Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly...Suddenly I awoke...Now, I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that I am a man. - Chuang-Tzu
Generally, I sleep like a log, and I don't experience many dreams (at least, I don't remember them). The few I get, don't make a lasting impression. Though I get them in 3D with 1080p resolution, they are easily forgettable and are mere meaningless dreams - that's all.
But a few months ago, as I mentioned to my buddy Raama, I had an amazingly vivid dream that knocked my socks off. The content was (apparently) bland, but the imagery was surreal. It is impossible for me to describe this experience in words, but here is my feeble attempt (in italics). The setting was our home in Vizag.
My siesta was disturbed by a snoring sound. While still lying in bed, I turned slowly to my left, and to my amazement, it was my dad (who passed on earlier this year)! I just couldn't believe my eyes. I knew that it couldn't be real. But it was! I noticed his chest moving up and down as he was breating. He was alive! I shook his shoulder gently and woke him up. I was looking into his eyes and he was looking into mine. I could clearly see his eye glasses, hairs on his chest sticking out of his banian, texture of his skin, ...all minute details. Out of utter disbelief, I pinched myself hard on my forearm, to make sure that I wasn't dreaming; I immediately felt the twinge. So, it had to be real. In excitement, I held his hand, and walked him into our living room, where my mom and siblings were sitting and chatting with each other. My mom was shocked to see him. But my siblings were indifferent, as if it wasn't a surprise to them. At that point, my dad looked at all of us with a sad expression on his face, and slowly walked into the bedroom (which faces south).
At that point, I woke up with a jolt. The phantasmagoria was so real that I still remember every detail - the colors, the smells, the emotions,....
I am not jumping to conclusions on supernatural phenomena based on this XP. It probably was just nostalia. However, it made me add Freud's work to my "to read" list. I wonder if dreams are analogous to disk defragmentation! Perhaps when we are in hibernate mode, our brains archive all important image, smell, emotion, and sound files! And may be our brain sees some of these files in a random fashion, analogous to our watching of time-warped scenes while fast forwarding DVDs!
From the movie, The Matrix
[Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
Neo: Whoa. Déjà vu.
[Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
Trinity: What did you just say?
Neo: Nothing. Just had a little déjà vu.
Trinity: What did you see?
Cypher: What happened?
Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?
Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.
Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!
Neo: What is it?
Trinity: A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
2 comments:
This is a very unusual one, Gopa. Wonder what it means. It's interesting that most dreams are set in the place of our childhood.
Have gnoted a portion here.
It was unusual Raama. It sure made me wonder about subtle lokas between the physical plane and the spiritual plane, as described in Gayatri.
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