First of all, it should be noted that this post might be somewhat more rambly than normal. Which I suppose is saying something. I'm feeling philosophical and I just feel like writing I guess. Thoughts, you know. Nothing to do with Korea.
Dreams. What are they exactly? I'm a dreamer. Which isn't to simply say that I daydream, or that I envision an idealistic future, which I do, but that I'm very into the act of dreaming, you know while I'm asleep and stuff. Do you dream vividly? Do you wake up with detailed memory of everything you've experienced while asleep? I do. The term "experience" is completely valid. While dreaming you experience whetever your mind creates, you believe it to be real, during those hours of "rest" you find yourself in worlds and environments that you completely accept to be truth. They are experience as valid as any that you have while awake.
And what does that mean exactly? What does it mean that you exist in a place that waking reality says is meaningless, but that for the time you accept as all there is. Do your decisions in such a reality matter? Decisions that don't affect your life in anyway, sure, but while you are in the dream world, you don't know that. I have struggled with the question: if you do something immoral in a dream, believing the circumstances of the dream, and still feeling as if your actions follow the law of free will, is the act actually immoral? Despite the fact that it has no real world consequences, is the fact that you believe the act to be based in reality at the time mean that it is in fact a matter of morality? Similarly, if you display an act of great bravery in a dream, if you believe the dream to be reality at the time, does that speak to your character? I believe the answer to these questions to be, "yes".
I dream extraordinarily vividly. From discussing the matter with other people, it seems that I dream more vividly than the average person. I have had occasions in which, upon waking, I have remembered my entire night of dreams, from falling asleep to waking. And I don't care what science says on the matter. I know what I've experienced.
And I've began noticing, evaluating, and at times experimenting with my experiences while dreaming. And I absolutely believe that you exert the same degree of free will in your dreams that you do while you are awake. The environment, the circumstances, may simply be a manifestation of your subconscious, but at the root of the dream is the experience of consciousness, the ability to make choices, the belief that what you are experiencing is real. And isn't this in and of itself vastly meaningful? I have recalled in my dreams, upon wakening, the moment of choice, the instant of deciding this or that, and have been able to then analyze the effect said choice had on the dream as a whole. I determine this to be significant, if not the entire purpose of dreaming in the first place.
I believe that through dreaming we discover who we truly are, we find out how we react to the most extreme of circumstances when we assume those circumstances to be completely factual, despite their extremity. I have had occasions in which the events of my dreams, and my choices therein, were so intense, as to elicit contemplation on the matter(s) for days to come. I have grown and changed myself in certain ways solely on the basis of such dreams. I have examined the decisions I made in those dreams, regretted my psychological response to extreme fictional events, evaluated the underlying reasons for such responses, become more in touch with my emotional and logical decision making processes, and then altered them. How is this not a beautiful and powerful thing?
Where am I going with this, or why am I bringing it up? I'm not sure. It crossed my mind tonight. I'm in a philosophical and artistic mood, I felt like writing, and this is something that is frequently on my mind. Pay no attention to it if it means nothing to you. I know some of you don't ever remember your dreams. But if you do, know please know the power that they hold.
-Mongoose
Dreams. What are they exactly? I'm a dreamer. Which isn't to simply say that I daydream, or that I envision an idealistic future, which I do, but that I'm very into the act of dreaming, you know while I'm asleep and stuff. Do you dream vividly? Do you wake up with detailed memory of everything you've experienced while asleep? I do. The term "experience" is completely valid. While dreaming you experience whetever your mind creates, you believe it to be real, during those hours of "rest" you find yourself in worlds and environments that you completely accept to be truth. They are experience as valid as any that you have while awake.
And what does that mean exactly? What does it mean that you exist in a place that waking reality says is meaningless, but that for the time you accept as all there is. Do your decisions in such a reality matter? Decisions that don't affect your life in anyway, sure, but while you are in the dream world, you don't know that. I have struggled with the question: if you do something immoral in a dream, believing the circumstances of the dream, and still feeling as if your actions follow the law of free will, is the act actually immoral? Despite the fact that it has no real world consequences, is the fact that you believe the act to be based in reality at the time mean that it is in fact a matter of morality? Similarly, if you display an act of great bravery in a dream, if you believe the dream to be reality at the time, does that speak to your character? I believe the answer to these questions to be, "yes".
I dream extraordinarily vividly. From discussing the matter with other people, it seems that I dream more vividly than the average person. I have had occasions in which, upon waking, I have remembered my entire night of dreams, from falling asleep to waking. And I don't care what science says on the matter. I know what I've experienced.
And I've began noticing, evaluating, and at times experimenting with my experiences while dreaming. And I absolutely believe that you exert the same degree of free will in your dreams that you do while you are awake. The environment, the circumstances, may simply be a manifestation of your subconscious, but at the root of the dream is the experience of consciousness, the ability to make choices, the belief that what you are experiencing is real. And isn't this in and of itself vastly meaningful? I have recalled in my dreams, upon wakening, the moment of choice, the instant of deciding this or that, and have been able to then analyze the effect said choice had on the dream as a whole. I determine this to be significant, if not the entire purpose of dreaming in the first place.
I believe that through dreaming we discover who we truly are, we find out how we react to the most extreme of circumstances when we assume those circumstances to be completely factual, despite their extremity. I have had occasions in which the events of my dreams, and my choices therein, were so intense, as to elicit contemplation on the matter(s) for days to come. I have grown and changed myself in certain ways solely on the basis of such dreams. I have examined the decisions I made in those dreams, regretted my psychological response to extreme fictional events, evaluated the underlying reasons for such responses, become more in touch with my emotional and logical decision making processes, and then altered them. How is this not a beautiful and powerful thing?
Where am I going with this, or why am I bringing it up? I'm not sure. It crossed my mind tonight. I'm in a philosophical and artistic mood, I felt like writing, and this is something that is frequently on my mind. Pay no attention to it if it means nothing to you. I know some of you don't ever remember your dreams. But if you do, know please know the power that they hold.
-Mongoose
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