were read in dream
T-Telepathy (this is added after I discover a correspondence)
(Willie)-I talked about Willie, but she didn't appear in the dream (She's
hidden in parenthesis)
When it was easy to locate all the examples of a particular type of dream,
I could quickly make graphs and charts. For instance, I charted both lucid
and flying dreams across several years, to see if there was any
relationship between them. There was: flying often preceded the onset of
lucidity. Noticing when my nightmares appeared helped me track down the
causes.
When I was having a series of blue-green dreams, I used a turquoise dot
from a felt-tip pen as my classification code. I wanted to know how often I
dreamt of that color and when. Was there a particular time of the month? Or
season of the year? I could find no correspondence to calendar time. Then
the turquoise dreams stopped and I switched to other dream themes.
Eventually I realized that the abundance of blue hues ended just about the
time when I began having dreams with tints of red. So what had happened?
Without a journal I might have speculated wildly. Chakra trouble? A shift
from tranquility to anger? Or spiritual to earthly? No, no and no.
Because I had dated my dreams, I was able to put stimulus and response
together. The switch occurred when I bought a new burgundy Honda and sold
my old light-blue Mustang. Now that I've identified the color source of the
dreams, is that the end of my interpretation? Of course not. Physical life
is full of metaphor! The Mustang was frisky and fun for a single gal and
I'd kept it long after I was married. But the Honda had a stick shift
instead of an automatic transmission; more sporty in that sense, but more
mature, like fine red wine. These are my living associations, not the inert
entries of some insensible symbol system. But I'd not have been able to
make the connection unless I was aware of my waking and dreaming life over
the long run.
Uses For Your Dream Log
When I taught creative writing in elementary school, I would suggest topics
like these:
-- My Funniest Dream
-- My Craziest Dream
-- A Dream That Came True
-- When I Awoke in My Dream
-- An Adventurous Dream
Now, if I had a perfect memory, I could write such stories without backup
material. But since memory fades with the passage of time, I'd rather seek
and find such dreams in my dream log. What else can you do with a dream log
besides have it serve as source material for stories? Here's some ideas:
1. Write down old dreams
-- Remember a dream from childhood. Re-dream it in your mind and write it
down. You might not have specific dates for such dreams, but do the best
you can. For example, you might note the general period in your life: Age
12-13. Create a special place in your journal for such dreams.
2. Do dream analysis
-- Mark significant content with colored pens.
-- Underline or highlight elements in the dream.
-- Connect your dream with a past waking event.
-- Review old dreams to see if they have been precognitive of a recent event.
3. Prime the pump for new dreams.
-- Reread favorite old dreams.
-- Do something quick and creative, like a doodle of yourself flying.
-- Think up a way to congratulate you and your dreaming self for jobs well
done. (Make sure you follow through!)
4. Look for the big picture.
-- Go through your journal and link dreams with one another.
-- Find repeating themes and places and dream characters.
-- Track improvement over time.
-- Annual review: Do an analysis of content to find patterns; discover the
frequency of certain types of dreams.
-- Study your dream log as if it were a photo album filled with snapshots
of the dream world.
Advantages Of A Dream Log
Journal keeping is a tool for self-awareness. Because it provides
opportunity for reflection, recognition and contemplation, it's an
essential tool for most dreamwork. It aids memory, making the dream both
visual and tactile. With a dream log by your bed, you have a way to
immediately record your dreams when you wake up. And it converts dream
recall into a creative product. Your dream journal can be an artistic
visual symbol of your sleeping life.
Since the dream journal is a permanent record of dreams, you are sending a
message to your psyche that you want to remember dreams, not just for
today, but for the future. You want to develop a long-term relationship
with your dreaming self. Journal keeping allows you to see a single dream
in the context of other dreams and of your daily life. This larger
perspective gains more information for more accurate interpretation of
dreams. You don't have to resort to random guesses. Dream interpretation
expands from "What does this symbol mean?" to "What does this entire dream
signify? to "What are my dreams saying overall?" This new perspective helps
you answer the wider question, "What *is* a dream, anyway?" It's a
practical tool in the study of consciousness.
Observing a series of dreams on the same theme enables you to track
improvement in flying skills over time or to determine if you are stuck in
a rut or even backsliding. It's invaluable to determine the multiple
sources of nightmare. Since you may be too emotionally close to the
situation at the time of the dream, it may require some distancing to gain
a perspective useful to nightmare resolution. Accurate interpretation of a
dream can be delayed because not all the information is currently
available. For example, precognitive dreams may only be determined in
fifty-fifty hindsight.
Through journal keeping, you come to appreciate of the richness of dreams.
You gain a better understanding of yourself as dreamer. The types of dreams
you have, the variety or lack of it can serve as a clue to your multiple
personality traits. It also serves as a source of information when you
become a sociable dreamer. It provides you with dreams to share with
partners or your dream group, to compare and contrast with other dreamers.
The Dream Index
Some of my dreams reports are files on my computer. If I'm looking for a
special dream record or particular type of dream, I can use the "search"
feature to find it. But not all of my dreams have made the leap to
cyberspace. How can I track down specific sorts if they are handwritten?
For many years, I have kept a dream index. This special binder lists dreams
by type. Not all my dreams. Just the ones I've found most intriguing or
most useful. I've got clairvoyant dreams and probable selves and specific
symbols. Favorite types and frustrating types. Dream nonsense and dream skills.
Some Index Types:
Correspondence (Precognitive, Mutual, Telepathic)
Extraordinary strength
False awakenings
Geometric figures
Humor
Hypnogogic voices
Lucid conversations
Music
Myth and story material (like dragons)
People growing and shrinking
Planets and aliens
Re-entry (re-entering the dream after waking)
Super Heroes
Tactile dreams
Whirlwinds
I've flown in every one of these types except for the false awakenings,
when I had sleep paralysis. And the hypnogogic conversations are strictly
audio dreams. How did I get such a rich variety of fruit? I did not lay
waiting for them to fall out of my head like an apple from the dream tree.
Instead, I nurtured my dreams. And afterwards, I celebrated the harvest.
Dee, N. The Dreamer's Workbook. (NY: Sterling Publishing Co., 1990)
Gregory, J. Dream Tips. (Novato, CA: The Novato Center for Dreams, 1988).
Magallón, L. L. "Long Term Journaling/I Am a Sociable Dreamer." Paper
presented at 15th Annual ASD Conference, Hawaii (1998). On Cynthia
Pearson's Dream Journalist web site.
http://www.nauticom.net/www/netcadet/linda.htm
Magallón, L. L. Psychic-Creative Dreaming. Internet course (1997).
Magallón, L. L. "Why I Title My Lucid Dreams," The Lucid Dream Exchange, 17
(2000), 2.
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html (Dream Flights)
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A View from the Bridge
Report on the World Dreams Peace Bridge
A Peaceful Solutions Dream In/ February 2003 Update
Jean Campbell
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Although it is an awesome experience to be part of not thousands but
millions of people around the globe connected in an overwhelming request to
world leaders for peace, the members of The World Dreams Peace Bridge feel
that they played an important part in this worldwide effort in February by
conducting a "Peaceful Solutions" Dream In between February 8 and 15, 2003.
Who can know the power of a dream? Prior to the beginning of the Dream In,
there were two or three quite believable predictions from reliable
precognitive dreamers, that the hostilities between the United States and
Iraq would result in bombings on February 16. Were these predictions
wrong, or did the sheer intensity of peoples' desires and hopes for peace
change the future?
In the sense of ordinary politics, such questions have little
meaning. There is still plenty of jockeying for power going on within the
United Nations and the NATO Alliance. The threat of war still exists. And
yet, for dreamers, the question asked above may be the deepest question of all.
During the week of the Peaceful Solutions Dream In and even earlier,
starting with the Candlemas celebration on February 2nd suggested by
Australia's Victoria Quinton, members of the Peace Bridge and those from
other groups including dreamchatters, the Association for the Study of
Dreams' Dream Activism Group, and many from the ASD Online Bulletin Board
and other places, turned their attention toward dreaming for peace.
Many people chose to submit their dreams to the World Dreams Peace Bridge
web site at
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org , where the dreams were
collected by web master Liz Diaz, to be examined with the aid of Harry
Bosma's Alchera Dream Journaling software.
There were peaceful solutions dreams too numerous to recount, many
indicating strong elements of mutual or group dreaming; some indicating
fear of terrorism, war, or violence; but all indicating a willingness from
the dreamers to listen to the voice of the dream. To those who have asked
me (and others on the Bridge) if any peaceful solutions were found, let me
respond with only two of the many examples presented by Dream In dreams.
The first dream comes from Kathy in Australia:
I'm driving (n an anticlockwise direction) along a narrow road winding
around the base of a mountain. Some roadwork is being done, but all
traffic (including me) is moving very quickly. I see a large white truck
and am afraid. Surely there'll be an accident. But we both seem to pass
each other with no problem. Next a white four wheel vehicle is coming. Oh
no. At the same time a construction worker throws a twisted steel rod
across the road. I know it is hopeless now as either the four wheel drive
or I will drive over one end of the bar and the other end will crash onto
the other vehicle. There seems nothing we can do. Then both I and the
other vehicle STOP. Now we move the bar. That was the solution. I was
surprised how simple and obvious it was.
The second dream comes from Stephen in the U.S.:
I had this dream the night President Bush made his State of the Union
speech. I'm lucid. I see a panorama of war, fire chaos, blood, savage
energy unleashed. The panorama shrinks to the size and shape of a human
face, with the images of war moving over it, as though projected on skin.
The face literally devolves into progressively earlier stages of man,
ending in a Neanderthal shape whose mouth is open wide in a primal scream.
I think, "This is the face of war." Immediately I am asked, "What is the
face of peace?"
I realize I have no vision of peace except as an absence of war. I can't
name any actions that fill the face of peace. I am clear the face of war
is a man. I wonder if the face of peace is a woman.
As a result of his dream, Stephen said to the others in the World Dreams
Peace Bridge group: "What actions create Peace? Thic Nhat Hanh has
suggested deep listening, which seems a nice start, I think. The dream
invites us to come up with activities that manifest peace and to create a
'face of Peace."' Stephen invited the group to make contributions to this
list, which will be posted on the World Dreams web site.
