The ‘Slowed Down’ Dream Sensation

[Leo Volont]

The 'Slowed Down' Dream Sensation

You know that feeling in a dream when you can't seem to move, or that your legs seem to feel as though they are made of lead?  I've been telling people that this is a "Face Your Fear" kind of dream.  You need to turn around and either fight or die, but in either case, your fear will be conquered.  And if you die, you won't stay dead anyway.

But in this Post I would like to address the Heavy Slowed-Down Feeling.  If you would turn around you would notice that EVERYTHING is slowed down, even your enemy!  What does this mean?  It means that your mind is operating with a different sense of Time, or with a Greater Resolution of Time – more Cognitive Points are going into each Moment, making it seem as though Time is taking longer to happen.  But it is a good thing.  In effect it is giving you longer to see what is going on, and it is giving you more effective time to react appropriately.  

For instance, I had a dream in which a pickup truck full of Redneck Republicans pulled up – two in the cab and three in the truckbed.  And they wanted to kill me.  I went into that Heavy Slowed-Down Feeling but I could see what was going on, and I instantly knew I could take advantage of it.  So I charged at them.  It seemed like it was taking forever to get to the truck, but I was using the extra 'time' to concentrate every bit of my strength into the muscles of my legs.  The 5 Rednecks seemed almost not to move at all.  They slowly came to look at me charging them.  There was fear in THEIR eyes.  I jumped up onto the Cab and despite their swinging chains and hammers at me, I was able to allude them – I had all the time in the world to see what was coming and how to either duck or evade, while being able to deliver my blows with the utmost precision.  My tour de force was when I did a backflip from the truck bed and came down with a foot each on the shoulders of two of the Rednecks who had been off to the side, and as it crushed them downward, I brought my fists swinging through to strike them in the sides of their head – clearing them away so that I might land on my feet.

The very moment they were all down, and I was safe, the time 'slowdown' (or 'speedup' depending on how you look at it)  ended.

The phenomena was portrayed well enough in the first Spiderman Movie which showed that,  while to everyone else's sense of time, he seemed lightning fast, to his own perceptions things were moving at the easiest of paces.

I believe that Time Speedup Phenomena actually comes to help, in a pinch.  I've been in several motorcycle accidents – they go by in a blur but then I realize that I am on my feet.  Witnesses say that they saw me spin through the air and hit the ground rolling only to spring up and land on my feet and run off the remaining momentum.  To me it was only a blur in which I found myself afterward on my feet.  

It is my hunch that Martial Artists, Athletes and perhaps even musicians make use of this phenomena.  Just screwing around with Musical Keyboard for years, and with Dance Juggling in my youth, every once in awhile you notice that you have just done a New Thing – faster than the speed of thought, but still at some level it came from some measured perception and conscious response.

[Sampson]

It is my hunch that Martial Artists, Athletes and perhaps even musicians make use of this phenomena.

I have heard of sports personalities talk about similar experiences where their focus and attention became extremely acute during a very involving game or event.

One account I remember hearing is that of seasoned tennis players who have described being so focused during a game that time appears to slow down and that the focus of their attention, the ball, appears to grow in size and take on the dimensions of a football.

S

[Tony M.]

I read somewhere that snails only experience a third of a second in a second. They have another perception of time. We see them as slow but the snails themselves experience it as fast.

Maybe the perception of time depends on what age a species can reach. It could be that ants for example experience their months the same as we experience years.

[wisp]

Leo Volont,
I witnessed a motorcyclist get hit by a pickup truck one day. While in mid air from the impact the guy seemed to become a collection of little dots forming a round shape.It was as if he made some kind of temporary transfiguration. He landed many yards away, and his injuries seemed minor for the distance he had traveled. It looked like it was in slow motion to me.

Could the slow motion be a chance to construct something last minute (quick thinking)?

If your going too slow for what is coming up behind you, isn't that something "catching up with you"?

[Leo Volont]

Leo Volont,
If your going too slow for what is coming up behind you, isn't that something "catching up with you"?

For all the times that I've heard of people running from terror in their dreams, I have heard of relatively few instances of anybody ever being 'caught'.  The idea of stopping and turning around is simply intended to bring this entire Dream Motif to a conclusion.

Letting oneself be killed, in a dream, although it has no lasting harmful consequences, seems to be extremely passive.  Fighting back has been very successful for some people.  Sometimes just touching the Enemy is enough to entirely disarm and transform them -- I have had both kinds of dreams -- in which tenacity in a long drawn out fight allows me to eventually prevail, and also where simply reaching out and touching the Malevolent Being transmutes it to something positive, or at least non-threatening.

