Blogpost 7: Alice in Wonderland: Truth in A Dream?

Alice, The White Rabbit, The Queen of Hearts, The King of Hearts, The Chesire Cat, The Duchess, The Catterpillar, The Mad Hatter & The March Hare... These are some characters from the popular American animated fantasy-adventure film, Alice in Wonderland. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and it was primarily based on Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass. It's about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world with peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. She went to so much adventures but in the end, her sister wakes her up and she realizes that everything was just a dream.

I was never a fan of this movie but I've always find the main character, Alice, so cute & adorable. I've always been scared of it's story, being alone somewhere and meeting weird talking creatures. I never even watched the whole film until now but I always thought there may be something else behind the characters and the story because it's just too weird. I kept thinking that there must be a mystery or another meaning behind it or it might also represent something and after doing some research, I guess I was right.

There are a lot of things that people claim about the meaning of Alice in Wonderland but I found this article entitled A Dream That Tells The Truth: Alice in Wonderland by Hayden Butler in the site called Evangelical Outpost. In this article, you will find out about how the movie offers a fanciful study in dreaming. According to the author, as Alice roam around the strange world, she wondered if what she was seeing is real or it was just a figment of her imagination. The Mad Hatter helped resolve this paradox when he said to Alice "Well, if I'm part of your dream, and I'm half mad, that means that you must be half-mad to have dreamt me up!". Having said this, we come to understand that Wonderland is a dream that tells Alice something true about herself. By this, Alice is exhorted to find her imagination and be willing to dream. Another fascinating theme in the film that the author discussed is in the 'Oraculum', a scroll that shows what will happen during each day of Wonderland, past, present, and future. It's fascinating because of its allusion to a long-standing tradition of dream-theory. In the middle ages, a philosopher name Macrobius wrote a treatise about dreams, categorizing them according to their varying characteristics. One such category was termed 'Oraculum'—from the same roots as our term 'oracle'—and referred to a dream that tells accurate information of the future. As such, when the films refers to this idea, it is making the provocative claim to it's audience that not all dreams are fictions. In the world of the film, prophecy is portrayed as a type of dreaming, but a dream that tells true things about the world.

"The film ends with the sentiment that all the greatest people of history were dreamers, were half-mad, were willing to live with one foot in our world and one in Wonderland."

I really find this quote very nice. For me, it means to be a great dreamer you should be willing to take risks, you should think that a thing that may seem impossible may actually be possible, something unreachable may actually be reachable just like what it's like in Wonderland but at the same time, you should also think about reality or our real world.

I guess some people may think cartoons or films like these are just for kids but sometimes, we should care to look deeper or try to understand what they really mean or what they may represent and we would really be amazed on the things we may found out.

Blogpost 6: A Nightmare on Elm Street: Nightmares

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American horror film that is a remake of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name. The story revolves around several teenagers who are stalked and killed in their dreams by an enigmatic man named Freddy Krueger. The teenagers were not aware about the cause of this strange phenomenon but their parents hold a dark secret about this from the past.

This is a movie that really scared the crap out of me. Just imagine having a killer in your dreams and you can't get rid of him because you need to sleep every night to rest and you just dream about him every time. You will need to fight him, run as fast as you can and get away from him every night in your dreams just to stay alive. Well, that would just be so difficult and you probably won't be able to rest and sleeping would just be harder than being awake. This movie also made me wonder what is a nightmare really all about and what can we do about it?

According to the article entitled Common Questions About Nightmares by International Association for the Study of Dreams, a nightmare is a very distressing dream which usually forces at least partial awakening. The dreamer may feel any of the following emotions in a nightmare: anger, guilt, sadness or depression. The most common feelings are fear and anxiety. Just about everyone has this at one time or another, although they are less common in adults. Some nightmares can be caused by certain drugs or medications or it can also be by illness and fever. Many people experience nightmares after they have suffered a traumatic event, such as surgery, the loss of a loved one, an assault or a severe accident. Other people experience this when they are undergoing stress in their waking lives. Finally, some people experience frequent nightmares that seem unrelated to their waking lives. These people tend to be more creative, sensitive, trusting and emotional than average. 