One immediate response to Stephen's request came from Kotaro in Japan. His
"Basic Declaration," a powerful piece of art work, can be viewed in the new
Art Gallery section of the World Dreams site.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the February Dream In, one which has
been seen and noted in all phases of the recent outpouring of sentiment
against aggression, was the connectedness engendered through the
Internet. The Peace Bridge began receiving communications from many other
peace-oriented groups. Once such communication came from a leader of a
fairly conservative Christian group, which asks teens around the world to
act for peace. The individual praised the Peace Bridge approach because,
he said, dreams are "universal." And so they are.
As we move into March, members of the World Dreams Peace Bridge will be
asking other dreamers to join us in a Gratefulness Dream In, giving thanks
for all of the wonderful things that have happened to date. The Bridge
discussion group is open to all dreamers. Simply send a post to
worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/monthyupdates.htm
-------------------
The World Dreams Peace Bridge is a group that uses personal dreams for
public world peace. You can find out more about the WDPB at
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/
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Stan Kulikowski II
<
stankuli@...>
Dream: The Impact of a Man's Life
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DATE : 12 feb 2003 07:55
DREAM : the impact of a man's life
=( i have been rather depressed by changes in my work at the university and
yesterday, a tuesday, is at least a ten hour day teaching three courses.
the first starts at 11:00 and the last ends around 21:00. i did not even
get breakfast since my morning was sluggish with too much depressed sleep.
after my evening class, april phillips, a really bright student from a few
semesters ago, stopped in to ask some questions about PERL and CGI. it is
a little frightening how easily she picks up on minor suggestions in a
programming language that even skilled programmers find difficult to learn.
even though i had nothing to eat all day, i stayed an extra hour to help
her get the scripts she needed for a survey in a statistical project she
has for another course. i got home close 23:00, my mother worried about my
lateness, but i felt rather good that i was able to assist that charming
student get her project together because what she wanted was not trivial
but i was able to do it straight forward. made me feel a little useful to
the students even if the faculty seem unaware. i fixed myself a meal
around midnight while my mother watched a video. got to bed around 01:30
but could not sleep, so played the song 'the lowlands' from the nitty
gritty dirt band, vol 3 of _will the circle be unbroken_ so i could
transcribe the words. the song caught my attention recently and just feels
good when i hear it. got to sleep near 02:30. )=
i am one of the first teachers to arrive at the annual school christmas
party. we hold this every year in a local restaurant, this year an italian
place downtown. a few other teachers arrive before susan does. i almost
did not come because i knew she would be here, but in the end i could not
let myself miss a chance to see her again. she hardly acknowledges my
presence here with a brief nod. but i know she registers my presence here
more deeply than that. she is pregnant with our fourth child now, just
starting to show.
the party proceeds as more and more colleagues come in. susan is animated
and relaxed, friendly in every manner with most of the people here. i, on
the otherhand, am quiet and patient, sitting at the back of the room
watching, hoping that she will let her heart melt a little and remember how
much we once cared for each other not so long ago. everyone moves around
me like i wasn't there. a fitting situation for me. ghost in my own life.
but as i sit there, near the restroom doors where patrons of the restaurant
come and go, i notice a short man stop and look at me. at first i do not
think i know him, but then real old memory kicks in with recognition. "john
gunning." i say in startled reaction. "is that you?"
"yes, stan. it is me." he says. his once white hair is tinged with
yellow and his skin has a sallow color to it. i suppose that is how
someone with natural white hair ages: yellow instead of gray.
"well, what have you been doing all these years?" i ask him. we knew each
other in high school.
nothing much it seems. we step outside the building through the back
entrance and walk around the patches of crusted snow. john is not very
forthcoming with descriptions of his life, so i fill in about mine as much
as i can. i am not a very skilled conversationalist under most
circumstances, but i manage to tell him about my life with susan, how i
loved her then lost her recently against my desires. of course he knew her
as she was a cheer leader in the high school we went to so long ago.
everyone knew susan and i suppose everyone loved her but not as i did.
i think i probably bored john with my ramblings about my life and problems,
but i kept trying to get him to come forward with some of his. perhaps we
just did not know each other for this level of intimacy so quickly. it was
just my sense of loss and desperation that was driving me. when we get
back to the restaurant from our meandering walk, we separate with a
handshake and good wishes.
i can see the staff party going on inside in full swing now, but i am not
part of this. i stayed long enough for the others to know i was here and
that is enough. i see susan through the frosted glass windows and realize
i am no longer part of her. how does one loose the most valuable person
you have ever known and not be able to get her back? some say love is like
a wheel, once its bended can't be mended.
i turn to leave this place, free of the obligation to attend but not free
of the loss.
several years seem to pass in the blink of an eye. i have another job now
in another school somewhere not so far away. i was never able to get susan
back but i still long for the sight and feel of her. but just now i am
coming into a room where a young woman lies sick on a bed. i had stopped
by to leave something for her, only to find her laid up with no one around.
"here, let me help." i tell her. she can hardly look up but acknowledges
that someone is here. she has lovely frosted blonde hair, but that is
about all i can see of her as i tuck up the thick comforter around her
face. i seem to know her name as harriet manet.
in her kitchen i manage to find enough things to squeeze some lemons to
make fresh lemonade and put together a chicken soup from broth and a few
vegetables. i suppose it is a little presumptuous of me to just move into
a strange kitchen and start cooking soup, but i have always been handy with
food and no one else seems to be around to clean up and fix things.
since i can not stay for long, i wake harriet and insist that she eat and
drink a little while i am here. no matter how sick she is feeling, it does
not help her body to get too dehydrated when healing. i notice how bone
thin her hands are when trembling with the soup spoon.
when she is finished with the soup, she tumbles back into the pillow and
back to sleep. i leave the large pitcher of lemonade with the glass on the
nightstand next to her bed and take the tray with the soup things back to
the kitchen. after i wash up, i let myself quietly out the door, promising
myself to come back in the morning to check in with her.
time telescopes again. harriet gets better and is grateful that i came so
regularly to take care of things while she slowly got well. we seem to
skip the phase of friendship and just get to a relationship of trusted
affection, but never touching each other. it is almost as if some taboo
were involved and yet we flirt and entice each other with nearness and
almosts. even after these years, my heart is too deeply involved with the
loss of susan to even consider another woman. yet here i am not pulling
away like a creature stung whenever harriet winks at me or leans over to
say something in mock secret, her mouth so close to my ear that i can feel
her warm sweet breath on my cheek.
this goes on for several months, the tension building up in us like a
coiling spring. i barely get a glimpse of the night it breaks loose.
we are both dressed in heavy victorian clothing. we are alone together in
her house, as we usually are and i think my stiff paper collar tears away
from its dull steel button when i have a burst of tense laughter over
something she has said. i rarely laugh out loud. this odd sound coming
out of my mouth manages to attract her hand over as if to somehow mend the
collar as it tears open.
that gentle touch of her white gloved hand on the base of my throat. she
does pull away from the shock it sends through my body, but she leaves it
there slightly caressing the skin just above the torn collar stud with her
thumb. her fingers curl slowly around to the back of my neck as i lose
balance and slip into her eyes. my soul is sucked into her as my heart
silently cries out for susan but finds only harriet. my torn and wounded
places discover nourishment there. i can not escape.
she folds into my arms, or perhaps they move on their own around her body
wrapped layers of stiff lace and satin. i can hardly feel her underneath
all that clothing, but when i kiss her the heat is like a furnace stoked
too full. the tense spring in my chest snaps open with painful twinge. i
can feel it in her too. she cries out once in wordless agony, in final
victory and wilts back almost fainting.
my hands tear at her rows of small buttons and laces underneath, but they
pull away as if eager to get loose.
her stark white naked body emerges from the peeled away clothing like a
goddess arising from the sea. if i thought the heat of our first kiss was
like a furnace, the heat radiating out from her bare skin is unquenchable
like the heart of a forge. she shows a total confidence that i lack
completely as i gently lay her down upon the rag pile of her ruined
clothing, a discarded husk like a chrysalis. harriet opens to me, pulls
all of me onto her body just as she has already captured my reluctant soul.
she is free now.
i am still fully clothed except for the torn paper collar.
time slips again, it is perhaps a year later. harriet sits beside me in a
open automobile, still victorian motif. we are driving somewhere in the
country when a hay wagon backs out of a farm lane directly into the side of
our car. although we were not travelling fast, it is enough to deflect us
off road into a steep ditch, almost a ravine. i feel the car turning over
and over before it stops in the bottom of the ditch.
finding myself thrown clear of the car, i look about for harriet. there
she is. on the side of the ditch, lying still on her side looking away
from me. she does not move as i scramble desperately over to her side.
rolling her over brings only heartache. she does not move, even to
breathe. she has never managed to replace or dispel susan from my heart,
but she had taken a new space for herself and seemed satisfied with what
she could have of me. the spring in my chest which had released with our
first kiss now clamps back down with the force of a steel bear trap. like
her, i can't breathe as i hold her lifeless body. she is free now, i think
again.
my life is just not capable of happiness for any length of time.
time moves on as it does. it is several years later. i am pushing a kind
of dolly or two wheel cart down a city street. it is still the victorian
age. i have a map of the street i am supposed to be on, looking for the
gropius institute. the map is made of gray felt with just a crooked line
of red stitching on it to indicate the street. the problem is that none of
the side streets are marked so i can not get a grid reference to the town.
i am trying the figure out my location by matching turns in the real street
with the turns on the single line of stitches.
i have tried to stop several pedestrians to help me find myself on the map,
but they hurry on without pausing. finally a young boy on a motorbike
stops to assist me.
he looks at the map. "oh yes, we are just about here." he points to a
place on the stitching which is still opaque to me.
"do you know where the gropius institute is?"
