I

4

Experience and the Dreaming

95-131

"We are not at our cognitive or social best until we have time to wake up. This is called "sleep inertia" (Dinges 1990) ...

and total sleep deprivation over a lengthy period of time can prove cognitively detrimental and occasionally fatal".

"REM is associated with increased blood flow to specific areas of the brain (Palagini and Rosenlicht 2011:183)."

"The Benington group (2000 ...) has shown that ... the amount of energy (in the form of glycogen) available to our brain cells decreases during the day {viz., while we are awake}, and increases during NREM sleep during the night (NREM comprises around 80% of our adult nightly sleep)."

p. 98

"our brain accounts for perhaps 1/50th of our total weight, and yet consumes 1/5th or more of the energy we

p. 99

take on-board as food."

"sleep facilitates the consolidation of memory, and does so by increasing the "synaptic plasticity" -- that is the ability of the ... system of synapses involved in memory storage to change and grow."

"a synapse is a point of connection between nerve cells (or neurons) ... a ... synapse between the axon (an appendix reaching off from the body of a nerve cell ...) and a dendrite (a smaller appendage ... growing out of the body of the nerve cell. The axon communicates with the dendrite by releasing tiny bubbles of a chemical messenger (called a neurotransmitter) across a tiny gap (synaptic junction) between the transmitting cell and the receiving cell. Synaptic plasticity is the ability of the cell to change the quality and properties of this biochemical communication."

p. 100

"Deirdre Barrett (2001) has compiled ... the more famous anecdotes and research pertaining to creativity and problem solving during sleep in her book The Committee of Sleep,

the title having been taken from a comment by John Steinbeck.

[p. 100, fn. 2 "It iws a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after after the committee of sleep has worked on it" (John Steinbeck as quoted in Barrett 2001:ix)."]

The experiences of scientists, poets, artists and musicians are described, as well as the results of experimental research into the properties and processes that constitute the "committee."

The most common descriptions are by various artists -- painters, poets, writers, actors, [and] so forth -- who find and sometimes seek inspiration from dream imagery. ...

p. 101

Other scholars have linked ancient cave art with dreaming (Lewis-Williams 2002)."

"sleep-dependent gain of insight may be restructured by activity of the hippocampus ..., .... considered to play an essential role generating awareness in memory ... .

Reactivation of hippocampal cell assemblies during sleep ... is regarded as a mechanism by which recently encoded materials stored stored temporarily in autoassociative hippocampal networks are played back to the neocortex where they are gradually incorporated into preexisting knowledge representations. ...

Thus, ... sleep, by hippocampal-neocortical replay, ... can "catalyze" mental restructuring, thereby setting the stage for the emergence of insight."

p. 103

"The ... processes that mediate consciousness, that mediate a specific S[tate]O[f]C[onsciousness], indeed that mediate ... experience are componential in their structure (Hebb 1949; ...

p. 104

McGilchrist 2009:220 ...; Revonsuo 2006:10-14); that is, they are product of many ... structures that combine in a distinct, recurring and hierarchical organization ..., making each state they mediate familiar and subjectively identifiable."

"driven by evolutionarily older nuclei in the brain stem (especially the nuclei in the pons and areas of the basal ganglia such as the striatum, as well as the hypothalamus, collectively called th e reticular activating system ...), and alternate in a lawful manner all night long with REM sleep states increasing in duration from a few minutes at the beginning of sleep to 30 minutes or so toward the end of sleep (... Moorcroft 2003:24)."

"Dream recall -- that is, remembering dream experiences ... -- is very roughly 80% during REM sleep and

45% during NREM (Nielsen 1999:106-107)."

{Very likely, dreaming devoid of material-body eye-movement is concerned with bodiless dreaming (comparable with remote-viewing while awake).}

p. 107

"Dream incubation ... means that special ritual techniques are used to evoke and direct dreaming toward the solution of a particular problem, fulfillment of a specific intention, etc. ...; e.g., the practice of dharna among Bengali Hindu pilgrims (Morinis 1982) ... . ...

p. 108

Any number of things {activities} can penetrate into and influence the dream life from waking life (Schredl 2003), and these may be orchestrated for particular effects, usually in religious rituals with the intent of evoking significant dreams and visions (Winkelman 2010:79-88).

Here is an example ... -- Frank Speck's description ... among the Naskapi Indians of Labrador (... [1935]:188) :

[quoted] ... when the soul-spirit is strong and active, ... he can expect from it{s adventures, as arranged by deities, in the dream-world} continual direction and guidance in all affairs. Accordingly, frequency of dreams is a blessing.

Anything that will induce dreaming is a religious advantage : fasting, dancing, singing, drumming, rattling, the sweat bath, seclusion, meditation, eating certain foods, as well as ... various kinds of medicine ... and drugs, when such things ... can be gotten.

