Back to The Dream Contents Page
Back to The Knowledge Plexus



THE DREAM-CONSCIOUS STATE:  A PERSONAL JOURNAL OF INNER EXPLORATION
Bruce G. Marcot

JOURNALS -- PART TWO (1986-present)

Dreams Within Dreams

Is all what we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?
    - Edgar Allan Poe


     I'm sure I'm not the only one to have dreams within dreams ... such as experiencing a nightmare and waking up in bed, only to discover that it's still a dream because something unearthly happens and then I finally, really wake up from that.

     Maybe...  What may be different with my dreams within dreams -- what I might term "recursive dreams" -- is that sometimes they are lucid, and that the depth of the recursion can be startling.

     In some of my recursively stacked dreams, like the Russian toy of dolls-within-dolls, I am entirely aware that I am dreaming.  This lucid sense is often induced because what I experience in the dream is contrary to my sense of the laws of physics or reality, or in some cases because I am being mortally threatened by an evil figure and this stirs conscious realization.  I then consciously force myself to wake up.  Sometimes I "awaken" only into another dream in which initially I am not lucid or aware that I'm still dreaming.  Then something oddball happens, triggering another lucid state in which I suddenly realize I am dreaming -- again -- after all.  And then that pattern might repeat yet again.

     When I finally question myself in these dreams if I am truly dreaming, I seldom if ever fool myself into thinking I'm not dreaming when I really am -- otherwise, call this a "Type I error of dreaming."  Conversely, when I am finally truly awake, I seldom if ever believe I am really sleeping when I am awake -- otherwise, call this a "Type II error of wakefulness."

     In several instances, my recursive dreams have been 3, even 4 (or more?) levels deep.  These can be initially very disturbing, as if I keep trying to "surface" but find myself constantly submerged.  Actually, perhaps this might explain their occurrence, as if I am experiencing submersion in some personal difficulty at the time, and these recursive dreams are a metaphor for my difficulty in finding my way out.

     I may have a recursive dream perhaps once every other year or so, and only sporadically.  But after the 3rd recursion of false awakening, and especially if I can re-induce lucidity with each "emergence," it strikes me as an amazing experience. I can't help but think afterwards, what exactly is "awakening" or "emergence" anyhow?  How do I really know when it has finally occurred?  Can I truly be sure I'm not committing a "Type II error of wakefulness" even now?

Back to Dream Journals Part Two Contents


Back to The Knowledge Plexus