why does my imagination feel so real?

evolve

before I go to sleep I like to go on adventures with my imagination. I fly and go into outer space and through trees etc. It feels so real sometimes, I get sensations and it's like lucid dreaming but I'm awake. I can experience anything and any feeling. I've never actually flown or been to some of these places in my imagination, how do I know how it feels? My body is reacting to my imagination and feels like it's there, like a true and real experience. I'm curious about the link between imagination, body, mind and maybe how it relates to some science or Buddhism ideas. Thanks for the input
PS I'm totally sober, in case this sounds like a crazy druggie story...

zenmyste

Why does it have to have a reason?
Why cant people just enjoy their time on earth?
Just Enjoy the adventures, you wont be able to one day! x

Invincible_summer

Well, your dreams are pretty much your reality for that given amount of time. They are "real" in a certain way.

zombiegirl

I think our brains are just amazing. When I get stuck writing, I tend to lie down and imagine the whole scene in my head like a movie... it allows the characters to sort of act how they will and see what works and what doesn't and how the scene makes me feel. It's interesting, but it's also something I've been doing my whole life before going to sleep. I imagine that all writers and directors and creative types probably do something similar with their imagination, otherwise, I can't see how you could create something so honest or realistic. At times, it's like BEING there. Well, as it's been said... "Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ― E.L. Doctorow

novaw0lf

To present a theory for why the imagination feels so real is because there is no set law or definition for reality. Who's to say what you're experiencing -isn't- real?

novaw0lf

zombiegirl said:

I think our brains are just amazing. When I get stuck writing, I tend to lie down and imagine the whole scene in my head like a movie... it allows the characters to sort of act how they will and see what works and what doesn't and how the scene makes me feel. It's interesting, but it's also something I've been doing my whole life before going to sleep. I imagine that all writers and directors and creative types probably do something similar with their imagination, otherwise, I can't see how you could create something so honest or realistic. At times, it's like BEING there. Well, as it's been said... "Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ― E.L. Doctorow

I consider myself one of those types, and yes...I go through the same exact process. Your quote by Doctorow most certainly hit my heart.

misecmisc1

imagination may feel real because whatever we experience, it is experienced by our mind, which as a genius combines the different sensations of sight, sound, taste, smell and touch into a combined thing, we call 'experience' in life. so if there are thought patterns relating to the above things, their combination will still produce an 'experience' - as real as when we are awake - though it could be happening in dreams or imagination.

Jeffrey

The difference between these and schizophrenia is that the characters in your mind would be verbally abusing you and they would never leave you alone.

driedleaf

Jeffrey said:

The difference between these and schizophrenia is that the characters in your mind would be verbally abusing you and they would never leave you alone.

@Jeffrey, I am one of those that think that the world is definitely not sane. I also believe that if people can hear voices, they must also have the ability to use those voices to tap into ESP and intuition, such as warning you when you are in danger etc. Then again these just might be some of my crazy ideas, but I don't think so.

zombiegirl

Jeffrey said:

The difference between these and schizophrenia is that the characters in your mind would be verbally abusing you and they would never leave you alone.

I thought of you when I posted that quote and hoped that it wouldn't offend you. It certainly wasn't my goal. Of course it's not the same, but I think the point is in how real the scenes can be when you're writing. I tend to only be able to write alone, because well... I talk to myself... I make little noises sometimes... reactions, perhaps? Sometimes, I get really into the scene... I read back dialogue with inflection... all of those things. It has occurred to me that from an outside perspective, it might look like schizophrenia. And indeed, sometimes your characters don't do what you expect them to. Once you create a personality, they can behave unexpectedly at times and it may become difficult to fit them into the plot you had in mind. The quote might be a little fanciful, but I like to think there's enough truth it in it to make you stop and think... it did for me, anyways.

oceancaldera207

What you are experiencing is not unusual. I have practiced what I call 'semi-active' dreaming, which I use as a spiritual exercise, for a specific purpose. I recommend trying to note and remember your thought processes during these periods of exploration and comparing them to active conscious processes. This can be very instructive and enlightening.

evolve

sometimes my imagination experiences are more "real" than when I'm going about my daily business. maybe cause I'm being more mindful during imagination adventures...

