Who are you in dreams?

[Novice]

I have been thinking about this for awhile now and thought I would take a poll to see where others fall in this area. Essentially, my dreams vary quite drastically and from the few conversations I've had with friends my dreams are extremely strange. Of course, none of them are in to anything metaphysical. So I'm curious if I'm as odd as they think I am (which is always a possibility!) Or if the fact that I am more interested in abstract/universal concepts and spirituality that affects my dream being and surroundings.

I think the options are fairly self-explanetory, but I've allowed people the option to change their vote if, based on replies to this post, they feel they misunderstood a category.

In this poll, I fall in to the last option. In dreams I am rarely ever in familiar surroundings from physical life. In fact in the past 6 years of recording dreams (and I remember about 4-5/night) I have only had 4 in which I am in my house or an older house from physical life. And I am only my physical self in about 30% of my dreams. I am a middle age, white female in physical life. But in dreams I've ranged in age from 8 to 80. I've been male and female (in one dream I actually had a card that allowed me to switch back and forth whenever I needed). I've been white, black, hispanic, asian, egyptian, middle eastern, and native american. I've also been animals (snake, eagle, monkey/human hybrid thing). I've been different nationalities: american, japanese, french, egyption, brazilian.

So that gives you an example of what the categories mean to me and where I place myself within them. I'm curious if others have similar diversity in dreams.

[malganis]

I'm always myself and about half the time it is a familiar location, like my home, school.

[Mydral]

I am always myself.. but most of the time the places I am in have no resemblance to places I know.

[cainam_nazier]

My question is this.  Do you consider yourself only as your physical self?

Because for me in my dreams no matter my age, race, gender, or whatever I am always me.  That which I consider to be me does not change, only my physical form changes.

As far as locations.  I dream of many.  Some of where I am, where I was, in the physical world.  There are also the derams of physical locations that I have not been to.  Other times I dream repeatedly of certain dream realms.  Then there are the dreams where the location is new to me and simply can not exist in the physical world.

[Novice]

My question is this.  Do you consider yourself only as your physical self?

Because for me in my dreams no matter my age, race, gender, or whatever I am always me.  That which I consider to be me does not change, only my physical form changes.

Good question ... and I was thinking I should elaborate on this point, but I forgot to do it. 

Yes, in the dreams I am usually what I perceive as 'myself' although the outward perception (gender, race, etc) changes. I say usually, because I do have dreams where I 'jump' from person to person within the same dream. One moment I'm one character and another I'm a second character. And whenever I'm in this type of "character jumping" dream, I know that I changed characters and it seems perfectly natural -- so no leaps to lucidity. But in those dreams, I do not perceive these as being 'me'. Its hard to explain. Its like perceving a dream in 3rd person, in that you watch, but in these you watch participate in 1st person but with the sense of 3rd person because you don't perceive it as being you...that probably makes no sense, but I'm not sure how else to describe it.

For this poll, I'm more curious about how you are externally perceived (gender, age, race), even though during these types of dreams, you still perceive yourself as 'you'. Its the outward component I'm curious about.

[Selski]

My dreams are varied.  I have been male/old/young etc etc etc.  Can't remember being an animal, although I was a cat during an OBE once. 

The environment varies dramatically too.  Sometimes familiar, sometimes not.  I have dreams where I return to a dream environment, and recognise it from a previous dream.  For instance, I often go to a fairground and end up in the funhouse.  And I'm at the seaside a lot.

I also have dreams where I'm watching the dream.  The dream might be an old classic black and white film, and sometimes I'm the heroine as well as the watcher. 

Generally speaking I am "me" in my dreams most of the time.

What surprises (and saddens) me a little, is that all the dream characters I've met (i.e. those I don't know in real life), I only seem to meet once and they never appear again, even if within the dream we embraced as long lost close friends.

I also have lots of "silly" dreams.  Just the other night I was dreaming of my current partner.  However, he happened to take the form of a 4ft inflatable green frog - and I didn't think this was particularly unusual at the time.  It was most likely a trigger for lucidity that I totally ignored. 

Perhaps he just needed a kiss and he would have turned into my prince! 

Sarah

[cainam_nazier]

Good question ... and I was thinking I should elaborate on this point, but I forgot to do it. 

Yes, in the dreams I am usually what I perceive as 'myself' although the outward perception (gender, race, etc) changes. I say usually, because I do have dreams where I 'jump' from person to person within the same dream. One moment I'm one character and another I'm a second character. And whenever I'm in this type of "character jumping" dream, I know that I changed characters and it seems perfectly natural -- so no leaps to lucidity. But in those dreams, I do not perceive these as being 'me'. Its hard to explain. Its like perceving a dream in 3rd person, in that you watch, but in these you watch participate in 1st person but with the sense of 3rd person because you don't perceive it as being you...that probably makes no sense, but I'm not sure how else to describe it.

