Waking Dream

[Lunawryn]

Mostly I'm wondering about how unusual this is and if anyone else here has had similar experiences.

Last night I had a dream that lasted all of 10 seconds, yet I was nowhere near sleep at the time. When I say "dream" I mean a picture or movie of sorts that enters your mind without you actively thinking in that direction. This would be something that you can't shove out of your head and, in my case last night, are unable to control. I know there was a thread previously made by nz girl about waking dreams that show what will happen a few minutes later. Mine however, had nothing to do with what was going on in the world around me.

Any ideas? (if it matters, I didn't sleep last night)

[Athanor]

Such images or mini-fantasies are called “hypnagogic” and usually appear to very many people when they are dozing or about to go to sleep.

In general terms, they represent aspects of your unconscious state which appear when the ego is less strongly focused as when going to sleep etc. They are essentially the same personifications of the unconscious mind that also appear in dreams for example, and are best interpreted using the same general methods as with dreams, i.e. as being symbolical of inner situations.

Often these images can also be understood in more depth such as by having conversations with any figures who appear in order to explore things that a person is generally unconscious of, but it’s best to read up on this technique first such as in analyst Robert Johnson’s book “Inner Work” or in Mary Watkins’ “Imaginal Dialogues”.

I hope this helps.

[Lunawryn]

That does make a lot of sense and I can follow the reasoning easily. The only issue I'd see with my own experience was that I was nowhere near sleep. I've had a recent problem with insomnia and I was unable to sleep that night, no matter how hard I tried. Also the image came quite early, around 10-11 pm, so I was still fairly awake at the time. Would the theory still work if say I was laying in bed, awake, listening to music? I did have a conversation of sorts in the dream though, so I'll look into interpreting it. I'll also see if I can find those books you mentioned; thank you for the advice =3.

[Athanor]

Hi again,

Actually this type of image or fantasy can appear at any time although it’s generally more likely when the person is tired or distracted in some way. The key thing is to take advantage of the appearance of such images by jotting them down and following them up as you have.

They often contain a succinct message of what’s going on inside, but a fair amount of knowledge is needed regarding traditional symbolism in order to interpret them correctly. For example, some good reference books to start off with are J. Cirlot’s “Dictionary of Symbols”, “An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols” by J.C. Cooper, and the “The Herder Dictionary of Symbols”. These and the other books I mentioned are perhaps easiest to find on such sites as Barnes and Noble or Amazon for example.