In your dreams!

WT Sharpe · 08-24-2014, 11:59 AM

Last night, as a courtesy to those of us who had flown into orbit aboard the Shuttle but had not been allowed to take part in the main mission, I visited the International Space Station. I had no idea it was so well equipped with modern conveniences. There was so much to see that I didn't even notice that some kind of artificial gravity that must have been in effect, but it certainly must have been, otherwise, how was everyone walking about so normally and how did water stay in the swimming pool? The fact that so many senior citizens were on board the I.S.S. was a bit of a surprise, but I was thinking that most were in a reduced-gravity environment for health reasons.

Where did you go and what did you do last night?

poohbear_nc · 08-24-2014, 07:37 PM

Tom - did you recently watch Wall-E?

WT Sharpe · 08-24-2014, 10:20 PM

I've never even seen Wall-E. I've just always had my head up in the air. Here's a dream I had twenty years ago (notice the double-spacing after each period; my pre-computer style of typing):

Spoiler:

I dreamed I was flying. Getting started was not too much trouble. I began simply by leaping into the air. With each bounce I felt myself less and less constrained by Earth’s gravity. Then suddenly I was doing it — I was airborne!

The feeling was exhilarating. Higher and higher into the air I went with each jump. The thought occurred to me that if I really pushed hard, I could shoot off right into space. I did so, and in the next moment I was tumbling wildly, not sure which way was up or down.

I struggled to find the ground, my only point of reference. There it was — off to one side over my head. I twisted to best orientate myself to the world as I had always known it. Although I worked quickly, by the time I completed my maneuvering, the curvature of the Earth’s horizon was plainly evident. Then equally as abruptly the entire globe came into view. With amazing rapidity the entire planet shrunk from view until I could no longer discern its place among the stars.

The sky looked black beyond imagination. I was now tumbling wildly through an intergalactic vortex at incredible speed. Entire stars were flying past me like snowflakes in a blizzard.

I began to feel a certain amount of apprehension. How would I ever find my way back? Space is a huge place, and even if I could find my own sun, what were the odds that, by going off into any one direction, I could hope to run into even one of its major planets, much less Earth? Yet, I felt at the same time that the real secret to finding my way back was simply to want it badly enough.

But did I want it? There was a certain feeling; was it curiosity? I don’t really know. I felt a strange longing to continue my odyssey — a certain and unfathomable sense of serenity about the whole affair — a mysterious feeling that whatever lay on the other side of this strange journey was at the least equally or even more desirable than my life on Earth. But this journey was for another day. I opened my eyes. I was back home. For now.

“This just had to be a near-death experience. What else could it be?”

I pondered the meaning of this strange dream. I knew that once I related it to people, many would have very diverse opinions. Some would ask me if I had put too much red pepper on the previous night’s pizza. Others would be sure that I had undergone an out-of-body experience (some would wonder if an out-of-mind experience was more likely). Others still would wonder if it had been a dream at all, but maybe something more. Like a near-death experience, perhaps.

Hmmm… Flying through space without some form of environmental controls — i.e., a space suit — normally would be a major concern for most people, and yet the hostile surroundings of interstellar space seemed to have no effect. How else could I account for that startling detail except to say that I must have been in my “astral body?” The dark vortex through which I traveled; what was that if not a “tunnel?” The sense that something good awaited at the end of my ride; was that not the “light at the end of the tunnel?” This just had to be a near death experience. What else could it be? Something had, beyond doubt, happened to me during the night, and I had, for a brief period during those nocturnal hours, “crossed over” to the other side.

But should I tell anyone? I realize that a few skeptics have other ideas about what causes people to undergo near death experiences. There are some scientists, for example, who believe that at the point of death, certain chemicals are released into the brain — similar to LSD — producing powerful hallucinations that survivors of such events interpret in spiritual terminology.

Dr. Carl Sagan has another hypothesis. He believes that, since dying is unlike anything else we experience in its emotional intensity, our minds, in their never-ending struggle to find connections between seemingly isolated phenomena, relate this experience to the only other thing in life to rival dying in its emotional impact: birth. Consider, he says, how that both experiences involve an occurrence of being ripped away from the world we know — traveling down a dark tunnel — beholding light at the end of the tunnel — finally, sensing a welcoming presence on the other side of the journey.

