Tag Archives: dreaming

Such Things As Dreams Are Made Of

Yesterday morning I awoke after having experienced a series of vivid dreams. I am registered blind with a small amount of residual vision which, in essence means that I can see outlines of objects but not details. Consequently if I pass a friend in the street and they fail to speak to me (no that doesn’t happen or not that I am admitting to anyway), I wouldn’t recognise them by their outline. When dreaming the situation is precisely the same – I see vague outlines but nothing of substance. My hearing and other senses remain fully functional as in what we term “the real world”.

On awaking it occurred to me how we all go to sleep in the belief that we will wake up either as a consequence of our natural body clock or due to some external reason, for example a loud sound having disturbed our slumber. However this is not, necessarily the case. Anyone of us may cease to occupy this earthly realm at any juncture, either while waking or passing (hopefully peacefully) while asleep. Like a computer being shut down, the brain will, at some indeterminate point cease to operate and silence pervade the great machine.

All this is rather sombre, however on my way home yesterday evening, feeling the wind in my face and smelling new mown hay I felt the joy of living. Yes we may “cease upon the midnight with no pain” but, hopefully the nightingale will sing for us while we live and we can relish his song.

As Insubstancial As A Dream

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Last night I had one of those strange dreams which remain with you on waking. I dream most nights but rarely remember my dreams. On this occasion I fell into conversation with an author outside one of those trendy coffee places which have proliferated in London and other cities. He told me that every day he could be found sipping coffee at this establishment and went on to name several novels he had authored. I remember, while dreaming clearly recollecting the titles of the books he had authored, however, on waking their titles flew away to be remembered no more.

In my dream I felt envious that this man could enjoy a life of ease while I worked in a 9-5 occupation. I haven’t written anything substancial for a while so perhaps my dream is telling me that I need to start scribbling again. The ocean going yacht and the country cottage beckons …

How The Blind Dream

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My friend John sent me the following link to an article in National Geographic regarding how the blind dream, http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/26/how-the-blind-dream/. Having lost most of my vision at approximately 18-months-old as a consequence of a blood clot on the brain I was interested to read the results of the research which included both sighted and non-sighted participants.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the study for me was the finding that blind people appear to experience more nightmares than sighted people. Such nightmares included being hit by a car and losing their guide dog which are, as the author of the article states very real threats if you happen to be blind. Next time I meet up with my friends all of whom are sighted I’ll be sure to ask them about their dreams although certain types of dream are, no doubt better glossed over …

As insubstancial as a dream

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“How do you know that you are here” my friend Jeff asked as we sat in our favourite local Indian restaurant. “I don’t. I’ve experienced vivid dreams during which I’ve believed myself to be awake” I replied. My friend responded that there was no answer to that!

The above exchange got me thinking about what constitutes reality. If I believe an event to be truly happening that occurance takes on concrete form as for a moment, however brief I experience the firings of my dreaming brain to be the occurance of an event in real time. Consequently one may argue that dreams are real while we are caught up in our dreaming but what if we never wake? What about the person in a coma who spends months (sometimes years) dreaming? Are their dreams real? My tentative answer to that question is that one’s dreams are real while one is dreaming them.

One may object that once one awakes the dreamer knows the difference between the dream-like state and the experience of wakefulness but what of the person who believes themselves to have awoken but who has, in point of fact moved from one sequence of dreaming to another?

Ultimately we must all work on the basis that we are experiencing actual events rather than dreams. If We do not proceed on this basis then the world would fall apart. I, for example need to shower, have breakfast and leave for the office in the next hour or so, that is the reality of my current situation. Or is it? Perhaps I am dreaming and rather than it being Wednesday morning it is, in fact the weekend and I will awake in a few hours to find myself with Saturday and Sunday to enjoy away from the office or maybe not!