why a lack of skepticism in dreams?

[dsayers]

I had a dream earlier where I was able to fly. My first try, it didn't work. I had to toggle something on a watch I was wearing or something like that. Then I was able to fly. I had a hard time steering as it was my first time ever flying (not in dreams, but within this dream). What kind of surprises me in hindsight is that in the moment, I was aware of the fact that I had never flown before. Yet my ability to fly didn't strike me as the least bit odd.

 

Given how skeptical I am when awake, I'm a bit surprised by this lack of skepticism in my dream. Was it just because I had accepted is a function of the construct which was my dream--in that moment, my reality? Near as I can tell, this is pretty normal within my own dreams; Things which would be fantastical to the point of incredible in the real world, I just somehow accept while I'm dreaming. Was wondering if anybody's done any studying in this are could perhaps shed some light on this curiosity.

[WasatchMan]

My guess is it would have to do with the evolutionary function of dreaming. 

 

It is thought that one of the functions is to allow us to stay in deep sleep where the brain is able to be doing many other important functions like creating memories and integrating information. Therefore, your brain is in a state where it is able to just flow through thoughts without consciously stopping and analyzing them. I would guess that allowing the analytical/critical part of the brain to work wouldn't allow your brain to be completing the other functions it is while you are sleeping.  Also, if being able to be skeptical during dreams actually caused you to wake, it would counteract the evolved reason for dreaming in the first place and therefore we would probably have developed another mechanism to keep us asleep other than dreaming.

 

In other words, you are not being skeptical while dreaming because you are trying to sleep.

 

Obviously a lot of speculation here, but it would be the place I would start looking for the reason.

[MrCapitalism]

Perhaps your experience of skepticism is similar to possessing the ability to fly. Skepticism has an aspect of observation, of 'watching' others; this might be symbolized by needed to use a watch for flight. You said in the dream this was your first time flying, is there some aspect of your life in which you've recently grown?

 

I think we have a very strong model for dream interpretation, in that nothing is given, and everything in the dream is chosen on purpose from an infinite of possibilities. The key is to answer the question of why the particulars were chosen. It's as if a dream is an internal conversation, with messages communicated through all of the senses.

[TheRobin]

I think the answer might be really basic: If it doesn't feel wrong, there's no trigger that makes one investigate. Also the whole dream environment (i.e. the other people there) usually don't stare at you in confusion and wonder once you start hovering around, so there's also no social cue that would indicate that something weird is going on. 

[Donnadogsoth]

It might be due to a lack of free will in dreams.  In a dream one is basically like an animal, wandering through life in a way that might be wondrous to experience, but which lacks wonder, so to speak.  Lacking one's freedom of will one goes with the flow, acting but not contemplating.

[dsayers]

Thanks for the feedback. After thinking more about it, I don't know for sure whether I've flown in dreams or not. I do know that in that particular dream, it felt VERY accomplished being able to do so. So if I have dreamt it before, it wasn't as meaningful.

 

I was aware of the theory that dreams are the interpretation of the conscious's view of the subconscious filing data away at a rate it's not equipped to interpret. I was also familiar with the idea that everything in our dream is us, and therefore likely meaningful.

 

One thing that occurred to me after I asked the question was that a lack of skepticism is probably very necessary. If we were not skeptical in our dreams, our dreams would be terrifying as they would serve to usurp the stability we enjoy from the consistency of the real world. We would likely become risk averse to the point of stagnating into extinction.

 

Thanks again for the interaction. Dreams have fascinated me ever since as a very young boy, I experienced a fever so severe that I was hallucinating. That or my parents had given me acid, but I don't think that's probable. And I've always enjoyed having a very lively dream life. I usually reflect more on periods of little dreaming than I do on the dreams that I do have.

 

There was "one" dream that I've focused on because it's the only recurring theme I've ever had in my dreams. When I first started carrying a gun (I was delivering pizzas in a bad part of town), the local gun community did that whole macho ribbing me because I went with a small caliber (I was under the misgiving that smaller guns were easier to conceal). The first time I was in a position where I needed it, I didn't reach for it. Because those same people had also given me the anxiety that in the event you need to use it, there's going to be a hotshot prosecutor who will try to punish you despite you being the victim. Well, the "gentleman" forcing my hand was literally approaching me with the communicated intent to assault over a 2 liter. In the moment, I had sort of decided I'd rather get my ass beat by somebody twice my size than have to face being accused of shooting somebody over a 2 liter (which wouldn't have been accurate, but that wouldn't have helped). As luck would have it, due to an unrelated incident, a cop just happened to pull up at that exact moment.

 

Still, I was sick to my stomach for THREE DAYS straight. This was like 4 days before xmas that year and I was spending that time with friends and family, trying to again feel normal. Part of the trauma in the experience was being forced into a position where I had too choose whether to pull a gun on another human being. There's been a few other times since, and it never feels normal, but this was the first, so it was new to me. But the other component was that I had literally overrode my own survival instinct for the sake of what somebody MIGHT do to me later on IF I survived. After all, if he had assaulted me and came to find I had a gun on me, it could've gotten a LOT worse.

 

As a result, I started having dreams where I needed to use my gun, drew it, shot my attacker multiple times, but with no effect. This stemmed both from the fact that my attacker that night was twice my size (and body mass does contribute to the ability to take a shot) and from being harangued for carrying a small caliber. Also because I had never witnessed first hand the effects of a bullet on soft tissue. Luckily, I was finally able to go shooting someplace that allowed reactive targets and took a bunch of melons up there. Seeing the tool I trust my life with actually do some serious damage helped to almost completely eliminate those dreams altogether.

 

Anyways, thanks for allowing this lengthy personal sharing. Don't mean to derail the topic for others interested in the titular question.

[twinklingwinter]

Funny I just read this. I just had a dream where I saw a monster, "Monsters, Inc" style just wandering around in a realistic setting (a small village my mom used to live), and in the dream I wasn't surprised at all. It was the only otherworldly thing in the dream that I can remember (though I do remember other really strange stuff). This dream fit the pattern of a series of dreams that I've been having, of being chased by a mob, for some reason. I think it has to do with me joining FDR and becoming an anarchist (I think you know why I think this is the most likely cause)...

 

As to WHY there is a lack of skepticism in dreams, I can't say. I'd lean to WasatchMan's answer.