What was the significance of the pale arm in my dream?

[zoobyshoe]

I don't accept that at all. I've never felt self conscious or had one end badly. What's more, I am almost always alone in flight dreams. The only sense that I've ever had was that flight is exciting, just like in real life. What's more, the first time that I tried lucid dreaming, the first thing that I wanted to try was flying like a bird, and that's exactly what I did.

I've never become self-conscious or had one end badly either. I have also had a lot of dreams where I fly by flapping my arms to incredible heights, all alone, with no observers. Never the less, I recognize that the emotional quality of the exhilaration is exactly the same as that experienced during showing off.

I happened to read a biography of Da Vinci last week and found myself a little taken aback by a couple things he said concerning the upcoming test flight of his flying machine:

"Among his papers from about this time there is a page on which is written, 'From the mountain which takes it name from the great bird, the famous bird will take flight, which will fill the world with it's great renown.' The mountain is believed to be Mount Ceceri, not far from Florence, for the Italian word cecero means "swan". This is made surer by a sentence written on the cover of the same notebook: 'The great bird will take its first flight on the back of the great swan, filling the whole world with amazement and filling all records with its fame; and it will bring eternal glory to the nest where it was born.'"

Leonardo Da Vinci by Jay Williams, American Heritage, 1965, p.99


This is pretty surprising because Da Vinci was not one to puff himself up at all concerning his other achievements. He was mostly his own worst critic. The belief he was about to become the first man to fly, however, filled him with dreams of his own celebrity.

Being, apparently, unobserved in a flying dream doesn't make it any less about showing off since, like Da Vinci, the bulk of our (we who lead lives of quiet desperation) showing off is done in fantasy in the privacy of our own minds. We indulge in private in the fantasy of having something remarkable to show off.

If such a dream ends badly with embarrassment it might mean the person is reliving such an incident from real life in disguised form; an incident where showing off ended badly. In any event, Da Vinci never said another word about his flying machine.

 

[moe darklight]

I fly in dreams somewhat often... it is always accompanied by this strange "back home" feeling. I don't know how else to explain it... when I pick up flight in a dream, it feels as if the non-flying awake me is an artificial construct, and the moment I start flying I am back in my own self.

There is indeed a sense of pride and superiority. I find not only the dream pedestrians artificial and funny, but also my old self, for not having figured this out. once I pick up flight in a dream, I rarely touch the ground again, it just doesn't feel right... I realize the only purpose for the ground is to be nothing more than a guide or map of which way I am headed; that it's not normal to have to rely on it for movement or stability.

my flying is more like swimming. I don't flap my arms or glide, it's more like swimming like a fish (not with the hands, but by waving my spine)

in one dream, I was flying through my dream school (in search of a toilet, of course), until one kid shouts "MY GOD! HE'S A ROBOT!"

all of a sudden everyone was cheering for my flying-robot powers, and I started doing stunts up and down stairs (EVERYTHING is filled with stairs in my dreams; even the outdoors. stairs everywhere, they never end). when I realize I have more fans that I can handle, and I don't really want so many people surrounding me, I look for refuge... in the downstairs (you guessed it) TOILET room

but alas! for 'tis not the toilet room, but some sort of giant stadium. I am on top of some sort of stairway, then there is this bridge and in the middle of the bridge some sort of machine. on the other side of the bridge are the three government officials. one is a female, one is a male, and the other I can't remember. they explain to me that I am indeed a robot, and not just any robot:

I am the government's most advanced weapon ever, and they must run some tests of my powers.

"shoot!" says the male government official. and I shoot a laser missile out of my arm... only then I this bridge is not an indoors bride, but it is right in the middle of a city, and I just shot a building and caused a massive explosion.

The three government officials are now yelling at me, and I start running away. passing by I see people screaming and running all around the destruction site.

I reach a forest; it is daylight (the previous part took place at night). I meet a talking lizard, whom I feel I must protect at all costs.

me and the talking lizard are now searching for a city. we reach this bridge, and see the city in the distance. it is beautiful. it lies in the middle of a desert; it glows a bright purple, and seems to be engulfed by this blueish hue (the main object of threat/desire are often blue or purple in my dreams).

me and the lizard reach a path that forks. we start fighting about which way to take; it's getting late. I'm concerned about the time... the lizard takes the path I didn't want to take and I lose it... so I'm looking for the lizard in the trees and shrubs and it's getting dark.

when I finally see it, I realize we are being persecuted by a fox. I must protect the lizard from the fox! (it should be noted: I have a terrible fear of canines. so me protecting anything from a fox is literally me facing my worst fears for this animal).

