 Originally Posted by JoannaB
TiredPhil, in your case I wonder whether your brain was trying to translate an unknown chemical reaction into images? Trying to make sense of this new chemical reality which did not make sense to it?
this is a colloquial but fairly accurate phrasing of my thoughts re: tiredphil & the OP
i've experienced dreams similar to this myself and i've been told similar dreams by other people & aside from the thematic similarities they've all had one thing in common -- they occurred under circumstances of great physiological stress -- generally high fevers.
high temperature alters the function of enzymes and other chemicals involved in cognition & the control of cognition and all the other wonderful things the brain does. it also does this to the rest of the body, increases the metabolic rate, etc... an in-depth description of these dynamics is well beyond the scope of this thread, or anywhere besides a medical journal really. the point is that the brain is not functioning like it normally does.
despite this, during waking life our cognitive experience would remain fairly normal. we would obviously feel very tired, a little disoriented, generally dysphoric and incapable of sustained mental effort, but we probably wouldn't be delirious or having florid hallucinations. this is because (again, greatly simplifying) the higher areas of the brain inhibit some of the activity of the lower ones, so the anomalous activity that's going on is restrained from affecting higher consciousness.
during sleep, many of the higher structures are "turned off" so to speak...
commonly reported in fever dreams are vast geometrical structures and strange, indescribable feelings -- especially of fear.
both of these are present in the OP's dream and I believe they correspond directly to the physiology of the fevered brain
the feelings/sensations i would conjecture are releases of baser animal emotions. the visual images are a bit more interesting... similar geometric patterns can arise in hallucinations and chemically altered states and they are ubiquitous having been found in art from across the world... they are called form constants and they are believed to be manifestations of the algorithms that determine visual perception within the brain. the neurological disinhibition caused by fever + unconsciousness could likely result in the presence of these patterns free of higher-level visual perception.
so i don't believe that the content of the dream holds any meaning or personal significance, although it's quite the interesting insight into the mechanisms that underlie consciousness. the most notable fact is that these dreams are recurring. the brain and body are intensely complex systems, no two fevers are the same: even if they recur under the same circumstances, those physiological circumstances would not explain having the same dream. what i believe happened is that the original dream had a formidable impact on your psychological state and it recurs in the presence of certain stimuli because, as with certain memories, the sensations and emotions associated with it were incredibly strong.
now, you don't specify when these dreams recur. are they random or do they appear, as i suspect they do, under periods of stress? i am thinking that this dream (or the memory of this dream) could have come to symbolize feelings of fear, helplessness and anxiety for you -- because the first time you experienced it it generated these feelings in you, and to this day you find it incomprehensible. i assume as well that it was a fever dream and so it's likely associated with memories of illness -- you may have this same dream every time you are ill for that reason.
i believe that analyzing the circumstances under which this dream recurs will lead you to a greater understanding of your own attitudes towards the outside world as well as insights into your own mind.
this interpretation may not have been exactly what you were looking for but i hope you're able to find my insights valuable in some way.
edit: holy crap, that was way longer than i thought! okay tl;dr: sounds like a childhood fever dream, content isn't important, but the fact that it's recurring is.
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