"It may be surprising to learn that many people are not really disturbed by their nightmares, even though the experiences themselves are distressing. Research has shown that about half of people who have quite frequent nightmares regard them as fascinating and creative acts of their minds, and either view them as very interesting or dismiss them as 'just dreams'. This illustrates the fact that one's attitude toward nightmares is quite important."

I believe that a person's attitude toward anything, not just nightmares, is really important. It always falls down on how we look at things and how we take them. Just like in nightmares, sometimes, I feel like it's just a mindset that we shouldn't get affected by tit because they're just dreams. If you think your nightmares are frequent, too disturbing or distressing, consulting a therapist would be good. You should never hesitate to consult a therapist, if you really need one. 

I believe that nightmares can be lessened or even prevented if only people are knowledgeable about it. Movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street may be really scary but just like what I always say, movies are just for entertainment. So, next time you watch a movie like this, you should keep in mind that it's not true and you shouldn't really be scared of it. 

Blogpost 5: Insidious Chapter 2 & Astral Projection Myths

Insidious Chapter 2 is an American supernatural horror film and a sequel to the 2011 movie Insidious. It's still about the husband and wife who seek for a way to reveal the secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world. This movie was a box-office success, grossing nearly 26 times its' production budget. After the movie's success, more speculation about astral projection came out because it was still a big part of the movie just like in Insidious.

I've read and heard so many things about this movie and astral projection but just like others, it left me with so questions again. Although I'm really curious about it, I kept wishing before not to experience such thing because I always hated the feeling of being alone and helpless, that's why just thinking of how astral projection happened in the movie just scared the crap out of me.

While surfing the internet about astral projection, I came across this article entitled The Movie Insidious Misrepresented Astral Projection by Astral Jerry in the site called Astral Projection Guides and I was amazed about what I read. The author discussed about a few myth about astral projection in the movie. The first thing he discussed was when leaving the body, you cannot get lost & not return. According to him, we never leave the body alone or as an empty shell. A complete copy of our energy stays with our body and another complete copy goes out to explore. There is also what we call an Astral Cord or a Silver Cord, as what others call it, which binds the two bodies together and provides a quick return when needed. So, it's not possible to get lost. He also discussed about the already existing fear which many people had been concerned after watching the movie, astral projection possession. This is also not possible because just like what he said about the Astral Cord, we never actually leave the body, a portion of our energy stays behind with the body the whole time and if something malevolent gets near you, the energy will pull you back in a split second and within moments, you will be wide awake.

"If astral projection is openly discussed among the masses; I believe progress was made. The fear created from the movie can easily be transcended through a little inquiry into the subject."

I totally agree with the author about this. Even though astral projection or it's portrayal in the movie is incorrect, the movie really made the people wonder or believe that we our more than our physical bodies. Some may still find astral projection impossible but a lot of people became interested about it and some even believed it because of the movie.

I also found an article entitled Astral Projection Myths also by Astral Jerry from the same site like the one above. In this article, he shared more myths about astral projection as what the title states. Here are a few more myths from the author that were not discussed in the first article:

You have to be healthy to astral travel.
Your diet doesn't affect astral travel. You do not have to be in good shape to be able to travel out of the body. A lot of people even report that spontaneous out-of-the body experiences happens more when sick or in poor health.

Astral travel is not safe.
Remember that astral travel is a natural process that may happen every night to someone. It is not dangerous because it's just like going to sleep and having a dream.

Is astral projection a sin?
Astral travel is not evil. Again, it's a natural process. Most people are just not aware of it. It has nothing to do with good or bad.

Only a master or an enlightened person can astral travel.
Astral travel can happen to anyone. Any gender, age, race, rich or poor, good or bad, it doesn't matter who you are.