Upon reflection, however, I have come to consider one other possible explanation for the events of that night. Earlier that evening, on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” I had watched as Dr. Julian Bashir, the resident physician on board the space station, had (to put it discreetly) joined the “Zero-G Club,” and, well…

Have you ever incorporated elements of a television show into your dreams?

badgoodDeb · 08-25-2014, 01:45 PM

I'm always doing the breast-stroke to fly, in my dreams. Some nights the air is thin, and doesn't "push" well, but other days I can get great speed just using my breast-stroke.

Hmmm -- I haven't had that dream in a while. I wonder why?

crich70 · 08-25-2014, 02:15 PM

I had a mixed bag of experiences. At one point I was officer Pete Malloy trying to bring in a suspect (I always did like Adam-12) and later I was on some island somewhere trying to rig up some sort of raft to escape some sort of Gov. run facility where secret population controlling devices were being developed. I don't know where that one came from aside perhaps the recent talk about 007 in some of the threads here.

crich70 · 08-25-2014, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Last night, as a courtesy to those of us who had flown into orbit aboard the Shuttle but had not been allowed to take part in the main mission, I visited the International Space Station. I had no idea it was so well equipped with modern conveniences. There was so much to see that I didn't even notice that some kind of artificial gravity that must have been in effect, but it certainly must have been, otherwise, how was everyone walking about so normally and how did water stay in the swimming pool? The fact that so many senior citizens were on board the I.S.S. was a bit of a surprise, but I was thinking that most were in a reduced-gravity environment for health reasons.

Where did you go and what did you do last night?

I was once the main crew of Deep Space 9.

WT Sharpe · 08-25-2014, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I'm always doing the breast-stroke to fly, in my dreams. Some nights the air is thin, and doesn't "push" well, but other days I can get great speed just using my breast-stroke.

Hmmm -- I haven't had that dream in a while. I wonder why?

I usually do something similar: I flap my arms. I don't have nearly the number of flying dreams I did when I was younger, but I treasure them whenever they occur. I had one just recently, but don't recall much about it.

crich70 · 08-25-2014, 09:44 PM

I've had dreams that repeat before. One I had several times when a kid was of going into a darkened room and being sure someone else was in there but not being able to turn on a light. I think it was one of my pre-teen mind's ways of dealing with some of the stresses of growing up.

cromag · 08-26-2014, 04:27 PM

I don't often dream of flying, but I do dream of running on all fours.

badgoodDeb · 08-26-2014, 04:36 PM

Cool! Are you "yourself" or some animal? Furry?

WT Sharpe · 08-26-2014, 04:56 PM

Which reminds me; for some reason, while I was in Vietnam (class of 69-70) I had recurring dreams where an animal would be speaking to me, and I would be replying to whatever it was saying. It would seem perfectly normal until I reached a point in the dream when I became aware that I was having a conversation with an animal. It's been well over forty years, and I can't now be sure of what animals I was talking to, but I believe they were mostly jungle cats.

crich70 · 08-26-2014, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Which reminds me; for some reason, while I was in Vietnam (class of 69-70) I had recurring dreams where an animal would be speaking to me, and I would be replying to whatever it was saying. It would seem perfectly normal until I reached a point in the dream when I became aware that I was having a conversation with an animal. It's been well over forty years, and I can't now be sure of what animals I was talking to, but I believe they were mostly jungle cats.

Maybe it was your subconscious mind's way of dealing with the stress in the environment you were in. I can't think of a more stressful situation to be in than to be out in the field while in the military. Though I've never served I can only imagine how stressful it would be to wonder if today would be the day you would be shot dead by the enemy.

WT Sharpe · 08-26-2014, 07:15 PM

I worked at a medical dispensary and later in a hospital. I was never in the field, fortunately, and the only times I was shot at was when I was in places I shouldn't have been. Still, it could have been stress, I suppose. Either that, or I met my Guardian animal. It was the 60s, and I'd been on many a vision quest of a sort prior to my visit to that country.

