[Kanopy]

Greetings to all

Twelve years ago I experienced three hemmorahgic brain strokes. I don't remember much of that period but I am here today {what's most important}.After my cerebral infacrctions I began to have the most vivid dreams I've ever had. I spent a good deal of time writing them down while I could remember them.

I came to realize that my dreams weren't part of my personal experiences of life.

People, places, events, scenarios I witnessed in the sleep-state were unknown to me.Understanding that the process of dreaming is an "idle-and-yet-not-idle" condition of the brain, I began to research dreams at a neurological level and a quantum mechanical level. I posit the theory that infrequently and perhaps as result of out of the ordinary circumstances or events, we can dream dreams that aren't our "own". Any thoughts?

[Thunder Bow]

Dreams originate in the brain, just as you demonstrated here.

[Kanopy]

Originally Posted by Thunder Bow

Dreams originate in the brain, just as you demonstrated here.

Dreams originate in the brain {as opposed to the elbow or knee joint}, but since the earliest speculation about dreams the fabric or content of dreams has been a question mulled about by everyone from Popes to psychiatrists. And therein lies the problem. We the great unwashed have accepted {been conditioned to believe} that these folk have the answer. Leaving spirituality aside for the moment, our existence and the nature of our relationship to this phenomenon {existence} has been replete with speculation arriving as "fact" by us the great unwashed.

That we engage with existence through our senses, it would seem to follow that the brain that translates electrochemical potentials into sight and sound and so on, is the physical center of both consciousness and dreaming, but if we expand our speculation to include notions like Richard Dawkin's "memes" or observe the behavior of infants {who will cry when another infant cries although not experiencing the same discomfort or pain}which informs us that we are sensitive to stimuli around us that isn't necessarily generated by the cerebrum but is empathic...

I'm suggesting that there's far more going on with the nature/character of brain function and the balance {or imbalance} between our physical experiential and perhaps "spiritual" selves than we understand.

[Thunder Bow]

Our brain and our spirit are one and the same. One can't function with out the other.

[Kanopy]

Originally Posted by Thunder Bow

Our brain and our spirit are one and the same. One can't function with out the other.

Is "spirit" analogous with "soul"?

[SoundSleeper]

Originally Posted by Thunder Bow

Our brain and our spirit are one and the same. One can't function with out the other.

I don't mean to sound negative or anything because after all it is all opinion. However you say Brain and spirit are one and the same as if it is some kind of scientific fact.

OP is trying to offer a differing perspective of dreams, and whilst I may not agree 100% with what he says I believe that these "alternative" theories and ideas are what will ultimately help us understand just what is happening.

The brain is a construct of the universe. It is made from all the molecules and atoms and everything else which the universe has created and from which occur naturally. Our dreams are a consequence of this construct. Which kind of means the Universe is dreaming if we are we actually ARE one and the same,

[Thunder Bow]

I agree with you, that is why I said what I said.

[Gus1234U]

i would go one step further, and say that the brain cannot function without the 'spirit', but the spirit can function without the brain. or are we saying that there are no 'spirits' without bodies, or that brains are spiritual ?

no,, i say that there is a dimension of being in which a brain is not required. it is this dimension that we have a truer 'being', which is not separated from all other 'beings' by strong valent bonds, but rather we are closely united by electrical energies...

so i vote for being able to dream other people's dreams, to think their thoughts, and feel their feelings,, altho i admit that it is rare, and generally a result of either "damage" to the physical brain, or extensive work in the other planes of existance~

what a wonderful experience, and explanation for it, Kanopy~! thanks

[Kanopy]

If our dreams aren't our own, where could they come from?

If you're interested in exploring alternatives to the "classical" paradigms, examine research results and published books and articles by leading institutions and academic centers which take a less classical perspective on dreams and memory.

Genetic memory studies and neurobiological investigations are telling us that while Freud and Jung may have broached a subject and topic of rampant speculation verging on the mystical, new research in the fields of genetics and neurology are providing insights into brain function/dysfunction that could significantly modify our understanding and treatment of mental illness. While labels like "ego" "id" and "super-ego" and a plethora of theoretical constructs are used as the foundation for psychoanalytic and therapeutic interventions, a new age of electron microscopes, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography are unlocking secrets of the brain that lend credible weight to the argument that dreams aren't simply reconstructions of emotionally driven impulses but have biological and chemical signatures that weren't available to the world of Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung.