var·i·ance
ˈverēəns/ noun
- the fact or quality of being different, divergent, or inconsistent.
Dreams are at variance with the reality of waking life. The logic and consistency of one world is not quite like the other. Dreams have a similarity to our lives of working, playing, eating, or any of the other many varied things we do when we are not sleeping. However during sleep we imagine or remember that waking world and reinterpret the images and sensations of that world into a sometimes fantastical world where anything can and often does happen.
Waking and sleeping are complementary worlds that rely upon each other to exist. Waking cannot be without sleeping. However we can sleep in a coma for an indefinite period of time. What dreams exist in that interminable sleep? And do those dreams gradually lose touch with the imagery of the waking world?
As with all circumstances of living, there must be some balance between waking and sleeping in order for the dreams to function normally. Or is there truly a normalcy to dreams? If dreams are the variance of waking life and these dreams reinterpret and evaluate the experiences of the waking hours then what do the dreams of a comatose state consist of--colors, shadows, darkness?
More research will be necessary to understand the dream world of the coma victim, but without the variance of waking life versus dreams is there anything really to be measured or studied?
Do you think there is a purpose to the variance between waking life and dream life? How "normal" are most of your dreams? What do you like best--dream life or waking life?
I enjoy dream life if they are pleasant/weird/funny dreams. I always thought it'd be cool if there was a way to video tape/record dreams so you could watch them back the next day.
ReplyDeleteI would really like to be able to watch my dreams while I'm awake, but I don't think I'd want others to seem them most of the time.
DeleteLee
I think dream life helps waking life make sense. Life leaves us with a lot of loose ends that the dreams resolve. What resolves with what is another story. I've read where we always dream, but don't always remember what we dreamed about. I think the only dreams we remember are the ones where the resolution makes no sense, and needs to be taken out of the realm of dreams and examined in the real world to figure out.
ReplyDeleteNone of my dreams are particularly "normal." Whether that's the fault of the stroke, of all the prescription drugs I take now, or of my general state of mind when I go to bed, I don't know. All I know is I go to bed at night hoping I'll have one that I can remember...
Are any dreams very "normal"? I believe that most dreams are merely reinterpretations of waking life events converted into an often weird symbology.
DeleteLee
My dreams are anything but normal. I usually enjoy myself very much no matter how weird the dreams are. I really don't know if dreams resolve some issue in waking life or not because usually mine are out of left field somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting question - what do comatose people dream about. I've never thought about this.
Sunni
http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/
I enjoy weirdness so I guess that's why I like dreams so much--or maybe it's the other way around.
DeleteLee