"oh yes. it is just up ahead." he starts to push his motorbike along side
my dolly. "we can have you there in half an hour."
we come to a downhill section of street. i manage to get the dolly rolling
of its own momentum and am able to leap onto the axle housing for a ride.
it takes off a little faster than i expected, but i can manage to steer it
by leaning one way or the other. the street is brickwork, not cobblestone,
so the wheels vibrate on the pavement.
the motorbike boy laughs as he watched me glide away down the street
quickly. he starts up his bike and pursues after me.
just before i get to the bottom of the hill, the motorbike pulls up
alongside of me. the boy reaches over to grab onto the frame of my dolly
and indicates that i should get a hold of his bike. in this manner he is
able to accelerate us both up the incline of the bridge that is crossing
the river.
thus joined, we manage the traffic and proceed toward my destination ahead.
but before we get there, we must come to stop where a policeman is
directing traffic through an intersection. when it is our time to come up
to the stop line, the traffic cop comes over to us.
"you have broken at least two town ordinances by travelling like that." he
tells us, waving over two other constables from nearby. "you will have to
see the judge."
they confiscate my cart and his motorbike. we are taken down several side
streets. when the constables pound on the massive wooden door of the
judge's home, a servant from inside tells us that the judge is out of town
for the day.
"we will have to be keeping you then until the judge returns." the
policeman nearest to me tells us. "we don't have room down at the station
house for a proper lockup, but we have a place nearby that will do."
they take us down to the riverbank where there is an abandoned park. we
are locked into a display room and are left on our own. the motorbike boy
and myself try to make ourselves comfortable for the night.
when the sun goes down it gets somewhat cold. there is a nice stone
fireplace at one end, with some firewood logs laying about, but no kindling.
"if we had some matches, this could be quite a nice place to spend the
night." i tell him. "at least the view is spectacular."
the room is triangular at this end with two large, heavy glass picture
windows. one faces out into the darkening park and the other onto the
river which is alight with golden red colors reflected from the sunset.
now i recognize this place. "see that small building just over there?" i
point it out to the boy. "there is a small apartment on the other side.
susan and i lived in there for several years. this place was ours."
now that it is fully dark, several opossums come out of holes in the back
of the room. they are not at all timid and come right up to both of us,
nosing our hands for petting or foodstuffs. i stroke the course white gray
fur above the narrow nose of the one which came to me.
"sure now, i raised these opossums from pups. see how they remember me? it
is strange the impact that a man's life may have on the world around
him." i am satisfied that at least these primitive creatures remember me
with kindness.
=( i wake at 07:40, feeling alert and rather refreshed. the depression of
last week or so seems to have lifted at least for a while. i suspect it
will be back once i start thinking of regular routines. susan dick
mentioned here is a long term resident in my dreams. we lived together for
about three years, but we were not careful enough about how we started or
ended together. i have missed her just about all my adult life. john
gunning was from my high school, someone i hardly knew. he did have
shocking white hair and pale reddish skin, but he was not an albino. it
seemed to be his natural coloration. harriet manet is not known to me in
waking life. i wish she were, though. the setting of this dream switches
from modern to victorian once harriet gets well. the unnamed motorbike
boy is also unique to this dream. i did raise opossums in undergrad
college for research animals in biology laboratories. the name 'gropius'
comes from walter gropius in a thick book i am reading, a history of the
bauhaus. i figure even webmasters should study design and there seems no
better way than the rise of modernism and rational form within the bauhaus. )=
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New Trends in Dream Brain Research
-Richard Catlett Wilkerson
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The following article is really a collection of notes, re-written in a kind
of summary format so that I can get a sense of the major changes occurring
in the field of dream science related to the dreaming brain. I have
decided to put these out on Electric Dreams as I get so many questions
about the brain in sleep and this is, after all, the 50th anniversary of
the discovery of REM. As the year goes on, I will organize these notes a
little more coherently. If you have forgotten your sleep stages science
and what happens, or are not familiar with this information, there are two
appendices with summaries and detailed summaries. I haven't gone deeply
into the neurochemistry of REM in the brain stem in this article and am
focusing more on the general shifts in neuromodulation. However, many new
changes in the neuro-circuitry of REM have occurred in the last few years
and if you have in mind the older models given by Hobson, note that these
are basically intact, but highly modified and expanded.
In general, this is a summary of the two articles that came out in the 2000
Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal #23. Dreaming and the Brain: Towards
a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States. One article by Allan Hobson,
the other by Mark Solms. The drafts for these articles are available online.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/sleep.html
Does and understanding of the mechanisms of the brain really make any
difference to a dreamworker? After all, what difference does it make to me
if the dream comes from the amygdala or a pre-frontal lobe? Probably none.
But I would like to make the case, [without developing it very far in this
article] that dreams are events made up of multiple forces. Understanding
where these forces come from and where we can go with them has always been
part of the dreamwork tradition.
In this article, I will look at a model in dream brain research called
A.I.M. and interweave this model with radically new discoveries from brain
imagining and brain lesion studies. The two major points I would like
readers to get are:
1. The contributions of the higher and lower brain in dreaming.
2. There is more to the dreaming brain than just activation of areas, there
is also information gating and neurmodulatory control.
*** Three major areas that change in the dreaming brain ***
The human brain (and mammal brain) can be seen as changing in three general
ways as we move from wake to sleep to dream.
First, the general (A)ctivation of brain is at its highest during waking
and lowest during non-dream sleep. In dream sleep, the brain is almost as
active as when awake, but not quite the same way, with a shift from brain
centers associated with linear thinking and calculating to areas that are
connected with feeling and imagining.
Second, the gates for sensing the outer world (5 senses) and the gates
that allow messages for the body to move (motor movements) from the brain
to the body are the most open during wake and the most closed during dream
sleep. In fact, during normal dream sleep, the only easily observable
movement are (R)rapid (E)ye (M)ovements (REM) that can be seen behind a
dreamer's closed eyelids. Almost all other messages from the brain to the
body to move are stopped before they leave the brain, which of course
protects us from moving around too much during dream sleep. In (N)on-dream
sleep (NREM), we adopt sleep-postures, we can make slight shifts in our
body position, and our ability to block out unnecessary noise and
disturbances is less than when we are in dream-sleep. But since our brain
is less activated in NREM sleep than REM dreaming sleep, the noises and
lights don't disturb and wake us very easily. (note this difference again,
in REM dream sleep we are less aware of the outside due to the input/output
gates being shut down, but in deep sleep we are not aware due to our brain
being less activated.)
Finally, the third change, the neuro-chemistry of the brain at the level of
our nervous system changes from wake to sleep to dream-sleep. These
neurochemical states involve the way the brain communicates with itself and
our nervous system. Since they modulate various brain behaviors, they are
often discussed as neuromodulators. As mentioned, these impact the overall
way the brain functions, but the mind in sleep as well, just as when we
take various medicines or drugs that may alter our consciousness.
*** Picking a model for viewing the dreaming brain ***
The modern science of REM based dreaming is just about fifty years old, and
is already quite complex and full of controversy. After all, dream science
includes the study of consciousness and unconsciousness, brain and body,
sleep and wake, fantasy and reality. To grasp this complexity, scientists
propose models that generalize how dreaming works. These models are then
tested and revised as new data and research emerges. In this report on the
dreaming brain, we will be looking at the Activation/Synthesis model
developed by the Hobson group and how it has been revised in early 21st
Century to include new brain studies and research made possible by brain
imaging techniques, new brain function studies and new brain chemistry. The
Activation/Synthesis model looks at how the lower, subcortical brain
activates the higher cortical brain in REM sleep which allow the cortical
brain to synthesize dreams.
I will also be toning down the causal and isomorphic parts of the
Activation/Synthesis hypothesis which have caused so much controversy and
are as yet highly speculative. That is, I will not be emphasizing the
several hypothesis that try to such things as flying in dreams being the
result of intense bursts of brainstem neurons, or paralyzed feet in the
dream being the direct result of de-activated cortical areas. Other
research, such as how aphasia or damage to higher visual centers that ruins
a person's ability to recognize faces, will be included. Also, I will be
emphasizing the Synthesis over the Activation part of the theory. Finally,
I will not be giving the psi dream factor the credit it is due for the sake
of brevity. Dream psi research explores alternative ways to the 5 senses
that we may be in contact with others and the outer world. When I say the
brain is cut-off from the outer world, I mean that we are cut off from our
five senses.
*** REM Sleep Summary ***
If you are not familiar with REM and Sleep Stages, see that section
below. As a quick reminder, sleep stages range from light to deep sleep.
As we go to sleep, we slowly sink down into deeper stages of sleep (meaning
here that the brain less activated), then periodically come up via REM
(Rapid Eye Movement) dream sleep (brain more activated but cut off from
outer world), then descend again. Over the course of a usual eight hour
night, we will rise into REM dream sleep about 6 times, each period
averaging 20 minutes of REM dream sleep, though more accurately we have
longer REM periods towards the end of the night, sometimes lasting over an
hour. Dreaming can occur in both REM and NREM(Non-REM sleep, stages I-IV)
though traditionally we talk about REM dreaming as being longer, more
vivid, and more story-like, while NREM dreams are traditionally described
as being more thought-like and shorter. There is constant controversy over
just how much difference there really is between REM and NREM dreams.
Reports vary from 5% to 30% of the NREM dreams being indistinguishable from
REM dreams. This issue will become important again as we look at the work
Mark Solms and his view that REM is only one of the keys to turning on
dreams. For now, I will refer to REM dreaming as a state separate from
dreaming in general.
*** The Activation/Synthesis Hypothesis ***
The Activation/Synthesis Hypothesis is a fairly easy way to understand the
dynamics of the dreaming brain, though it misses the richness and depth of
the dream experience itself. Hobson's group proposed that during REM sleep
the lower brain provides enough (A)ctivation for the upper brain to
(S)ynthesize information into a dream. Further, there are 3 independent
ways the brain changes that contribute to its unique states of waking,
sleeping and dreaming. They are (A)ctivation of the brain sites,
(I)nformation or input/output gating and (M)odulation of neurotransmitter
systems.
