I am looking to read up on sleep and dreaming as an observable, scientific process as well as plausible non-scientific theories about sleep and dreams.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Sulla--- pick a book up on bio-feedback. That is a great begining! cat

Hi Sulla,

If you want to fill your mind with rational information, I think you'll have to do it aware, Here.  

BUT, it doesn't means you can't get knowledge, intuition or direct knowing.  If you have a strong intent to learn about a subject, you'll do it while you're sleeping... even if you don't remember it.  What happen is that you'll earn strong intuition about the  subject and it  will help to make rights choices Here and it will structure the “path” to your learning process .  Ex.:  You'll be attracted toward a particuliar book...  You’ll intuitively know that this information is better than to others...  

Pay attention to your dream, have you ever dreamed about  university?  

Hello Sulla:

Below is something I wrote. Perhaps it isn't what you're looking for. If it's too long, I'll understand if you don't read it.

Dreams

One night I had three back to back dreams. In the first dream the Army recalled me and I was at a holding station in Germany before being sent to Iraq. I couldn't figure out why the Army came to the decision to have a 47 year old man go to Iraq, when I had completed my reserve time requirement years ago.   It felt like over a week of time took place during this dream. Near the end of the dream I became aware of inconsistencies, woke up from the dream, and immediately found myself in another dream. I was the father of a family in this dream. They got on my case for doing something wrong.  I became aware of enough inconsistencies to see that this family wasn't my family.  This realization caused me to move into another dream. I can’t remember what this dream was about, but I do remember that the same thing took place. I found enough inconsistencies to realize that the situation I found myself in didn't match my life in this physical World. There were just enough clues to insure that I wouldn't wake up from a dream too quickly. I thought that these dreams would make a great novel or movie, and then it occurred to me in a very clear and certain way that these dreams weren't created by my own mind. They were created by an intelligence beyond my own intelligence.

I woke up and found myself in an expanded state of consciousness with a lot of energy running through me. I heard a voice say, "Just as you found inconsistencies in your dreams, find inconsistencies in your waking state."  I wondered if I was in contact with my I-there. I-there is a term out of body explorer Robert Monroe came up with. It referred to a greater part of his self that exists in the spirit World. Some people might use other terms such as higher self, over soul, disk, total self, core self, or soul group. I asked if I was in contact with my I-there. I heard and felt a number of voices respond, "Yes it is." They were very happy that I finally made contact with them.

Sometimes I see spirits appear as flashing points of light. This is how I see them when I see them through my crown chakra. When they appear with the color white, they have an intensity level that is different than what people see in this physical World. At times I could feel the energy they radiated. I would always see just one flash at a time. During this experience I saw numerous lights flashing at the same time on an on and off basis. I knew that these lights came from members (different selves) of my I-there.  This happened for a little while, my energy level went down, and my awareness narrowed down to my usual waking state level.

After I realized that I made contact with my I-there, it occurred to me that visual images I had been seeing while meditating were sent by my I-there members and/or some other spirit beings I connected to. I was able to collaborate this fact in various ways. One way was by receiving symbolic answers to my questions through these images.  For example, I'd ask why I have an energetic block in a particular part of my body, and I would be shown an image or sequence of images which symbolically showed what psychological issue caused the block. Once I became clear on the issue that caused the block, the block would go away, and along with it, the pain I was experiencing. I don't mean to suggest that all energetic blocks cause physical pain. Sometimes they can cause physical problems that don't manifest as pain. On some occasions they won't cause a physical result. Because our body, mind and spirit are connected to each other in a significant manner, in many cases an energetic block that is caused by a psychological issue will lead to a physical problem. I do not know what the percentage is. I believe it is safe to assume that the percentage varies from person to person.

Once I found out that spirit messages could be received through my dreams, I started to pay attention to them closely. This enabled me to find more about the psychological issues that caused me to have not only energetic blocks, but a limited way of experiencing life. I don't mean to suggest that all dreams contain spirit messages. On some occasions our subconscious mind might be playing out in some way. On some occasions our spirit guidance, or perhaps I should say higher self, is creating our dreams in order to balance out our psychological issues. I've found that pent up emotional energy can be released by dreams. There was one occasion where I couldn't remember what a dream was about, but I knew it was about an issue I found to be inwardly painful. After waking up from the dream I could feel negative energy release from my stomach area.

