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Originally Posted by pgrundy
Yes, actually I agree. I think there are issues of consciousness involved in some dream experiences and that the content isn't necessarily pathological. This has been my issue with my own experiences. I consider them to be in some sense 'real' and the consistency of the content seems to me to validate this conclusion. But if I ask professionals about it they either say they don't know and change the subject, slap a label on it (like 'sleep paralysis') and consider the discussion over, or start talking physiology.
You know, there's a physiology to explain how a person smells a rose. It doesn't explain WHY the rose has fragrance or the meaning of the experience in that moment. Nor does it mean there's no such thing as odors simply because the physiological mechanism can be described.
With sleep paralysis and the contents of sleep paralysis, the question for me is why this mechanism, what is being conveyed, why, why now, why repeatedly?
Sometimes there's no answer, but simply considering the question can put a person in a new frame of mind, a kind of 'reset', and that's not nothing. And we can't say for certain there isn't intent behind it.
There's a bracketing off that occurs with mental illness. Sometimes its a way for society to push away what it doesn't want to see.
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I am not a spiritual person in any sense, I don't believe in god(s), fate/destiny, love, ghosts, souls, Good/Evil, or any other supernatural construct. I'm a very rational, logical person and look to science to explain the universe around me. People don't like the idea of being like that. They cling to notions of life after death, divine retribution, and karma because they feel the universe needs to be fair. They need balance and justice. People that remind them that the universe isn't just or fair, but rather chaotic in nature are undesirable.
Speaking of the senses, I recently read an article written by Richard Dawkins detailing the possibility that people do not interpret colors in a universal way; your red might be my blue. An interesting concept, even if it isn't necessarily possible. In any case it has metaphorical value.