... Such stimuli also include flickering lights,

{Viewing such may also assist with trancing.}

repeating chants

{Listening to reiigious-style chanting can also (at least in myself) induce dreaming of hearing chanting, including (on occasion) of dreaming of viewing the chanters while they are chanting in the dream.}

and mantras ... (... Gellhorn and Kiely 1972)."

"the extent of involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex determines the social quality of dreams (Amodio and Frith 2006) ... .

{Or, doth the the social quality already inhaerent in the dreaming induce ("determine") involvement of that part of the cerebrum?}

The PFC is the evolutionarily youngest part of our brain (Jerison 1973, 1985; Rilling and Insel 1999), and has expanded in proportion to the overall neocortex".

{That part of the cerebrum expanded so as to accommodate expanding needs of higher quality of souls which were becoming incarnate into that evolutionary lineage, in accordance with a divinely-instituted plan. [written 25 Oct 2017]}

"Lack of P[rae]F[rontal]C[ortical] involvement in "normal" [viz., non-lucid] dreaming is the reason why there is a relative poverty of recall, continuity, temporal plot-line and reflexive awareness ... in dream recall (Pace-Schott 2011). ...

In lucid dreaming, a "transience" {read "transeunce" ('production of effects outside of the mind')} of PFC activation during the dream state ... will operate to alter the components ... mediating the dream (Dietrich 2007:243), entraining not only some or all of the executive functions ..., but also the level ... of involvement of midbrain vestibular system mediation of spatial orientation (Snyder and Gackenbach 1991), emotion and autonomic system tuning (LaBerge, Levitan and Dement 1986)."

"McNamara, Clark and Hartmann (1998) have shown some differences in dream content among right- and left-handed dreamers."

"we are bodies that are doing the "mind-thing" -- ... "mind" is one of the things our body does."

{Wrong! We are soul-spirit composites performing acts of mentalization; "body" being simply an artificial illusion taking various forms in accordance with the plane-of-existence being resided in.}

"neuroscientists ... already knew they were experiencing brains". {"Knew"? -- or fallaciously conjectured?!}

{Mere material substance (including the material brain) cannot experience anything : experience is to be sensed by soul and by spirit, instead.}

p. 113

"William ... James presented ... his ... radical empiricism in two key articles entitled "Does Consciousness Exist?" and "A World of Pure Experience," both published in the same year in the same journal (James 1904a, 1904b). James's radical empiricism ... requires : (1) that all ... theories ... be grounded in lived experience, and (2) that no experience be excluded from the scientific purview (Taylor 1994:353-354)."

p. 114

"the sensorium and its constituent particles are strictly empirical -- actually radically empirical -- for they are empirically present every moment of consciousness, although they normally require the skills of

a trained contemplative ...

{i.e., reclusive mystic}

to apperceive them as such (... Laughlin and Throop 2009;

see also Harding ... for a delightful Zen approach to discovering the sensorium)."

{There is an instructive ("ATh-P") "simile popularized by Buddhaghosa in his Path of Purification (Visuddhi Magga) to illustrate the seventeen moments of consciousness in a thought-process."}

"Both the knower and the known, subject and object, perceiver and perceived are founded upon pure experience (James [1912]:4-5)."

{Not in the same way, how-be-it. The known, the object, and the perceived are directly experienced; whereas the knower, the subject, and the perceiver are not directly experienced; but are (if at all) merely hypothetically conjectured to subsist.}

p. 114

"Now, let us ... examine ... the moment-by-moment flow of the sensorium ... in a continuous iteration of "now moments," or pulses of sensation (Dainton, 2006:Chap. 5; Damasio, 1999:126; Wallace, 2007:137).

I will call these pulses experiential epochs (Laughlin and Throop 2008)."

{According to the Abhidharma, "there are sixteen or seventeen moments of a mental object" ("APh", p. 201).}

Only a skilled contemplative who is able to slow, center and clear their {his or her} mind ...

p. 115

can discern each epoch as it flickers in awareness. ...

The experiential epoch is the fundamental, molecular unit of temporal processing of sensory information (e.g., Koch, 2004:256) ... . ... All other processes are cognitive acts that are layered over experiential epochs."

"Dream imagery is stimuated primarily from within the body". {The author (Ch.D.L.) would here intend the material body : but ought not more to be stimulated from within the dream-body?}

{The stimuli would naturally arise largely from the plane-of-existence wherein the dream is located; and would be entirely constituted of subtle sustance of the nature of ectoplasm.}

"some of the more extraordinary types of dreaming ... including precognitive dreams, co-dreaming and telepathic dreaming, ... might well be the products of quantum dreaming -- that is, dreaming caused by quantum memory, quantum computation and quantum communication (Nunez 2010)."