Many people find it difficult to remember their dreams. I found that it is very helpful to keep a dream journal by my bed, and write notes immediately after having a dream. Partly because my memory of a dream will have less time to decrease, partly because doing so got my mind in a framework for remembering dreams, and partly because my higher self/spirit guidance responded to my interest. I figure these three factors will also apply to other people.

Sometimes memories don't come to life right away. I've found that if I allow myself to tune into a silent peaceful state of mind and try to feel some openness within my heart, and try to get a feeling for what I felt during a dream, a memory of the dream will appear within my awareness.  I've also found that one memory leads to another memory until before I know it; I've remembered most of a dream if not all of a dream. I usually remember enough details so I can figure out what is being communicated to me through a dream.

Some people try to determine the meaning of their dreams for a while, but give up after finding it difficult to do so. The main reason such difficulty occurs, is because dreams tend to be highly symbolic. I believe they are symbolic for several reasons. One reason is that on many occasions our higher self/spirit guidance tries to communicate a message to us that we aren't completely open to receiving, if at all. Therefore our higher self/spirit guidance chooses a symbolic language our overall state of mind won't object to. Another reason is that our higher self/spirit guidance hopes that the person they are trying to help will eventually realize that an intelligence beyond his or her intelligence took the time to figure out what kind of symbols to use.  This point might not seem obvious, but if a person pays attention to his (or her) dreams for a while and sees how symbols are made use of, he will see that there is definitely some thinking in play that goes beyond the random meanderings of his subconscious mind. Another reason is that on one level our mind works in an abstract manner, and responds to abstract messages better than it responds to more direct messages. This factor, along with the factor of working out our psychological issues, is important when our minds make use of dreams we aren't conscious of and/or forget.  Another reason is that the process of figuring out what the symbols of our dreams mean, help us learn to tune into the intuitive part of ourselves: the ability to think in a manner that is beyond thinking on a thought by thought basis.  


Another factor that helped me become certain that my higher self/spirit guidance is involved with the process of creating my dreams, is the fact of how it would cause bright points of white light to appear on my right hand or certain words as I wrote dream notes. These points would have an intensity level that is different than you see in the physical World.  When I see them it feels as if they come from a higher spirit realm. They would appear on my right hand in order to say "right (correct) when I accurately interpreted what a particular symbol means. Sometimes a point of light would flash on a particular word in order to emphasize that word.

Other images would also be flashed as I wrote notes. For example, I would see the image of a person who symbolically means something specific to me, such as actor Peter Falk dressed as his TV character Lt. Columbo, in order to let me know that I did a good job recognizing the meaning of a symbol. Lt. Columbo misses nothing. Additional thoughts about a dream would be forwarded to me as I wrote notes. Occasionally when I would think about a dream while my eyes were closed, additional visual images would be shown to me. Sometimes they would be shown to me in the form of a short waking dream.

The bright points of light hardly appear now. I believe they have stopped doing so because it has become unnecessary to help me become certain that most of my dreams are indeed created by my higher self/spirit guidance. Additionally, it has become unnecessary to let me know that I am interpreting a symbol accurately by providing me with some sort of signal."  I still receive additional information at times in the form of images and thoughts while I write dream notes in order to add additional clues as to what a dream means. Or I will be sent additional images while I think about a dream while my eyes are closed.

Another factor that helped me see that dreams are created by an Intelligence beyond my own, is the similarity of the imagery used during regular dreams, waking dreams, and while receiving an image without a dream taking place.  For example, I'd be meditating and wondering what is preventing me from opening up to love more completely, and my spirit guidance would show me an image of a person who has a personality trait that is the same personality trait that is limiting me. Such a person or another symbol that is used more than once would be used in my regular dreams, waking dreams, and just simply as a visual message I see for one instant without having a dream in any form.  Often such messages would be presented to me after I asked a question. Often in a manner that showed that more than my subconscious mind was involved. The answers would be too detailed and precise for my subconscious mind to come up with them instantly.