For this poll, I'm more curious about how you are externally perceived (gender, age, race), even though during these types of dreams, you still perceive yourself as 'you'. Its the outward component I'm curious about.

Well then if that is the case.  I have been many different "things".  Yeah that will do.  The forms I take in dreams are not limited to human or animal or even things that are even remotely physically possible.  I often shape shift as a means to complete whatever task I have in the dream.  Odd as it may sound I often am given tasks in dreams.  But I also dream of what I can only describe as past lives.  Whether or not they are I don't know but they are usually set in a roughly known historical setting.

The 1st/3rd person split perception is an interesting one to say the least.  I think of it as being much akin to playing games like "Diablo" or "WoW".  Your view on the game is third person but you know that the character you see is you and that you control it.  You will often hear it referred to as an observer dream, one where you just watch, and observer/participant, where you are in the dream and watching the dream at the same time.

What surprises (and saddens) me a little, is that all the dream characters I've met (i.e. those I don't know in real life), I only seem to meet once and they never appear again, even if within the dream we embraced as long lost close friends.

I also have lots of "silly" dreams.  Just the other night I was dreaming of my current partner.  However, he happened to take the form of a 4ft inflatable green frog - and I didn't think this was particularly unusual at the time.  It was most likely a trigger for lucidity that I totally ignored. 

One of the things that really really annoys me is that there is one place that I have been to a number of times in my dreams.   I know that a dream character I know lives there and that we are really good friends.  I know that we have shared much wisdom together, he helps me and I help him.  But I can never remember him being in any of my dreams.  I go to his house and he is never home.  I know he can help with some thing and I can never find him.  I need a dream cell phone.

I have lots of silly dreams too.  And it is amasing what your brain is will to accept while dreaming.

[Novice]

But I also dream of what I can only describe as past lives.  Whether or not they are I don't know but they are usually set in a roughly known historical setting.

I've experienced these as well. Like you, I'm assuming they are some sort of past-life reflection/memory, but I don't know for sure.

I think of it as being much akin to playing games like "Diablo" or "WoW".  Your view on the game is third person but you know that the character you see is you and that you control it.  You will often hear it referred to as an observer dream, one where you just watch, and observer/participant, where you are in the dream and watching the dream at the same time.

Never played Diablo or Wow, so I can't say there. As for the observer dream description, I've had these, but these are different than what I was explaining earlier. In these, I am watching 3rd person, but I'm watching myself do something. I think that's what you are describing, right? I've had a few of those.

But the other dream type that confuses my upon waking is when I'm in a setting with characters and the dream is playing out. I start out as character A and do something as that individual with character B nearby. Then I'm suddenly character B. I know I was just character A and that I'm now character B and I know what just happened. So now I react as character B (all 1st person POV). But as I'm behaving as each of these characters, I'm aware that its not me. Its almost like in waking life where you kinda stand back and observe yourself and others interacting. You watch yourself, but you are in 1st person at the time. I do this in these types of dreams, but I'm not myself in them. I am, however, aware that I'm assuming different characters and acting out as them. ....   ah, forget about this one...I find it confusing just trying to explain it!   

What surprises (and saddens) me a little, is that all the dream characters I've met (i.e. those I don't know in real life), I only seem to meet once and they never appear again, even if within the dream we embraced as long lost close friends.

I know what you mean. I've experienced this as well. In the dream its like you are brothers/sisters and haven't seen each other in so long. There is such joy and closeness. And then you wake up and wonder "who was that?"

I had something similar with a place once. I dreamt I was taking a tour of a castle in somewhere in England. I was walking on this tour and coming down a spiral staircase. As I look down, I see a beautiful, huge picture of a knight on horseback inlaid in to the floor. It takes up the entire room. I walk across the floor looking down and its as if I'm remembering the picture from somewhere. Then I look up and see a stone carving of a man sitting in a chair. The sculpture was sitting in the corner of the room. I immediately run and jump in to the chair and sit on the man's lap. I begin babbling about how I know this place. It used to be my grandmother's house. I tell people I used to sit on this chair all of the time and hide stuff in the one hidden section of the arm. I then look down and something I had hidden there as a child is still there. I take it out amazed that no one found it yet. Everyone is now looking at me strangely. I tell the tour guide that the chair used to be in front of the other wall and describe french doors that opened up to a small library off to the one side. The guide was standing there dumbfounded and said everything I said was true, but they had moved stuff around over the years.