I pick up flight again! pick up the lizard, and put it in my backpack... there's a pair of blue -shorts that belongs to me in the backpack, and, reaching in, I realize something has been spilt on them. I get angry at the lizard for wetting my shorts; it says it's not her fault and to let her down.

we land on this park by a picnic table... here we meet the bald man. he starts walking with us; he too is going to the city.

we walk by this soccer game that is hosted by my local radio-station NEWSTALK 1010 CFRB... then the bald man realizes the border to the city is right there! but they are closing the gates! there is a huge line of people and we start running towards the gates but his guard stops us!

the lizard says "on the count of three." and we all run into the multitude of people and the guards can't catch us and we're through the first gate and... the main entrance forks again! gah! and I've lost the lizard and the bald man... where are they... I see the bald man walking in through the left gate. I follow him, when this female guard tells me that my city is to the right... I turn around and they've locked the gate for good.

the entrance is blocked by what seems like a gigantic glass wall. through this wall I see a little girl and a little boy, they look like they are in love and glad to have passed through. then I see the lizard! she sees me and climbs the wall and falls, right into the wall...

it turns out the giant wall was actually a giant fish-tank that separates both sides. the lizard is now inside that fish tank; floating between me and the city. I start crying, "I want to come with you!" and the lizard starts crying too.

another couple of two kids walks past me, smiling (almost mockingly, but not quite), and climb right over the wall and into the city and run off happily into the distance.

"please! I want to come with you!" I scream at the lizard. at this point I'm crying like I've never cried. it was horrible, like I just lost the person I loved the most.

and the lizard says "can't you see? we're too different, you and I."that's when I wake up. that wasn't really one of my "weird" dreams, but it was definitely one of my most vivid dreams— in the sense that I remember them almost as if it had actually happened... which is kind of sucky in this case because it was a really sad experience.

in case you're wondering. no, I am not in love with a lizard . I have no clue what the hell that was all about... I get a lot of talking animals and plants in my dreams. I'm sure it means something?

EDIT: wow, I didn't think it would come out this long... ...

 

[zoobyshoe]

It's amazing how your dreams run you through every known emotional experience, Moe. I haven't had emotionally charged dreams like that in a very long time.

 

[moe darklight]

yea I have very vivid dreams. my mom is a bit like that too I think.

it's kind of lame when they're sad dreams like that though.. I remember when I had that dream I felt crappy that whole day. it felt so real that for the rest of the day I had this depressing feeling of having lost someone.

is it normal, or could it be a sign of something bad to be so affected by one's dreams? I don't have trouble knowing the difference between a dream memory and a real memory. but dreams like that that feel almost like they actually happened, or where the feeling from the dream remains throughout the day are not uncommon for me. which is why I'm so fascinated by dreams.

funny Mitch Hedberg quote "I hate dreaming because when you want to sleep, you want to sleep. Dreaming is work. I lay down on the couch; next thing you know, I have to build a go-cart with my ex-landlord."

 

[zoobyshoe]

is it normal, or could it be a sign of something bad to be so affected by one's dreams?

There's an episode of TNG where someone asks Geordi that question and he says, yeah, sometimes a dream will upset him for three days. I used to have that happen to me once in a while.

As far as your mind is concerned the dream is real while it's occurring. Waking up to realize many of the elements are not real can take quite a bit of the sting out of it, but you do suffer a certain amount of post traumatic stress for the duration of the time you believed it.

Imagine if a doctor told you you only had six months to live. You go home in shock. Half an hour later he calls and says it was a mistake: he gave you another patient's test results. Of course you're relieved and feel much better but you still have the residual stress from the time you believed it was true.

 

[Evo]

I fly in dreams and I'm always alone. I point my arms in front of me and lift up my legs, as if I had been standing in water at chest level and was just laying upon the water. I just float and can move forward slowly, just hovering at about 5-6 feet off the ground, I make no movements with any part of my body. No thrill, no excitement, it's just something as natural as walking.

