Explaining the Unexplainable (A Strange Dream)

[Induane]

Dear Whomever,

This is not a letter to anyone in particular but rather a place I felt like placing some odd thoughts together partially because I have a strange confused feeling right now, and partially because I could see discussion being interesting (perhaps its only interesting to me only, as dreams often are).

Tuesday night, I fell asleep a bit earlier than normal, and strangely seemed to start to drift into a dream.  Unlike most dreams though this felt like I was drifting, totally conscious to another place.  At first I was vaguely concerned that I was somehow dead, but as events around me became more clear that worry vanished.  I was standing in a field with no grass, amongst a bunch of people who were warriors.  I was apparently the leader, which given my personality is an odd position to be in.  I felt concerned that the enemy ( who appeared somewhat how I perceive Aztech people ) was going to be able to finish their fortification, which was a very tiny rectangular pyramid.  We charged in a desperate attempt to push them back.  We reached the fortification and went inward.  There we found one person trying to escape through what appeared to be an escape tunnel that was flooded with a thick fluid.  A flat rock was descending on the entrance to the tunnel and the man was scrambling (I had a flash of a canoe for some reason at this point) to get inside before it closed.  In an attempt to stop him I found myself thrust downward by the closing of the entrance.  Here my perspective shifted to a cutaway style view where I watched myself in this tunnel which now looked more like a blood vessel.  The fluid was also going forward in a series of pulses much like a heartbeat I suppose. I was observed myself move through the tunnel for a brief while then found myself outdoors.  I was a totally different person.  I'm not sure how to explain it but I knew that I had not emerged as the same me that fell through the escape tunnel.  This terrified me and I ran around shouting to the various unknown people around me to help me find myself because I'd lost the me that I knew.  No one seemed to be able to help me though - nor did anyone even answer me at first.  It was then I realized that everyone around in this crowd of people that had appeared were manikins.   And they were now looking all in the same identical pose all staring up at me on this podium I had somehow found myself on.  One seemed to speak but never actually moved.  It said something to the effect of "you came to us like was foreseen, our command is yours - tell us how to live" - I stood there totally confused because I felt totally lucid yet disoriented - I would swear that I was conscious - I felt like I was in control of myself in this dream state.  Somehow though I had the feeling that it was totally real, and that I was long past any sort of bizarre life I had lived before.  The next thing I knew I was standing on the edge of a mirror like lake seeing my reflection but it wasn't me - I was staring at a dark light - imagine a sparkly bright white light being that is somehow black - yet still bright... I can't explain it... English doesn't seem to have the correct words.  Whatever I saw of myself it was utterly terrifying.  I sat up in bed, totally confused, then pretty much laid there the rest of the night. I could not get back to sleep.  I kept looking at the mirror on our wall afraid I'd see myself the way I did in the dream. 

Probably this story is a bit boring to many of you.  It does however feel good to get down in writing.  I've been a bit off for the last day or so.

Sincerely,

Brant

[zanzibar]

"you came to us like was foreseen, our command is yours - tell us how to live"

That part was awesome.



That dream actually seems to be really deep on a number of levels.  The symbolism, the intensity of the experience, and it was very personal... maybe you'll have another experience that will make it make sense.  Not that there's a single sense for it to make.

[LARAGORN]

Lucid dreaming is very confusing the first few times it happens. With practice you may be able to revisit the same situations, and ask the right questions and right actions for you to get the answers you are searching for. There are hundreds of dream books out there that can help you find the right 'state of mind', but I have yet to discover one with acurate interpritations of my own dreams. I do believe each persons experiences and symbolisms are unique, and no one can acuratly tell you what your dreams mean.
Good luck on your journey, it can be very fulfiling. (sory for the spelling)

Laragorn

[zanzibar]

Lucid dreaming is very confusing the first few times it happens. With practice you may be able to revisit the same situations, and ask the right questions and right actions for you to get the answers you are searching for. There are hundreds of dream books out there that can help you find the right 'state of mind', but I have yet to discover one with acurate interpritations of my own dreams. I do believe each persons experiences and symbolisms are unique, and no one can acuratly tell you what your dreams mean.
Good luck on your journey, it can be very fulfiling. (sory for the spelling)

Laragorn

But sometimes, the question is itself more important than the answer.