But the Slow Down Phenomena only seems to kick in during life threatening episodes.  Perhaps that is the breakthrough athletes are able to make, to convince their bodies that the games they play are a matter of real Life or Death.

[wisp]

Leo Volont, your quote:

But the Slow Down Phenomena only seems to kick in during life threatening episodes. Perhaps that is the breakthrough athletes are able to make, to convince their bodies that the games they play are a matter of real Life or Death.

I have to agree. This slowed time directs us to look at the situation more than the people around us, imo.

[geoff]

In my personal experience, dreams cannot run in a linear timeline.

How many time have you [nobody specifically] woken and recalled your dream, filling in the gaps and placing a timeline on it.

Dreams, in my experience, are experiential and perspective-based. So any kind of slow-down is in your own 'eyes'.

Reality gives the same result in times of trauma or extreme.

In a dream, you experience everything at once, and when you wake you place a timeline to it. In the dream, the only time you place upon it is based on your perspective and awareness.

G

[Leo Volont]

In my personal experience, dreams cannot run in a linear timeline.

How many time have you [nobody specifically] woken and recalled your dream, filling in the gaps and placing a timeline on it.


G

That's odd.  My dreams work with a linear time line.  I've read dozens of books about dreaming and they all describe dreams in terms of linear time progression.  I've talked with hundreds of people about their dreams and they describe their dreams as though they go linearly through time.  

It seems likely that you have a scattered memory of your dreams.  When you develop a more coherent dream memory, I'm sure your sense of linear time will improve.

[geoff]

Leo,

My Dream Memory is perfectly coherent, and once again you have discounted the experience of someone.

My observations of Non-linear time have been made on many seperate occasions, both during a Vivid/Lucid dream, and afterwards.

Linear time is applied to a dream when you become aware of it, or when you recall it upon waking. This is a function of our linear perspective of time.

However, during my dreams, I experience many different things at once, then seem to almost 'sort them' into a sequence. Yes, this can occur either during the dream or upon waking.

In addition, I have experienced a kind of 'instant visual recal' inside a dream. This is where my attention is drawn to a person or place, and I instantly re-visit a memory of that person or place, but whith no pause in the 'active' dream, or any time passing in that dream.

I've read many of things, by many of people, on many subjects. I don't discount the knowlege that it has brought me, but I do however beleive that a truth is personal, and experience is more valuable that knowlege.

So I stand by my original post, and ask you kindly to not discredit anyones experiences based on your own perspective.

Geoff

[Leo Volont]

Leo,

My Dream Memory is perfectly coherent, and once again you have discounted the experience of someone.


Geoff

I'm sorry, but in this field of Study, so close to New Age popular occultism, there are many people who simply try to get by on fictions and fabrications... trying to make themselves seem important and incredibly advanced.

The one check that we all have against being imposed upon by such people is to say "No!  I don't think so.  I have never experienced anything like that myself, and think that you must be making it all up".

Besides, if Dream Information is processed by the Left Side of the Brain it will automatically be constructed to appear Linear, no?  If you indeed have non-linear Dreams, it is perhaps because you are using only half your Brains.

[geoff]

I'm sorry, but in this field of Study, so close to New Age popular occultism, there are many people who simply try to get by on fictions and fabrications... trying to make themselves seem important and incredibly advanced

Leo,

I'm not quite sure what you are driving at with this remark. Are you inferring that I am somehow trying to deceive people, simply by sharing a personal experience?

The one check that we all have against being imposed upon by such people is to say "No! I don't think so. I have never experienced anything like that myself, and think that you must be making it all up".

That of course is your right as an idividual. However, I stand by my experience; and by the same token, do not expect it to be 'right' or common. It is just *my* experience.

Besides, if Dream Information is processed by the Left Side of the Brain it will automatically be constructed to appear Linear, no? If you indeed have non-linear Dreams, it is perhaps because you are using only half your Brains

I am unsure if this was meant as a compliment or insult; as science estimates we are currently using less than 25% of our brain, to say I am using only half.....

There is much ongoing debate regarding the source and implication of dreams (and for that matter, *any* 'spiritual' state). So to restrict the activities within a dream to the processing capacities of the brain simply re-inforces my initial observation: Upon waking or gaining awareness within a dream, linear time is applied. (I say again, "In my experience")

I apologise if that disagrees with your research, and I don't portend to be an expert in this field.

