🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan6.182906.23437@spruce.pfc.forestry.ca> ,
rwinder@PFC.Forestry.CA (Richard Winder) writes quoting Easlon:


>>Nonetheless, whenever I awake I can almost always remember the most
>> recent flash or two of the mental activity that I call dreams.  Over the
>> years I've developed a pretty good idea of some of the properties common
>> to these dreams, and some of the more interesting include: 
>> 
>>     A sense of "down" in the direction of my feet rather than in the 
>>     direction of the center of the earth. 
>> 
>>     A pronounced absence of gravitational sensation, such as: 
>>          . the sense of effort in maintaining the kind of posture the 
>>          dream depicted  or 
>>          . the pressure of the real bed or dream ground pressing itself 
>>          against my body  
 
>        This is not common to all dreams.  I've experienced many with a 
>pronounced sense of gravity, and many without.  I seems to depend on the 
>symbolism your mind is working with at the moment, and your physical  
>condition.  By gravity, I mean that while I am dreaming, I am occasionally
>aware that I am really lying prone, and aware of which direction `down'  
>really is.  It just doesn't affect the dream that much.  At other times,  
>I have indeed `imagined' gravity in a direction other than my true
>orientation. 
>Particularly when flying... :-)

I think we're in total agreement here, it's just a matter of clarifying the
terminology. I distinguish the sense of "down" from the perception of
gravity (pressure, effort) because I believe the sense of "down" in dreams
is imagined, coming from the direction of my feet when I dream I am
standing, where gravity perception when I drift back to wakefulness is
coming from another angle.

I also have dreamed of lying down.  I even dream of lying in bed awake
sometimes, and it's really hard to tell in the morning just how much of my
wakefulness was real and how much was dreamed.

The sense of "down" for me is best exemplified by flying dreams
particularly when I am exceptionally tired.  I picture myself trying to
clear those damned electric high lines, and as likely as not failing to get
that high.  The imagined gravity is rather like being under water, or
perhaps on the moon, a gentle tug that keeps me from flying away, but
nothing like the perception of real gravity.

Incidentally, when flying dreams occur toward morning when I'm well rested,
I can generally make it to a respectable altitude.


--
Ken Easlon                | "...somebody spoke and I went into a dream..."
ken@holonet.net           |    -Paul McCartney
Pleasantly Unaffiliated   |