{In such a scenario, it might be implied that dream-deities function as intermediaries between the praecise quantum-universe (wherein, especially under cryogenic circumstances, quanta can readily communicate with consciousnesses) and the statistically deducible universe of conventional physics including thermodynamics (wherein, especially under superheated circumstances, such communication is notably exceptional).}

"Atomic physicist David Bohm (1917-1972 {wrong! : read "1992" instead of "1972"}) ... argued that reality has two orders, the "explicate order" of matter and space and time, and an "implicate order" of energy

in which everything is entangled (everything is "implicated" in everything else) and there is no spatial distance or time (Bohm 1980 ...)."

{Is may be asserted that "there is no spatial distance or time": not, however, in any conventional meaning or sense, but simply in the figurative mode that : because all past and future events are already potentially praesent in the "implicate" mode, therefore all events could be described as invariable and as retained in accord with appropriately praesumable conservation-principles. [written 9 Oct 2017]}

"German biophysicist has found that living cells spontaneously emit weak biophotons in the visual to ultraviolet range and ... cells ... are literally bathed in electromagnetic fieds by means of which the cells communicate their states, and coordinate their activities with each other (e.g., Popp, Gu and Li 1994; Chang, Fisch and Popp 2010)."

p. 117

"An interest had existed for many years in the possible relationship between the brain and the quantum sea (e.g., Bohm 1990; Beck and Eccles 1992; Deutsch 1985; Lockwood 1989; Penrose 1989; Stapp

{In the material universe, the "quantum sea" (because any employment of its energy must immediately induce "negative energy" indebtedness cancelling the energy's effect) cannot produce any enduring result. It might, however, be capable of influencing the mind through activities in non-energy-dependent immaterial subtle planes-of-existence.}

p. 118

... 2007; Jibu and Yasue ... 2004."

"Evan Harris Walker (1977; 2000:217-218) has suggested that the phenomenon known at "tunneling" may occur at the synapse, an idea taken up in more detail in Beck (1994) and in Beck and Eccles (1992). ...

Also, ... the possible role of quantum entanglement in the navigation of birds using weak magnetic fields (see Ritz et al. 2009; Cai, Guerresch [and] Briegel 2010). This phenomenon would involve entangled particles in certain chemicals in the cells of the bird's retinae."

"biophysical mechanism of direct consciousness-quantum sea interpenetration is to be found in the coherent proterties of microtubules (Hameroff 1994, 1998; Jibu et al. 1994; Mershin, Nanopoulos and Skoularis 1999). Microtubules form a protein latticework of cylindrical pathways in the cell that are known to be involved in regulating and and organizing the activity of the cell, transporting neurochemicals to the synapse, etc. ... Jibu et al. (1994) have suggested that the ordered water molecules within the hollow core of these microtubules may manifest a property of "super-radiance" and ... transform incoherent electromagnetic energy into coherent, non-linear photon pulses within the tubule. The pulse would also be a kind of "soliton wave" in that it might propagate without much energy loss and with little energy requirement."

p. 120

"brain-quantum sea interpenetration may operate something like a "quantum computer" (Hameroff 1998; Deutsch 1985; Wallace 1993a, 1993b). ... The "computations" ... used in higher order processing -- may indeed facilitate insight ... as well as ... precognition and co-dreaming. ... it does seem on the strength of parapsychological and ethnographic

p. 121

evidence that information exchange of a broader kind may be occurring between the conscious brain and the quantum sea, and between brains via the sea (see Radin 1997; Puthoff, Targ and May 1981; Walker 1970, 1973, 1975 who relate quantum physical and parapsychological phenomena). ... The role of dreaming may turn out to involve adjustments ... to information gleaned from the sea, and thus ... in ... neural transduction. In other words, some dreams ... might involve "spooky" phenomena like remote viewing, precognition and so on."

"Parman suggests that, "... play is analogous, if not homologous, to dreaming

{The usual behaviour-governing attitude dominant during dreaming is identical with that governing play-acting during the waking-state (based an awareness that no harm to anyone can arise from its events), viz., a resolute attitude not to become bewildered, nor frightened, nor dismayed, however erratic the circumstances may become.}

because it arises from the ... need for the disruption of synchrony, provided internally during sleep, is met during waking by ... forms of play" ([1979]:23-24)."

