Blog #220--Interesting Tidbits Not Included in Book, Part 19

This article is part 19 of a continuing series that expands upon ideas discussed in my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life.”

Tidbit #1: Scientists who study dreams have learned a great deal about how we sleep and what happens within our brains when we dream. But I’m not sure they have recognized the entire situation for what it really is. I don’t claim to have all the answers either, but some assumptions don’t feel right to me. I am especially confused by what actually happens when we flip over from an awake state to a sleep state. One minute we are aware of this world, and the next we are not.

Do we go somewhere else? Do we experience an alternate, perhaps parallel universe during sleep? We all tend to agree that nightmares are a method our subconscious uses to work out fearful situations, but most of us don’t experience nightmares nightly. Those who do often have experienced intensely frightening situations in their awakened state and can’t let go of the trauma.

But most of us sleep deeply and often don’t remember any dreams upon awakening. And if we do remember something, it is often the ending of the dream, seconds before awakening. We must then use a dream dictionary to detect the true meaning of the symbols we remember seeing in that state since it is usually images from our indirect subconscious that the direct left-hemisphere of our brains reverses.

It is the semi-conscious transition from awake to sleep that intrigues me most. I have recently noticed that, if I am bouncing back and forth from a conscious state, I seem to be living at least two different lives simultaneously. When I begin to enter the sleep state, I see things that are familiar and continue story lines remembered previously. They seem correct at the time I experience them. Then if I become conscious again, I realize that story line was not part of my life on Earth, which seems to be my true life while I am awake.

This reminds me of a similar situation with the spoken language. Our direct brain hemisphere works with our indirect one to produce communication. If we tape record our conversation and play it back as stated out loud, it is a repeat of what we thought we said. But if we reverse the direction of the recording, we get a different, sometimes opposite message that contributed to the word and sound formulation. In other words, the two opposite perspectives we live with throughout our lives work together to produce our language. If one aspect of our bodily function works that way, it is highly likely everything works that way.

I am beginning to believe our dreams are the normal state of existence for our subconscious. In that world, the subconscious is the predominant aspect of our nature. In other words, it is similar to the premise of the movie “Ladyhawke,” where a man and woman in love are given a spell where the man lives during the day as a human, and the woman is a hawk that rides with him. At night, the hawk transforms into the woman and the man to a wolf. The reverse occurs again in the morning. Do we live in both worlds simultaneously?

I don’t know whether we always go to what some call the astral plane upon falling asleep, or whether that and other higher planes of existence must be accessed through the dream state. But we go somewhere when we die, and these appear to be possibilities for us as we continue our ultimate transformation into oneness with the universe and our creator.

Tidbit #2: As I stated in my book, there are a number of “missing links” that, if we look at them honestly, help us realize all life forms are merely variations on the same theme rather than separate and different. I gave the example of a duckbill platypus and several other life forms in the book and subsequent blogs. Another one I heard about recently is the mole-limbed worm lizard of western Mexico.

This species is often mistaken for an earthworm because it is long, slender, segmented and lives mostly underground. But it is more closely related to the lizard family. Its segments are composed of scales like reptiles, and it has two small legs near its head that help it move. Unlike earthworms that eat soil and digest nutrients from it as it passes through their bodies, worm lizards are carnivores. They have one tooth in their upper jaw and a strong skull, which they use to dig the ground and create tunnels. Claws on their front legs help with digging also.

Mole lizards shed their entire skin once in awhile, like snakes. While they have no hind legs, they do maintain tiny vestiges of a pelvis and hind limbs that may have existed more completely in their ancient ancestors. We can only speculate about the latter since no fossilized specimens have been found. But like a number of other species that possess a blending of traits of several disparate life forms, the mole-limbed worm lizard is an excellent example of creation’s myriad variations.

Tidbit #3: One chapter of my book talks about the predictability of life cycles; I have included several additional examples of this reality in various blogs. The recent Rio Olympics has provided us with another wonderful example of these cycles in action. In particular, Michael Phelps completed his swimming career with 28 total medals. If we add 2 and 8, we get 10, which reduces to one. Phelps’s total is way beyond every other Olympic athlete in modern history, and his metal number denotes that. In addition, his last race was the 63rd of his Olympic career. Six plus three is 9, which is an ending or completion number. Phelps promises this was his last race, and the number confirms it.

Tidbit #4: Prince Fielder retired from professional baseball recently after hitting 319 home runs in his major league career. His father Cecil also ended his career with 319 home runs. One might pass this off as an interesting coincidence, but I don’t agree. There are reasons why history repeats itself. I am confident this is a wonderful example of how we can inherit our destiny as well as our physical and behavioral traits.

Tidbit #5: It seems like movie houses these days are playing movies at a higher volume than ever before. I went to a blockbuster recently, and the sound was overwhelming. When I got home later that evening, I discovered I had to turn the volume on my television up louder than normal to hear it clearly. In the past, most people I know would say loud noises can cause deafness, and that is likely true for a few people suffering sustained, extreme noise levels. But in this case, I think we also instinctively alter our receptivity to sounds to balance with the world around us. If we sit through a loud movie, for awhile we hear less well because our brains must readjust to normal life. It is a protective mechanism, and I’m glad we have it.

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