Glenn Stewart Coles, 9251 Yonge Street, Suite 8-924, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, L4C 9T3
Text Box: The other night I had a dream in which I was attending a baseball game. I recall being in the stands with thousands of people, cheering on the home team. I had a beer and a hot dog, and enjoyed the event tremendously. Then I woke from the dream, and was reclined on a chair at a friend’s apartment. Apparently I had nodded off, and my two friends had let me snooze. I told them about my dream, and when it was time to go, one friend offered to drive home since I was still groggy from my sleep. Then I woke up. I had been having a dream within a dream, and was quite surprised. While I had recognized the dream-like qualities of the baseball game, the conversation with my friends had seemed real. There is a subtle difference between the feeling of being in a dream and the feeling of being awake. I was so amused by the double-dream that I told a number of people about the experience. Then I truly woke up. I had been in a dream within a dream within a dream. In the third layer, the realization of the double-dream had entered my awareness, and my sharing of the experience had seemed quite real. When I opened my eyes to see my bedroom, it was confusing at first. It took a minute or two to convince myself that I really was awake this time. In dream terminology, what I experienced is called ‘false awakening’. In the brilliant animated movie ‘Waking Life’, the main character goes through a series of similar experiences, continually waking from a dream only to discover later that he is still dreaming. He learns to periodically ask if he is in a dream, and discovers to his surprise that reality and dream state are often indistinguishable. One test of dream state is to flip the light switch on and off; if the switch doesn’t work you are probably dreaming. Another simple test to determine if you are in dream state is to try to fly. Note that this experiment is not achieved by jumping off something; instead one should simply attempt to float into the air, and then fly off in any direction. The neural activity in the brain is no different between a dream experience and an actual experience. I have flown in my dreams, and though my memory realizes that I only flew in dream state, the clarity of actual memories and dream memories are often the same. I can truly say that I know what it feels like to fly. With practice, you can learn to experience lucid dreaming, in which you are conscious of being in a dream while staying asleep. From there you can access experiences and knowledge that are not available in waking reality. You can talk to Einstein, visit magical forests, play with the dolphins and sing with the whales. Once you learn how to access various levels of consciousness, anything is possible. © Copyright Glenn Stewart Coles, 2006 First Published May 7, 2006

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False Awakening

 

 

I had been having a dream within a dream.