I've learned more a lot about astral projection through this article. It also made me realize that I shouldn't be scared of it because it's not harmful at all. I actually got enlightened from what I researched and it's nice to know that it's just something that may happen to anyone. Some may gain control and become lucid in an astral projection experience with a little training though. Now, I just really think it's awesome to experience an astral projection.

After reading the articles, I realized that we should keep in mind that movies are really just for entertainment. If you're interested in astral projection or if you want to experience it, don't let the movies fool or mislead you.

Blogpost 1: Inception: A Lucid Dreaming Movie?

Inception, it is a science fiction film that is written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The movie revolves around a thief named Dom Cobb who commits espionage or obtaining information that is considered a secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. He does this by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He was offered to regain his old life & reunite with his family as a payment for a task that seemed to be impossible: 'Inception', the implantation of the idea of someone else into a target's subconscious. So, instead of stealing information, he will be doing the opposite, planting one.

After watching this movie, I can say that lucid dreaming had a very big part in it. Lucid dreaming is when you can consciously control your dreams or when you are aware that you are dreaming. I've experienced lucid dreaming several times before but it wasn't as amazing as the dreams you see in this movie and of course, I'm not a talented lucid dreamer like Dom Cobb. Although the words 'lucid dreaming' were not mentioned even once, if you've seen this movie, I'm sure you'll agree with me that there is no doubt that the intention of this movie is to put viewers into the world of subconscious reality.

I've always wondered why the words "lucid dreaming" were never mentioned in the movie and I found this article entitled "Lucid Dreaming Myths in Inception" by Rebecca Turner in the site "World of Lucid Dreaming", and the author said it is because there are a number lucid dreaming myths in Inception. Christopher Nolan chose never to use nor mention the term 'lucid dreaming' in the movie so that he can create his own dream mythology that is centered around the act of consciously entering other people's dreams and stealing/planting ideas or secrets.

In the article I've found, three biggest myths in Inception were mentioned. The first one is if you die in a dream, you wake up. In the movie, death in a dream sends the mind back into reality instantly but in reality, there are dreamers who experience physical death in dreams and yet continue to exist in other forms. Based on the article, in dreams, death is not the end. It just often leads to a new beginning. Yes, you can wake up from surprise when you die in a dream, but the two are not fundamentally linked. It was also mentioned there that if you really want to wake yourself up from a lucid dream or even a short moment of consciousness during a bad dream or nightmare, just blink hard and shout 'Wake up' while thinking about your body in bed.

                    
The second myth about Inception is sharing your dreams with other people. In the movie, to start a shared dream, Dom Cobb and his fellow dreamers need to hook themselves up to the fictional machine or device called PASIV (Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous). There are IV lines that allows multiple dreamers to share or network their dream states while the target individual acting as the hub. Of course, no such device exists in the real world. Though there are many people who claim to experience mutual dreaming, science is yet to observe any objective evidence that supports this.

The third big myth in Inception is there's such a place as a dream limbo. In the movie, the characters who die in a dream within a dream will fail to find their way back to reality and become lost in the depths of dream limbo. Dom Cobb & her wife, Mal, lost touch with their conscious selves & spent many years in their empty limbo where they accepted it as reality, never realizing they could simply wake up. One more thing, they also need the PASIV device to be able to do this. So, this is definitely a myth because nobody has ever perceived a lucid dream that lasted for years when it happened.

According to the author of the article, Rebecca Turner: "Nonetheless, the central theme of being able to consciously create and navigate the dream world is impossible to ignore - this is lucid dreaming in its essence."

After reading the quote, I can say that I totally agree with her. Even though the director chose to allow himself to be very flexible in the movie by not using the term 'lucid dreaming', there is no doubt that it is still considered as a lucid dreaming movie. There may be a lot of myths in this movie right now but who knows? What if a PASIV device may actually be invented in the future? What if dream sharing may actually be possible through it? Just thinking about it really excites me. I think this movie really gave the viewers an inception, a starting point of new possibilities, ideas and thoughts.