 

[kach22i]

FLIGHT DREAMS

1. One dream when I was 14 or so, I was flying about six or ten feet off the gound outside in the front yard. My family was there and my oldest sister shouted "look he's flying again!". I felt my dad's hand grab my ankle and try to pull me down. I escaped and he chased me jumping up at me, that is when I woke up.

2. 30 years later I dream that I'm flying but I'm much better at it. Can fly over tops of trees and telephone poles. However when flying over and down a road at 15-20 feet a large semi truck is headed for me, instead of going higher, I panic and lose altitude, a narrow miss. I keep flying or wake up somewhat exhausted from all the flying.

 

[wolram]

I slept for four hours last night (wow), i dreamt about a woman holding a rifle in the shooting position, and she turned to liquid from the waste down, her top half as if nothing had happened.

And about driving a car ( a nice one not mine) at 120mph, then driving to a police station
and asking the cops if the number plates are to small, one cop opens the bonnet and
start pulling fuel pipes off reconnecting them, then tells me i have a fuel leak.

Weird.

 

[hypatia]

I went to a party last night, where a gag gift was a Chia head. I don't recall what my dream was about, but it had the background Chia song in it. Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia! I woke up laughing.

 

[arunbg]

I don't dream often at all. Most of the time, the moment something nice or interesting is about to happen, it's time to wake up. Sometimes I even try sleeping a few minutes more after waking, just to finish the dream. But it never resumes from where it left off
Oh, and I also wake up when I fall down the bottomless abyss, just in case you were wondering

 

[Kurdt]

Oh, and I also wake up when I fall down the bottomless abyss, just in case you were wondering

If you ever get to the bottom of course you wake up dead.

 

[arunbg]

If you ever get to the bottom of course you wake up dead.

And at the bottom there is a guy with horns and a spear-like tail, waiting with your morning coffee.

 

[Math Jeans]

8. I wake up fall back to sleep and pick up where I left off in the dream. If it's a bad dream I'll just watch "Adult Swim" on TV or something.

Oh ya. I really hate those. I remember once (I can't remember the dream itself, just that it was very disturbing), I had a real bad dream, and woke up at about midnight, then fell back asleep again only to have the same dream, then wake up at 2 AM, fall asleep and have the same dream, wake up at 5 AM, fall asleep and have the same dream, then stay up all night because I'm really irritated.

On another note. The other night I dreamed about not getting my Chinese homework turned in. SCARY

 

[Huckleberry]

I had a dream I was with a bunch of people I knew traveling down in Mexico or South America somewhere. There were 6 or 7 of us all crammed into a car. I was crowded in the back seat so I decided to crawl out the window and ride on the back. When I crawled out of the car I realized it was actually a forklift and there was only one person driving it inside the cage, but I knew that the others were still in there somewhere.

So we arrive at this restaurant/bar type place and the driver yells "We're here!" The driver starts lifting the forks as people start appearing from out of the forklift. Suddenly I realize that I'm on the forks and will soon have my legs crushed when the forks reach the edge of the overhanging roof of the building. I try to manuever but lose my balance and don't make it off in time. Fortunately the driver stopped raising the forks after my leg became pinned to the roof. He laughs at me.

We all go inside and start looking for a table. I didn't see any waiter. My friends push some tables together and start taking condiment holders and silverware from other people's tables. Someone must have told a joke because they are laughing and generally being loud and boisterous. I don't know what is so funny, but I find myself laughing also. I think it is rude for them to take those things from other people's tables without asking.

There is one young boy staring at me from the bar. I go outside and I see him there also. We start talking. I don't remember the conversation, but I remember finding it odd that this boy knew English. He also seemed to be unusually mature for his age, though he couldn't have been more than ten. Things seemed clearer after we spoke and I felt that he had helped me somehow and I owed him a kindness in return. Then he was gone.

I see another boy running down the street in fear. One of my friends is chasing him. He yells at me, "Get him!" The boy runs past me and I turn to chase him. My friend runs back the other way. I chase this boy through some alleys and then into a building and through some hallways. Finally he runs into a restroom and has nowhere else to go. He sits on a counter with his back against the wall and his knees and arms over his face. I ask him, "Are you alright?" He says nothing, but I notice he has a three inch folding pocket knife in this hand. He puts out his palm and offers me the knife. I take it and leave to find my friends and figure out what is going on.