I then woke up. But as I was waking up, I was so excited that I found the house I began mentally going over my schedule to see when I could go and visit. Then I realized I forgot where the house was. So I thought I would simply call my grandmother and ask her. Then I realized that niether one of my grandmother's lived in Europe nor owned a house like that. Finally after 5 minutes of being awake, I realized it was a dream. But it was SO real it was bizarre!

[Stookie]

My dreams vary quite a bit. I'm nearly always myself, but the locations are never from my life. Many times they are combinations of places I've been, like the town I grew up in mixed with where I live now. When I'm at a familiar house, it's laid out completely different. And I also have lots of dreams of futuristic/sci-fi cities that have lots of trains/trams & domes.

When I was about 7 or 8 I had a vivid dream that my parents were putting me up for adoption and I was going to live with another family. I woke up and went running into my parents room and it took them several minutes to convince me it was just a bad dream I had. I really thought they were sending me away!

[Nay]

I'm myself mostly different locations but have gone back to the same locations.  I've been a different sex..totally different locations from my normal life.  I've been different nationality in different locations.  I've been what I call the giant head, in different locations...usually an abserver when the giant head.

[Meneleus]

I've been thinking about this lately too as in my dreams I sometimes do not resemble my physical self.  I remember being a female one time, a young boy, and sometimes men with different faces (though usually the same age as myself now I think about it).

I also remember a dream where I wasn't in it at all, even as other people.  It was more like watching TV with other characters playing all the roles and realising none of them were myself.  Seemed quite normal so I just went with the flow and didn't worry about it.

I considered the idea it may be past incarnations influencing the unconscious during dreaming, but I don't think that's the case.  Other than being different people I always seem to be in the same time frame of existence - it's not like I'll be in the dark ages or something.

I've never looked into dream interpretations, but I'd hazard the guess it's a normal experience due to the mind being poor at visualisation.  Even in a waking state, it's very difficult to picture yourself accurately in your imagination.  Whenever I look in a mirror, I'll think "Oh yeah, that's how I look."  You can instantly recognise people upon seeing them, but trying to visualise them, or yourself, is another matter entirely. 

So maybe it is just the imagination being limited by the contraint of visualisation.

Meneleus.

[Flannery]

I've never looked into dream interpretations, but I'd hazard the guess it's a normal experience due to the mind being poor at visualisation.  Even in a waking state, it's very difficult to picture yourself accurately in your imagination.  Whenever I look in a mirror, I'll think "Oh yeah, that's how I look."  You can instantly recognise people upon seeing them, but trying to visualise them, or yourself, is another matter entirely.

Interesting observation. I do also look different, but I know that it's still me being either prettier or uglier. If I am uglier, one of my features which I don't like will be exagerated.

[skydust]

ive had dreams where im a male, and i think occasionally ive looked diffrent but i didnt think much of it at the time, more like, thats weird, oh well... 

i rarely dream in my everyday environments but the people in my dreams are often people i know in real life, or just unkown props people who dont really have much purpose except to fill the scene.. ive had the viewer thing happen, where i am watching and starring in the dream at the same time, i think usually its like that actually, both at once.

[Astir]

Pretty much I am myself, but just in different bodies...my age, sex, and race always changes. But various physical characteristics do not define me, even in dreams I don't see such things as defining. Somehow I'm comfortable in all the bodies I dream, it's never awkward or even noticeable. In very profound dreams I am closest to this body, very occasional dreams. Sometimes I am nothing, just watching everything.

I like being a male. which is only half the time.

I don't like being a pregnant woman.

I am seldom an animal. Actually I can only remember two occasions...once a baby horse, once a panther.

There are only three places I return to. My hometown, Zion canyon, the forest behind my old house. The rest of the time the places are always different, never the same. I guess I should also count Egypt and India...I go to those countries often, but in another time.

[Awakened_Mind]

Very interesting thread. I never really thought it differed with people.

I am always myself, sometimes in unfamiliar situations with unfamiliar people. I have never had a dream where I am someone or anything else.

-AM

[3588897]

I am almost never myself in dreams anymore. Usually I'm always someone living in a time that seems to be 50 to 2000 years ago, which is almost 80% of the time. Then 10 percent of the time I don't even have a body, by which I mean I'm just a floating blob of consciousness viewing a scene as it happened. Then the other 10 percent of the time I'm myself in this time in a body that look similar to this one and in either a different time or I'm myself in this time floating over then ocean looking for something.