🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <106066@netnews.upenn.edu>,
rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe) writes:

>But seriously, since we're back to a public forum, does *anybody* else 
>understand what it means to say that your "dream" head and your real 
>head are lined up?  My dreams don't seem to exist in the same space as 
>my waking life, which is why I've lost track of what this is supposed 
>to mean... 

Allow me to recap.  This thread started out with Ruth Ginzberg's question: 

> Does anyone know what causes the sensation (when just falling asleep) 
> of sudden literal falling, followed by a startle reaction that wakes 
> you right up? 

I opined that I think it's associated with loss of gravity perception (I
actually said disconnection of gravity sensors) in the sleep state, going
on to explain (vainly) the difference between a sense of "down" in dreams
verses the perception of gravity in the waking state.

In arguing that sleep "down" is not true gravity down I resorted to the
Easlon theory of imagery orientation, sleep verses waking, and incurred the
disagreement of Mickey Rowe.  

As I understand it, Mickey's view is that the dream head might be at any
random orientation, but lines up with the real head upon awakening, giving
the illusion that the dream world is at a ninety degree angle with the real
world.

My view is that the dream head and real head are always in alignment, and
that the 90 degree relationship between the real world and the dream world
is actual and not illusory.

My primary data for this belief is a lot of experience in a hypnagogic
state where I can see dream imagery and real world imagery at the same
time, and they are at right angles.  There is no sense of shifting head
orientation.  

My backup argument is that conceptual imagery has a top and bottom which is
usually aligned with the top and bottom of the head.

In any event, I think Mickey and I agree that the sense of "down" in dreams
is imaginary.  This would be consistent with my explanation of Ginzberg's
falling sensation as being the normal sleep-time loss of gravity perception
at a time before sleep has fully arrived.

As regards concept/dream orientation (the angle of a conceptual or dream
image with respect to the head),  I'm willing to go on talking about it as
long as anybody wants to.


--
Ken Easlon
ken@holonet.net