Artistic representations of dreams (paintings, video etc)

Thanks for sharing those short films, lepantin. They seem reminiscent of some liminal (hypnagogic/hypnopompic) dreams to me.

I am very interested about the possibility that CGI offers for LD. Game engines are very interesting but I don’t know about more contemplative journeys, the majority of games are about violence.

I agree, and would add a) game engines (or games) can be used for anything, not necessarily violence; b) some dreams are violent. There are some real gems in media like videogames and virtual reality, beyond the all-too-prevalent violent content.

Anyway, here is a 1-minute dreamlike gem by David Lynch (which, amusingly, is an old Playstation 2 advertisement, but you’d never know it from the content).

~ArthurG

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Thank you for the Maestro David Lynch link!

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Over in Zucktown, Night Club member Richard Gilbar posted “Try watching Sponge Bob season 1 episode 15 “sleepy time.” Hilarious and quite apt for our group.” The description of the episode reads ““SpongeBob suddenly posses the ability to visit the dreams of his friends,” which certainly sounds intriguing (and a superpower I’d love to have!) but I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.

~ArthurG

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These images are just awesome, thx for sharing.

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Not really art (or…is it?) but I created a book display for a course I’m taking, using books of my own. The picture didn’t come out as clearly as I would have liked, but I think it gets the point across:

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Machine Hallucinations - Nature Dreams created by Refik Anadol “using 46,474,696 photographic landscape memories of our Earth with AI. With beautiful S. Rachmaninoff. Symphony № 2. Movement 3.”

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Reality Check

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Dreamtoons, that must be so much fun!!!
Good books!

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For anyone interested, as part of the book display project I created an annotated bibliography of the books that appear in the display:

Annotated Bibliography for “Are You Dreaming?” Book Display - March 2020

Dreams are a precious gift, a phantasmagorical wonderland we visit nightly. Everyone dreams multiple times each night, although not everyone remembers their dreams easily. However, the vast majority of people can greatly improve dream recall through practice – making sure you get enough sleep, setting an intention to remember dreams when you go to bed at night, and keeping a pen and dream journal next to your bed are a good way to start. Lucid dreaming is a particularly interesting type of dreaming. Lucid dreaming is simply dreaming with awareness that you are dreaming while the dream is still going on. Lucidity may occur spontaneously or as a result of the dreamer noticing incongruities or impossibilities in the dream. There are many practices one can employ to cultivate the ability to have lucid dreams. Below are some books that can help you explore and more deeply understand the world of dreams.

Dumpert, Jennifer. Liminal Dreaming: Exploring Consciousness at the Edges of Sleep. North Atlantic Books, 2019.

Self-described “dream hacker” Jennifer Dumpert draws on decades of research and self-experimentation into blended states of consciousness that occur at the edges of sleep. Traditionally the dreamlike state one enters on falling asleep is referred to as “hypnagogia,” and the corresponding state when emerging from sleep is called “hypnopompia.” Dumpert uses the blanket term “liminal dreaming” to highlight the nature of these states as being a combination of waking and dreaming consciousness. As the liminal state includes waking consciousness it is intrinsically lucid, and it is much easier for people to start consciously exploring dreams via this route. Liminal Dreaming explains how everyone can access and use these states for creative, therapeutic, and meditative purposes, or just to have a rolicking good time.

Garfield, Patricia. Dream Messenger: How Dreams of the Departed Bring Healing Gifts. Diane Pub Co, 1997.

In this moving book, Garfield explores the common phenomenon of dreaming about loved ones who have died, and shows how such dreams can provide healing, closure, and even a form of continued relationship with the departed. Drawing on in-depth studies of grieving individuals and their dreams, she describes nine common patterns that occur in such grief dreams, how they tend to evolve over time in a natural healing process, and how you can work with them as part of your healing process.

Godwin, Malcolm. The Lucid Dreamer: a Waking Guide for the Traveler between Worlds. Element, 1995.

A wide-ranging treatment of lucid dreaming through a philosophical and mystical lens, discussing significant dreamers throughout history, religious prophets, ancient shamanic practices, modern lucid dreaming research, and much more. The book is lavishly illustrated with almost 200 color and black-and-white illustrations of dream masks, Zen paintings, surrealist paintings, art done by Schizophrenics, Australian aboriginal art, etc. Includes exercises to cultivate lucid dreaming.

Jansen, Karl. Ketamine: Dreams and Realities. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, 2004.

Ketamine is widely used as a surgical anesthetic, and in lower doses has profound psychedelic effects comparable to LSD or psilocybin. Jansen comments that the hallucinatory effect of ketamine resembles the experience of dreaming – especially lucid dreaming – and notes that certain physiological aspects of dreaming (such as rapid eye movement, or REM, and “K-complexes,” a type of brainwave measured by EEG machines) are sometimes observed in subjects dosed with ketamine. While this book only mentions dreaming in passing, its in-depth treatment of a fascinating pharmacological agent with dreamlike effects helps expand and shed light on the phenomenology of “dreaming” in a broader sense.