A.I.M. Model of 3 Areas of change in sleep and dreams
[chart only works in Courier New or even spaced fonts]
------------ (A)ctivation ------ (I)nput -------- (M)odulating
Level Output Neurochemicals
----------------------------------------------------------------
Waking ------- High Open Aminergic
Sleep ------- Low dampened Aminergic-Cholinergic
REM ---------- High Closed Choinergic
----------------------------------------------------------------
*** Activation in the Upper Brain vs Lower Brain ***
We aren't conscious in sleep when our brain is not
activated. Researchers used to believe that when we weren't getting enough
sensory stimulation in waking life we would fall asleep. But then the
reticular activating system (RAS) was found and we now know that brain is
kept awake not by direct input from sensory pathways, but by tonic (longer
lasting activation modulated by neurochemicals) activity in pathways from
the reticular formation. This means that sleep comes from the reduction in
activity from the reticular formation and wakefulness by the return of
activity in the reticular formation. This system seems to be regulated by
an internal clock in the hypothalamus.
Humans and other mammals are tied to the outer daily or circadian clock,
the sun and to this internal circadian clock located in the
hypothalamus. The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus is
the best candidate as any damage to this area change the sleep cycle
dramatically and repair causes the return of normal cycles. This circadian
pacemaker is also sensitive to light-dark cycles of the day but can be set
or re-set to different rhythms with some discomfort, as those who get the
night-shift or experience jet-lag know.
Changes to the reticular activating system that runs up though our
brainstem causes changes in activation of higher brain functions. Damage or
dampening of activation to a variety of particular brain areas will cause
dampening of conscious activity.
In addition to the hypothalamus and the activation levels of the reticular
system, another regular system engages during sleep, the REM-NREM cycle.
Sleep is not single process, but rather has these two distinct phases that
alternate cyclically in a very organized way through the night.
The lower brain & forebrain seems to play a critical role in the activation
of REM-NREM cycle, while the forebrain and higher brain centers play a role
in the formation of dreaming. REM sleep is generated by a region in the
brainstem, called the pons, and adjacent portions of the midbrain. More
will be said of these later.
The early presentations of the Activation/Synthesis hypothesis ran into
great resistance as the Hobson group focused mostly on the Activation side
of the equation. That is, they focused on the lower brain stem mechanisms
that were involved in the REM state. This seemed a reasonable approach.
Since the activation of the upper brain by the lower brain stem seemed to
happen after cyclical phases of random nerve firings (PGO waves in cat
studies), the theory was often characterized as dreams being the results
of a sleepy (upper) brain doing its best it could to handle random signals
from the lower brain. Allan Hobson admits that the many years of focus on
the Activation side of the research led to, what he feels, this
misperception of the Activation/Synthesis hypothesis. Now, new brain
research on the involvement of upper brain structures in dreaming have
helped to fill in the Synthesis side of the equation and allow for theories
that emphasize the upper brain as more autonomous in synthesizing its own
information in dream formation.
*** A.I.M. Activation, Information input/output and Modulation of
Neurochemicals. ***
With the general two-part notion of lower brain activation and upper brain
synthesis in dream creation, we can now look at the three major areas that
change between waking, sleeping and REM dreaming through Hobson's A.I.M.
model. This model tracks three general areas of brain, its 'A'ctivation
levels, the 'I'nformation input/ouput gates and the neurochemical
'M'odulations that change over these states of waking, sleeping and REM
dreaming.
Generally speaking, when we go to sleep the brain becomes deactivated,
desensitized to outer sounds and sensations and switches over from an
aminergic neurochemical system that keeps us alert and focused on the outer
world to a cholinergic system that allows for relaxation. We are sleeping.
Then something strange occurs, the aminergic system stops almost completely
and the cholinergic system becomes hyperactive.
(To see the brain parts impacted by sleep and dreams, see):
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig2.jpg
During this time, many parts of the brain become active, the body becomes
rigid, and we begin to dream (or more accurately, dreamers that are
awakened from this state are more likely to report dreams and longer,
richer dreams, than most other dream states.) It is as though the brain
were like a computer that has been taken offline but kept running. While
dreaming, it is functioning much in the same way as waking, but the inputs
and outputs and connections to normal feedback from the environment are
missing or dampened.
(A) Activation.
Activation includes the electrical output of the brain's surface as
measured by EEG Electroencephalograms and micro-flows of blood into active
areas of the brain as measured by imaging machines such as PET and
MRI. This allows us to determine what areas of the brain are in operation
and active. Unfortunately, EEGs only show general surface areas and only
a handful of brain imaging studies have been done on dream sleep, and all
of these (as of 2003) within REM. (As mentioned above, dreaming can occur
outside of REM sleep and we are waiting for brain imaging studies with NREM
focus as well as in dreaming, lucid dream focus.).
See "Sleep Stages: A More Detailed Summary" in the appendix for
descriptions of EEG in sleep and dreams and details on what brain parts are
active.
In general, when awake, our brain shows low-voltage(how high) fast
pattern, which print out like the line of an eyebrow. During REM, the
brain will show waves similar to waking; low-voltage, fast
pattern. Specific brain areas that have been shown to be active from
brain imaging studies are discussed below in the Specific Forebrain
Structures Activated in Dreaming, however a general description might be as
follows: The main areas activated in the upper brain during dreaming are
1. the hunting, seeking, desiring system, the 2. heteromodal 3-D imaging
system and the 3. higher visual cortex. There is some evidence that these
areas are activated without the regular arousal of REM, but it is clear
that these areas are always activated by the lower brain in REM. Thus we
might say that that REM is the main key to the driving our dream car,
though there are other ways to start the car.
(I) Information input/output
Sensory input and motor output are dampened during REM, open or high I/O
during waking and slightly dampened during NREM sleep. This means signals
from the brain to the body are pretty much cut off and we are paralyzed
during REM (some theorize so that we don't act out our dreams) with some
exceptions, such as eye movement, flow of blood to the genital regions
increases, and a few other minor movements.
"I" is measured by EMG postural muscle tone (how relaxed our body is) and
EOG, eye-movement activity.
Sensory isolation during REM comes from the inhibition of the Ia afferent
terminals (endings of the sensory nerves that form synapse with neurons in
the brain itself). The source seems to be in the brain stem, the
pontomedullary reticular formation that hyperpolarizes the motoneurons
(makes them less responsive to commands from the brain to act, ie, motor
commands). Loss of muscle control is from tonic postsynaptic inhibition of
spinal anterior horn cells by the pontomedullary reticular formation.
In general, most of the outgoing motor messages from the brain are cut off
to the body at the medulla and incoming sensory data from the five senses
are inhibited. This is not a black and white situation. Alan Worsely, for
example, reports that during the first lucid dream signaling experiments,
he was able to vibrate his hands from dream lucid dream sleep. This
indicates that the outgoing motor-muscle messages are dampened rather than
being fully shut off.
Of course, the eyes move rapidly during REM dreaming and many structures
and neural routes have been suggested between the lower brain and eye
movement.
In REM Behavior Disorder (RBD) people act out there dreams. This is not
sleepwalking, which occurs in NREM. "The inhibition of movement or motor
output, which normally quells the movement commands of dreams, is only
quantitatively greater than the excitation of neurons that is the
embodiment of these commands. If either inhibition declines or excitation
increases, or both, movement will result." (p96 Dreaming Brain, Hobson)
In other words, when there is an imbalance in the brain stem (due to
neurological problems or perhaps in lucid dreaming to active pre-frontal
lobe commands) one can break the REM-barrier! Hobson reports in the Dream
Drugstore (2001) one patients flailing arms, hitting his bed partner, only
to wake up and recall having to turn the wheel on his car to avoid a
cliff. Another patient dreams of swimming and crawls right off the bed.
The suspected cause is an imbalance in dopamine, a neurotransmitter
involved in one brain system with the condition of parkinsonism, and in
another part of the brain with the activation of the hunting, seeking,
desiring system. (Solms 2000) Hobson reports that sometimes the prolonged
use of anti-depressants corresponds to the RBD condition.
As mentioned above, sleepwalking occurs in NREM, as well as sleep-talking
and tooth-grinding. People awakened from these activities don't recall
dreaming. They are automatic behaviors coming from the lower brain areas
called motor pattern generators. Hobson says its fine to wake these people
up without psychological damage, if you can. They are usually in stage IV
deep sleep and very difficult to arouse.
(M) Modulation
This is the strength of chemical systems modulating the brain. For Hobson,
this is measured in the ratio of cholinergic to aminergic neruomodulator
release. In the Reciprocal Interaction Model of REM, these two systems
switch in waking and dreaming, with aminergic systems dominant in waking
and the cholinergic system dominant in dreaming. In NREM, all three tend to
be de-activated.
More accurately, in waking, the aminergic system is at its height of
influence and inhibits the cholinergic system. As we go to sleep, the
aminergic inhibition loosens it control slowly and the cholinergic system
slowly gains in strength. In REM the aminergic inhibition is shut off and
the cholinergic system is at its peak of influence.
Other researchers, like Mark Solms, feel that neuromodulation of dopamine
to be more important to upper brain structures involved in dreaming (the
synthesis part of the model), while cholinergic systems have more to do
with only one of many activation systems.
Very little research with humans have been done in this area, but Hobson
feels quite confident that this physiology that is common to all other
mammals will be also be at work in humans.
*** Specific Forebrain Structures Activated in Dreaming ***
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig7.jpg
To summarize before looking into the specific brain areas involved in
dreaming, the dreaming brain appears to have its own (M) neuromodulatory
system that involves [at the level of the brainstem/Pons] a shutting down
of the aminergic system and activation of the cholinergic system. The
thalamus (basal forebrain) and amygdala are cholinergically modulated. The
cortex is aminergically demodulated, especially in terms of dampening
recent memory and orientation.
Activated Upper Brain Areas in Dreaming
The dreaming brain shows (A)ctivation of many areas as in waking, with the
major exceptions of the prefrontal cortex (linear thinking, calculating)
and the primary (V1 and some of V2) visual centers, though higher visual
centers are activated. This makes sense as V1 is where information from an
eye would first go if one were awake. At the level of the brainstem, the
pontine tegmentum is active, involving reticular information (general
arousal) the PGO system (may initiate REM) and activation of cholinergic
centers (sleep and dream neuromodulators). There is particularly high
activation of the amygdala and paralimbic cortex (Emotion and Recent
Memory). The parietal operculum (visual-spacial imagery) is activated.
