Dreams: Difference between revisions

'''Dreams''' are defined as the succession of hallucinatory images, scenarios, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily within the mind during certain stages of sleep. Although the content and purpose of dreams are not well understood they have been a topic of scientific research, as well as philosophical and religious interest throughout many aspects of recorded history. There is solid scientific evidence which clearly indicates that dreams are a common occurrence throughout the lives of most human beings and other mammals in general.<ref>Do Animals Dream? Science Shows Of Course They Do, Rats Too | http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201212/do-animals-dream-science-shows-course-they-do-rats-too</ref> Although there may be many [[psychoactive substance index|psychoactive substances]] which are capable of inducing realistic [[internal hallucinations|hallucinations]], it is worth noting that these compounds simply induce a state of mind during waking consciousness which the brain is already adept at generating during normal sleep.{{citation needed}}

The most fundamental component of any dream or hallucinatory state can be defined as some form perceivable sensory input. This differs from that of everyday sensory input in that it is received from an internal source created by a person's own mind as opposed to an external source within their perceivable surrounding environment. A dreamscape, the internal environment in which a dream takes place, is capable of manifesting itself completely realistically, with convincing and detailed equivalents of any or all of the five senses across varying degrees of vividness and intensity.

# '''Silence''' - this level can be defined as a complete unresponsiveness from the side of the dream character and an incapability of speech despite their prominent presence within the dream.

Each of the above components is randomly shuffled and spliced into any number of an infinite variety of potential plots and scenarios. These may be positive or negative to experience and are difficult to define in a comprehensive manner in much the same way that we cannot predict the plot of abstract literature and films. They can, however, be broken down into extremely basic occurrences which entail visiting some setting, or a number of them which contain within them, interactive, multiple, or lone dream characters. Alongside these, completely unpredictable plot devices, events and occurrences, force the dreamer to become involved within the specific scenario of the particular dream.

These scenarios and plots can be linear and logical with events that occur in a logical sequence which lead onto each other through cause and effect. They are equally likely, however, to present themselves as completely nonsensical and incoherent. This means that the plot will occur with natural events which are capable of ending, starting and changing between each other repeatedly in quick succession and as they please. The plots themselves can either be entirely new experiences that are unlike anything experienced within the real world, old experiences such as accurate memory replays or a combination of the two.

In terms of the amount of time in which they are experienced, hallucinatory dream plots and scenarios usually feel as if they are being experienced in real-time. This means that when 20 seconds have been considered to have passed within the hallucination, the same amount of time will have elapsed in the real world. At other points, however, distortions of time can make themselves present, resulting in plots and scenarios that can feel as if they last days, weeks, months, years, or even infinitely extended periods of time.

An important part of any dream which entails apparently unlikely and absurd scenarios is a strong sense of uncontrollable and powerful plot acceptance. This feeling of plot acceptance allows the dreamer to accept any plot as it comes as an entirely real event in which the results of one's own actions will have genuine consequences regarding the dreamer's life. This delirium motivates the dreamer to avoid danger, solve puzzles and accept the scenario as reality even if it is clearly and undeniably more likely to be a dream than an event which could ever occur within real life.

While the exact mechanics of dreams remain unknown, and the [[Tulpa|tulpa phenomenon]] remains scientifically unproven, the tulpa community has given rise to several popular speculative hypotheses that try to explain the mechanics that would allow people to experience the phenomenon, one of which is proposed below.

The simulatory mind hypothesis suggests that basic thought, imagination and hallucinating or dreaming are all essentially a result of the same mechanism rendering data at different levels of detail within a neurological simulation framework system which exists to mirror the external environment by categorizing the sensory input it receives into a database of "separate" concepts and subconcepts in order to later use these for the processing of ideas and thoughts.  

Assuming this is true, one's inner mind's eye could be thought of as a computer simulation framework which uses its internally stored memories to render concepts and ideas at varying levels of detail. Although the detail at which this renders concepts during everyday living is usually little, during [[dreams]] and [[internal hallucinations|hallucinations]] this system is capable of generating data that is detailed enough to be hyper-realistic and indistinguishable from waking life. This includes the ability to generate [[autonomous entities]] which are sufficiently capable of coherent conversations.

This suggests that dreams are merely a neurological computer simulation framework which becomes activated during sleep. Its database is comprised of internally stored concepts which one has encountered throughout their life. This randomizes, shuffles and splices its particular set of memories, concepts and variables together in a manner which places emphasis tags upon concepts with recency and personal emotional significance.

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