[Ultima (OP)]

WOW look at all the replies, really interesting... Sorry I haven’t been back for a while but my net connection at home is intermittent.

Figure i may as well step through one of my most memorable dreams, mainly because it is the most bizarre i've ever had.

Im watching a man walk/jog along a corridor; he is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. Its dark and most of the colour is browned out. He then bursts out through a set of double doors. I am now the man (who i don't recognise). I look up and the sky is a blinding bright blue with a few cartoon like fluffy clouds. All around me is some sort of quad with little square ponds and patches of pure green turf. There are lots of people walking around quietly in couples, doing various things (like stroking the water of the ponds etc.) There seems to be some sort of complex of glass buildings all around enclosed by willow trees. Then i follow a zigzag pavement past people on a bench. They offer me a weird looking fruit, I bite into it. The flesh is soft but dry at the same time. Then i look back and the bench is gone and so are most of the people. Then it feels as if my teeth are melting and my gums burn. I begin to run. Stopping at a corner where there is a bin, i go to spit as if to get rid of a bit of tooth but out comes broken blue egg shells surrounded by a yellowy liquid. (This is where it gets a bit odd) In my dream i am now looking at the man but am his internal dialogue he is remembering that he drank turpentine that has made his teeth melt. (Although that’s not what happened to me, i ate some fruit... and can turpentine do that??? but that’s what was in the dream). The man then turns to a very scruffy looking tramp (all the other people were wearing black and white robes as if institutionalised) and hands him the fruit which the tramp drinks (don’t know how but in the dream i know he drank it). Everything now goes all solarized greyscale and the tramp is some woman who is disgusted and afraid of the man/me who has blood running from his mouth which is red and the only colour... the man then keeps running along these paths zigzagging to the geometric patterns of the paths. All the people are now the tramp woman and they are all reacting the same way.... and then that’s the end of the dream..

Ok so that was long winded and as other people said it’s hard to get the emotions across (but imagine the emotion of dumb fear at spitting all your teeth out)


wOw the world spins?

[Donnah]

Matt, seems to me like you are beginning to feel discontented with the path of your life.  What you thought would bear fruit for you has burned you instead.  Your lifeblood is leaking, the color in your life is oozing out your mouth.  What are you saying/doing in life that is contrary to what you really want?  Have you ever sat down and really identified what it is you want?

I'm guessing that you are a young adult who is realizing that your world is not the way you thought it would be.

[Ultima (OP)]

Nah, but thats the thing im happy at the moment and this dream doesnt reflect my personality at all :S it is an old dream so perhaps i didn't like secondary school as much as university .... But yeh the whole blood thing is scary.

wOw the world spins?

[Monox D. I-Fly]

Wow quantum I used to have a dream very similar to the flying one you describe here. I recall my flying action was very strange, I had to pedal my legs like i was riding a bike. Strange about the similarity though.

I never fly in my dream, but in my dream I do occasionally leap high, as if walking in water but with far lesser density (imagine the Nintendo game Moon Mario). It feels like instead of flying, I slightly control gravity around me.

[syhprum]

I sometimes have a dream of coming down a flooded tunnel I believe this is a recollection of being born.

[puppypower]

Neural memory is different from computer memory. Neural memory is defined based on specific chemical potentials assigned to memory. Computer memory is defined by a human convention, based on a binary system of on-off semi-conductor switches.

For example, the recall of a neural memory of a car accident, can bring on stress, due to the emotional tagging. This memory recall generates more brain energy, than a memory of patting fuzzy bunnies. Computer memory of these two events are not much different in terms of computer energy level. A computer will not use more electrical power recalling the accident over the bunnies. However, the brain will use more power.

Dreams are sort of a way for the brain to redistribute its stored memory energy, to coincide with an optimized internal neutral set point. If the brain potential is too high, such as due to memory based repressions by the conscious mind,  there will be a redistribution of the potential, via memory, with the result being a dream. From this dream output, one can infer the original potential and the source of potential, if one is aware of the internal set point; reverse engineering the source of the dream. This is done in dream analysis.

As an analogy of the brain energy flow, say we had a stream that flows down the mountain. It has carved a path over eons. This os the natural brain. One day we place a dam in the stream. This will build up potential with a pool of water forming behind the dam.  Eventually, the water in the pool will get high enough to where a potential forms to find a way around or over the dam. It will overflow or detour the dam and meander down a new path, until hooks back up with the original stream. The intensity of the dream and its content is based on the potential cause by the dam and the meandering path through our memory needed to remove the potential.

In the olden days of the American Indians, the chief of a tribe would have special dreams that would become part of the tribes cultural identity. Since the chief are in charge of the group, the impact of group's behavior and its results, would impact the collective via formed habits, attitudes, and results. If this is off center, it can cause a collective repression or damming of the natural flow, for the entire tribe.  Since the chief carries the responsibility weight of the tribe, he may have a dream that lowers the potential. This dream is not just for him, but also for his group. Since old habits can be hard to  break, the dream of the chief may not solve the problem, in one sitting. However, it may serve as a conscious template; from the gods, to help identify the problem, as well as a possible solution to get his collective tribe back on the path back to nature.

In my experience, dreams are in layers. The most conscious layering of dreams are connected to the personal unconscious; personal memories and habits that form dams. This is due to willpower and choice. The next layer has to do with the cultural superego. This is connected to group think, which may not be optimized in terms of brain energy. Group behavior may create a need to feel part of the group, to remove one source of stress; collective censor, but this can create a personal problem. The last layer is connected to the collective unconscious, which is natural human propensity common to all humans. These type of dreams deal with the longest term cultural perturbations, that can extend over generations and even longer. Humans are no longer natural, and the brain remembers this, based on our DNA from the days of natural humans. It would be very difficult to remain natural in culture, since you would be odd and group pressure will force you to repress.

The title of this topic is, are dreams linked to mental illness. This concern would have the affect of maintaining the damming repressions, by making the natural brain solution, appear suspect. For example, if you look at the anti-Trump movement, there is a lot of anger and fear. The members are mad all the time while other are afraid of all types of scenarios. This is high potential memory damming caused by group think. It is deeper than the personal unconscious since it involves group dynamics; peer pressure and security. If you assume dreams are connected to mental illness there is no antidote to this mental poison, since the propaganda aims one layer below the personal unconscious, which is two layers below conscious. The opposite is actually true.

The result would be different if the group disagreement was based on logic, data and reason, since, like Mr Spock, this uses lower potential; rational calmness. But the propaganda induction induces the highest potential memory dams. This is not healthy for a human to sustain, day after day. However, the shackles of choice are connected to group dynamics which has it own sweet spot. The ideal culture works well fro the both the group and individual.