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Volume 13: Number 1: Article 6
Dreaming Consciousness: More Than a Bit Player in the Search for Answers to the Mind/Body Problem
Montague Ullman, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, 55 Orlando Ave., Ardsley, NY 10502
What has not yet come clearly into focus in the current exploration
of the mind/body problem is how the unique features of dreaming consciousness
might contribute to the ongoing dialogue. Following a brief historical
perspective, a theory of dreaming as nocturnal social vigilance is presented
that takes into account both the genetic and social imperatives that
shape the dream. The unique features of the dream are reviewed in the
light of this approach. Organized outside the space, time and causality
frame of waking thought, the dream takes on a presentational form and
displays as metaphorical visual imagery the impact of recent feeling
residues, their connection to the past, and their implications for current
and future behavior. The genetic imperative makes its presence felt
through the intrinsic honesty of these nocturnal confrontations, their
concern with how genuinely connected we are with our past and with our
way of relating to others. Through both its biological and social determinants,
the ultimate concern of dreaming is with the unity of the species and
its survival.
In a final section, analogies are noted between the interplay of waking
and dreaming consciousness and some of the basic concepts of quantum
mechanics. These include complementarity, uncertainty, interconnectedness
and non-locality.
Keywords: dreaming consciousness, quantum correlations
FULL TEXT:
Dreaming Consciousness: More Than a Bit Player in the Search for Answers to the Mind/Body Problem
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