I know what many think dreams are, but what if they were something totally different?   Ever heard of quantum teleportation?   Well what if dreams were a form of communication between alternate realities?  What if when you are dreaming portions of your brain become receptors for a form of quantum communication - thus you are receiving images from yourself in an alternate reality?

Ever have Déjà vu?  Maybe the reason we experience it is because our counter part in an alternate reality has actually experienced something or been some place we have not and when we do finally experience or visit that place the sense of Déjà vu occurs because the information is instantly shared between yourself and one of many counter parts in alternate realities.

When it comes to dreams that are off the wall?  Like for instance the ability to fly.   I can explain that as well.   Maybe in the reality of that person you are communicating with they can fly.    It is just how their world is.

What about when you die in a dream?   You don't but that alternate reality version of you did.

Dreams have always fascinated me and what if dreams are a form of communication between alternate realities?  Cool thought huh?

I never thought of it that way, interesting. But imo dreams are manifestations of your emotions, fears, etc. I often dream about something I fear. Although I'm not actually 'living in fear' when I'm conscious, they are just nasty thoughts.

I dream about killing people in gunfights a lot. 

When I was a young teen the guns in my dreams never worked.  In my early twenties the guns would work if only I could find the right kind of ammunition.  Now the guns not only work and I'm mowing down nameless/faceless thugs by the dozens, but I'm also getting creative. 

Don't have a gun?  Captured and in handcuffs?  Grab that DVD on the edge of the table as you walk by, snap it in half, jump your cuffs and slash it across your guard's throat as hard as you can.  I was pretty fond of that one.

Have these dreams at least once every couple of weeks that I know of and they're the only ones I ever remember.  I blame it on all the violent/shooting games I play.  Either that or the other me's in different dimensions have serious issues.

Originally posted by goneglockin

I dream about killing people in gunfights a lot. 

When I was a young teen the guns in my dreams never worked.  In my early twenties the guns would work if only I could find the right kind of ammunition.  Now the guns not only work and I'm mowing down nameless/faceless thugs by the dozens, but I'm also getting creative. 

Don't have a gun?  Captured and in handcuffs?  Grab that DVD on the edge of the table as you walk by, snap it in half, jump your cuffs and slash it across your guard's throat as hard as you can.  I was pretty fond of that one.

Have these dreams at least once every couple of weeks that I know of and they're the only ones I ever remember.  I blame it on all the violent/shooting games I play.  Either that or the other me's in different dimensions have serious issues.

II think you need to take a break from FPS' for a while lol.

Yeah, i was too much into skunk for a while too. Now, ive gone back to just regular all natural varieties, much better taste and the thing goes smoothly down your throat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activation-synthesis_hypothesis

A bit shorter than what I learned, but explains how I feel about dreams. Also, dèja vu's are perfectly explainable too. I'm not much of a fan of paranormal realities and such, but it was a good read. :)

The waking state and the dream state are not much different from each other. Just in the waking state you are in a fixed reality of physical matter, where as the dream state is more subtle and less defined.

For your sake you better hope my dreams do not portray an alternate reality. I've had some freaky ones. The devil would shit her pants.

Most of a skeptic allegiance, I see dreams as information being classified... Once in a while I have a dream that can be classified as "foretelling", but then it can pretty much be rationalised as wishful thinking or "subconscious" information being pieced together.

Still leaves a creepy feeling though.

What if dreams are just the result of whats left when higher brain functions shut down during a natural recharging cycle of our bodies?

What if reality is a sort of abstract product of resonating belief, and dreams are the means by which life energy is returned to our bodies from the resultant trees of possibility?

What if we are mere paintings in the lifeless material of the cosmos created by habitual patterns of energy vibrating through aligning holes in spiraling multilevel parallel realities, and that energy source is a single consciousness to which we return while we dream?

The possibilities are endless.

Originally posted by heremypet

What if dreams are just the result of whats left when higher brain functions shut down during a natural recharging cycle of our bodies?

Higher brain functions don't shut down during sleep. During REM, they're actually extremely active. And this is the moment most people experience sleep. The only thing keeping you from acting out your dreams (as in body movement, etc.), is that the body is paralyzed. Again, I would like to refer people to the activation-synthesis hypothesis, if anybody cares. Would take a lot of the mystery away from dreams. That said, it's still a hypothesis, not a theory.

     Back when I was an undergrad i took an anthropology class all about Carlos Casteneda and his "training" as an apprentice to a Yaqui Shaman in the Sonoran desert.

     Part of his training was to develop his "Nagual" or "dreaming self."  One of the steps in this process was attaining the ability to enter a lucid dreaming state.

     The technique was very simple:  Juan Matus told Casteneda that his first step was to find something that would always be there in his dreams: his hands.  He simply instructed the apprentice to place the suggestion in his head as he went to sleep that he should find his hands in his dream.  This first conscious act in the dream state would apparently provide a cornerstone for further development of "intent" as his "dreaming self."

     There was also a warning that developing the "Nagual"  could be perilous and that he should not "explore" too much without some guidance.

     Anyway, I was 20 at the time and spending more time climbing mountains than going to class and I was ALL ABOUT crazy mystical stuff.  I was a little afraid of the notion of lucid dreaming so I didn't ever SET OUT to find my hands in my dreams, but that notion was definitely around my thoughts as I went to sleep each night.

     One weekend my climbing buddy and I went to a party until 3 or 4, came home, got our gear, made coffee, and left straight away for Seneca Rocks where we climbed until about 3 in the afternoon.  When I got home I was physically whipped and I'd been awake for close to 40 hours.  (This is freaking me out a little just telling the story.. I can see it as clearly as if it were yesterday.  Makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck)  I sat on the couch and the sun was low in the sky filling the room with with this golden light.  It was warm and pleasant and almost completely silent, and I think my eyes closed involuntarily from exhaustion a few seconds after I sat down.  There's a kind of sleep that is almost like a drugged euphoria when you drift off like that in a state of extreme physical and mental exhaustion.  That's what this sleep was.

     In my dream I was back on a warm rock slab at the base of Seneca Socks sitting under a tree.  Here's the WEIRD part.. Apparently I was so tired that in my DREAM I decided to take a nap.  And before I laid back to sleep in my DREAM I decided to look for my hands in my dream.  (yikes full body chills now)  I guess my mind in this "involuntary" or "regular' dream state provided my mind with generic "clip art" of my hands.  I saw them in flashes like still photographs, in multiple orientations and it was after just a couple of these flashes that I realized these were NOT my hands.  THEN I realized that I was not really dreaming that dream...  and THEN (swear to god on my mother's life this is 100% true) I realized that I actually WAS asleep.  I looked downward.  I heard I rising roar like a jet taking off right below me.. and I saw these two iridescent BRILLIANT appendages where my hands and arms should have been.  For a tiny fraction of time I was definitely fully asleep and aware of my own consciousness.  Almost instantly holding onto that state made me feel like I was trying to keep a grip on a live electrical wire.  I awoke with a start, yelling in absolute terror and jumped halfway across the room.  It was simultaneously one of the most frightening and exhilarating experiences I have ever had.

     Ever since I have intentionally avoided seeking that state, and I remember feeling a certainty that I would NEVER go there again without someone more knowledgeable than myself about those things.

     Before you ask, no I was not drunk and no I was not under the influence of anything other than fatigue.  At that point in my life i had never ingested any hallucinogen in my life, natural or man-made.

     Pretty cool, eh?

Sorry for the long-ass story, but that was fun to remember and retell.  Thanks for indulging me.

 (Edit- wall of text management)