Sunday, May 11, 2014

Reaction paper on Dreaming

Miguel, Marianne
2012-63082
STS Juned Sonido

Reaction paper on Dreaming: Cinema of Subconsciousness

                This particular documentary, for me, is one of the most interesting documentaries I have watched. Just from the subject alone, it is certainly a documentary that will boggle the mind. It talks about how the mind works while it’s asleep. Apparently, the brain works at least twice as much when a person sleeps, and because of this, it is able to create whole different worlds and places for the dreamer. Sometimes these dreams are very powerful that it can influence the dreamer to stop bad habits, decide on important decisions, and feel like they are in the real world instead of just dreaming. Sometimes when one is dreaming, the dream is so real that he can feel the texture of things even though it is just in his mind, smell certain aromas and see places clearly. His five senses are active and so it feels like a real world.
                Dreams have different levels; examples would be light sleeping, REM sleeping, and lucid dreaming. Light sleeping is when a person rests his eyes and sleeps for at least a few minutes. REM (rapid eye movement) sleeping is when the brain starts to reactivate and that’s when a person starts to dream. Usually when a person enters REM sleeping only his eyes are able to move, the entire body shuts down and is paralyzed for the person’s safety. This happens so people cannot injure themselves while dreaming since dreams can be very real to them. Others who sleep walk are people whose bodies are not completely paralyzed, and so starts to walk around while in their sleep. Lucid dreaming is a level wherein a person knows he is dreaming and therefore can control what happens in a dream. In this stage of dreaming, instead of seeing himself from a particular angle, the person is in his own body and has fully control of it. In some lucid dreams, the dreamer can think of things and/or places and it would appear in thin air. It is said that people who often lucid dream have stronger brains than others who do not because the dreamer is aware that he is in a dream and can imagine more things that makes the brain more active and work for these manifestations to come alive.
                Lucid dreaming can be achieved by simple steps. First, the person needs to have a clear objective that he will dream that night. He needs to tell himself that he WILL dream. Once dreaming, he has to look for dream signs like things that are very unusual. Objects that one might not find in their house or places that they have not yet seen; when these dream signs are spotted, more or less the dreamer can be aware that he is in a dream and can try to control his body. He can start trying to walk or hold an object.

                Dreams are still being studied to this day, although amusing to try and understand it more; it is very difficult because each person dreams differently from the rest and so cannot be fully understood by others without being inside the dream. It says a lot about one’s mind and his ability to create an entire world in his head and have a very concrete image of it. To me, dreams are every person’s escape from reality.

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