Showerthoughts

29879 readers

830 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

All posts must be showerthoughts
The entire showerthought must be in the title
Avoid politics
- 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
- 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
- 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
Posts must be original/unique
Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Lucid dreaming is like being Neo in The Matrix (dubvee.org)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've tried and failed to train myself to do it, but I've only lucid dreamed twice in my life, both times by accident.

It's like the ultimate VR sandbox where you can go, do, or create anything you can imagine.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

This view is outdated and goes back to Descartes‘ view out of the window. No, we‘re not in our head observing the outer sphere.

We‘re within the sphere/ world and interact through our body. We influence and got influenced. We position ourselves by our body movements in the world. There is no such thing as we‘re just our mind. We are a mind-body-thing.

In lucid dreams there‘re no body feelings as it’s in your mind only. That is btw. one of the control mechanisms :to check if your body sleeps but your mind not. If you don’t feel the bed and duvet on your skin. Another check is writings. There‘re never the same, they aren’t consistent.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Your mind-body can be hallucinating all the time just as a mind can, its just a more complex hallucination.

As for lucid dreams not having body feelings, being completely produced by the mind?

I guess I'd like to see a source on that.

...

Ever met a sleep walker?

They have that 'control mechanism' break down, they don't wake up when their body no longer senses it is in bed and safe to dream... and they'll often also talk whilst sleep walking,.

You can even have conversations with them, and when they wake up later, they'll remember parts of the conversation, but basically everything their body is experiencing during the sleep walking is a kind of garbled input into their dream.

The things you said to them may have been said by you, in their recollection of their dream, or maybe another person, or maybe multiple different people.

If you touch them, or they interact with things, this will also be incorperated into their dream, but again, exactly how is unpredictable.

They may have a recollection in their dream of grabbing their keys, starting their car, and then picking up a package from somewhere, but what they've actually done is grab a TV remote, sat down in a chair, and then grabbed a book off of a shelf.

With sleep walkers, the body is very clearly still part of the input process for dreaming, its just... confused.

...

Have you ever had sleep paralysis / 'locked-in' syndrome?

Where you mind is awake and aware, but the parts of your nervous system responsible for intentional muscle movement just... don't work, are not active for some reason?

That's a non lucid dreaming experience which is pretty much totally reliant on the mind, your mind is basically disconnected from your body.

...

How about neuropathy or nerve damage, where your body feelings just do not really actually correspond to what it is actually experiencing, your body doesn't feel things that it should, and does feel strange sensations and even extreme pain with no obvious external stimuli?

That's your body functionally hallucinating, again not in a dream, but you experience it as reality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

As for lucid dreams not having body feelings, being completely produced by the mind? I guess I'd like to see a source on that.

Source: Some books of Carlos Castaneda who taught me lucid dreaming https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda

Btw I said you that you aren’t feel the REAL body senses in your lucid dreams. For sure, one can dream/ hallucinate some. Though it’s rarely standards such as a foot on ground, a hand on door knob or such. That’s too boring. It’s more about flying, diving, running, and so on.

I’m not sure what all your other points are about. What are you trying to say or prove? Do you second the former threads argument, that

'reality' is just the shared aspects of our hallucincations that we agree on.

I do not support this view. Reality and interactions with reality is real and not hallucinated.