Sleep research

I recently listened to a podcast on the subject of dreams and was once again very surprised. The head of the sleep laboratory in Mannheim says that anyone can train themselves to remember dreams. At least I can, so that's true. But what really surprises me is the reduction of dreams to the subconscious. Dreams would only use stronger images to draw our attention to working on something that we neglect in our waking consciousness. It's a pity and sad, and at the same time indicative of how pathetic this idea is.

I'm thinking about it again today because I'm back in the Upanishads read. The short Mandukya Upanishad speaks of four states of consciousness: Vaishvanara (the outward-turned senses), Taijasa (the inward-turned senses in the sense of contemplation or daydreaming, or dream), Prajna (deep sleep, i.e., unconscious unity), and Turiya (the superconscious state, infinite peace, boundless love). I was so impressed by this that I had to sleep the whole day at first.

Sleeping

I often told the people with whom I spent loving nights that for me, sleeping is consciousness research. I don't think anyone ever took me seriously. And I didn't take myself as seriously as I should have. I always had to think of Marcel Proust's ‚In Search of Lost Time.‘ The first chapter of 'Swann's Way' describes waking up and consciously lingering in this in-between world of waking. This world is a very special place for Proust, and that has stayed with me ever since. I didn't read more than the first 4-5 pages, because everything seemed to be said there. I then dedicated the second half of my studies to the philosophy of consciousness. I understood many things for the first time while sleeping.

In the Upanishads, sleep is a meaningful access to the world, to the self of the world, in which we are not separate. Immortality is the state of deep meditation. Mastering dreams brings us closer to the Self, to Brahman. At the same time, I am now reading Satprem, I find him a bit suspect, but his description of what happens in the different stages of meditation and forms of consciousness speaks to me from the heart. For Satprem and Sri Aurobindo, the core of meditation is to quiet the mind. Only when it is calm and no longer resists Brahman is it possible to allow the organizing power of consciousness. Thinking only interferes with this. This also happens in sleep and in dreams.

I see a counter-proposal here to sleep labs, which try to instrumentalize dreams for the efficiency machine of value creation. Rather, dreams give us access to consciousness, which far surpasses our petty sense of duty.

Sleep is wonderful, it unites us with the self. It is a high form of cognition.

Happy Diwali

Diwali