{Not so -- no "disruption of synchrony" is produced by the dreaming, but instead a beautiful synchronicity! Instead of any "disruption", the dreaming-universe is able to re-arrange the relatively meagre and tawdry logical concatennation of events in the waking-world into an exquisitely grandiose scheme, providing delightful meaning and purpose to contexts of events which in the waking-world seeming so dull and shallow that life being lived in the waking-world seemed not really worthwhile continuing withal. This is, in the dream-context, reconstructed in a ideal structure so purposeful and meaningful as, for the nonce, to make the dreamer eager to return to waking life so as to be able to experience more trite events which the dream-world can be expected to transform, once again, into its own renditions of gloriously meaningful splendor. [written 16 Oct 2017]}

"And as we know that environment stimuli can and do penetrate into the awareness of animals, as they do humans, dreams will allow the most sensitive member of a herd to perceive and emotionally respond to dreamed dangers, reacting to them and waking the rest of the herd in the process (Rivers 1923:183)."

{Human dreamers can (with the usual assistance from spirit-guides) likewise, during dreaming, become aware of waking-world dangers (and also opportunities), and can inform others thereof after awaking. The sort of human dreamers able to perform this are shamans, psychics/pneumatics, etc.}

"Anything in the real {read, instead, "material" : for, immaterial subtle worlds are aequally (alternatively) "real"} modeled by the brain {superfluous : the modeling can be performed in the immaterial subtle planes-of-existence by consciousness alone, perhaps without necessarily involving any "brain"} is always transcendental relative to the mental model ... ."

{The standard meaning of \transcendental\ is 'occupying an immaterial, subtle plane-of-existence (such as, the astral plane, mental plane, and causal plane)', and the term is more usually applied to souls, spirits, ectoplasm, and that ilk. The term, however, is also applicable to the material universe whenever the material universe is treated as an intrinsic composite of those subtle planes, indistinguishably interblended.}

"when it comes to anthropologists, authors may write whole books about mental models {when by anthropologists, models of social customs, of language, and of religion} without any reference to ... the constraints that neurobiology imposes on the nature of mental models."

{Now, there must by nature be numerous distinct-and-different "neurobiologies", differing from one another in plane-and-subplane-of-existence, in whether multiple planes and/or subplanes are involved, etc. etc. These would naturally vastly differ as to constraints they might impose, and under what circumstances such constraints might be imposed and/or lifted.}

"fetuses in the womb and infants ... exhibit R[apid]E[ye]M[ovement] activity galore during sleep. Why? Well, they ... dream because they have ... to dream ... . My answer ... is that babies dream "archetypal" dreams ... fully functioning ... at and before birth (Rakic 1995; Gazzaniga 1998:2) and ... during sleep ... express themselves drem imagery ... . They have a rich internal ... dream world ... . Babies have an internal world full of faces and hands, nascent landscapes, geometrical figures and other archetypal motifs ... . I would wager that a fetus's dream life is more rich and interesting than its waking life ... ."

p. 126

"the functions of dreaming are manifold ... . Dreaming ... may be stimulating or rehearsing waking experiences (Donald 1995), may be working to solve problems and seek information, may be consolidating

p. 127

memories (Stickgold and Wamsley 2011), may be expressing links between emotions and images (Hartmann 2011) ..., and so forth.

Dreams are ... of whatever the cognitive/emotional/imaginal parts ... are on-about at the moment. Dream imagery may be a synesthetic experience of activities going on unconsciously elsewhere in the nervous system and body (see Hunt 1989 ...; Ramachandran 2004:Chap. 4)."

"Dream symbols may be, like those in myths and fairy tales, "pregnant with meaning" (Cassirer 1957:202; see also ... Kunzendorf 2007; Hall 1953). Images and other elements making up the manifest content of dreams are often polysemic -- They have multiple meanings associated with them ... . ... As Ernest Hartmann (2011) notes, the amount of "condensation" found in polysemic dream symbols may be greater than {that for} symbols in the waking state."

"In my dreams black people (usually strange females) almost always signal a message ... . They are often walking up a spiral {the author evidently intending "helical"} staircase from below and are walking or standing to my left ... ."

{Helical staircases are relatively uncommon, usually located in a museum or in an ornate mansion. In order to be so much impressed with such staircases, apparently the author passed much waking time in such localities; in the private mansions he may have noticed many darkling (darkie) servants.}

"In dreamwork, the ... library of eidetic images becomes a shared language for ... the ... diffeent S[tates]O[f]C[onscousness]. It is by means of this library of shared knowing that integration ... becomes possible. Achieving this intra-psychic integration is frequently de rigueur in polyphasic cultures; e.g.

Dorothy Eggan (1966) on Hopi dreaming and ... religious symbolism, and

Chidester (2003) on dream interpretation in Zulu religion."

"if deprived of sleep, animals, including humans, face serious and even dire consequences."

"dreaming has a number of functions, including the expression of consciousness ..., intra-psychic communication, problem-solving and creative intuition, ... the consolidation of memories ... .

... dreams may be influenced by ... events distant in spacetime".