Current mood:

curious

oh hey, near-lucid dreams
i haven't had this much difficulty in getting to sleep in years. in one of the two dreams i recall from last night, i didn't realize that i hadn't been entirely asleep.

sometimes after travel, i may awake in a frenzied state to clumsily explore the room. a few times, i've actually become lost and spent the night in a chair or on the floor. this is what i'd assumed had happened last night.

i dreamed that i was half-awake, catching the edges of my bedframe as i tried to make my way off the bed. i kept slamming into the wood, and i swear i could experience the pain. the dream became more intense as i knocked into more things, injuring myself further. usually to escape this muddled state, i just need to know that i'm dreaming and that i should wake myself. when i awoke, i expected to be bruised and outstretched on the floor, but instead found myself in the same position i had fallen asleep in. sans bruises.

this got me thinking. if we say that all we know and experience is mere perception, is it valid to say that the pain in my dream was legitimate? though i witnessed it in a dream, should an altered perception make any experience less truthful? people on drugs may feel things that only they can encounter and we shouldn't discount that. should the unconscious be taken into consideration, too?