AS chap 4, Egg, chap 4, and Shamanism part 5

Chapter 4

I loved loved LOVED chapter 4 in Altered States! I have a few dream dictionaries and am constantly looking up the meaning of my dreams(as silly as this may sound, after reading this chapter it seems completely okay). One of the first things I found interesting is the fact that interruption of REM sleep has negative affects on a person. Dreaming without REM sleep causes a rebound affect, showing that to stay healthy, we need to dream. In psychotic patients, it was shown they needed REM sleep during thier remission. These patients showed signs of hallucinations and lacked REM sleep. So, if you are considered psychotic, you could be dreaming while awake. So...anytime someone hallucinates or has a psychotic episode, they could be dreaming while awake.

I've always been facinated by depicting my dreams with a dream dictionary. It is interesting to see what my mind is subconsciously thinking of. This makes me think of the Shamans and how they were able to find thier powers and interpret what they(dreams) meant(so they could use it).

On page 49 it states, 'Some precognitions may arise as the result of subliminal signals stored by the mind but never accessed in consciousness'. This is cool. It explains why we have certain dreams. Maybe we've thought it would be so much easier to fly to class instead of sitting through traffic and waiting. But, consciously, we know that is not possible. Yet, here we are, in our dream, flying over trees and streets, arriving at PSU early. This because a dream is subconscious. Anything is possible in our dreams.

I enjoyed the connection of dreams to the Romantic period. The sudden "affair" between the romantic enlightenment and the dark irrational world of dreams. If anyone is a Harry Potter fan, on page 50, the author mentions a german movement called Sturm and Drang. I wondered if JK Rowling used this to name Durmstrang, the wizarding school from Harry Potter. I did some research, and the name is based off of this!(yes, I am a nerd)

Along these lines, William Blake and Mary Shelly(whom I have read both in my brittish lit class at HACC), using the idea of dark and uncertainty of dreams, as a new idea for thier works. "But for the Romantics there was no road, just a number of risky tracks into the unknown led by strange spirit guides."

I also read Kubla Kahn, a poem written by Coleridge. Kubla Kahn means 'a vision in a dream, a fragment'(wikipedia.org). Coleridge said he wrote this while in an opium induced state. This, I feel, connects most of what we've discussed(dreams, drugs, poems).

I have another Harry Potter connection. In the article Jungian Angle, while discussing alchemy, and the Philosopher's Stone (book 1). (once again..I'm a geek..it's cool).

Another huge part of this chapter is how Freud and psychoanalysis affected dreams and the mind. In his book, The Interpretation of Dreams, he says the dreams are simply unappropriate sexual desires that are we push into our unconsciousness. He discussed the ego and the id. The ego is used to balance the id.

Carl Jung, took a different approach, and disagreed with Freud. He felt that our dreams come from a deeper, non sexual level. That simply(or not so) we have repressed feelings and thoughts that are below our personal unconsciousness.



Cosmic Egg, 4(not my fave, but not my least fave)

I'm going to be honest...reading this book hurts my brain. And I continue on..

It begins discussing Edward de Bono, an english scientist who discusses lateral and vertical thinking. Vertical thinking, which is logic, has become the normal way of thinking. Lateral thinking is the opposite. It is because of latteral thinking that new ideas occur. These eventually become vertical thoughts. It is a constant cycle.

I also picked up on an analogy of a plant growing and how a question works. The question is a seed...the germination happens in ways unavailable to conscious thought...but only in a ground prepared and nourished...the synthesis flowers.

Shamanism part 5(i really don't enjoy this book, but i treaded through it)
This section discusses how a shaman universe is 3 tiered. It has upper, middle, and lower worlds. Each part is connected and work together. Often, we would percieve the upper and lower worlds to be simply created by the shamans mind, the shaman's think of them as seperately operating realms.
Shaman's can see spirits and communicate with them. This almost reminds me of a psychic. However, while reading on, what seperates a shaman from a psychic would be the journey. They leave thier body.