Another factor that helped me realize that dreams and other spirit messages came from a place beyond my mind, is that occasionally they would provide me with information I had no way of knowing about. For example, one time I had ants in my house and I didn't know where they came from. I was shown an image which showed me the precise hole behind a book case through which they entered. One time I was meditating and I heard a little dog barking in front of my house. I figured it was from down the street and wondered what it was doing in front of my house. I was shown a clear image of a dog barking that was a completely different kind of dog than the dog from down the street. I got up and looked out my window to check, and I saw the exact same dog I saw in the image. I have been informed about negative things about the food I was eating that proved to be true. I have been informed about people, places and future events that I had no way to know about.

When it comes to the difficulty people have with interpreting their dreams, it is partly a matter of relying on their intuition and partly a matter of having faith in their ability to interpret. Rather than saying, "I can't do this," a person would be better off giving it a shot and finding how things work out. If his interpretations of the symbols received add up to a message that makes sense, then he will know or be fairly confident that he has interpreted the symbols correctly.  If he keeps at it, he will eventually realize that he is doing a better job of interpreting his dreams than he anticipated when he listened to the doubtful part of his mind. His higher self/spirit guidance isn't likely to send him symbolic messages he isn't capable of interpreting. Each of us is a spirit being with a lot of inner potential that is waiting to be discovered. It is a matter of making the effort to discover this potential. If we miss the meaning of some the dreams and other messages we receive, this is okay, because our higher self/spirit guidance will simply send another message or two in order to clarify what they are trying to communicate.  

Eventually a person and such a person's higher self/spirit guidance will come up with a symbolic language that is commonly understood. Here are some of the commonly understood symbols that my higher self/spirit guidance and I have come up with:

-The color green = love (heart chakra color)
-The color yellow = volition, will power (third-will center chakra color)
-Red = lower energy (lower chakra color)
-Water running, usually from a faucet = energetic cleansing.
-A lot of dishes in my kitchen sink = a lot of energetic cleansing needs to be done.
-A few dishes in my kitchen sink = a little energetic cleansing is needed.
-An empty sink means no cleansing is needed.
-A dog, especially a small dog = an unnecessary fear.
-An automobile = me (This is a humorous way of my higher self/guidance stating that I'm not my body by symbolizing me with another mode of transport I use for a temporary period of time.).
-The kind of car, the color of the car, and what can be found in the car = an additional clue. For example, if I find myself driving a car from the back seat and somebody sits in the driver's seat where I should be, the personality trait this person symbolizes to me lets me know what personality trait is limiting me.  Sometimes I'll see something in the back seat of my car, and this something symbolizes what is limiting my energetic flow in my lower chakras.
-Sometimes a house = me. Similar to how a car is used, I can tell what is limiting me by the people and/or things that appear within a house.
-As I stated earlier, different people symbolize different personality traits. Their activities also provide clues.
-A window = access to a higher realm or higher level of being. Especially if white light is shown behind the window.
-Sunlight = the light.
-A flash of white light = the light.

Paying attention to my dreams helped me establish that I was in contact with loving spirits who are interested in my welfare. Because of the various stories of evil spirits that exist, this was a concern for me. It is clear that my dreams come from friendly spirits (I include my higher self when I say this), because they have always served the purpose of helping me. There is also the factor of what kind of spirits would naturally have access to a person's awareness to an extent, where this spirit has the ability to create dream experiences for a person without any signs of an unfriendly spirit being involved. The experiences of many people validate this point. When I factor in what my dreams were like before I made conscious contact with spirit guidance, and how the symbols and direction of guidance received during regular dreams matched the times when I received spirit messages in a more conscious way, the availability of friendly spirit guidance becomes clearer.

Hi,

Have you read Stephen LaBerge's work on Lucid Dreaming?  It covers much more than lucid dreaming because when he wrote it he was trying to define how lucid dreaming and that dream state differed from other sleep.

Bets