I had a dream . . .

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   alternate poetposted 12 years ago

   I had a dream last night which appears to be one of a series as the memories of it are tangled up with the past few days.  Luckily I can recognise symbolic characters and things which tells me that this is coming from my subconcious BUT I could so easily have been persuaded that I was in a parallel universe. The long 'story' and things that were happening were just like my life only different.  However - it is good to know that if I am mistaken and I was in a parallel universe I am happy as larry there as well !
   
   Anyone else have extended dream sequences about a parallel life ?  This one left me totally disorentated for an hour or so while I sorted out the real from the dream !

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   alternate poetposted 12 years ago

   I have to go and teach English to shedloads of pretty nurses for a few hours, hopefully find some thoughts on this when I come back

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      Mark Knowlesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Are we back in the alternate reality now? Or do you have photographic evidence?

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         alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         That is a good way of testing it !!  I only have photographic evidence of this reality full of pretty girls and easy work I am afraid, the 'other' reality is just the same only no photographs !

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   Diane Insideposted 12 years ago

   I have not had such kinds of dreams.  I have had the same recurring dream many times in my childhood, but it stopped as I grew older.  But as I think about it I realize that one of my fears that I have today may have been a direct result of that dream. Or actually it was two seperate dreams with the same theme. 
   
   Maybe it is your mind trying to sort out old forgotten memories.  Who knows?  But it is interesting.

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      alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think we dream about our fears, maybe your dreaming did not sort your fear out ?  As a kid in an old house in the country I had a fear of spiders, not so silly as some of htem were too big to get into a matchbox !  I had constant dreams of the bottom of hte bed crawling with thme and then dreamed one day of using them as fishing bait - no more fear of spiders!

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         earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Very happy to read this post. Dreams have been described as the high road to the subconscious and I agree with that.
         
         I spent some years in Jungian dream analysis and can assure you that you are on the right track. Dreams do indeed show our fears, and also how to overcome them when we know how to "use them" by being able to return to the theme of a particular dream.
         The trick is to take your time and an "I wonder what that means" approach rather than jumping to the usual symbolic conclusions. It's also important to remain open to any symbolic interpretations that may be aspects of self, even if it is a woman and you are a man.
         
         Dream interpretation is often where it goes wrong.
         
         For example, I learned a heap from one dream where I was being pursued by an angry Australian aboriginal and many of his friends, who were very angry and terrified me!
         I thought I had more to learn about race tolerance despite having many close aboriginal friends, I am a Caucasian Australian and suspect my background in the same way I do my religious background, so I am ever vigilant of my "dark-side" or at least attempt to be!
         
         To my surprise the angry man was an aspect of myself which came to light as the moral part of me that supports the underdog yet needed to be better understood by myself but had been ignored and neglected while I had been too focussed on other things outside myself.
         
         It was 2 years of therapy later that I had the next dream about this particular internal conflict. This dream began with a spoken proclamation from my aboriginal part that told me we were now brothers. Again, full vivid colour and beginning with the last frame of the previous dream.
         
         The dream was brilliantly coloured, real to my rem sleeping mind and indeed as it turned out, very important to my well-being.
         
         Although archetypal and powerful within my psyche it had never occurred to me consciously.
         
         Since that second dream I began to have a very different way to handle and deal with making money and living my life with balance. I gained a happy and less frantic outlook that had evaded me for many years.
         I did a lot more therapy, and life is very nice now.

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            alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Wow - you do some vivid dreaming, I wonder if directly thinking or condering dreaming makes them easier to remember when we wake?
            
            I have a very vague grasp of some of the ideas of dream theory and was only really surprised by my dream, first because I remembered it at all, second that I suddenly remembered it all in a rush in the middle of the day, third that it totally disoriented me for over an hour where I was not absolutely sure of my surroundings.  Lastly it was memorable because it was a kind of parallel to my current fantastic life and it was the same life but different events, and different things in it but it was also fantastic !!

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               earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               It is a matter  of knowledge to some extent. If you seek, as the christians say, you will find.
               
               I have studied dream therapy as part of my psych studies for 23 years now, and know a little about it, but the subject is huge as it involves establishing some psychiatric axioms along the way that require a mass of reading.
               I have a retentive memory, but bolting all the pieces together is still complex when theorising about dreams.
               The individual having the dream is so complex it is difficult to build an accurate map of the individual symbols and archetypes to use as markers to direct the subconscious to offer up a dream that can be interpreted readily.
               I have seen cases of dreams like yours that are disorientating and have experienced it myself.
               
               I believe any therapist would see your dream as archetypal.

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            Daniel Carterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Interesting to read your journey about dreams, earnest and AP.
            
            I've also learned that most people appearing in my dreams are a reflection of me, although I didn't go through any dream analysis or anything. I did go through tons of therapy for abuse as a child, and some other trauma. We talked about dreams, but I sorted through them myself. I based it on the feelings of the dreams. They've been important guides in helping me address fears, as you also have stated. I find that I'm quite ready in many cases to address some fears, and not ready at all in other cases. However, the mind has a way of letting you know it's time and it's usually associated with some kind of upheaval. The upheaval, I'm learning is often not out of our control as we pretend. We often seem to set it up by our actions and decisions and thoughts and over time it occurs. We create our reality. Metaphysical stuff, which many don't believe in.
            
            But I can say that I'm much more at peace in life than I have been before. The ups and downs are not as devastating, or exceptional, but rather more sane and calm overall. It's a better way to live than being pushed out of a plane at 20,000 ft and free falling, which seems to be the case in much of my past life. It feels like I finally have a parachute.

