I think the mind is a trickier little puppet master than we give it credit for. It might be that perception/imagination is not so binary as it first seems. Every perception is manufactured, isn't it? Think of the night sky. When we see a star, we do perceive something that actually exists. But even with finely tuned instruments, i.e. finely tuned perception enhancers, what we actually see is still only a historic representation of the actual star. That's just the limitations of the laws of physics.
Ok, so lets scale it back a little and examine the apple in your example. It might be that it too is actually only manufactured in our brain. After all, even in that immediate proximity it is not an exact representation of the apple before us, the reality of it as it is. And that's true not only because the light reflected takes a microsecond to reach our eyes, and so like the star leaves us with only the apple's past. But, more relevantly, because the brain's powerful little manufacturing plant constructs our perception by adding context, and memories, and expectations of coherence to other apple experiences, so that what we perceive is not the actual apple, but a subjective, personal version of that particular apple. So perception is creative in it's very nature when passed through that tricky brain of ours, and its devious little elves. I don't know, but at least you've got me thinking today. So thanks, I guess(?), for that. Great post!
This is the best Substack post I've read so far. Excellent!
I can't be objective about myself, of course, but I used to be a prolific lucid dreamer. I came to believe that playing several hours of 2D retro (8bit through 32bit era) games stimulated some interpretive part of my brain, which seemed to enable lucid dreaming at night, but only during hypomanic periods as related to my Bipolar II disorder.
Oddly enough, after seeking out cognitive behavioral therapy to smooth out the swings, I seemed to lose my ability to lucid dream. I sometimes wonder if I would experience lucid dreams again if I happened to go though a particularly rough mania.
That turn of events caused me to ask, what if a lucid dream is just a dream + the sensation that I'm in control? (similarly to how deja vu makes nothingburger moments feel significant.)
One thing that has held true is the importance of the content of my dreams. They seem to help me process past traumas, or to confront recent stressors in my life. I actually give myself pretty good advice in my dreams, or at least, achieve the wish-fulfillment of receiving good advice, albeit through the lens of abstract metaphor.
Thank you for your kind comment! This is so interesting to me, I've never been able to lucid dream before. If you don't mind me asking, what are the extent of your lucid dreams? Is it just an awareness that you're dreaming, or Is it that you're able to will yourself to do things in your dream? Does time pass the same way?
Regarding time, lucid dreams seemed to last longer, but like most dreams, memory of them evaporates shortly after waking. I suspect that's the brain’s way of stopping dreams from being remembered as reality.
During lucid dreaming, I was aware that I was dreaming, and could direct what happened, like the Holodeck from Star Trek. There were weird limitations, though. If I tried to read text, it would be gibberish and would change each time I looked at it. Also, flesh felt like clay for some reason. I also recall colors being hyper saturated and the sky being “close” as if clouds blew by just out of reach.
Tangential note: my dreams turn to nightmares whenever my body gets too cold while sleeping.
i’m inclined to believe that dreams are just random occurrences of your most haunting thought because that’s what my dreams are. never anything else other than how i’d survive in a post apocalyptic world.
sometimes, our dreams are where we go to for answers.
i really enjoyed both views but i am more enthralled about dreams being imaginative than perceptual.
love loved this! thank you for sharing what you’ve learnt.
That was really interesting! Also glad to know science and thinkers are putting their shoulders to the wheel so-to-speak on dreaming, because obviously old philosophy is clearly outdated. I think we naturally want to assign more meaning to dreams than there probably ought to be, because we do that with everything we don’t fully understand. There are many kinds of dreams, and everyone dreams differently, which suggests this is just another area of evolution where Nature is once again playing all the numbers and seeing what, if anything, sticks. 🙏
I think the mind is a trickier little puppet master than we give it credit for. It might be that perception/imagination is not so binary as it first seems. Every perception is manufactured, isn't it? Think of the night sky. When we see a star, we do perceive something that actually exists. But even with finely tuned instruments, i.e. finely tuned perception enhancers, what we actually see is still only a historic representation of the actual star. That's just the limitations of the laws of physics.
Ok, so lets scale it back a little and examine the apple in your example. It might be that it too is actually only manufactured in our brain. After all, even in that immediate proximity it is not an exact representation of the apple before us, the reality of it as it is. And that's true not only because the light reflected takes a microsecond to reach our eyes, and so like the star leaves us with only the apple's past. But, more relevantly, because the brain's powerful little manufacturing plant constructs our perception by adding context, and memories, and expectations of coherence to other apple experiences, so that what we perceive is not the actual apple, but a subjective, personal version of that particular apple. So perception is creative in it's very nature when passed through that tricky brain of ours, and its devious little elves. I don't know, but at least you've got me thinking today. So thanks, I guess(?), for that. Great post!
This is the best Substack post I've read so far. Excellent!
I can't be objective about myself, of course, but I used to be a prolific lucid dreamer. I came to believe that playing several hours of 2D retro (8bit through 32bit era) games stimulated some interpretive part of my brain, which seemed to enable lucid dreaming at night, but only during hypomanic periods as related to my Bipolar II disorder.
Oddly enough, after seeking out cognitive behavioral therapy to smooth out the swings, I seemed to lose my ability to lucid dream. I sometimes wonder if I would experience lucid dreams again if I happened to go though a particularly rough mania.
That turn of events caused me to ask, what if a lucid dream is just a dream + the sensation that I'm in control? (similarly to how deja vu makes nothingburger moments feel significant.)
One thing that has held true is the importance of the content of my dreams. They seem to help me process past traumas, or to confront recent stressors in my life. I actually give myself pretty good advice in my dreams, or at least, achieve the wish-fulfillment of receiving good advice, albeit through the lens of abstract metaphor.
Thanks again for the thought-provoking essay!
Thank you for your kind comment! This is so interesting to me, I've never been able to lucid dream before. If you don't mind me asking, what are the extent of your lucid dreams? Is it just an awareness that you're dreaming, or Is it that you're able to will yourself to do things in your dream? Does time pass the same way?
Regarding time, lucid dreams seemed to last longer, but like most dreams, memory of them evaporates shortly after waking. I suspect that's the brain’s way of stopping dreams from being remembered as reality.
During lucid dreaming, I was aware that I was dreaming, and could direct what happened, like the Holodeck from Star Trek. There were weird limitations, though. If I tried to read text, it would be gibberish and would change each time I looked at it. Also, flesh felt like clay for some reason. I also recall colors being hyper saturated and the sky being “close” as if clouds blew by just out of reach.
Tangential note: my dreams turn to nightmares whenever my body gets too cold while sleeping.
Thanks again!
i’m inclined to believe that dreams are just random occurrences of your most haunting thought because that’s what my dreams are. never anything else other than how i’d survive in a post apocalyptic world.
sometimes, our dreams are where we go to for answers.
i really enjoyed both views but i am more enthralled about dreams being imaginative than perceptual.
love loved this! thank you for sharing what you’ve learnt.
i’m so happy you took something from it :))) it’s really interesting to think about this stuff, and this mod is totally rocking my world
That was really interesting! Also glad to know science and thinkers are putting their shoulders to the wheel so-to-speak on dreaming, because obviously old philosophy is clearly outdated. I think we naturally want to assign more meaning to dreams than there probably ought to be, because we do that with everything we don’t fully understand. There are many kinds of dreams, and everyone dreams differently, which suggests this is just another area of evolution where Nature is once again playing all the numbers and seeing what, if anything, sticks. 🙏
so interesting!