1st Person & 3rd Person Dreams

[Beautyinsilence]

What is the significance in dreaming in 1st person & 3rd person? I had a dream the other night where I was in the dream, but I was observing myself rather than playing an active role in it. Anything anyone knows would be greatly appreciated :-) Thank you.

[JON]

What is the significance in dreaming in 1st person & 3rd person? I had a dream the other night where I was in the dream, but I was observing myself rather than playing an active role in it. Anything anyone knows would be greatly appreciated :-) Thank you.

I take it by the '1st person' that you mean you appear in your own dreams? I find that I don't feature in my own dreams as myself. I find others in the 'dreamworld' tend to 'interact' with me as though I was in the same 'space' as them. A bit like a computer game where you can 'hold conversations' with virtual characters. Or being like a 'roving camera' on a TV or film set.

By '3rd person' I take it you are implying you appear as 'someone else' in dreams. I tend to do that more often. The first clue is when a catch a reflection in a window, mirror, water, etc. In the 'Past Life' and 'Egypt' dreams that's how I realised I was another person. I suppose the nearest TV equivalent would be Quantum Leap where Sam travels to other times and places and 'inhabits' other people's bodies, and sees them in reflection. Though we, the viewers, see him as he really is.

Cheers, Jon.

[Jennings]

What you are experiencing is fairly common. In dreaming one can be the main character or be the observer or, as you have described, observing oneself interacting with other dream inhabitants. I do not place much significance on this feature but then the query has never been asked nor have I raised it in my own mind. Whether one populates one's dreams or is the observer seems to be insignificant. I suspect it resembles story composition, indeed, I would suggest that the ancient art of story-telling possibly orginated in the human dreamworld as they are so alike in structure and style. There are times when I dream of a scene objectively in that I am not taking part in the dreamscape but I always remain its observer. There are other times when I am actively engaged in the social dynamics of the dream without feeling as if I am the observer (this is often associated with lucid dreaming) while there are other occasions in which I watch myself actively performing. As a guess I would suggest that it is one's emotional state that determines the degree of interaction. Now that you have me thinking about it, I won't rest until I have solved this connundrum with some credible and logical explanation.