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               SomewayOuttaHereposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               "It's a better way to live than being pushed out of a plane at 20,000 ft and free falling, which seems to be the case in much of my past life. It feels like I finally have a parachute."
               
               ...i like that description Daniel....

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               alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Earnest brought this up as well.  I did not realise this before but it makes good sense and actually explains many 'strange' dream scenarios, especially where somebody is following behind you in the dark, you can hear the footsteps but when you stop they stop, when you run they run etc etc  I used to get that one frequently for a period when I as a teenager. Along with the other dream mentioned of being in a house with endless rooms - now I know that I was in my own head I am slightly depressed because the rooms were always empty !
               
               I guess the strange thing NOW is the unusual clarity of the dreams, also I seem to be remembering more often - I don't normally remember dreams at all.  We have had a change as 'she' is now working full time and I am getting up early and so being woken by the alarm earlier - who knows ?
               
               Anyway, after I get her off to work I am going to get a nap  and see if I can't get back in there in the half in half out kinda sleep of a nap.

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               alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               @ Earnest - Thinking more about this - I was brought up in a Catholic convent school for girls, (Yes, terrible life) and was intensely tutored in religion, their intention was for me to be a priest.  By the time I was thirteen we were deep into philosophy along with their beliefs - when I 'saw through' the sham I rejected the whole thing completely BUT it took years to shed the deep guilt they implanted in me in the process, it still affects my decisions and thinking now, but at least I am aware of it.

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                  earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  No easy road, but easier to live with long term.
                  
                  Awareness and vigilance towards self are most useful tools in the continuous process (hopefully) of knowing self.

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   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   Interesting that you are happy in your parallel universe dream life, AP. That in and of itself tells us quite a lot.
   Do you dream about teaching English to shedloads of pretty nurses, perchance?
   
   My dreams do seem to have recurring themes which quite often involve
   a) Trying to find my way home (used to be flying, which was not weightlessly wafting through the air, but doing air breaststroke and very tiring). Now the getting home involves navigating cities (NY or Boston).
   b) Being back in college and the classic "haven't been to any classes all semester and now it's time for the exam" but also I have not opened my mailbox all semester either. Also I'm often decorating my dorm room...
   c) Houses with many, many, many rooms and many, many bathrooms
   
   Yep, I'm perfectly balanced!

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      alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I had a period of dream flying and although it was not especially hard work to stay airborne I did keep dropping rapidly and having to 'concentrate' up again - the weird thing is that I was flying around fields and farms some way behind our place that I had only passed through occasionally and in my flights I saw a huge black pond in the corner of a field hidden away behind some farm buildings, when I physically went to investigate it was really there, an overflowing 'slurry' pond !  never did work that one out !
      
      I also dream the many room house, so do many other people I know.

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         SomewayOuttaHereposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         ...the dream flying you describe could be considered astral projection...apparently some people do this in their dreams sometimes....read about it when i was a teen and first got into yoga and meditation etc.

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   SognoPiccoloposted 12 years ago

   I constantly have reoccurring dreams and dreams that take place in a world of my sub conscience's creation. Having a "parallel universe" that you go to in your dreams, if it is a place you visit often is said to be a form of OBE or out of body experiences. It's basically as if your inner self travels to this place to live as your body rests.

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      alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      how do I get inner body travelling photographs I wonder

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         SognoPiccoloposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I wish photographs were possible but I suppose until that day is possible... take up painting? lol I have VERY vivid dreams. NO detail usually escapes me, it just kills me that I'm not able to capture the images the way I see them because my drawing abilities leave something to be desired. lol

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   alternate poetposted 12 years ago

   sorry guys - the prettiest girl in China is demanding I go to bed NOW - I would like to stay an chat y'know . . .

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      SomewayOuttaHereposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      ...yeah sure you would....nite AP!  mornin' for me....

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   Jeramiposted 12 years ago

   Has anyone had dreams that at first seemed to be memories from past events but after thinking about it...Nothing similar to it has ever happened?
   
      I've been experiencing these recently. 
      Maybe it is first signs of alzheimer's??

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   klarawieckposted 12 years ago

   Alternate Poet - We all have astral bodies, and while leaving our body we experience the Astral reality which is very different to the reality that we are familiar with. It's something very interesting. If you want to read about it, get a book called "Astral Projection: A Record of Research" by Oliver Fox. He was one (if not THE ONE) of the pioneers of astral projection studies.

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      alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Klara  -  I believe that astral projection when considered reality to be the same error as religion believing that the myths our ancestors used to explain/explore the unknown are real with real people or gods.
      
      I am certain there is no spiritual 'outside' of ourselves and the whole thing occurs inside our own minds.  Having said that we also make our own reality so what we make in our dream states or other unconcious 'episodes' has elelments of reality.
      
      This could be crudely translated as I don't believe in spooky stuff I guess, but I actually think there is some truth in both sides but maybe not as actual outside presence or actions.  If that makes sense ?

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         klarawieckposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         To me, there is nothing spooky about this. An astral projection is nothing more than your conscious/subconscious mind that has no actual body. There is no "real and fantasy". It's an energy, not a ghost reflection in the mirror while you are flossing.... although I've seen those too!

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            alternate poetposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That is not quite what I said - I said it is ALL in the mind, nothing outside into any 'actual' astral plane.

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   spookyfoxposted 12 years ago

   I've had a dream where I was in a parallel city, very similar but not exactly the same to where I live. I walked around looking at the buildings and related them to the ones in reality, even though some of them I realized later when I woke up, I never saw in my waking life, so I guess I made up the memory for them in the dream. At one point I thought to myself 'am I having a dream?' and even though I knew I was I denied it because I thought if I accepted it I'd wake up.

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