[LARAGORN]

very true Zanz

[Induane]

I think what really disturbed me the most was that this seemed almost real, and it also was a major deviation from my normal dreams.  Usually I dream that I have built a plane and learn to fly it or some other exhilerating expirence.  I"ve dreamt of skydiving before and many other "adventures".  Contrary to what I read that no on dreams in color I usually dream in very bright vibrant colors, and always with music.  This dream had no color, no music, just pure emotion.  Mostly it was fear and anger and hatred alongside confusion (is that an emotion or a state?). Things have been going pretty well in my life lately and I was simply at a loss to explain these darker feelings.  It was far outside my comfort level and also utterly incomprehensible to me.  That bugged me too because I disklike not understanding something.  It makes me feel powerless.

[Phinehas]

You are doomed... doomed! Muhahahaaaaaa!

edit: I think this dream is a delayed reaction from the time you hit me on the head with the radio...

[zanzibar]

I dream in colour as well.

You're saying that things are good right now.  But in the dream, you were looking at yourself and it was negative and it inspired fear.  So maybe you're thinking about the part of you that isn't presently in your life, or you're afraid of who you'd be if things weren't going well.  Or something.



Of course, you might be those things anyway, and common sense might suggest that you are without the help of any dream.  :-D

[Suno_Regin]

I have weird dreams like that, too. But sometimes I actually know that they're dreams and choose whether to wake up or see them through. It's strange. =/

[Irri]

I sometimes get dreams with bizarrely-strong emotions too- they start off making sense in the context of the dream and then suddenly are getting stronger and stronger, like a volume knob quickly turned up to full. That blast of emotion usually wakes me up, where I lie awake in bed in astonishment, either crying hugely or feeling very angry about something that didn't really happen.
 

Hmm... I don't generally get terror though, that is rare for me, but I have heard of other people who do. The closest I had was a horror-movie dream where I was trying to help find/stop the mysterious-and-scary serial killer. I was running from room to room in this house only to find more dead family members, stabbing at a mysterious shuffling lump under a carpet, trying to stop whatever it was. This was scary enough on its own, but then I had the horrifying discovery that the killer was actually /me/ and I was insane and unaware of what I had been doing until that moment. Waking up from that one was awful!
 

[Kalika]

i get crazy dreams where im always trying to find someone, or have them look at me...like im begging for attention

the first time i ever had benadryl i passed out when i was in a restaurant (seriously) and i remembr (in the dream) walking away from school with my friend Elijah, and in the middle of the houses thre was this playgrounfd..w went inside the playground and it felt really strange, i kept seeing weird figures walk by and then somewho i found out that it used to be a nzai concentration camp...
and then all of a sudden it was really dark and this anime girl fell out from the sky and then melted into a lake of blood and then i was in a schoolroom trying to get out of the attic and then the lake of blood was back and a guy was standing on one leg on a small branch sticking out of the blood and he was reciting the last testament or some other holy scripture like thhat

it trippped me out

Kalika hugs everyone whos had strange dreams


ahahha but yeah....i really liked the vividness in how you described your dream you must have a crazy cool memory

[ThomPhoenix]

Post-natal stress?

Just kidding, I don't know much about dreams.
But not all dreams actually have to mean anything.

If you're doing well in your life there's nothing to worry about, probably 

[eldoth_terevan]

That is not boring at all, Induane, and I found it interesting to read. Dreams that seem different from normal dream time are usually refered to as lucid dreaming, as Laragorn mentioned. A lucid dream can be very exhilarating, or very frightening depending on one's point of view. Generally, I think this is a very lucky thing, for I somehow seemed to lose my ability to lucid dream when I was in my early twenties, and have had very few of them since. Clinically speaking, the brain stem produces a chemical when we sleep that prohibits most normal movement, it is possible to wake up during this state and experience the dream-paralysis sensation that has been traditionally associated with "hag rides", or "night mares". Interpreting a dream without context is a truly difficult thing, and when I think about the work you have done with PS, somehow I kinda think it makes sense that you might dream like this. IMHO: Pyramids always seem to indicate order to me, armies and organizing them a sign of change and desire, their reverting to mannequins a reference to the inability of others (which in dreams is usually ourselves) to live up to expectations ... at least that is what comes to mind. Interesting that you encountered your doppleganger, it would seem to indicate that you are at odds with yourself about something that you have never resolved, or are struggling with currently. As I said: IMHO.

[zanzibar]

Sleep paralysis is not the same as a nightmare... a nightmare is a scary dream, sleep paralysis is waking up but not being able to move for a bit.

[Gharan]

Anyone ever dreamt your being chased but your legs wont run?

So frustrating