Art by smbc-comics
Consciousness is often said to disappear in deep, dreamless sleep. We argue that this assumption is oversimplified. Unless dreamless sleep is defined as unconscious from the outset there are good empirical and theoretical reasons for saying that a range of different types of sleep experience, some of which are distinct from dreaming, can occur in all stages of sleep.
Pubmed Articles
Does Consciousness Disappear in Dreamless Sleep?
Sciencealert Article We Were Wrong About Consciousness Disappearing in Dreamless Sleep, Say Scientists
Sleep is NOTHING like death. You’re still experiencing lots of stuff, you still very much have a sense of self, you’re still thinking things, your brain is still processing lots of information.
General anesthesia - now THAT is a real close period to what being dead is.
I’ve had general anesthesia, it was just like falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
If death is like that, then there’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
It’s not sleeping I’m worried about, it’s not waking up.
But isn’t there a fear anyway? Because its forever. Also not seeing loved ones ever again. Not enjoying the nice things ever again.
I won’t be around anymore to experience those consequences so I’ve never felt particularly afraid of them. Why fear something that will never happen to me?
It’s not rational. Evolution has hardwired us and every other organism that has the necessary neural architecture to fear death and seek to avoid it. A species that didn’t have an instinctive and heritable aversion to death would not last very long.
Definitely. I’m usually averse to death or dying, but I wouldn’t describe it as fear. Wishing to avoid an outcome isn’t always the same as fearing said outcome. Not in the same way I might fear pain
My sense of self preservation is somewhat compromised so I’m probably not the best example
Describe your “aversion” to death any way you want to, if in the end it results in something that very much looks like fear, I think you’re making a distinction without a difference.
A preference against it occurring. I don’t like slow jazz so I’d rather not listen to it. I don’t want to die at the moment so I’d rather not
I think that most people aren’t afraid of death itself. It’s more the suffering to get there.
The most scary stuff is just not doing or experiencing anything after death, at least for me. (Probably the biggest fomo on earth)
Me: Sleep, how I loathe those little slices of death.
Also me: watches 2 hours of unnarrated sleeper train travel videos on YouTube
zZzZzZzZz
Your brain is still very much active. It’s more like running a computer with the display turned off.
There’s still brain activity in sleep.
Brain activity isnt nessecarily consciousness.
Right? I’ve met so many of those people.
I mean, I lucid dream every night. So my consciousness is rarely off.
I’ve been practicing for almost 20 years to be able to switch it on and off so its kinda nice that I get to be a god 6 to 8 hours a day
Do you find it an enjoyable or useful experience?
I love it. Things can go from psychedelic to me flying in the air, changing the landscape like I’m some sort of God.
I can even make food and banquets appear, and I can eat whatever I want at full flavor
I can even make any sexual fantasy I want come true instantly. I don’t do this often, though. As I think it would destroy me in the waking world.
For the most part, it was worth the years of work it took to learn the meditation needed for all of this.
Amazing. Thanks for the insight. Got any links people would find useful if they wanted to follow in your footsteps?
I can’t reccomend books outside of the basics of meditation. Most of it requires some work to be put in with body mindfulness.
Next time you are about to fall asleep, try to program your brain to find out something that’s meaningful to you. Just keep telling yourself that you are going to find that thing. And when you do, you will KNOW it’s a dream. Keep telling yourself to test reality in your dreams.
Its ALL about breaking the waking and the non waking barriers
It will take time to master those powers and the night that you do you will wake up like you just took LSD. Even still, keep that dream object and reality testing in mind. The more you do the more you will find yourself testing if it’s a dream in the dream. That will set it off.
You can even test if you are in a dream IRL a few time a day to speed things up. It sounds silly to do, but it will train your mind to test reality in dreams.
Interesting. Thank you!
