...heard me. I called out to her louder but still she didn’t respond. That’s when I noticed the faraway look on her face. Her eyes were glazed over and her face had a blank stare. She didn’t turn back; she just kept walking straight towards the door. It was a very eerie thing to watch. I remember not being able to do anything but stare at her. I kept wondering; where is she going? What is she doing? Ever since then, I had always wondered about what sleepwalking really is. Is it a dream? Or is it reality? Sleepwalking wasn’t seriously investigated and diagnosed until the last century. In the 19th-century, a German chemist and parapsychologist, Baron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach made extensive studies of sleepwalkers. Sleepwalking was initially thought to be a dreamer acting out a dream. Later on, the Society for Science published a conclusion saying that sleepwalking really has very little to do with dreaming and that it in fact, occurs when the sleeper is in his deepest sleep—a stage in which dreams are not even had. Sleepwalking is also knows as Somnambulism, which means walking during sleep. Somnambulism is a disorder that occurs when people walk or do any other activity while they are still asleep. When does it occur? When you’re sleeping, your body goes through different stages; from light drowsiness to deep sleep. There is something called REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement. During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, your eyes move quickly and...
Words: 919 - Pages: 4
...Dream vs. Reality As you grow up, adults always ask you the same question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Little boys often say “super heroes” and little girls often say “princesses”. I, personally, got over the princess stage pretty quick and opted for mermaid. But, a few years later, I saw a movie that changed my mind. The title was “Ice Princess” and it was the story of a high school student who started figure skating. I begged my parents who eventually agreed to let me start classes. I was in middle school at the time, so I thought I had plenty of time to become a real ice princess. A girl’s dream always seems to be becoming a princess, or an ice princess, but over time and experience, reality hits. Figure skating is seen as a very graceful and effortless art, but it is still a sport. I tried all sports as a kid but never grew attached to any. Being athletic just wasn’t my thing. Figure skating appealed to me because of the ice, and how I would never get hot because of the cold temperatures. It seems like that at first, but it does get very hot after training for hours. As with any sport, training starts with the very basics. The way my program did it was there were multiple levels with certain elements in each one. After you finished all levels, then you would start doing programs, or performances, and competitions. It took me about a year to pass through all the levels, which normally takes two or three for other girls, so I thought I had finally found...
Words: 780 - Pages: 4
...It’s Sunday, time to go to church by this religious devotee named Rachelle. She encouraged people to go to church to spend their time with GOD. (Rachelle talking to the group of senior citizens, market vendors and students) Rachelle: Thank you guys for offering your time with our LORD JESUS CHRIST. May HE bless us all. Take care on your way back home. See you again next Sunday. (Group of senior citizens, students, market vendors went back home. Ms. Jones took the hand of Rachelle and said :) Ms. Jones: We’ll surely want to come back here again. Thank you for inviting us. This is a great bond dealing with other people. Such a wonderful experience! Rachelle: Thank you po Ms. Jones. Until next time, see you! (While Rachelle is walking, she saw Alexa who known to be as the prostitute as well as her childhood friend crying :) Rachelle: Is there any problem? Why are you crying? Alexa: (while hitting cigarette…) Never mind, I’m fine! Rachelle: I know you since then, what happen? I might help you. Alexa: (started to cry...) Because of my mom Wilma! Rachelle: What did she told you? ALexa: This is how it is (throwback of Alexa’s conversation with her mom Wilma) … Wilma: You! Your non-sense. You kept on waiting for your crush, Clinton who known to be as “our town’s heartthrob”?! Why don’t you think of earning money for our family? Focus on your job Alexa! Alexa: I will never be like this, a known to be “prostitute” selling my body to someone whom I never met before! I...
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...An essential part of American identity is the assurance that our children can inherit a greater quality of life than we were subjected to. James Truslow popularized the phrase “American Dream” in his book Epic of America, published in 1931. Truslow stated that the American Dream is, “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement… [A] dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” In essence, the American Dream is the philosophy of upward mobility. It is the opportunity to make individual choices without being limited by class, religion, race, or ethnicity. Since it’s origin, this idea of the American Dream has not coincided with the American reality shown through the segregation of class, race and ethnicity, unhappiness in the home, and the failure of public education. Immigrants during the Industrial Revolution were exposed to unjust treatment and stifled growth in society, women in the 1950s faced an identity crisis spawning from the materialized idea of perfection, and at the turn of the century public education showed poor performance on the worldwide scale. The industrial revolution marked a turning point in the history of the United States of America, impacting...
Words: 1651 - Pages: 7
...Sunjit Patel is a graphic designer with a well-known publishing company. He has lived in England since he was five. He lives in South London, and fee the Jasflnrec years ne nasDeenworkJng troro twme. He prcters working from hoinr because hv can spend more time ivitli his family and have a better work-life balance. Sunjit isn't alone: in Britain, there are 2.1 million people who work from home at present. In addition, about eight million people spend some time working in the home rather than in an office. This is almost twice as many as ten years ago. This rapidly-growing trend towards working from home is the same in many countries. But what are the reasons for it? The main reason is technological: easy access to broadband and the availability of phone and vidco-conferencing. These enable people to use their home as an office in an efficient and cost-effective way. Other reasons for homeworking are the benefits to both employers and employees: office space is costly, so if an organisation can reduce its workstations, it may be able to move to a smaller site. Employees often work better at home: travelling to work can be very time-consuming and tiring. Many homeworkers save a lot of time if they don't commute and they can start the day fresher and therefore work more efficiently; parents with young children appreciate the flexibility that homeworking allows and are more relaxed. Siinjit Patcl s;iys, 'fK'avelSeen working itom home stnce my son was...