I've heard flying dreams are a reaction to stress, but who really knows where dreams originate?

poohbear_nc · 08-26-2014, 07:38 PM

Well, for some reason, last night I was in Vegas, buying a medley of checked pants ... in all colors ...

[Disclaimer: I have NEVER owned a pair of check pants.]
[I have never wanted a pair of check paints.]

badgoodDeb · 08-26-2014, 07:59 PM

Obviously, your subconscious wants a pair of checked pants!

08-24-2014, 11:59 AM	#1
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	In your dreams! Last night, as a courtesy to those of us who had flown into orbit aboard the Shuttle but had not been allowed to take part in the main mission, I visited the International Space Station. I had no idea it was so well equipped with modern conveniences. There was so much to see that I didn't even notice that some kind of artificial gravity that must have been in effect, but it certainly must have been, otherwise, how was everyone walking about so normally and how did water stay in the swimming pool? The fact that so many senior citizens were on board the I.S.S. was a bit of a surprise, but I was thinking that most were in a reduced-gravity environment for health reasons. Where did you go and what did you do last night? Last edited by WT Sharpe; 08-24-2014 at 10:22 PM.

08-24-2014, 10:20 PM	#3
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	I've never even seen Wall-E. I've just always had my head up in the air. Here's a dream I had twenty years ago (notice the double-spacing after each period; my pre-computer style of typing): Spoiler: I dreamed I was flying. Getting started was not too much trouble. I began simply by leaping into the air. With each bounce I felt myself less and less constrained by Earth’s gravity. Then suddenly I was doing it — I was airborne! The feeling was exhilarating. Higher and higher into the air I went with each jump. The thought occurred to me that if I really pushed hard, I could shoot off right into space. I did so, and in the next moment I was tumbling wildly, not sure which way was up or down. I struggled to find the ground, my only point of reference. There it was — off to one side over my head. I twisted to best orientate myself to the world as I had always known it. Although I worked quickly, by the time I completed my maneuvering, the curvature of the Earth’s horizon was plainly evident. Then equally as abruptly the entire globe came into view. With amazing rapidity the entire planet shrunk from view until I could no longer discern its place among the stars. The sky looked black beyond imagination. I was now tumbling wildly through an intergalactic vortex at incredible speed. Entire stars were flying past me like snowflakes in a blizzard. I began to feel a certain amount of apprehension. How would I ever find my way back? Space is a huge place, and even if I could find my own sun, what were the odds that, by going off into any one direction, I could hope to run into even one of its major planets, much less Earth? Yet, I felt at the same time that the real secret to finding my way back was simply to want it badly enough. But did I want it? There was a certain feeling; was it curiosity? I don’t really know. I felt a strange longing to continue my odyssey — a certain and unfathomable sense of serenity about the whole affair — a mysterious feeling that whatever lay on the other side of this strange journey was at the least equally or even more desirable than my life on Earth. But this journey was for another day. I opened my eyes. I was back home. For now. “This just had to be a near-death experience. What else could it be?” I pondered the meaning of this strange dream. I knew that once I related it to people, many would have very diverse opinions. Some would ask me if I had put too much red pepper on the previous night’s pizza. Others would be sure that I had undergone an out-of-body experience (some would wonder if an out-of-mind experience was more likely). Others still would wonder if it had been a dream at all, but maybe something more. Like a near-death experience, perhaps. Hmmm… Flying through space without some form of environmental controls — i.e., a space suit — normally would be a major concern for most people, and yet the hostile surroundings of interstellar space seemed to have no effect. How else could I account for that startling detail except to say that I must have been in my “astral body?” The dark vortex through which I traveled; what was that if not a “tunnel?” The sense that something good awaited at the end of my ride; was that not the “light at the end of the tunnel?” This just had to be a near death experience. What else could it be? Something had, beyond doubt, happened to me during the night, and I had, for a brief period during those nocturnal hours, “crossed over” to the other side. But should I tell anyone? I realize that a few skeptics have other ideas about what causes people to undergo near death experiences. There are some scientists, for example, who believe that at the point of death, certain chemicals are released into the brain — similar to LSD — producing powerful hallucinations that survivors of such events interpret in spiritual terminology. Dr. Carl Sagan has another hypothesis. He believes that, since dying is unlike anything else we experience in its emotional intensity, our minds, in their never-ending struggle to find connections between seemingly isolated phenomena, relate this experience to the only other thing in life to rival dying in its emotional impact: birth. Consider, he says, how that both experiences involve an occurrence of being ripped away from the world we know — traveling down a dark tunnel — beholding light at the end of the tunnel — finally, sensing a welcoming presence on the other side of the journey. Upon reflection, however, I have come to consider one other possible explanation for the events of that night. Earlier that evening, on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” I had watched as Dr. Julian Bashir, the resident physician on board the space station, had (to put it discreetly) joined the “Zero-G Club,” and, well… Have you ever incorporated elements of a television show into your dreams? Last edited by WT Sharpe; 08-24-2014 at 10:23 PM.

