DREAMING I don't believe I've ever known anyone who wasn't fascinated by dreaming. I've lost count of the conversations I've been in where someone was describing a dream they'd had, and how odd and strange and wonderful it was. But mostly how absolutely incomprehensible. "I just can't imagine why in the world I dreamed up something like that," is an all too familiar refrain that everyone has heard. My biggest problem with dreams is deciding where exactly they're coming from. I have doubts sometimes about whether or not they're originating from inside my own head. The very nature of some of them makes it seem impossible. True, some of my dreams are obviously from my own mind, yet some are not. What really makes me doubt that they're coming from me is the people I dream up, if that's what's really happening, i.e., if I'm really dreaming it up. I'll dream (or see; I can't decide which) of a person I've never seen before, that I'm in no way connected to in any way that I can remember. And they'll appear in a scenario that doesn't seem to have anything to do with what's going on in my real life. There are no feelings attached to it either, and feelings are supposed to be the principle tools for interpreting dreams. It may sound a little strange to compare them to movies, but it's what they remind me of the most. The only difference is that I know, when I'm enjoying a movie, who made it, its producer, writer and director. But I have no idea who's made some of the movies that play in my head at night when I'm asleep. I only know that I'm watching them. And sometimes acting in them! That's another thing that's different. There are some who believe that our souls actually leave our bodies (at least sometimes) when we're dreaming and visit other worlds, perhaps parallel universes in which we also live completely different lives, in completely different times, or perhaps the same time. When I recall some of the dreams I've had it's hard to scoff at this. But then again, if this is what's really happening, I question whether such an experience should be called a dream. It seems more like a memory. One of the most amazing things I ever discovered about dreaming is the fact that it's constantly happening, whether we're awake or asleep. Except for the fact that we're awake when it's happening, there is no real difference between a daydream and a night one. The only reason we don't notice the daydreams as much is because we're conscious when they're happening. It reminds me of the stars. Like dreams, they're always out. You can't see them in the daytime because of the Sun's light. In the same way, we can't see our daytime dreams because of the intense light of consciousness. I've heard of the practice of making yourself dream what you want. It's got to be bogus. Dreaming is a form of thinking, and I don't know about you, but my thinking seems to be involuntary. I couldn't stop it if I wanted to, short of suicide. The same thing seems to be happening with dreaming. Dreaming and thinking. Is it possible that they're two different words for the exact same thing? Why is dreaming not thinking? Or, why is thinking not dreaming?
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