weed, and dreams and consciousness

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Dreams are... Ok bare with me because I'm not the best at explaining these things. Dreams are influenced by thoughts burried in the sub-conscious or unconscious mind...... Odd thing is, if your conscious enough to ever know when you are dreaming, you can totally change the rules of the situation within the dream. Basically you can more or less become a god of sorts within your dream. This I find rather interesting too, because then you can flip a nightmare over.... Lets say I'm having a nightmare where some big evil monster is breaking into my house to kill me, then I realise it's a dream, now that I'm conscious of the dream I can make myself have all sorts of nifty super powers to battle that monster. I mean that's just a random example though. I also think maybe there is something to be learned from our dreams, and perhaps sometimes our dreams may tell us things.....

Problem is, I think weed may possibly stop dreams... Ever since I became a stoner (not a stereotypical stoner by any means though), I've noticed that I either don't dream often anymore, or I can't remember my dreams.....

I know sleep and dreams are centered within certain parts of our brains. Sub-conscious or unconcious parts of the brain. And sleep can be divided into different stages, the stage responsible for dreams is called REM sleep..... I know this sounds bad, but weed is my main way of coping with reality right now, and if I go off of it I will get slammed constantly with anxiety attacks and depression. However I do want to be able to stop weed.
I wanna explore my dreams more.... Study them, to be fully conscious of them at all times. Because I believe, if I stop weed, I can do this. But it's hard for me to stop..... I don't like being dependent on a chemical to get me through the day.... And, everyone I know in my area almost, they all smoke weed, it would be near impossible for me to get away from it....

Now I know weed is no where near on the same level as coke, or crack, or heroin, or pcp, or meth. Hell, alcohol is heavier than weed is, in my opinion. But more than anything I want to have my dreams back.

I think the reason is that plant cannabinoids closely resemble an endogenous compound called anandamide - which IIRC is related to dreaming.

Basically, i think it works like this; taking plant cannabinoids triggers off the dreaming mechanism whilst you are still awake, this means youll have less opportunity to dream during sleep, possibly because youve deplreted something or other. I suppose its like if you binge on cocaine or pills - you deplete all your dopamine/serotonin/etc levels, and have to wait for them to recharge before you can function normally again.

But i could be wrong - i actually dream on weed anyway, but then i never binge on it these days.

In any case, it sounds like you might like to research lucid dreaming in depth (if you havent already), there are various techniques you can employ to get it working consistently, and i remember reading it be harnessed for therapeutic benefits across a wide range of problems - might give you the change in direction you need to stop smoking for a while?

.... Where do I learn more about this "lucid dreaming"? I have heard of this before somewhere.

I wiki'ed it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

"A lucid dream, AKA a conscious dream, is a dream in which the person is aware that he or she is dreaming while the dream is in progress. During lucid dreams, it is sometimes possible to exert conscious control over the dream characters and environment, and have them perform feats which would be physically impossible in the waking world. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.[1]

A lucid dream can begin in one of two ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that he or she is dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness.

Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established.[2][3] Scientists such as Allan Hobson, with his neurophysiological approach to dream research, have helped to push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm."

I'm also interested with how thoughts and experiences that are stored away in the unconscious or sub-conscious mind influence dreams. I've been trying to look into the power of thought a lot here too... And I think this is something worth studying, dream state is a direct link between all 3 mental states, conscious, sub conscious, and unconscious.

You should stop using on a regular basis really. It fu**s up your brain.
I used hashish on a regular basis and experienced short memory loss, anxienty and heightened irritatebility.

However I dreamed when I used.

i have many lucid dreams...

i practice, for the day i die... and for fun.

i'm pretty good at zonin out and turning that daydream into lucid thought patterns too.

i think lucid dreaming is similar to insanity... and many general conditions...

to me, explains heaven and hell.

and wasted energy.

Where do I learn this lucid dreaming? I mean, where can I learn how to get good at doing this?

--note-- I did this once, when I was conscious I was dreaming, a long long time ago... But I'm not sure I'll know when I am dreaming every time I dream, especially since right now I haven't remembered any of my dreams in like I dunno how long.

i started doing dreaming experiments when i was little... have been ever since.

i used to write stuff down a lot... now not so much.

yoga would probably help too... that mediation at the end... don't fall asleep!

how frequently did you use it?

This is my first post and I'm typically "terrified" at pushing "Submit". The topic is irresistable though, especially when I read "(WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness":

Here's a quote from my diaries:

March 29
I rarely seem to dream anymore. Research tells us that can happen to people who practice "waking their dreams". I believe they phrased that a little differently, the scientists were saying something about people who daydream a lot . . .

Laughing . . .

So . . . I'm one of the "WILD" ones.

I've been "spiritually" defined a lot of different ways, been even more "psychological" and "physical" diagnoses. And . . . I'm really just a "WILDie". I find that an incredibly amusing way to define myself on so many levels. You made my day.