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08-24-2014, 07:37 PM	#2
poohbear_nc Bah! Humbug! Posts: 63,084 Karma: 135239851 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Durham, NC Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!	Tom - did you recently watch Wall-E?

08-25-2014, 01:45 PM	#4
badgoodDeb Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,545 Karma: 64462893 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Harrisburg outskirts Device: Palms, K1-4s, iPads, iPhones, KV, KO1	I'm always doing the breast-stroke to fly, in my dreams. Some nights the air is thin, and doesn't "push" well, but other days I can get great speed just using my breast-stroke. Hmmm -- I haven't had that dream in a while. I wonder why?

08-25-2014, 02:15 PM	#5
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	I had a mixed bag of experiences. At one point I was officer Pete Malloy trying to bring in a suspect (I always did like Adam-12) and later I was on some island somewhere trying to rig up some sort of raft to escape some sort of Gov. run facility where secret population controlling devices were being developed. I don't know where that one came from aside perhaps the recent talk about 007 in some of the threads here.

08-25-2014, 09:44 PM	#8
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	I've had dreams that repeat before. One I had several times when a kid was of going into a darkened room and being sure someone else was in there but not being able to turn on a light. I think it was one of my pre-teen mind's ways of dealing with some of the stresses of growing up.

08-26-2014, 04:27 PM	#9
cromag Surfin the alpha waves ~~ Posts: 26,154 Karma: 459735575 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Jersey Device: Jetbook Lite & Mini, Nook STR, Kobo, Hanvon N516, Kindle 2, Androids	I don't often dream of flying, but I do dream of running on all fours.

08-26-2014, 04:36 PM	#10
badgoodDeb Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,545 Karma: 64462893 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Harrisburg outskirts Device: Palms, K1-4s, iPads, iPhones, KV, KO1	Cool! Are you "yourself" or some animal? Furry?

08-26-2014, 04:56 PM	#11
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Which reminds me; for some reason, while I was in Vietnam (class of 69-70) I had recurring dreams where an animal would be speaking to me, and I would be replying to whatever it was saying. It would seem perfectly normal until I reached a point in the dream when I became aware that I was having a conversation with an animal. It's been well over forty years, and I can't now be sure of what animals I was talking to, but I believe they were mostly jungle cats.

08-26-2014, 07:15 PM	#13
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	I worked at a medical dispensary and later in a hospital. I was never in the field, fortunately, and the only times I was shot at was when I was in places I shouldn't have been. Still, it could have been stress, I suppose. Either that, or I met my Guardian animal. It was the 60s, and I'd been on many a vision quest of a sort prior to my visit to that country. I've heard flying dreams are a reaction to stress, but who really knows where dreams originate?

08-26-2014, 07:38 PM	#14
poohbear_nc Bah! Humbug! Posts: 63,084 Karma: 135239851 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Durham, NC Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!	Well, for some reason, last night I was in Vegas, buying a medley of checked pants ... in all colors ... [Disclaimer: I have NEVER owned a pair of check pants.] [I have never wanted a pair of check paints.]

08-26-2014, 07:59 PM	#15
badgoodDeb Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,545 Karma: 64462893 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Harrisburg outskirts Device: Palms, K1-4s, iPads, iPhones, KV, KO1	Obviously, your subconscious wants a pair of checked pants!