Math and logic in dreams. Euro-American culture, from before Freud right up to current dream research, has held that dreams aren't just illogical, they can't add any better than a toddler! Are we mistaking signal for noise? Numbers do act strangely in dreams, but is that ineptness... or a deliberate choice? I think these discrepancies can be highly symbolic; sometimes satiric, mocking the illogicalities of your waking life, the way "Alice in Wonderland" satirized adult illogic from a child's viewpoint. Sometimes dream illogic can be deliberately teasing you--prompting you to realize you're dreaming, pushing you toward lucid dreams.
Think I'm ascribing too much intent to dreams? Well, why is this culture so certain dreams lack intent, are some mechanical process? Think of all the other entities in the last century that proved to be smarter than science thought: non-Europeans, women, dolphins, primates, ravens and parrots... Your dreams have access to a brain three times the size of Koko the gorilla. The size, to be exact, of YOUR brain. If that thing can't handle math and logic, humor, subtlety, teaching... how the hell do YOU?
This list is short not because I have few dreams of math or logic, but just because they're usually idea-dreams and not terribly interesting as stories. But if you're interested, such dreams can be incubated. If you have a hard math/physics problem to solve, ask your dreams each night to come up with a solution. You may be surprised. It isn't all benzene snakes.
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ANNABEL ROSE: by Emily Joy; 2006/12/14, a ghostbusting dream on... love? sex? what?
Edgar Allen Poe confronts his dead girlfriend, who wants to drag him into the grave with her...
CAUTION: HUNGRY GHOST, SEX TALK |
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ARISTOTLE'S WIVES: by Wayan, 1984/5/20, a dueling-philosopher dream.
Aristotle keeps marrying my friends and fucking them up. So I challenge Mr. Logic to a shamanic duel...
CAUTION: THE F-WORD. OOPS, TOO LATE! LESBIAN FISH, TOO. |
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BELL CURVE IN THE DARK: by Wayan; 1982/8/17, a dream fable.
A human pinball game played in the dark, with bells for stoppers, sorting people into a Gaussian bell-curve... |
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THE ETHICS OF LUCIDITY: by Wayan; 1994/2/19, a thoughtful dream on time and cause.
I'm at a symposium on how our beliefs alter not just the future, but the PAST...
CAUTION: CONTAINS IDEAS |
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THE EVEREST MARATHON: by Wayan; 1986/4/12, a wild dream epic, part 3 of Unicorn Tag.
During the great race up Everest, I become an e-snake, cross three eco-bubbles, beg a wary deer-taur to splice my spine for me, help Ariane (a childhood crush on the run from sentient tanks), and solve at last the Dream Equations... I learn climbing Everest doesn't take strength, but... trust? |
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FREEZE!: by Wayan; 1984/5/29, an asymptotic dream.
Demons of fire invade the house, and the Voice of Truth says they can't be killed. What would you do? |
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GENNADIUS: by Gennadius, ca. 415 AD, apparently the first recorded lucid dream
Gennadius re-dreams a previous dream, prompting him to notice he's dreaming. His guide points out the spiritual implications... |
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HOBBIT SNIPER: by Wayan; 1998/10/13, a dream on strategy.
I'm a sniper in a desert battle of men against hobbits. Guilty for not fighting openly, but that'd be suicidal...
CAUTION: MATH AND WAR |
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IS THE DREAMWORLD ROUND?: by Wayan; 2006/7/5; a dream about dreamwork
Dreamworlders, exploring our world, tell me of home. Their known dreamworld is just a little patch on a huge globe... |
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IT DOESN'T ADD UP: by Wayan; 1995/6/26, an arithmetical dream.
Dream math often seems bad, but I think the discrepancies are a signal, not noise... |
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THE NIGHTMARE EFFECT: by Emily Joy; 2006/12/14, an anti-nightmare.
My own fear creates a field of time/speed distortion; can I use it against my attackers? |
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PERSONAL CHAOS THEORY: by Wayan; 1994/12/4, a spiritual math dream.
My life is a mess, so I take a class on the four flavors of chaos, and find my Strange Attractors are shifting... |
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PLANETOCOPIA: by Wayan; 2006/6/3, an annex to the Dreambank with 16 nondream imaginary worlds. A mix of sculpture, drawings, travel writing... science and art.
Alternate Earths, possible futures, and pure experiments in planetology, biology, sociology. Most of them teem with intelligent creatures--alien Edens!
CAUTION: ANARCHISM, NUDITY, COMMIES, EVOLUTION |
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SLEDDING NEAR C: by Albert Einstein; around 1890-95; a transcendent career-advice dream
Sledding at night, I approached the speed of light, and the stars turned colors I'd never seen... |
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SPOON CHALLENGE: by Emily Joy; 2006/8/30, a mathemagical dreamlet.
I want to drink the elixir, but negative twenty spoons block me! Can I remove them? With warped teacup logic and reciprocals… |
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WITCH AT THE IRON CORE: by Wayan; 1998/10/16, an engineering-proposal dream.
A witch in the future invents a new way to terraform small dense moons--and it'd work!... |
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ZERO SUM: by Wayan; 1996/5/29, a game-theory dream.
I'm lecturing to a crowd: "Love's a win-win game, and abuse, lose-lose. But blame is zero-sum..." |