I am however aware of myself.

Kind regards,

Geoff

[wisp]

geoff,
For what it's worth. I've read that both kinds of dreams have merit. Linear dreaming is connected with prophetic dreaming, so is what you describe as layered dreaming. There seems to be less information about layered dreaming from my experience. I understand what your saying because I seem to have layered dreams.

[Leo Volont]

Leo,

I'm not quite sure what you are driving at with this remark. Are you inferring that I am somehow trying to deceive people, simply by sharing a personal experience?

Geoff

You are taking this much too personally.  But you should realized that I do not know you.  We have not been introduced.  I do not know whether you are trying to impress us with fictions or not.  But what I DO KNOW is that what you say simply does not ring true to my own experience, or, I should say, none of my SOBER experiences.  What's more, I would think that a linear presentation of data that can be communicated using ordinary communications skills is preferrable to your non-linear hodgepodge.  This leads me to suspect that although your experiences may be true, that they were perhaps aborted out early before they could be processed completely by your mental functions.  Yes, pathologies do exist, but I see no reason to recommend them over healthier and more complete Experiences.

So there.

[geoff]

Hi Leo,

I apologise if recent posts have been somewhat personal. I do not mean to undermine your origional post, nor discredit your observations. I could probably have made myself clearer, but I dislike it when mine, or anyone elses, input is flatly rejected simply because it does not 'match present data'. I was hoping to engage in more of a discussion, than a slagging match.

All I was merely driving at with my post, is that the linear observation of time within a dream is a function of ones perception. However, the dream itself does not necessarily run in a linear time, only ones observation of it.

In place of 'Linear Time', maybe I should have said 'Normal Time'.

Dreams are capable of speeding up and slowing down in accordance with ones observations and level of awareness (again, this is just me talking about my observations of my own dream experiences)

I'll offer the following as my reasoning:

'Normal Time' is measured (in simplistic terms) using an Atomic clock, where the frequency of the vibration of Atoms is used to define a time interval. http://science.howstuffworks.com/atomic-clock1.htm

However, there are an infinite number of 'intervals' between the recognised units used to measure time.

Now we know that time is measured as a fixed unit, we know that 'Time' cannot change in those terms; the atoms will not change thier vibrational speed (unless we delve into Quantum Mechanics, with the theory of 'observation affecting reality', but that is a whole different conversation)

So now we come back to our observation of time.

Our brain filters out more information than it processes, and it also fills in gaps in what it receives. All of which is outside of our 'normal' control. TVs take advantage of this fact, transmitting what appear to be moving images, but at a much slower frame rate (between 30 and 60 Frames per second). Reality of course, is analogue, and so there is an infinite number of 'frames' to any scene. It is our brains that 'slice it up' for processing.

So in states of heightened awareness, I would liken it to increasing the frame rate that the brain accepts, and we receive and process that extra information.

Going back to films, it would be like having a variable shutter-speed camera filming a scene, speeding up and slowing down. The speed of the action doesn't change, just the amount of detail that is captured by the camera. Now when that film is played back at a fixed speed (as our brains would do with the extra information) the scene will appear to slow down and speed up.

So simply by receiving more 'frames per second' time appears to slow down.

Again, this is just my observation and associated reasoning. I offer it for general critisism. I don't claim to be correct, but it holds true for me.

I hope this makes sense, and I would welcome any constructive critisism.

Kind regards,

Geoff

[Leo Volont]

Hi Leo....

....So in states of heightened awareness, I would liken it to increasing the frame rate that the brain accepts, and we receive and process that extra information.

Going back to films, it would be like having a variable shutter-speed camera filming a scene, speeding up and slowing down. The speed of the action doesn't change, just the amount of detail that is captured by the camera. Now when that film is played back at a fixed speed (as our brains would do with the extra information) the scene will appear to slow down and speed up.  

kind regards,

Geoff

Yeah!  Exactly.  Time as Rate does not change -- the number of clicks the Atomic Clock makes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun does not change by even a nanosecond.  But the perceptual resolution can be increased so that MORE PERCEIVED AWARENESS is stuffed into each discreet moment.

So, for all the fighting we did, it turns out that you have the best conceptual picture of what I was trying to communicate.  I myself would have taken a shot at giving a precise conceptual description of what exactly happens in the Mind to generate the 'Slow Down' but was afraid that it would come across as mind-numbing detail, and resolved to address the issue of 'dynamics' only if a question were asked.  But you explained it all quite perfectly... you even used the same examples I would have used.