Input-Output Gating
(I)nput-output gating is in effect in the dreaming brain. At the level
of the lower brain stem motor output is blocked, leaving the body
paralyzed. Sensory input is blocked, making the outer world unavailable
through the five senses. Hobson theorizes from cat studies and newer
evidence that the PGO system is turned-on, producing input of fictive
visual and motor data from the geniculate bodies to the occipital cortex.
That is, as the parts of the brain that deal with motor movements and sense
data are turned on, we begin to be able to dream about movement and
sensorial scenes.
Upper Brain Activation and Synthesis
This may be a good place to give a summary of the areas in the dreaming
brain that Mark Solms research has revealed. Solms feels that the upper
brain can synthesize dreams without the help of the lower brain stem REM
system.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig6.jpg
The paradigmatic assumption that REM sleep is the physiological equivalent
of dreaming is in need of fundamental revision. A mounting body of evidence
suggests that dreaming and REM sleep are dissociable states, and that
dreaming is controlled by forebrain mechanisms.
Solms combined recent neuropsychological, radiological and pharmacological
findings with his own brain damaged patients and other extensive
neurological research in the past to suggest that the cholinergic brainstem
mechanisms which Hobson's group shows control the REM state can only create
dreams with the help of a second, probably dopaminergic, forebrain
mechanism that activates a series of higher brain systems. Hence, Solms
proposes a Dream-on instead of the Hobson group's REM-on theory of
dreaming. In the Dream-on theory, dreaming can be initiated by many
influences outside of REM activation.
In Solms theory, dreaming begins in the higher brain when a particular area
of the forebrain is activated, the mediobasal frontal cortex. Here the
hunting, seeking, desiring, wanting system is deeply networked with the
limbic system (emotions, sensory info) and mesocortical dopamine
systems. There are deep connections of dopanminergic cells from this
ventral tegmental area to the hypothalamus, the septal area, the cingulated
gyrus and the frontal cortex, and amygdala. In other words, this frontal
cortex area of motivation connects with many other parts of the higher
brain, the sensory brain and the emotional brain.
When activated in sleep (by REM, drugs, seizures and perhaps other systems)
the extensive connections begin a sequence of activation that includes the
(I) input/output gating of the motor cortices (M) a dopamine modulation of
brain in general and (A) and activation of the emotional systems, the
limbic system (sensory, emotions), the PTO junction or inferior parietal
cortex (heteromodal imagination and 3-D space), and the medial-occipital
temporal cortex (higher visual centers).
Interestingly, the higher visual centers can be destroyed and we can
still dream, through with noticeable differences (such as missing faces in
aphasia). But other areas seem essential to dreaming. Lesions in the PTO
junction where we create or have heteromodal, 3-D space sense is essential
to dreaming and no dreams are reported from patients with lesions in this
area, even after many years follow up. Also, extreme damage to the above
mentioned ventral mesial quadrant of the frontal lobes removes any dreaming
(or reports of dreaming) from the patients. Solms theorizes that just like
the patients of old who have had leucotomies (lobotomy of this area), they
just can't reach the arousal level needed for dreaming. Patients can still
perform acts in waking with lesions in this area, but only upon request, as
they lose all initiative to act on their own volition. I asked Solms if
this couldn't just be lack of motivation to remember, and he didn't feel it
was a memory issue as all the memory systems are intact and the patient's
memories function perfectly well in other situation. Still, I wonder how
many dreams I would recall in the morning if I lacked the motivation to do so.
Recent brain imaging supports this theory that dreaming involves very
specific brain structures. These *activated* structures include anterior
and lateral hypothalamic areas, amygdaloid complex, septal-ventral striatal
areas, as well as the infralimbic, prelimbic, orbitofrontal, anterior
cingulate, entorhinal, insular and occipitotemporal cortical areas.
*Deactivated* structures include the primary visual cortex (where waking
eye information would go, not the same as the activated higher visual
centers) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (the calculating part of the
brain).
Hobson has accepted much of Solms research, particularly on the specific
higher brain areas that are activated during dreaming sleep. But Hobson
doesn't feel that REM activation can ever be separated from other aspects
of dreaming and is still holding out on whether or not upper brain
functioning during dreaming is modulated by dopaminergic systems. (A
separate dopamine system from the one often related to Parkinsons).
Solms feel a variety of research lines are converging on this same issue of
the dopaninergic system in the forebrain. see:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s44369.htm
http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/solms2.htm
http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/solms.htm
*** Summaries of specific brain areas activated and deactivated during
dream sleep. ***]
Please use figure 7 from the online Hobson article to locate the following
brain structures. This section is unlikely to make any sense without the
picture.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig7.jpg
++++ Zones 1 & 2, figure 7. (Subcortical) Ascending arousal systems : 1.
Pons and midbrain RAS and nuclei. PGO source. Arouses and activates brain,
allowing for consciousness and eye movements. 2. Diencephalic structures
(hypothalamus, basal forebrain). Autonomic and instinctual function,
consciousness modulation.
++++ Zone 6, figure 7. (Subcortical) Thalamaocortical relay centers and
thalamic subcortical circuitry. Thalamic nuclei (e.g. lateral geniculate
body). Relays sensory and pseudosensory information to cortex.
In NREM sleep, corticothalamic waves suppress perception and mentation, but
this process is reversed in REM. In REM, the thalamic nuclei activate
sensorimotor parts of the brain and fill these parts of the brain with
general activation. Hobson feels this may present basic elements of dream
scenes in the form of pseudosensory information.
++++ Zone 3, figure 7.(Cortical and subcortical) Limbic and paralimbic
structures.
Anterior limbic structures (amygdala, anterior cingulate, parahippocampal
cortex, medial frontal areas). Emotional aspects of dreaming, emotional
coding, goal directed behavior, movement,. For example, the amygdala when
activated is correlated with anxiety and high emotions, and the amygdala
activates the anterior cingulate, right parietal operculum. Deactivated are
the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex and precuneus.
the anterior cingulate if related to emotional features in waking and
dreaming in integrating emotion with fictive actions.
As mentioned before in the section on Mark Solms research, this area also
includes motivational centers without which we would not have access to the
hunting, seeking, desiring, wanting part of ourselves.
Hobson feels this points to the notion that emotions are more the shaper
of dream plots than reaction to events in dreams being the primary force
driving emotions as in waking life.
++++ Zone 5 in figure 7. (Subcortical) Basil Ganglia. Motor initiation and
control centers. Hobson feels this lower brain area is responsible for the
modulation of movement in dreams and even adds specific features as
vestibular sensations. That is, the sensation of fictive dream movement in
our dreams.
++++ Zone 11 in figure 7. (Neocortical) visual association cortex. Higher
visual processing centers that contribute visual information to dreams. We
can dream even when this area is damaged, but our dreams will be impacted,
as in the loss of face recognition in aphasia when the fusiform gyrus is
damaged. At the same time, the primary visual centers (V1 and part of V2)
are deactivated. This makes sense as the eyes are closed.
++++ Zone 9 in figure 7. (Neocortical). Inferior parietal lobe. Brodmann's
Area 40. Spatial integration of heteromodal input. Solms refers to this
area as the PTO junction (Parietal-Temporal-Occipital) and has shown that
it is essential for dreaming, allowing us to imagine inner space and
without it, all dreaming ceases. Also, it coordinates heteromodal
information of all types. As Hobson writes, it "may generate the perception
of a fictive dream space necessary for the global experience of dreaming."
Of interest to left-brain/right-brain theorists, PET studies of this area
during REM show that much of the parietal lobe is deactivated, and just
this right parietal operculum activated. That is, in some studies, the
right is more important than the left in this area during dreaming.
++++ Zone 4 in figure 7. (Neocortical- deactivated) Dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex, or the executive association cortex. Prominent deactivation in the
frontal cortex. This is the executive or reasoning part of the brain and
the part that we use to do math, think linearly and calculate. Hobson feels
this may contribute to many of the "dream deficiencies" such as memory
loss, shifts in scenes, disorientation. It will be interesting to see if
this area of the brain is more activated in lucid dreaming or not. Having
this part of the brain offline may contribute to better facilitation of
emotional and memory consolidation processes.
---------------------------
*** Final Summary - How the brain works during dreaming ***
In terms of the process of dreaming at the level of the brain/body, we have
learned quite a bit since the discovery of REM 50 years ago by Aserinsky
and Kleitmann in the Chicago University sleep labs. REM or Rapid Eye
Movement sleep occurs on a regular cycle about 20 minutes every 90 minutes
of sleep. (More accurately, we have shorter REM the first part of the
night, and longer REM periods, up to two hours, towards the end of the
night). People often report dreams if awakened from REM.
Now we look at three different levels brain dreaming, the activation of
various sites in the brain, the gating or input/output during Wake/Sleep/
REM stages and the different neurotransmitters that are impacting these
stages.
In brief, when the sleeping person enters REM sleep, much of the mind that
was quiet "wakes up", the dominate neurotransmitter changes from
aminergic to cholinergic washes, and the output from the brain is cut off
at the level of the lower brain stem. That is, messages from the activated
brain go out to the body as in waking, but never make it there and so we
get a kind of REM paralysis. Two areas of the brain that don't wake up are
the parts of the pre-frontal cortex that one usually uses to calculate the
lunch bill, and the primary visual centers used during waking site. (Higher
visual centers are still activated. Its unclear still what brain parts are
activated during lucid dreaming).
According to Hobson, this whole cycle is started by the changes occurring
regularly in sleep in the brain stem. Mark Solms sees this brain stem
activation as only one of the ways the brain starts its dreaming cycle.
Solms focuses on the higher brain in dreaming and sees the beginning
occurring in the frontal part of the brain that is our hunting, seeking,
goal oriented center. Without it, (in damaged brain patients) there just
isn't the motivation to dream or recall dreaming. From there, the
activation crosses over to the very important PTO junction between our
Occipital, Parietal, Temporal lobes, a place that might be described as
necessary for a human to have any kind of spacio-temporal imagination.
Without it, (in damaged brain victims) there is no dreaming reported.
Finally the activation occurs in the higher visual centers. We can dream
even without activation of these visual centers, but its unclear just what
kinds of dreams one can really have. Patients with partial damage, causing
for example aphasia, can't recall faces in people in their dreams.
