In class this previous week we talked about the science behind dreaming. We didn’t directly talk about the physical science of what happens when one is dreaming, but we instead talked about the exploration of dreaming in western vs eastern cultures. This made me interested in what the ideologies surrounding dreams are in other cultures. After a quick google search, I found an article from the New York times talking about just that subject.In the article they talked specifically about the reality that exists between waking and sleeping. That time when truth is muddled and things that would seem impossible seem a little less so.
The article was really interesting in it’s exploration of how different cultures tend to treat sleeping. In Western nations, there is a desensitization to dreaming. Most people view it as a chore. It seems however, that for many other cultures, dreaming is so much more than that. Dreaming can go so far as to be a way to experience religious and spiritual enlightenment.
I think that this can tie back to Zen in many ways. Zen constantly reminds us of the dangers of allowing oneself to fall into dualistic nature. I think that if we listen to these other cultures we can get one step closer to this idea of Zen. These other cultures seem to be able to disregard this separation of dreaming and reality, and because of it, they are able to experience and understand a new reality. We in the western world put this divide up between the two realms of consciousness, and because of it we miss out on this wonderful experience that so much of the rest of the world is having.
I was about to ask why Western culture has this sort of negative or neutral view towards dreaming. Reading through the same article, I found that one answer may be how we sleep. The standard 8 hours of sleep that we all desperately strive for could be one of the reason why we either don't dream as vividly or as often. But I wouldn't say that this necessarily explains why the western world fails to see the value of dreaming. Why does the western world put up the divide between these realms of consciousness? Is it simply the result of culture or the result of ignorance?
ReplyDeleteI think most anyone has at one point drawn inspiration or direction from a very impactful dream. I would argue that in general people know the power of dreaming but like you mentioned separate the real world from the dreamscape. So, culture must play a larger role in this separation than I initially thought. One quick and superficial look at the major religions of the western world could provide a starting point in discovering why this separation occurred. The majority of the western world was built along some form of Christianity where dreams in the Bible were often prophetic (if my memory serves me well) and not an exactly an extension of a person's consciousness. In other words, God spoke or sent messages through this dreamscape. In fact, dreams were never really mentioned beyond that capacity. It almost sounds as if dreams are a divine tool to help guide a person and not the internal machinations of that person’s consciousness. This may be one reason for this ingrained separation between reality and dreaming.
First off, fascinating article! Second, your post, in conjunction with the article, kept taking me back to shoshin. In Western cultures, there is a belief that mastery is essential to the human condition. If, while we live, we do not work towards mastering an instrument, or an art form, or a skill, or a trade, then we are average and do not deserve to be known by the world. I can not speak for Eastern cultures as I am fairly ignorant on their views of mastery, but through the article I gleaned that they do not seek to master sleep. They sleep, they wake, they talk, they sleep. It is all natural, thus there is no reason to resist. They maintain a Beginner's Mind, and reap the benefits. In Western societies though, sleep has not escaped our obsession with mastery. As mentioned in the article, Americans spend billions of dollars attempting to "master" sleep, as if it is something that can be controlled and subjugated to our will. We have lost our Beginner's Mind when it comes to sleep.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I am definitely in this category. Do you think it is possible for individuals within Western society (especially studious, involved college students) to begin to develop a shoshin mentality towards sleep? Is it too late for us?
Personally, I am of the opinion that it is never too late to shift your feelings/mentality on a certain subject. It may not be easy, and may take a drastic lifestyle change, but it can be done. It takes a shift in mindset that is not easy to accomplish, but I think that learning about the mindsets of other cultures is a step in the right direction. Many of our opinions about things such as sleep are learned, yet we have no idea where we first learned them from. Perhaps it comes from watching the society we grow up in, and mimicking their emotions and actions. But have you ever wondered when we started thinking of sleep as a chore? As babies we cherish sleep, but somewhere along the line we start to resist naptime, to think of sleeping as a necessary evil rather than a restorative, natural part of our day. In many ways Western society sees itself as separate from nature, and I wonder if this anthropocentric viewpoint contributes to our general distaste of natural functions such as sleeping.
DeleteI've always been of the mindset that sleep should be natural. One shouldn't have to force themselves to dream. Because of our tendency of mastery, most of us have forgotten the simplicity that is dreaming. For instance, I've been focusing on dreaming this past week and I've only been able to recollect my dreams on two occasions. It's a pretty bad ratio. But when I've had a long day and I'm burnt out and all I can think about is getting some rest, the floodgates open and I can recollect multiple dreams. For those that have turned dreaming into a hobby, true lucid dreamers, they are individuals who have mastered one kind of duality; the duality of reality.
ReplyDeleteAlthough zazen teaches us to avoid duality. Lucid dreaming allows dreamers to extend their reality to new possibilities, such as flight, teleportation and other supernatural phenomena. In contrast, ordinary dreamers a majority of the time have dreams that encompass their reality and therefore limit their elseworld experience. Duality allows for a necessary separation because independence of our dreams allows us to live a more focused, realistic reality.