I agree with psych that cannibas induces a state of mind that is related to the dream state. Through the art of lucid dreaming, I have been able to divine meaning to complex questions. When one ingests cannibas, I believe that part of its effect is to stimulate the creative faculties of our minds. This is why a common topic for people who choose to use marijuana responsibly is ufos and other mystical type conversation.

I rarely ever remember my dreams and when I do they are so incredibly vivid; that unless they are absurd I confuse them with actual memories...been that way my whole adult life...nothing to do with drugs though.

I find being asleep in bed always helps..

I have the same problem as the OP.. I smoke too much weed.. and although I still remember my dreams.. when I stop smoking weed.. my dreams become much more vivid.

In my own experience.. lucid dreaming seems more likely to occur when i practise meditation on a daily basis.. (something I'm not doing at present).

The more time spent in meditation.. the more vivid the dreams become.. 30 minutes to an hour.. works well for me.

Occasionally.. becoming fully conscious in dreams.. so it is possible to direct the dream.. just as we can direct our waking life.

Lucid dreaming opens up a whole new dimension of existence.

This is a lucid dream I wrote down..

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One of the strangest dreams I've ever had.. again after a long period of meditation.. was when I found myself sitting in a bus.. outside a old railway station... and behind the station I could see the early morning sun rising. . . putting the most beautiful dawn colours into the sky.... deep violets.. pinks.. reds.. and dark and light blues.

The next thing I remember was being back in Fowey ...An old 12th century town.. built on a natural harbor in Cornwall... ( I lived there for a few years when I was a kid) In my dream I was walking down towards where the ferryboat from Polruan came in. I was with some friends. We were standing together on a small beach.. just looking across the river. Then.. suddenly.. I realized my friends had gone ...so I went back towards the town to look for them....... I looked up and down the street but they had completely vanished.

The next thing I knew I was inside a small wooden cabin.. doing some carpentry.. I was making a door and fitting it. Then.. again.. the scene changed...and I was outside once more..... standing in front of a low granite wall...... looking across the river.. to the other side.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/i ... 70x350.jpg

At first I thought that everything looked normal.. since I had stood there and looked across the river often as a child. But then.. I noticed that the village.. called "Polruan" that should be on the other side of the river.. was not there at all. Instead there were open fields of pastureland and trees. This puzzled me because I knew there was a village there....

It was then that I realized that I must have been dreaming... I felt suddenly very conscious of where I REALLY was.

I reached down to touch the low stone wall.. that was just in front of me.. in order to feel whether it was real.. or not ...and as I squeezed my fingers against the hard stone.. I could feel the granite cutting into my fingers... so.. I reasoned... "Maybe there is something hard nearby my bed that I'm touching.. because.. since this is a dream.. the wall can't feel solid.... it's only imaginary after all."

Then it dawned on me the that it was such a beautiful sunny day....I looked up and saw the sun shining above me in the sky ...all the colors of everything were so vivid and bright... the greens of the fields and trees.. the blue of the water... with the sunlight glinting and sparkling on the river as it lazily flowed by.......... Everything was just so beautiful!! .......I was in awe!

I remember thinking something like...."This is great!..........I'm actually fully conscious in this incredible dream state where everything around me seems so perfectly real ."

Then... I thought I'd go for a walk to explore this fantastic place. I started walking along a dirt path towards a low wall with a break in it... where I could see I could pass through.

The only trouble was.. a giant owl about 4 feet tall was standing right in front of me in the gap in the wall.. blocking my way.. so I couldn't get past it easily. I thought: "Well, this is only a dream.. so I can just push past it.... because it's only imaginary after all." ... so I started trying to gently to ease myself past the giant owl... but.. suddenly it started flapping its wings against me....and that woke me up.


The following day I thought about what the dream might signify and came to these conclusions: The bus outside the railway station signified that I was about to make a journey somewhere. Going down to the water meant it was a spiritual journey. My friends leaving.. meant I would undertake it alone. The door I was making was the door that opens onto the inner-worlds of the mind and imagination... and the landscape I saw was a virgin landscape which signified it was some ancient knowledge existing from early times. The sun shining signified illumination...enlightenment. The dirt path was the simple, natural way I should tred...... and the owl was my guide... waiting there for me to follow.

However, at the time I didn't understand what was going on and I kind of messed up... by ignoring the owl. The owl symbol is often seen in the alchemists beautifully illustrated books.

The alchemists used the owl as a symbol of the occult.. because the owl flies... and sees by night... and so it symbolizes lucid dreaming.... our night trips.

Some more of my dreams can be found here..

http://www.apocatastasis.net/EternalLif ... Night.html

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Weed only makes me wear more cologne and chew mint gum.

I've gone back and forth, smoking and not smoking weed. I always thought I still had dreams, just didn't remember them when I was smoking daily.

Thinking about it tho, it could be that they're somehow blocked because the first week when I quit smoking my dreams are very vivid and loud, like they've been trying to scream at me through whatever is blocking them and suddenly the block is removed.

I think that dreams are your body talking to itself offline. And that weed changes your "offline" status.

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