According to neuroscientists Denis Pare and Rodolfo Llinas, the brain’s simultaneous 40 Hz ‘neural oscillations’, which are associated with consciousness, also occur during REM sleep. Given this, Pare and Llinas were led to the conclusion that the only difference between our dreaming and waking states is that in waking states, the “closed system that generates oscillatory states” is modulated by incoming stimuli from the outside world. In other words, what we call “waking state” is really an REM dream state, with a sensory topping. Or, as Ouspensky put it, we shouldn’t speak of being either asleep or awake, but of “sleep plus waking state.”
my take on the matter: life is a dream, all perception is merely phenomenal, all existence is contingent.
As for life being a dream, I too have thought that from time to time. But then other questions come up, such as: What is real? Are dreams real? How do dreams and objective reality connect? What exactly is the relationship between the dream state and reality?
I figure that dreams are as "real" as anything is - they are just a part of our mental continuum that we don't have complete access to (without training of course). If all psychic existence is predicated on perception (i.e. experiencing of something), then dreams would be as real as waking life it seems to me. There are shamans who apparently use dreams to learn more about the objective/transpersonal world. For instance, they might ask about a power object (ask their own mind/spirit/powers, whatever) and then they dream what it is and where it is. Upon awakening (or perhaps falling back into the semi-consciousness of the normal reality), they go out to the place they dreamed and find the object they dreamed of. Connecting the waking world with the dream world is called "bridging". The more you bridge the dream world with the waking world, the more the two become one, and that's when you can start "dreaming awake". I don't know about any of this, but it sounds pretty interesting. I'm definitely going to devote a lot more effort to working with dream states...
I'm getting it from a book that a friend of mine (uglytraffic) found at some bookstore. He took it with him so I had to order my own from Amazon.com. the book is by Merilyn Tunneshende, and it's called: "Don Juan and the Art of Sexual Energy - The rainbow serpent of the Toltecs."
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-13 06:45 am (UTC)According to neuroscientists Denis Pare and Rodolfo Llinas, the brain’s simultaneous 40 Hz ‘neural oscillations’, which are associated with consciousness, also occur during REM sleep. Given this, Pare and Llinas were led to the conclusion that the only difference between our dreaming and waking states is that in waking states, the “closed system that generates oscillatory states” is modulated by incoming stimuli from the outside world. In other words, what we call “waking state” is really an REM dream state, with a sensory topping. Or, as Ouspensky put it, we shouldn’t speak of being either asleep or awake, but of “sleep plus waking state.”
my take on the matter: life is a dream, all perception is merely phenomenal, all existence is contingent.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-13 11:33 am (UTC)As for life being a dream, I too have thought that from time to time. But then other questions come up, such as: What is real? Are dreams real? How do dreams and objective reality connect? What exactly is the relationship between the dream state and reality?
I'm still entertained by these questions.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-14 07:18 am (UTC)There are shamans who apparently use dreams to learn more about the objective/transpersonal world. For instance, they might ask about a power object (ask their own mind/spirit/powers, whatever) and then they dream what it is and where it is. Upon awakening (or perhaps falling back into the semi-consciousness of the normal reality), they go out to the place they dreamed and find the object they dreamed of. Connecting the waking world with the dream world is called "bridging". The more you bridge the dream world with the waking world, the more the two become one, and that's when you can start "dreaming awake".
I don't know about any of this, but it sounds pretty interesting. I'm definitely going to devote a lot more effort to working with dream states...
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-14 12:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-14 01:04 pm (UTC)the book is by Merilyn Tunneshende, and it's called:
"Don Juan and the Art of Sexual Energy - The rainbow serpent of the Toltecs."
It's a great book. I would recommend it.