Parents

[Yuoofox]

[This message is in reference to the strip about the nightmares.]

Parents try their best to protect their kids from harm, so it's very sad when they can't. In this story's case, it deals with being a lux-sensing creature, but I've noticed the same thing in real life. There are psychologists whose children deal will mental illness. There are preachers whose children are afraid of God, who want nothing to do with God. I guess that thing about this is that parents aren't perfect, even in their areas of expertice.

[Yuoofox]

Also, where do you think nightmares come from? I see it from three different perspecives:

(1) My family and I are Christians, so I believe that dreams can sometimes come from God (or the devil).

(2) My father is a psychologist, so I believe that dreams can be a product of past experiences or even chemical fluctuations in the brain.

(3) My cousin is an accupuncturist, so I suspect that there is a such thing as "Qi" (or "Chi"), which is the body's energy.

I don't know. I think it's a mixture of things. What do you think?

[The JAM]

[...unWARP!!!]

Good evening.


One church leader pointed out that dreams have 3 sources:

God
The Devil
Eating pizza before bed


Naturally, you have to have discernment to tell them apart, but most likely any from the Devil are blatantly (or subtly) against what the Bible says. I've had to reject a few "revelations" because they didn't fit what the Bible said.

I've had one that was definitely from God (revelation of a spiritual problem): I was in a life-and-death situation, but throughout the dream I didn't feel fear.

And of course, yourself. Some spices trigger nerve endings randomly, so those type of dreams don't make much sense. They might have a few memories mixed in, too.

Be careful with acupuncturists. A few people in our church have got burned from them.

[Yuoofox]

Actually, my cousin is a Christian, and she decided to become an accupuncturist after she became a Christian. There are some parts of Eastern philosophy she accepts and others she does not.

But, I do thank you for your advice. I understand what you mean.

[Yuoofox]

Oh, just to let you know. I'm not trying to say anything bad against anyone. There are some things I agree and disagree with, but I want to be friends with everyone.

[RHJunior]

I hold with a more material source for dreams. Namely, that dreams are the consequence of the mind taking advantage of your body's "down time" to sort out the experiences and memories of the day.... essentially defragging your brain.

[Yuoofox]

I'd like to ask everyone, "What are your dreams and nightmares like?" On television, they show nightmares as like being in a temporary horror movie, where everything seems real until you wake up. My dreams or nightmares seem to concentrate more on emotions than events. I'm sure there are events happening too (though I hardly remember them the next morning), but to me they seem to be just the by-product of the emotions. And yes, Mr. R.H., I think these emotions are leftover from how you felt during the day (or even how you wish you could have felt).

My nightmares seem to focus around these emotions: fear, shame, indecision, and guilt. Usually in my dream, I've done something wrong, and I sit there worrying, "Oh no, I'm in trouble! What do I do? I'm gonna flunk. What do I do?" ( This might have something to do with being a college student, no? )

The only times I have dreams that I am unable to distingish from reality is when I am sick with a fever or when I've had an unusually weird sleep schedule. These dreams are annoying because I'm wondering whether I'm really awake or not, but I don't recall them ever turning into nightmares.[/u]

[Rich-online]

Actually, the really annoying nightmares are the recursive dreams where you realize you're dreaming, and you wake up, only to realize you're still dreaming, and you wake up . . .

[LoneWolf23k]

In many cases, Nightmares are the result of the subconscious mind trying to work through a traumatic experience and attempting to make sense of it.. Case in point: Quentyn's Night Terrors following the Gragum incident, which was basically his subconscious giving form and voice to his guilt at the action of killing living, sentient creatures for the very first time..

[StrangeWulf13]

I'm gonna have to agree with Ralph on the whole defrag thing. Your mind can be an interesting place, and things get even more interesting (or insane, if that's more your style) when random thoughts collide.

My dreams have always had an unreal quality to them. I've even had a few of the ones everyone seems to have at one time or another (really wish I'd stop showing up naked in places with people). Sometimes, I wake up, and it takes a while for me to realize something didn't happen for real... it was all a dream. Rather disorienting.

The oddest dreams have to be ones where I'm doing something in someplace... then forget about it. Then I remember it when I'm sitting in the exact same spot doing the exact same thing. >_< In other words, deja vu, that annoying little thing where you swear that you've done/lived this before. Or maybe even dreamed it. That kinda freaks me out.

What's even freakier is I've developed ways to dispell the feeling... and suddenly, they've become part of the whole thing! It's happened! I've gotten the feeling, looked at my watch or something specific, and it doesn't go away! Creepiest feeling ever. You expect the deja vu to go away, and it doesn't. *shivers* I hate that.

Makes me wonder just what the heck is with all this dreaming anyhow. I so need to have a chat with God about this...