Sunday 25 May 2008

has anyone ever met themselves in a dream?

In the past I had many lucid dreams but now they are, sadly, very infrequent. I do recall, though, that in three of them I "met" myself.
On each occasion the other me was totally unresponsive and I would walk around him and stare at him and try to elicit a response.
I particulary remember one such dream in which the other me was sitting on a sofa in a meditating position and I was standing behind him, and I studied him for a long time, wondering why he wouldnt move or speak to me. Could this have been an attempt to communicate with my Daemon, or indeed he with me? And if so, why was it such a failure!

11 comments:

Karl Le Marcs said...

I'm beginning to think that Rachael (original post explaining who she is here), may be a subconscious dream manifestation of my Anima, which would be an element of self-meeting within my Lucid Dreams, yes.
See also Tony's post regarding The Mandalay Effect

johar said...

Hi Shiva,

I've had very vivid dreams whereby I've been watching myself, as if an observer watching a film. I believe this to be my unconscious accessing old footage (or new maybe?)

I don't recall ever interacting with myself.

Could it be slippage whereby old footage overlaps with the current life run? Do you ever have strong deja vu feelings during these dreams?

Shiva said...

hi johar,
No, no deja vu feelings in those dreams. The only related experience is when I visited Florence, Italy for the first time and when I walked down a street I saw a building which I recognized was from a dream I had many years before. It was very startling!

SM Kovalinsky said...

Shiva: I actually have met myself within two dreams. Unfortunately, the meetings did not go well. I viewed both as a sort of warning, now I would say "daemonic warning"; the dreams preceded catastrophes in both cases.

Robin said...

Like Jo, in these dreams I am only the observer. Everyone and everything is familiar and comfortable. Then I realize the person in my dream is not the current version of me. I realize I've never been to this place. Then I wake up. It feels like a peek into an alternate reality.

How I wish I wouldn't wake up so quickly. I'd love to go on observing and taking notes. But it seems like when I reach that "lucid" dream state, my mind jolts itself awake as if I'm not allowed to linger there.

SM Kovalinsky said...

There may be a good reason why you are not allowed to linger there. Fechner in his essays on life after death points out that the highest point of our natural life here, and no further, is the healthy spiritual state. To delve too fully into alternate or post-mortem states is somehow a false step. In the truly esoteric person - who is placed in circumstances and obeys some mechanism far different than most - this false step becomes true, permitted, with nothing sickly in it (would have to view KLLM & Tony as being in this latter state). The appearance of the dead to us as well is a form of "backsliding". And yet it would appear that there is in fact much that is healthy and robust in a seeking of what is denied us. And that it is 2:20 a.m. and sleep is not even remotely close to me now may be why I rambled so after your perfectly reasonable and straightforward remarks, Robin. Sorry!

SM Kovalinsky said...

May as well post another remark as I cannot sleep: I think K. is correct in viewing the lucid dreams of Rachael as a projection of his own self. When the original Mandalay post appeared this intuition leapt forth like lightening. As Barack Obama keeps chanting, "We are the ones who we've been waiting for." And certainly Jung stressed anima projections as being the earmark of a call to action. This call emerges from the still ripening - hence latent, inward - greater self. This inner dialectic is a rallying cry to movement : nothing could be more of a negation than to become mired down in a purely romantic fantasy. Of course in this case we see that the man has moved. Nietzsche would call such an outcome the earmark of the noble character, while one who would still be swamped in the romantic projection he would view as the base useless man who can never accomplish anything great. So a "Beyond the Mandalay Effect: Inner Dialogue as Call to Action" term might be coined.

Karl Le Marcs said...

Susan Marie: Yes, I agree.

For me Rachael is either a subconscious dream manifestation of my Anima (which is what I think as I do have a very good Persona/Anima balance)

OR

She is, as Tony and I's "Mandalay Effect" suggests, someone of significant importance to me in my life to come

OR

She is my unconscious creation of an idyllic woman (which I don't tend to agree with much!)

But as someone with NO empirical observations or experiences related to ITLAD (I adhere to its tenats on epistemlogical grounds, thereby making me a tad diffo from everyone else (AGAIN), er) IF Rachael ever did become manifest then that would change literally everything!!!

"Let's Go"

*fond smile*

SM Kovalinsky said...

I am not even going to tell you where they use that exact expression. (Hint: 2 P-town boys, 'round the outside. . . )

Karl Le Marcs said...

Not the reply I'm looking for though my Dear Lady
*hints to re-read original post linked in my first comment*

Anonymous said...

perhaps you were astrally out of your body and your astral form was looking at your physical.