I don't get far before I can hear them inside a building. I walk inside another restroom and my friends are there. There are 4 of them. The first one I notice is the driver. His chest and waist are indistinguishable from each other. He looks round and bloated with long spindly legs and short stubby arms that can barely touch his head. His chins wobble like a trashbag full of soggy, soiled diapers on his neckless shoulders. His face is dripping with greasy sweat and covered in red splotches. The sweat makes his sprse white-haired combeover look all slick and shiny. In his hands is a small caliber snub-nosed revolver that he is currently reloading with his stubby, sweaty little fingers. He pants with exhaustion and his labored breath makes his chins wobble. He wears blue jeans and a texan style collared shirt. I remember he didn't look so vile to me before now and I was afraid of the gun that he held.

Next I notice two younger men. One is standing by the stall looking into it intently and cheering. It might not have looked out of place if he was sitting at home watching his favorite sports team make a winning play, but in the restroom I found it disturbing. The other guy was a little to the side kind of half-heartedly smiling. I had the impression that he didn't really want to be there.

So I take a few steps in and look into the stall. There is the friend that told me to chase the other boy. He is wearing a white shirt. He looks like a big, lumpy turd. His whole body looks like the driver's chins stuffed into a white shirt. His pants are around his ankles and he has a boy pinned against the urinal at the back of the stall.

I see what he is doing and I try to yell at them to stop. My voice seems very weak no matter how hard I try to yell. I know they heard me because they all stop laughing. The driver glares at me and clenches his pistol. The one guy that was standing back takes another step back. I realize he is no threat. The other two just look at me as if waiting for me to join them. I realize that these people are not my friends. I make a decision not to join them and scream as loud as I can for them to stop, but it comes out no louder than a whisper. I am filled with rage, but am waiting for them to either stop or attack me. I am terrified for my own safety, but I am also preparing to stab the driver with the tiny knife that the boy gave me, right under his disgusting chins.

Then I woke up. I felt disturbed and unsettled and still very angry.

 

[Math Jeans]

I bet you really wanted to stab that guy.

 

[Huckleberry]

I mostly wanted to get the hell out of there any way possible. Although I wasn't going anywhere without the kid, I really wasn't thinking about his safety at the time. It was more about how I would live with myself if I left him with those people. There is no running away from a situation like that.

 

[moe darklight]

that was an intense dream. crazy.

 

[Contrapositive]

When I was around 8 there was this kid (about 3 years older than me) who was huge UFO nut that convinced me aliens were visiting Earth and abducting people and implanting things in people. Just about every night I would have dreams about aliens abducting me. I'd wake up in the middle of the night absolutely terrified. I'd check my body for scar or bumps that would suggest I was implanted with something. Even the faintest blemish freaked me out, and I'd go running into my parent's room. I don't think my parents got a chance to sleep alone for 4 years straight.

P.S. I don't actually believe in alien abductions.

 

[Eezekiel]

I recently had a dream where I saw a friend of mine that past away 2 years ago. It was so vivid and my friend behaved and acted exactly the way he used to when he was alive. The eeriest part of it was when he asked me when I would come and see him instead of him coming to me. I replied that I won't be visiting him for a long time about 90 or so years. It was as though he was asking me when I am going to passover and be with him. Thats when the dream ended. Has anyone had a dream about someone who was close that has passed away?

 

[Huckleberry]

I had a dream while I was half asleep recently. I was laying in bed and I knew on some level that I was there and my head was on the pillow, but I was also experiencing that I was sitting in a recliner in another room. It was dark except from a flashing light, perhaps a television or something. Whatever it was I was staring at it. Then from behind the chair a woman's arm goes slowly over my left arm on the rest. The arm is pale and ashen like a bloodless corpse. It meshes it's fingers with mine while my palm is still face down. It is cold and I can feel it absorbing the heat from my arm. I feel simultaneously afraid and soothed by it's touch, like it feels good now but I wonder what the consequences will be later. I notice a gold band on it's ring finger before I forget the dream and am asleep.