Terami.com Blog

A few nights ago Art Bell did a segment on lucid dreaming. One of the things that his guests discussed was the question of where reality exists. Is reality something external and objective, or is it internal and subjective? If you have never had a lucid dream, you'll have to trust me on this... but in a lucid dream state, there is virtually no difference between being awake and being asleep. Sometimes the only way I can tell that I'm asleep is that certain "rules" have changed. For example, I can bi-locate, float, or converse with animals using my mind. Similar to waking life, I know I am "me", I usually have a first-person point of view, and I can access memories and experiences in order to sort out my dream situation.

So the argument on Art Bell was that if "I" perceive the inner world and the outer world with such a similar clarity, doesn't my perception of reality come from somewhere subjective - unrelated to what I am perceiving?

Similarly, I'm reading a book right now about the perception of music. It's thought that animals who don't have a sense of hearing (single-celled organisms, for example) don't exist in silence. Instead, they exist in soundlessness. Without the perception of sound, they can't experience silence. Yet, we all know that sound is "out there", however since it can't be processed by certain animals it is absolutely ignored in their reality.

So, the objective nature of reality can't possibly be experienced by a person because we are also limited by the filter of our senses, and our senses are limited by our individual development. I've developed a good memory for dreams - therefore dream consciousness is incorporated into my waking reality. The lines are blurred and getting blurrier. But for someone else? Eh. Maybe not so much.

The next question is whether this exploration is useful or frivilous. I really can't (nor do I want to) ignore the increasing density of my dreams. They've become heavily woven into my mental fabric and I think they are a meaningful part of who I am. How is it that music, painting, or dance is accepted as a form of intangible exploration and a dream is not? Is it because music, painting, and dance leave behind an artifact of the subjective artistic process? Or is it simply because we have better language for these things?

I do believe that there is art in dreaming. I believe it can be as useful as any other mental or creative study. But I also believe it is vastly more personal, ineffable, and misunderstood. Maybe it's not what you dream, but how you dream. And if it's a matter of quality, when I grow up, I want to be the John Lennon of dreamers.