DaltheJigsaw

What if your imagination is the real true reality? What if when you are awake, it's a dream and when you go to sleep you are actually living?

charirama

When you dream while asleep you may experience a terrifying event and wake up sweating and in a panic as if the event were "real." Your body reacts to what your mind believes you are experiencing. This is really no different that what you experience in the waking world.

All experience is ultimately a manifestation of the mind whether you are awake, asleep or "imagining."

CeCeAli

zombiegirl said:

Jeffrey said:

The difference between these and schizophrenia is that the characters in your mind would be verbally abusing you and they would never leave you alone.

I thought of you when I posted that quote and hoped that it wouldn't offend you. It certainly wasn't my goal. Of course it's not the same, but I think the point is in how real the scenes can be when you're writing. I tend to only be able to write alone, because well... I talk to myself... I make little noises sometimes... reactions, perhaps? Sometimes, I get really into the scene... I read back dialogue with inflection... all of those things. It has occurred to me that from an outside perspective, it might look like schizophrenia. And indeed, sometimes your characters don't do what you expect them to. Once you create a personality, they can behave unexpectedly at times and it may become difficult to fit them into the plot you had in mind. The quote might be a little fanciful, but I like to think there's enough truth it in it to make you stop and think... it did for me, anyways.

I do the exact same thing, but mines is always connecting to music. Is that a sign for a career, if so what do u think I can do?

anataman

I have had a few lucid dreams in my time, and also like to drift of to sleep with the mental TV on in the background. I like to imagine that the world is really the domain of the endless unfolding of the human imagination - cool Huh, or just deluded. I'll just plump for the latter.

Imagination
Image nation
I mage a nation

Mettha

DairyLama

"Life is but a dream within a dream"

fivebells

In short, your imagination feels real because you're ignoring the processes by which it is constructed. To a large extent, meditation is about training yourself to see, consciously manipulate, and abandon those processes, because they are also the basis of suffering.

DairyLama

evolve said:

sometimes my imagination experiences are more "real" than when I'm going about my daily business. maybe cause I'm being more mindful during imagination adventures...

It could also be that you're daydreaming because you're a bit bored? Mindfulness really involves paying attention to current experience in totality, not just what you're thinking about or imagining.

how

Buddhism is just about waking up from all dreams.

lotusblue

I know exactly what you mean about going on adventures before you go to sleep!! Finally someone who shares my love of unconcious quests!!

poptart

Imagination is what separates humans from other animals. The ability to project into the future, to connect unrelated things, is the source of all creativity. It is a marvellous gift, but misused it is a source of suffering. Worry has its roots in imagination. Constantly imagining the worse case scenario, which more than likely will never happen, can inhibit and torment us.

Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Find more quotes about imagination here.

how

@evolve

I arose into this world as a dream child where my interior world could be wielded in ways that the exterior world could not. I developed a wide barrier between the two and found the inside world very much more comforting than the outside world. Much of my life was really an escape from whatever made me uncomfortable.

Later after discovering and persisting with meditation, slowly most of the barriers between inside & outside and later between self & other, dissolved. This is the difference for me between the dream of life and the awakening to life.

(now for an unpopular idea)

An indulgence in imagination that removes one from being present is simply another
intoxicant fueling the sleep that Buddhists talk about awakening from.

footiam

evolve said:

before I go to sleep I like to go on adventures with my imagination. I fly and go into outer space and through trees etc. It feels so real sometimes, I get sensations and it's like lucid dreaming but I'm awake. I can experience anything and any feeling. I've never actually flown or been to some of these places in my imagination, how do I know how it feels? My body is reacting to my imagination and feels like it's there, like a true and real experience. I'm curious about the link between imagination, body, mind and maybe how it relates to some science or Buddhism ideas. Thanks for the input
PS I'm totally sober, in case this sounds like a crazy druggie story...

I don't know about the link you talk about but in ancient time, when people don't know much about outer space, they saw angels.

BhikkhuJayasara

I wish my imagination felt real... no fair.. I never get any cool visions or dreams or anything, my meditation is boring.

caz

Your mind creates both the waking world and the dream world.

Nevermind

So what creates your mind?

DairyLama

how said:

An indulgence in imagination that removes one from being present is simply another
intoxicant fueling the sleep that Buddhists talk about awakening from.

It can certainly be a distraction.