Spontaneous or General?
Hobson sees this whole process modulated by the lower brain stem and
cholinergic neurotransmitters. Solms sees the brain stem as peripheral to
dreaming, as epilepsy and other events in NREM or Non-REM sleep can
stimulate dreaming as well. Solms hypothesizes that the main
neurotransmitter is serotonin. Either way, it is REM sleep from brain stem
which seems to operate as a regular starting mechanism for the activation
of the higher brain, though other spontaneous dreaming may occur outside of
REM.
----------------------------------------
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
APPENDIX 1 *** REM and Sleep Stages ***
We live on a planet that is light half the day and dark the other
half. Creatures adapt to this two-part cycle, active and competitive in
one, resting and asleep in the other. But the night is not as inactive as
one might predict for some of its sleeping creatures. Almost all mammals
experience in sleep complex changes in brain activation levels, sensory
input, motor output and brain chemistry. In humans these changes often set
the brain-body conditions in which we experience dreams.
Beginning of Contemporary Dream Science in REM (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep)
In 1953 at the University of Chicago, Nathaniel Kleitman and his student
Eugene Aserinsky connected eye activity in sleep to dreams. (Aserinsky &
Kleitman, 1953) Dr. Kleitman had been studying sleep difficulties in
infants and wanted to explore the slow rolling eye movements that babies
have at sleep onset. He had his student Eugene Aserinsky watch these
movements of sleepy infants. What surprised Aserinsky and changed the
notion of sleep forever, was the occasional occurrence of very rapid
movements of the eyes at various times during the sleep cycle. Though the
eyes remained closed, they moved just as if the child was awake and outside
playing games. Aserinsky and Kleitman then monitored adults and found the
same thing, and that these eye movements lasted anywhere from three to
fifty-five minutes (Van De Castle, 1994).
Since the movements appeared as if the sleepers were scanning a scene, they
decided to awaken them and ask what they were looking at. They were, more
often than not, dreaming. When they woke sleepers up when there was no eye
movement, they rarely reported dreams. These discoveries were reported in
_Science_ on September 4th, 1953 and again in an expanded article in 1955.
It was the beginning of what is now 40 years of contemporary dream research
in the sciences.
While Aserinsky finished his medical program and left the labs, William C.
Dement (1976) filled his place and soon was able to characterize sleep in
stages. The REM state is different physiologically than waking or other
kinds of sleep. During REM sleep, there are irregular patterns in
breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. Our muscles are tense, though
they can twitch and jerk. Most of the motor commands from the brain to the
muscles are cut off during REM above the neck.
Stages of Sleep
Although sleep stages are different in every individual and vary from night
to night and differ widely from childhood to late adulthood, some
generalizations have been observed.
After a few minutes of drifting we slide into deeper and deeper levels of
what is called NREM or Non-REM sleep. The brain's waves get wider and
slower. After an hour or two the first REM period begins and lasts a few
minutes. Then we sink back into deeper and deeper sleep. This cycle occurs
about every 90 minutes. Towards the end of the night or sleep period, the
REM periods get longer and we don't sink into quite as deep of sleep.
Traditionally, three kinds of measurement used to determine the stage and
level of sleep are:
1. EEG: The electroencephalogram to determine electrical activity on the
surface of the brain. Short dense fast desynchronized waves during waking
and dreaming, tall, wide synchronized waves during NREM sleep.
2. EOG: The electrooculogram. To measure eye movements which produce REM.
3. EMG: The electromyogram. To measure muscle tone.
Now other measurements include the brain chemistry, EKG or heart rate,
respiration and PHG or genital arousal. Newer recording equipment such as
the MRI, PET and other digital imaging equipment are slowly being used in
dream research. These techniques take advantage of the fact that when a
particular area of the brain is active, there are micro-fluctuations of
blood flow in that area.
Sleep Stage Summary:
Comparing REM with waking we find many similarities. About an hour or two
into sleep, people move back up through states three, two and one, and
often enter the first REM stage of the night. REM sleep is sometimes called
"paradoxical sleep" because it has characteristics of both light and deep
sleep. The first REM period of the night usually lasts only a few minutes.
Then people sink into the deeper stages of sleep again. As the night
progresses, more REM periods occur and become longer and longer. Near the
end of a sleep period, they can last for an hour or more. The NREM or
non-REM sleep times are shortened as the night goes on.
By the end of the night, we usually have stopped having state 4 sleep. Near
the end of the night (or sleep period) we rotate between stage two at
bottom and up to REM.
It is easy to get dream reports from people awakened from REM, but people
can dream in any stage. Sawtooth waves occur in the EEG
(electroencephalogram, a surface brain activity measurement) and eyes move
rapidly back and forth. Messages from brain are cut off at the brain stem
and never reach the body. The body's heating system is regulated more like
a reptile and cannot heat or cool itself. It assumes the temperature of the
surrounding room. Part of understanding that the REM state is different is
that it is a *physiologically* different state than waking or other kinds
of sleep. During REM sleep, there are irregular patterns in breathing,
heart rate and blood pressure.
APPENDIX 2 *** Sleep Stages: A More Detailed Summary ***
NREM Sleep Stage 1.
Wake-Sleep Transition: As we lie down and close our eyes, (if we are
tired) we begin to de-activate and move into low voltage, mixed-frequency
EEG brain activity.
People awakened from this sleep stage often report just barely being
asleep, or just about to fall asleep.o Short dreams, or dreamlets may be
reported. Body jerks and wandering thoughts can occur.o This sleep stage
usually lasts 3- 12 minutes.
(A)ctivation:
o EEG: tight, fast Beta waves are replaced by looser, slower Alpha waves
characteristic of a meditating mind. Soon Theta waves [4-8 Hz, (Frequency
or how fast) 50-100 µV (Amplitude or how tall the waves peak)] begin to
appear.
(I)information input/output:
o Reactions to outside stimulus diminish. We stop noticing a lot of the
noise and lights.o
(M)odulation of neurochemical systems
o The daytime aminergic system begins to wane and slowly stops inhibiting
the cholinergic system which slowly starts coming online.
NREM Sleep Stage 2.
o Not to hard to wake people here, but they usually report being really
asleep.o Lasts 10-20 minutes
(A) o EEG: Sleep spindles appear. That is, twice as slow Theta waves.
Occasional spikes called K-complexes and the beginning of large slow delta
waves.
[4-15 Hz , 50-150 µV ]
(I) o EMG: Muscles have tone or tension. o Reactions to outside stimulus
diminish. Unlikely to notice noise and lights unless unexpectedly strong
(M) o Aminergic neuromodulation system continues to loose control and
cholinergic system gains more control.
NREM Sleep Stage 3.
o Lasts about 10 minutes
(A) o EEG: Slow waves [ 2-4 Hz, 100-150 µV
] and Delta Waves. A little less than half the waves are large, slow delta
waves. Spikes and K-complexes occur, but not as much. Slow waves + spindles
+ K complexes
(I) o EMG: Muscles have tone. o Reactions to outside stimulus unlikely
unless strong or salient (mother hearing child's call or we hear our name).
Unlikely to notice noise and lights unless unexpectedly strong
(M) o Aminergic neuromodulation system continues to loose control and
cholinergic system gains more control.
NREM Sleep Stage 4
More slow-wave activity in the EEG readings and overall neuronal activity
at it lowest. Brain temperatures lowest and sympathetic outflow, heart rate
and blood pressure down. Stages 3 and 4 in humans are sometimes called
slow-wave sleep.
o Sleepers hard to awaken. Children my take several minutes to awaken.o
Combined with stage 3, Lasts 40-90 minutes.
(A) oEEG: Delta Sleep. More than half the waves are large, slow delta waves
[0.5-2 Hz,
100-200 µV]
(I) .o EMG: Muscles have tone. o Sleepwalking, sleeptalking,
night-terrors, bedwetting in children.
(M) o Aminergic neuromodulation system continues to loose control and
cholinergic system gains more control.
REM Sleep Stage:
Just exactly what starts REM sleep is complex and partially still being
investigated.
A system of neurons generating the EEG, eye movement, twitches and
underlying muscle atonia of REM sleep have been identified in the brainstem
. This system utilizes adrenergic (noradrenergic and serotonergic) REM
sleep-off neurons, GABAergic, cholinergic, glycinergic and glutamatergic
REM sleep-on cells as well as other neurons.
In REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep, the EEG looks similar to stage 1 NREM
and waking. Because it resembles waking, REM is often called "paradoxical"
sleep.
In REM there are bursts of neural activity, expecially in the Pons. These
bursts generate high-voltage spike potentials, the ponto-geniculo-occipital
or PGO spikes. The PGO spikes are named after structures in which these
spikes are most detected (the pons, lateral geniculate nucleus, and
occipital cortex). PGO spikes are one of the phasic or short-lasting events
of REM sleep, including eye movements and cardio-respiratory irregularity.
The overall activity of the brain increases, and so the brain temperature
and metabolic rate are high, equal to or greater than during the waking
state. Atonia occurs (loss of muscle tone or outgoing motor commands to
muscles) though small, phasic twitches occur and the skeletal muscles
controlling the movements of the eyes, middle ear ossicles, and diaphragm
are not atonic. The pupils are constricted (miosis), reflecting the high
ratio of parasympathetic to sympathetic output to the pupil. Genital
arousal regularly occur during REM sleep. There is a reduction in
homeostatic mechanisms. Respiration is relatively unresponsive to changes
in blood CO2, and response to heat and cold are absent or greatly reduced.
Thus the body temperature drifts toward room temperature as with reptiles.
(A) o EEG much like waking [15-50 Hz < 50 µV ] and stage 1
oEEG gamma frequency 30-80 cycles per second "that has been touted as
denoting sufficient temporal coherence among the widespread neuronal
circuits of the context to permit the binding necessary for the unification
of conscious experience. "
Pontine tegmentum: activated retircular formation, PGO system and
cholinergic system.
Amygdala & paralimbic cortex : activation of emotional (quantity) and
remote memory.
Parietal operculum (PTO junction) : activated visuospatial imagery
Prefontal cortex deactivated: volition, insight & judgement and working
memory all deactivated.
