Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Sarah Harding's picture

Dreams are partially real?

As one of those people who rarely remembers dreams, I have a difficult time saying that dreams account for a large part of my life.  However, in the few dreams that I do remember, their reality is undisputed in my mind.  While dreaming, I don't recognize that the "world" I'm seeing is not the world that I percieve while awake.  This must mean that dreams have a large basis in reality, otherwise they would not be plausible stories.  

With 10^12 neurons in each of our brains, it's only logical that they would remember minute details of your life that you don't ordinarily remember.  For example...  how hot your coffee was this morning.   

 Since, to me, dreams are based in reality, I can't say that dreams are purely fictional and unreal.  However, they are not perceived consciously, which must mean that in our conscious, parallel lives, they are not reality.

So how do dreams affect our conscious lives?  We, as perceptive humans, must recognize logical flaws in our dreams, and realize that this "dream world" is not our waking reality.  However, I believe that intense dreams can leave you questioning the validity of a dream.  I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here, other than the fact that because dreams are based in reality (based on actions/ events that have occurred during the day/ our lives), then they have to be at least partially true (for example: that cute TA exists in both the dream world and reality).... and this sliver of reality is what un-nerves us (pardon the pun) and causes us to wonder if it's real.  

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
4 + 10 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.