Mindell, Arnold. The Dreammaker’s Apprentice: Using Heightened States of Consciousness to Interpret Dreams. Hampton Roads Pub. Co., 2001.

In the preface Mindell explains that “the basic idea of the present book is that dreams can be understood by watching carefully how we use our attention, how we move, and what we experience in our bodies and in our altered states of consciousness.” He draws on Carlos Castaneda’s shamanic teachings, Jungian psychology, Buddhist meditation, mysticism, quantum physics, and other material to formulate his own unique approach to cultivating a more conscious approach to dreaming. According to Mindell, dreaming in a broader sense is a process that is happening all the time prior to the arising of physical and experiential phenomena. For Mindell the dreaming process occurs not just within an individual, but also in interpersonal relationships and the world as a whole.

Norbu, Namkhai, and Michael Katz. Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light. Snow Lion, 1992.

Tibetan master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu approaches dreaming from the Dzogchen tradition, a system of Buddhist meditation that focuses on what they believe to be the foundational level of mind/consciousness. In doing so he and his coauthor Michael Katz (psychologist and Tibetan Buddhist scholar) go far beyond the typical Western approaches to lucid dreaming. The goal here is less based in individual psychology and personal adventures – typical of Western approaches to lucid dreaming – and more focused on spiritual awakening to the true nature of being from a Buddhist perspective.

Reklaw, Jesse. Dreamtoons. Shambhala, 2000.

For several years cartoonist Jesse Reklaw created a weekly comic strip called Slow Wave, in which he converted written descriptions of dreams sent in by his audience into 4-panel comics. Dreamtoons is a best-of collection of these comic strips, a delightful excursion into the diverse dreams of many different people.

Warren, Jeff. The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness. Oneworld, 2009.

Science journalist Jeff Warren takes readers on a tour of the landscape of human consciousness, relating both his personal experience experimenting on himself as well as what is known scientifically about a variety of states of consciousness. Most of the stops on his wheel of consciousness relate to dreaming in one way or another, including chapters on hypnagogia (the half-dream state experienced while falling asleep), hypnopompia (the corresponding half-dream state experienced while waking up), and lucid dreaming.

Yuschak, Thomas. Advanced Lucid Dreaming: the Power of Supplements: How to Induce High Level Lucid Dreams & out of Body Experiences. Lulu Enterprises, 2006.

Yuschak gives detailed instructions on how to use a variety of legal, over-the-counter supplements to manipulate brain chemistry in ways that greatly increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming and “out-of-body” experiences, and/or alter the nature of dreaming. Of particular note is his chapter on galantamine, a memory-enhancing substance used to treat Alzheimer’s disease which has been shown in scientific studies to vastly increase the chance of dreaming lucidly when used appropriately.

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I liked the Yuschak book but would like to see it updated. What was the project for and who was the intended audience?

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It was for a course in my Library and Information Technology program. No intended audience, just a practice book display.

Last I heard Yuschak had dropped off the map and has not been heard from for a LONG time. I agree that an updated version would be bombtastic though

~ArthurG

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DreamsID.com has a Gallery of Dreams and Artworks, full of stuff like this:

“It is the morning with a red sky. I am in the school library and see at the edge of my vision a brilliant white shape, like a wolf. I can see it if I don’t directly look at it. As the day goes on I go into the school corridor, and then outside in the school courtyard, and the wolf gets darker, becoming grey. All this time I interact with others in the school, some of whom are school friends and some non-school friends, some talking, but all without movement. I am then in a field at night, very dark, with outlined, slightly swaying trees, and the wolf is now black. I hear a sharp intake of breath and feel like on a roller coaster, and I wake up.”

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Anyone with access to an Oculus Quest or Oculus Go may be interested to know that until April 26, 2020, there are a number of dream-related VR experiences available on those devices. DETAILS HERE. They are pieces that were going to be available at the Tribeca Film Festival (which has been canceled).

In addition, dreamlike VR experience The Key is now available for free on the Oculus Quest.

~ArthurG

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Thanks Arthur. I wrote to the Trippers about some of their content. Their reply was as follows:

We are actually recording new calm meditations that are longer and and can support a 30 minute session. These will be with the female voice. We also have more updates for Focus and Calm that will be ongoing over the next few weeks. We have some new content will be adding as well that are new experience types. We are a small team and working hard to evolve the service. Your support means a great deal to us!

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Wow, that’s great! Thanks for the update, Barry! Tripp has continued to improve since I started using it shortly after it launched. I’m very pleased with it and appreciate that they are continuing to expand and improve it.

~ArthurG

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David Lynch’s latest 10-minute animated short “FIRE (POZAR)”

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This 6-minute animated dream has the wow

“A Mind Sang / A Mãe de Sangue is a trippy and evocative dreamscape animated by Vier Nev. The English title is a play on the Portuguese original, which means ‘mother of blood.’”

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/09/watch-this-animation-of-a-drea.html

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Tripp just upgraded with a major update including new options and a little diversity with marbles instead of coins in-between obstacles. They finally added a female voice for both activities.

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Yep, really digging the new Tripp version. I do two sessions almost every day.

~ArthurG

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Have you tried the 30 minute version?

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