EKG: Irregular heatbeat compared to NREM
(I) o EOG: Rapid Eye Movements back and forth rapidly. Sometimes measured
by strain gauges as well. EMG: muscles loose and relaxed. o Active
suppression of senory input and motor output. That is, stimuli from the
outer world is dampened and messages from the brain to move are cut off at
the brain stem. (Eyes are an example of the few outgoing nerves not
dampened, and hence REM)
Motor output blocked: real action dampened
Sensory input blocked: outer world data unavailable
PGO system turned on: fictive visual & motor data generated
o Respiration is less regular than NREM
(M) o Aminergic demodulation, Cholinergic control. (suppression of firing
by locus coeruleus and raphe neurons). " REM-on cells are postulated to
occur via disinhibition (resulting from the marked reduction in firing rate
by aminergic neurons at REM sleep onselt) and through excitation (resulting
from mutually excitatory cholinergic-noncholinergic cell interactions
within the pontine tegmentum" 138
Aminergic demodulation (loss of waking mental tone) may be a more or less
direct cause of the difficulty in moving dreams from short to long term
memory, as the attention needed to code memory is difficult with aminergic
demodulation.
Thalamus basal forebrain & amygdale cholinergically modulated.
Cortex aminergically demodulated: recent memory and orientation down.
Pons: switch from aminergic (now off) to Cholinergic neurons (now on)
Schematic summary of REM:
"EEG dysychronization results from a net tonic increase in reticular,
thalamocortical, and cortical neuronal firing rates. PGO waves are the
result of tonic disinhibition and phasic excitation of burst cells in the
lateral pontomesencephalic tementum. Rapid eye movements are the
consequence of phasic firing by reticular and vestivular cells; the latter
directly excite oculomotor neurons. Muscular atonia is the consequence of
tonic postsynaptic inhibition of spinal anterior horn cells by the
pontomedullary reticular formation. " From Hobson et al., 2000 Behavioral
and Brain Sciences 23
PGO waves:
In cat studies, oncoming REM seems to come from the lateral geniculate
bodies of the thalamus, corresponding to the depolarization of the
geniculate neurons by excitatory impulses arising in the pontine brain
stem, and depolarization of neurons of the reticular formation and the PPT
pedunculopontine region. The PPT, a cholinergically modulated area, is
thought to be the origin of the process that initiates REM in the brain
stem. signals originate in the pons (P) and radiate to the geniculate
bodies (G) and the occipital cortex (O).
REM begins when PGO waves become cholenergically hyperexcitable, a
condition that is regulated by the inner circadian clock in the thalamus.
More specifically, the " of serotonergic inhibition and neuromodulation
that results from the "Don't Act Now" signals sent down into the pons from
the hypothalamic circadian clock. "
This mode of active signals without input/output gating means we have a lot
of "fictive movement" or movement hat is centrally commanded but
peripherally inhibited.
====================================================
REFERENCES
Hobson, Allan J. (2001). The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of
Consciousness. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA
Hobson, J. Allen, Pace-Schott, E. and Stickgold, R. (2000)
Dreaming and the Brain: Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States
Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (6): 793-842
Available online:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.hobson.html
Hobson, Allan J. (1995). Sleep. New York, Scientific American Library.
Hobson, Allan J. (1988). The Dreaming Brain. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
Kryger, M., T. Roth, et al. (1994). Principles and Practice of Sleep
Medicine. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders Company.
Rechtschaffen, A. and A. Kales (1968). A Manual of Standardized
Terminology, Techniques and Scoring System for Sleep Stages of Human
Subjects. Wasington, D.C., NIH Publication 204.
Sleep and Dreaming Rechtschaffen, A. and Siegel, J.M. Sleep and Dreaming.
In: Principles of Neuroscience. Fourth Edition, Edited by E. R. Kandel,
J.H. Schwartz and
T.M. Jessel, 936-947, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000.
Solms, Mark (1997). The Neuropsychology of Dreams: A Clinico-Anatomical
Study. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Solms, Mark (2000), Dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different
brain mechanisms, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (6): 843-850.
Available online:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.solms.html
BBS Special Issue: Sleep and Dreaming
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/sleep.html
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<<
Where is the Global Dreaming News?
Now at the beginning of Electric Dreams!
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<<
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
New Series begins with
dream-flow@... Digest #1 09/29/2000
This issue includes volume #616 - #632
Hello and welcome to the DREAM SECTION of Electric Dreams.
This section is edited by Elizabeth Westlake and the DreamEditor, a
software creation of Harry Bosma, author of the Dream interpretation and
journaling software "Alchera".
(homepage:
http://mythwell.com)
Please note that we print these dreams as they come to us and that means we
do not correct the spelling. Some dreamworkers find these spelling mistakes
a great window on the dream and dreamer.
The Electric Dreams DREAM SECTION includes dreams and comments from the
DREAM FLOW, a project to circulate dreams in Cyberspace.
Many mail lists participate, including
dream-flow@...
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The Dream Sack http//www.deeplistening.org/ione
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If you would like to send in single dreams for the flow, you can leave them at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
If you have a mail list or would like to contribute dreams and comments on
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If you have any comments or suggestions for the improvement of this section
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Pre-November 1998
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Pre-April 1990
Use Electric Dreams Backissues
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-backissues
________________________________________________________________________________\
__________________________________________________________
Message: 616-001
Subject: Re: The stripped down computer lab
Dear Snowbirds,
Ihave only signed up to dream-flow recently, and i think you should be
sending your dreams to the message board. My interpretations are based on
my own experiences of dreams i had, and they are just simple, un-romantic
stuff based on real dreams. Your dream is a typical morning dream. Your
subconscious designed it to bring you out of sleep and drowsiness into a
fully awake, ready for anything state. The dream asks questions and sets
puzzles like: why do i dream such funny dreams. The people and bare
computer room is only for surprise, because you are not expecting to see
it in that state. If you do not like this sort of interpretation, please
disregard it. H
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 617-001
Subject: car accident
I had a dream last nite....i was in a van, with my ex-sister in law
driving, and my ex- hubby who is the father of my child. We were all
talking and driving somewhere. It was really ddark, cold, and wet
outside. We came upon a four way crossing and there was an accident. To
the left was 4-5 people in graduation gowns and caps, with 3-4 smashed
cars.....and infront of us was a car, that was all smashed up....there was
no roof, or the front end of the car. In the middle of the front seat was
a girl, dead, but she looked like she had just passed out from drinking and
was really pale. Same in the back seat, in the middle was another girl
fallenm over, dead, but was also pale and looked like she has just passed
out., as we continued to drive around the crash to the right on the ground
was about 3-4 dead people lined up on the ground under a tarp, with just
their feet out. I remember driving away looking ouut wondering why the
police wouldn't have covered them up, or taken them away before the traffic
went through. then I answered myself by saying " they must have been
teaching us about drinking and driving".
We kept on driving and I woke up. When i woke i was scared and shaken. I
woke my husband..told him about it but I could not fall back asleep.
Any ideas............please someone tell me my daughter and I are not
in danger.
Ging
comments: 617-002, 618-001
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 617-002
Subject: Re: car accident
your peace was on the right if you avoided becoming ex
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 618-001
Subject: Re: car accident
Dear Brittanymorgan
This is an upsetting dream, but do not worry too much about it. The aim of
this dream is to wake you up and get the brain in good working order. The
anticipation of a difficult job or task ahead may bring on a dream like
this. My experiences with these types of waking dreams (everybody has
them), is when I have a cold, a bad headache or indigestion, or take some
medicine for them, I have a vivid dream that is almost real. A small health
upset or headache seems to make the dream feel as if it is shouting across
a noisy room, shouting loudly from a distance. Although science does not
admit it yet, dreams have three very important functions: the first one, on
a normal night, is to keep the sleeper from
waking up until the body and brain is recharged and ready for the next day.
The second is to wake the sleeper with a nightmare if there is some danger,
from vomiting, breathlessness, pins-and-needles, cramps or sudden pains.
Nightmares may happen in seconds. The third, and most often remembered
dream wakes the sleeper after a good nights sleep with a questioning,
puzzling, amusing, contradictory, or sometimes disturbing theme.
Perhaps you needed waking up for some reason, if you go through what
happened the previous day, how you felt? worries? jobs ahead may explain
the reason.
The aim of the waking dream is to concentrate the mind, and bring the
sleeper to full consciousness. Unfortunately the subconscious is aiming at
this end only regardless of the trouble it causes to the conscious mind. In
studying and analysing my own dreams for more than fifty years, I never
found any symbolism, hidden meaning, or omens. Dreams are there to do the
tasks I mentioned above. However driving on today's roads need full care
and attention at all times. Perhaps your dream used some details from the
T.V ads. Sorry about the length of this E-mail.
H
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 619-001
Subject: Enslaved in a foreign country
Hello everyone! I'm a new dreamer on the list... I'm trying to find a group
of people to help and being helped about dreams in a regular basis.
Here's a recent one - I have no clue about what it means:
BACKGROUND: My parents are soon coming to visit me from Brazil, after 2
years without seeying them. I've never travelled other than to USA.
DREAM: I made a trip to an asian country and I ended up being enslaved.
There were no details in the dream, I just woke up in my new room *knowing*
that. It was a confortable room, nice bed w/ white clean sheets. (Not like
slaves are treated...) My "owners" were a old lady and a thirtish lady, and
I was wondering which kind of work I'd have to do daily. The two women
weren't mean, somehow I knew, because in that country enslaving people was
a natural thing to do. I was not afraid, nor as concerned as I should be;
all I worried about was "Damn, my parents are coming soon, what is my
husband supposed to do? Just call my mother and tell her that her daughter
has been enslaved in a faraway country? She's gonna be soooooo worried!" I
didn't want my mom to be worried and all I was trying to figure out a way
of protecting her.
Anybody has any imputs?
