Dreams and the five senses

Have you experienced all five senses in dreams (not necessarily all at once)?

In all my dreams, I see things. Often, I hear things. Rarely do I feel things.

I don't believe I have ever smelled or tasted anything in a dream.

What has been your experience?

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Mamapolo2016 · F

Similar to yours. Sight and sound, although often I am aware that what I ‘see and hear’ actually are symbols representing what I have seen or heard while awake. In other words, while I experience vivid dreams, it’s more like an interpretation of life.

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@Mamapolo2016

I can go crazy thinking about that sort of thing. I know that I am not really seeing or hearing anything. It's all just interpretations.

Back in high school, I wondered aloud to a friend how it was possible for me to dream about seeing a truck, when a truck could not possible fit inside my head. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Then again, when we really do see things, all we experience are the interpretations that our brains give to the impulses from our optic nerves, so are we "really" seeing anything ever?

Mamapolo2016 · F

@DrWatson I was just pondering on that after I replied.

What proof do we have that this is reality and dreams are imagined? Maybe it’s the other way around.

I think we know that what we see is edited by our brain before we think we see it. “We see what we want to see”. Or at least what our brain wants us to see, which raises the question “Is my brain who I am? Or are there two of us in here?”

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@Mamapolo2016

This conversation is very "1970's". 😄

Mamapolo2016 · F

@DrWatson Does that also mean ‘not pertinent’?

DrWatson · 70-79, M

@Mamapolo2016

No. But we both remember all that talk about drugs and reality, and "what is reality?"

Mamapolo2016 · F

@DrWatson There’s way more than that. The coffee table is not solid. That one was more persuading to me. If not, why can it bruise my knee? Why doesn’t the table book of art fall through? Why can the cat jump on it?

Is what we’re seeing REAL? Or is it our interpretation of what’s real?

We think animals are smart when they do what we would do. But now we find they have culture. They use tools. They comfort each other when there’s conflict. Some species can extend a pregnancy until it’s a better time for a baby.

I don’t believe those 70s conversations were earth-shifting. But they did raise questions which are still unanswered more than a half century later. How smart are we?