Mental movies make me muse
Last night I had a dream. I've decided to start telling everyone about my dreams. Not all my dreams, of course, because there are just some things that you don't need/want to know. I tend to have vivid dreams, most of which make absolutely little sense. Truth is, it's this total lack of coherency that makes me so interested in, and proud of, my nocturnal escapades.
Over the years I've wondered if dreams are, in fact, our brains trying to communicate with us while we slept. Of course, if that is the case then with whom (or what) exactly is it trying to communicate? If the brain is the thought center of our bodies then, by producing dreams, it has done nothing other than to create images for itself to experience. Are dreams simply the screen savers of our minds?
Dreams do come from the mind. There's no way of refuting that fact. Unless you can somehow prove that dreams are transmitted through space from the spaceship that hides behind the sun I accept them as unique manifestations from the organ that defines my sense of self. The brain, of course, is like a certain swamp-dwelling green ogre: layers. What you see is not always what you get. I truly believe that what we experience as a conscious being is far from the full depth of what our brain is capable of. Like any complex device, there are internal mechanisms that are hidden from view and are only important in the sense that they make the system fully functional. They don't need to be experienced directly. In the case of the brain, though, I think it is possible, albeit unintentional. Is it possible that dreams are simply these layers, the unseen parts of our minds, finally getting a chance to sneak out in the night and make themselves seen?
Not that they typically make any sense. Perhaps they're not supposed to. I can only imagine the mess of neurons and unconscious drivel that create the ridiculous thoughts that do make their way to my consciousness. So I'm not surprised that, when I dream (and it happens quite often) they are bright and fantastic and utterly nonsensical. I enjoy them because they appear to make no sense yet I can usually glean some type of message, usually fabricated after the fact by a conscious mind trying to remember what it had experienced in the night. Dreams are the mind letting go, allowing all types of thoughts to prance across the mental landscape, free of their daytime confines.
I've heard some people say that dreams are simply the brain releasing all information it no longer needs. A dump of non-critical data. If that was the case then I'd expect dreams to be even more random than they already are. Just the fact that I see discrete images within a context makes me believe there's some order to the process, not just a cascade of discarded neural overstock.
And speaking of discarded neural overstock, it's now almost 6am and the shift is coming to a close. Only one more night until my week is over. Kind of. I need to put another half day in on Sunday.
But I told you that I would describe last night's (day?) dream, so here goes. I had gotten a puppy. The thing was absolutely tiny. Like a chihuaha, just not as ugly. It reminded my of a friends miniatue pinscher. It was living in my apartment though I neglected to tell the management who requires a security deposit and increased rent in this situation. To make a long dream short, I took the dog outside and got caught by the two management ladies. Now, I didn't recognize the women though their faces were quite clear in the dream. However, the point is that I should be allowed to have a puppy in my dreams without the fear of being yelled at. It sucks to have a dream ruined by two fictional people yelling at me.
Mind-boggling thought of the day: It turns out that any judge who makes a ruling against right-wing Christian values is labelled as either 'left-wing secularist' or 'activist', regardless of the fact they might be a registered Republican who was appointed by George H.W. Bush. And they say liberals have an agenda...
Over the years I've wondered if dreams are, in fact, our brains trying to communicate with us while we slept. Of course, if that is the case then with whom (or what) exactly is it trying to communicate? If the brain is the thought center of our bodies then, by producing dreams, it has done nothing other than to create images for itself to experience. Are dreams simply the screen savers of our minds?
Dreams do come from the mind. There's no way of refuting that fact. Unless you can somehow prove that dreams are transmitted through space from the spaceship that hides behind the sun I accept them as unique manifestations from the organ that defines my sense of self. The brain, of course, is like a certain swamp-dwelling green ogre: layers. What you see is not always what you get. I truly believe that what we experience as a conscious being is far from the full depth of what our brain is capable of. Like any complex device, there are internal mechanisms that are hidden from view and are only important in the sense that they make the system fully functional. They don't need to be experienced directly. In the case of the brain, though, I think it is possible, albeit unintentional. Is it possible that dreams are simply these layers, the unseen parts of our minds, finally getting a chance to sneak out in the night and make themselves seen?
Not that they typically make any sense. Perhaps they're not supposed to. I can only imagine the mess of neurons and unconscious drivel that create the ridiculous thoughts that do make their way to my consciousness. So I'm not surprised that, when I dream (and it happens quite often) they are bright and fantastic and utterly nonsensical. I enjoy them because they appear to make no sense yet I can usually glean some type of message, usually fabricated after the fact by a conscious mind trying to remember what it had experienced in the night. Dreams are the mind letting go, allowing all types of thoughts to prance across the mental landscape, free of their daytime confines.
I've heard some people say that dreams are simply the brain releasing all information it no longer needs. A dump of non-critical data. If that was the case then I'd expect dreams to be even more random than they already are. Just the fact that I see discrete images within a context makes me believe there's some order to the process, not just a cascade of discarded neural overstock.
And speaking of discarded neural overstock, it's now almost 6am and the shift is coming to a close. Only one more night until my week is over. Kind of. I need to put another half day in on Sunday.
But I told you that I would describe last night's (day?) dream, so here goes. I had gotten a puppy. The thing was absolutely tiny. Like a chihuaha, just not as ugly. It reminded my of a friends miniatue pinscher. It was living in my apartment though I neglected to tell the management who requires a security deposit and increased rent in this situation. To make a long dream short, I took the dog outside and got caught by the two management ladies. Now, I didn't recognize the women though their faces were quite clear in the dream. However, the point is that I should be allowed to have a puppy in my dreams without the fear of being yelled at. It sucks to have a dream ruined by two fictional people yelling at me.
Mind-boggling thought of the day: It turns out that any judge who makes a ruling against right-wing Christian values is labelled as either 'left-wing secularist' or 'activist', regardless of the fact they might be a registered Republican who was appointed by George H.W. Bush. And they say liberals have an agenda...
posted by The Rube at Friday, December 23, 2005
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