[geoff]

So, for all the fighting we did, it turns out that you have the best conceptual picture of what I was trying to communicate.

Well I'm not sure if this is a lesson for you, or me, or both.

Sometimes it serves to explain yourself fully in the beginning.

Sometimes it serves to explain yourself fully at the end.

It always serves to explain yourself clearly.

Kind regards,

Geoff

[geoff]

For instance, I had a dream in which a pickup truck full of Redneck Republicans pulled up

You may also wish to avoid personalising and alienating anyone, with comments like these.

I'd be happy to expand off-list.

Kind regards,

Geoff

[Telos]

I have had the slowed-down experience, but also something which appears to be its opposite, which is a problem with inertia.

I would be running along a path and try to turn at a corner, except I'd just sort of keep on floating on my original vector and it takes a tremendous amount of effort not to lose control and be whipped around like a plastic bag.

[geoff]

A strange Signature to be sure

Are you describing a sensation of running in syrup (like the wind around you is thick like glycarine), or a feeling a slowed down inertia (you still put the same force into the action, and so even though it's slowed down, you cannot stop the results)

Kind regards,

Geoff

[Telos]

More like what you call a "slowed down inertia," for I make the appropriate force to turn myself, it's just that momentum continues.

It's strange, my feet get a good plant in the ground (so they're not slipping) but the rest of my perception doesn't respect this, and I still have the feeling that I am moving [edit: and I continue to see myself moving]

I suppose it's like spinning until you get really dizzy, and you feel like you're still moving even though you're certain that you've stopped?

I find it incredibly frustrating when I'm becoming aware of the dream and trying to achieve lucidity, but my perception of the environment is such that I feel my pereptions are disabled.

[Leo Volont]

For instance, I had a dream in which a pickup truck full of Redneck Republicans pulled up

You may also wish to avoid personalising and alienating anyone, with comments like these.

I'd be happy to expand off-list.

Kind regards,

Geoff

Yeah, I certainly would hate to alienate people that I wish would vanish off the face of the Earth!

No, indeed, ... ostracization has always been a tool society has used to indicate when proper bounds have been crossed.  And Ridicule has always been the mildest means of hinting at such Ostracization.  Now,  do you not suppose the Republican's declaring War against All Humanity is in a sense socially improper?

Besides the description of my Dream was entirely accurate.  Afterall, we have it for a fact from every exit poll... that not a single stupid Redneck in the Entire Nation of America voted Democratic.  It was in 100% unanimity that the Violent, Ignorant and socially maladjusted voted for the Republican Party.

If they do not like who they are, then they should change.  It should not be for us to pretend that they are not reprehensible.

[geoff]

Well Leo,

I shall say only this.

As a living breathing UK resident, born in Australia; I couldn't give a bonk. Sorry, but truthful.

Your own bigotry and prejudice has finally shown itself, unless these posts get deleted (which I truthfully pressume they will)

You have issues my friend. You have some class ideas in your head, but you have real problems expressing them. Open up and let the water run over your conjealed fat!

I am not insulting you; I have to use that same line on myself daily!

bonk knows what this post was about, for some reason I just want to grump-slap you back to yourself!

G

[geoff]

P.S. [edit]

[Leo Volont]

Well Leo,

I shall say only this.

As a living breathing UK resident, born in Australia; I couldn't give a [edit]. Sorry, but truthful.

Your own bigotry and prejudice has finally shown itself, unless these posts get deleted (which I truthfully pressume they will)

You have issues my friend. You have some class ideas in your head, but you have real problems expressing them. Open up and let the water run over your conjealed fat!

I am not insulting you; I have to use that same line on myself daily!

[edit] knows what this post was about, for some reason I just want to [edit]-slap you back to yourself!

G

It shows how out of touch you are that you accuse a Democrat of being Bigoted.  You got quite the wrong party if that is the way you want to go.

Maybe you should pick up a newspaper and see which way the bigots voted.

But what use is it speaking to a UK Resident who was born in Australia... no better than Colonies to the USA nowadays.  I suppose you must stickup for your Emperor George Bush.  I guess I should consider myself lucky that I had an opportunity to vote against him.  You UK People have to go off and fight his Wars but have no choice in the matter.  

But you don't seem to mind.  How about your friends who have to go off and die for America and George Bush?

But I know how you English must sympathize with anybody who would want to wage an Eternal War against the rest of Humanity.   Not happy unless you are fighting a War or provoking one.