Sara
comments: 621-001
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 620-001
Subject: Camping with celebrities
That's my last night dream:
I was with my mother in some sort of celebrities party... Every famous
actor was there, as if it was the Oscar. It was outdoors, in the woods, and
everyone would have to camp, sleep in tents. I don't remember of anyone in
particular, until two couples came and started to make conversation with
us: Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston. At first I
was very surprised, thinking "Hey, these are celebrities, very interesting
people - what can possibly attract them to talk to us? We are just normal,
boring people." After a while they invited us over to their tent, and we
sat inside and talked for hours. The two men were the center of my
attention, I just saw and talked to them - their ladies were there but they
were passive, of second matter in the dream. Tom would be talking to my
mom, then Brad would ask me questions (or vice-versa) - and I would always
be very surprised and intrigued by his genuine interest. I felt good, very
special, and even confortable - I thought "Even being who they are, they
are so easy to talk to, such nice guys."
(A few days ago I dreamt with my mom and Val Kilmer in a bus... What is it
that is connecting my mother, and celebrities and I in my dreams?) In the
same dream (another dream?) I went to the bathroom at this place, and I was
worried that all the large windows were open and people would see the
inside, so I started closing them. When they were all closed, somebody
knocked in the glass. I opened, a little annoyed by thinking they would say
"Closing the windows is not allowed", and there were three cops (or pest
exterminators?). There was a house close by (they pointed it to me) and
they were told of problems there, so they went to check and the house was
infested by rats. Many, many rats. They came to ask me if I knew something
about it, but I didn't. These guys were actually co-workers of mine (not
cops though) several years ago, and I was pleased in seeying them again.
Sara
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 620-002
Subject: attack a UFO
note: stan requests that his name and dream be kept together. - rcw
stan kulikowski ii <
stankuli@...>
DATE : 2 feb 2003 10:27
DREAM : attack a UFO
=( last night was saturday. did not get much accomplished during the day
with various errands and responsibilities sucking up the entire day. during
the evening mother watched the cable remake of _the shining_. it was
better than the original, but still rather contrived to be scary. that
seems to be fault of the original premise which is to convert troubled
father into raving maniac. went to sleep around 01:00 without difficulty. )=
i look at my wristwatch and it says 13:30. i have been talking with my
friend too long and have forgotten that i should have taken my class of
students down to the lunchroom. damn, maybe it is not too late.
i hurry down the hall to the large cafeteria area. the last few students
are finishing up their meals, and the serving ladies are sitting around a
table at one end. i come up to them and ask "is it too late to get
anything for my students? i lost track of the time and did not bring them
down here for lunch."
a couple of the ladies look at each other. "i think we can find something
if you hurry."
i thank them and go to get the students. my classroom is the last on the
right of a long hall down the building. when i enter the room, half of the
students are up milling about, obviously concerned about this unexpected
change in their schedule. i teach retarded children, most of whom are
unable to speak at all, but they are very sensitive to the sequence of how
things are done.
my teaching assistant is a young woman who has been managing things in the
room while i was gone. i explain to her that i got held up with the
visiting speaker and have arranged for the kids to get a late meal in the
lunchroom. she helps to get the students lined up before the door,
preparing for the group excursion. there is another teaching assistant
that i do not know, but i am newly returned as a teacher in this school
this year, so i may have missed some changes in the class management.
when the students are all lined up, my assistant opens the door and leads
them out. instead of going down the hall, directly to the lunchroom, she
takes them outside the building to lead them along the outer walls. i
don't know why she chose this path as it is a little longer, but probably
because it will cause less disturbance to other the other classrooms which
are back in session after lunch. my class does make a lot noises when
going somewhere. not talk, just vocal noises.
we are almost ready to reenter the school building near the lunchroom when
a strange object comes flying up, making a loud whining noise. it looks
like a small bullet shape fuselage between two larger jet engines. the
main body is about as thick as my fist and as long as my forearm while the
cowlings of the engines are about twice that thickness. below this shiny
metallic framework there is a large gray mass, an irregular lobed shaped
sack that wiggles and shakes like it is made of jelly or some material of
slight density. the whole apparatus is less than a meter in diameter, most
of it the sack which droops below the jet shell. it is obviously
manufactured but it reminds me of a cross between a hard shelled crustacean
on top and a dark jellyfish on bottom.
the device seems to have been crossing the schoolyard, flying about two or
three meters high when it noticed our group outside and came to
investigate. it pauses for a moment then makes a lunge movement with a
change of pitch in its engine whine to make a sound like an angry bee. my
students cringe back against the wall as the flying thing backs off, but
still sounding distressed.
i am not about to let this thing continue to frighten my class. they are
pressed up against the wall, making little yelps of fear as the hovering
machine repeats its small lunges if any of them start to move away. since
i was further behind, i did not seem to be part of the group and so am able
to cross behind the flying machine without being noticed.
the engine exhausts do not seem to be very hot when it is hovering, no more
so than a hair dryer. up close i hear some noise like radio chatter of
short commands then static. i can not tell what is being said, but it
sounds like a network of these things communicating to each other.
i grab the floating device from behind by its central nose cone and
discover that the gray mass below just rips away as i try to hold it. i am
a little surprised that the gray mass feels dry and textured like a fabric
as i was expecting it be gelatinous and moist. when the lower mass tears
off and falls to the ground, the engines shut off and whatever lift and
control it had stops resisting my grip. it seems to have died in my hands
and is now just an inert object.
we get the students calmed down, and the teaching assistants take them
inside for their lunch. instead of going with them, i go into the front
office. i find the school principal and several senior teachers meeting
around the conference table.
"what is this thing?" i say to the faculty group. "it was flying around
the school yard and scaring our children."
"the local dry cleaners send them out to collect dirty laundry." one of
them replies. "they have been known to stop people and strip their clothes
off if they are too dirty. it probably recognized the fabrics on your
students as a target sized collection of laundry and was inspecting them
for pick up."
i pick at a plastic clip near the nose cone and both of the engines fall
off when it separates. inside the fuselage under the engine mounting base,
i can see english words with the name of the dry cleaning company.
the principal comes over to me and claps his hand on my shoulder. "i have
never known anyone who would attack a UF0 bare handed. lucky for you that
this one was not extraterrestrial but merely from the chamber of commerce."
=( i wake at 06:00 but go back to sleep. several times in the morning i
reawaken and rehearse this dream memory so i can enter it in my log when i
get awake enough. i was hoping the dream would continue when i went back
to sleep, but it did not. back in the early 1970s i was a teacher of
retarded teenagers, and this dream was in the school where i worked then.
the first teaching assistant (but not the second) and the students were
familiar faces to me. there was more of this dream at the beginning, but i
can not recall that part well enough to include it here. the visiting
speaker was someone i knew very slightly in amherst during the later 1970s.
i cannot even remember his name, but i know who he was by my association
with him: a schlock psychologist from hampshire college, he called himself.
we had been discussing the ethics of signing children and mentally retarded
people into organ donation programs and the meaning of informed consent. it
was a rather complicated discussion which is why i can not recall it well
enough now and it was the reason i neglected the usual lunchtime schedule
which begins this part of the dream. perhaps it is a notion of civic pride
that would motivate laundromats to send out automatic fabric inspectors of
cleanliness. this seems somehow related to the violation of informed
consent. )=
comments: 621-002
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 621-001 [619-001]
Subject: Deciphered dream: Enslaved in a foreign country
Good morning dreamers!
I'm very happy that I've finnaly understood the meaning of my dream
"Enslaved in a Foreign Country". Thanks to everybody that gave me insights
and specially to Katalaya who gave me the ones that made me go to the right
direction. I wanna share my conclusion with you. Here's the dream again and
below are my interpretation:
[ed.note: see 619-001 for dream text]
That's a dream about my difficult relationship with mother-in-law and
sister-in-law. They are the two ladies in the dream (who look totally
different). I see them so much older because in reality I perceive them
older too - my sis-in-law is my age but she's sooo smarter and more mature
in some ways. An "asian country" means to me, in a symbolic way, a totally
exotic place, I know nothing about it and have no idea about how things
work there and its rules. Something unknown by my culture. A different
language and values. That's so much how I feel about my in-laws! I'm
Brazilian, they are Mexican, and our culture is so different. We look the
same (the ladies in the dream didn't look asian) but we aren't. We do talk
different languages, and this goes more than the literal meaning - I don't
understand what do they mean and why they behave in certain ways. They are
unpredictable to me, and I am for them. I feel in a "foreign soil" because
I don't know how to deal with them, how to understand each other. And I
feel "enslaved" when I'm close to them because I have to adapt (since I'm
minority), I have to follow their rules by the sake of the family (since
communication and honesty among us just seem to hurt their feelings and
give them a bad impression of me). So, if I have to tolerate a week visit,
I certainly feel enslaved, but it's like "Whatever, I'll stand it, there's
nothing I can do about it. I hope it's gonna be as painless as possible."
That's why I wasn't scared in the dream - I was putting up with that,
thinking that maybe the future would adjust things - maybe I would adapt to
them (in as long term) and be happy, or I would find a way of running away
and be free again. The women in the dream, as well as my in-laws, are not
bad people, weren't mean to me, even treat me in a very considerate way (my
mother-in-law makes me very confortable, nice, clean beds with white
sheets... like in the dream) and if they are "enslaving" me, that's just
their culture, they don't mean bad. We don't love each other, but we don't
totally dislike each other either - but we certainly look suspicious at
each other (I remember the suspicious look of the ladies in the dream
towards their "new slave"). I hope that at some point we'll start speaking
the same language and liking each other...
Sara
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 621-002 [620-002]
Subject: Re: attack a UFO
Hi Stan,
You have posted a very interesting and well-presented dream. I will
try to have a go at interpreting it.
Perhaps the key phrase in the dream is: "I did not get much
accomplished during the day". Did the film, which you may have
already seen finished too late? Is 01:00 a bit late for going to bed?
13:30 in the dream reminds you about mealtime, perhaps hungry? The
dinner ladies find something for you and the class. Children with
learning difficulties find it hard to adjust to different routines.
The reason for being late is accepted by the teaching assistants, but you
find it a bit strange that she leads the children the wrong way.
Outside the strange object enters the dream. May be from out of
space, but it is about the size of a child. The irregular shaped
sack which droops bellow the belly is interesting!
The flying object becomes threatening, noisy and irritating. Would
grabbing the device and feeling the grey mass correspond to changing the
cl
(Message over 64k, truncated.)
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