Words: 410 - Pages: 2
...niDreams, what are dreams? For many years I have wondered what dreams are made of. After much thought and deliberation I have stumbled upon three possible answers to this question. First of all, I think it could be a period of total escape from reality and all of the problems that reality brings with it. Second, I believe that dreams provide a time of contemplation of past mistakes and what would have been the outcome if a different choice would have been made. Dreams, what are dreams? For many years I have wondered what dreams are made of. After much thought and deliberation I have stumbled upon three possible answers to this question. First of all, I think it could be a period of total escape from reality and all of the problems that reality brings with it. Second, I believe that dreams provide a time of contemplation of past mistakes and what would have been the outcome if a different choice would have been made. Dreams, what are dreams? For many years I have wondered what dreams are made of. After much thought and deliberation I have stumbled upon three possible answers to this question. First of all, I think it could be a period of total escape from reality and all of the problems that reality brings with it. Second, I believe that dreams provide a time of contemplation of past mistakes and what would have been the outcome if a different choice would have been made. Dreams, what are dreams? For many years I have wondered what dreams are made of. After much thought...
Words: 5479 - Pages: 22
...corridors, and the strong gusts of wind that blows in every night, slamming on doors and windows. The mansion represents the American Dream, a goal or hope for a better future. The loneliness of the mansion represents the result of someone who tries to escape reality in a never ending search for something greater. It has been common today to dismiss the life people currently live in and focus on the future that many believe will be better. At first glance, many might say the American Dream is beautiful. But on a closer inspection, depicted by Kimberly Hearne, The American Dream hides the truth of reality. Based on a Marxist view of “The Great Gatsby,¨ F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream as a false hope that people seek to obtain in order to escape reality....
Words: 1493 - Pages: 6
...That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand -- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep -- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream? The poem is 24 lines, divided into two stanzas. The poem questions the way one can distinguish between reality and fantasy, asking, "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?" ( wiki) Although the two stanzas are not identical in length, their similar use of an iambic rhythm and of couplets and triplets in their end rhyme scheme creates a pattern that matches the parallel of their ideas. In particular, the refrain (repeated) lines "All that we see or seem/Is but a dream within a dream" unite the passages in the poem's conclusion of futility and regret at the movement of time. Poe draws attention to "all that we see or seem" with alliteration, and we can view this phrase as the combination of two aspects of reality, where "all that we see" is the external and "all that we seem" is the internal element. By asserting that both sides are the also alliterative phrase "a dream within a dream," Poe suggests that neither...
Words: 1237 - Pages: 5
...Christopher Nolan’s science fiction movie Inception is largely Cartesian in how it explores the metaphysical dilemma of distinguishing dreams from reality. The protagonists are dream thieves who steal or plant ideas to the unaware target by weaving spatial elements into a false reality. The following premises in Inception raise counterarguments to Descartes’ reasoning on reality beyond any doubt. In his book Meditations of First Philosophy, Descartes doubts the assurance of knowing whether one is awake or dreaming. In the First Meditation, he notes that “there are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep.” Descartes argued that one cannot know whether one is dreaming, thus knowledge is impossible. In fact, because “composite elements” from dreams are indistinguishable from reality, it follows that all one’s experiences could simply be a dream, thus one’s supposed knowledge of the world is false. Descartes metaphysically solved this problem by establishing the one undisputable truth through the cogito— “I think, therefore I am.” Still, in order to have any knowledge beyond one’s own existence, one needs to be able to distinguish dreams from reality which follows from the senses. In the movie, Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) enters the subconscious minds of his targets using a two-level dream strategy to extract information. He and the others carry totems whose behaviors are unpredictable and known only by the specific owner. Unlike...
Words: 608 - Pages: 3
...[pic] Dream within a dream Are you curious and sometimes maybe a bit baffled by your dreams? Do you wake up with fragments of a dream fresh in your mind and wonder : why was it so real ? well, you are not alone. Sleep scientist wonder the same thing. The sci-fi adventure hit movie,INCEPTION has sparked massive new interest in the concept of lucid dreaming. Lucidity means becoming conscious and self-aware in your dreams, turning the dreamscape into a vivid virtual reality where everything you see, hear, feel, taste and even smell will be just as authentic real life. Tibetan monks have used dream control for more than a thousand years in a philosophy called Dream Yoga. However the modern term ‘lucid dreaming’ was not coined until the 20th century by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik Van Eeden, meaning ‘mental clarity in dreams’ . The concept of lucid dreams were popularized by Celia Green in the 1960 s. She was the first to point out the link that false awakenings make way to lucid dreams. False awakenings are essentially ultra vivid dreams in which you are convinced you have woken up in physical reality. Yet many such awakenings go unrecognized assumed to be waking reality as they involve things one does everyday on autopilot such as getting up, having breakfast, getting dressed and heading out for work. It thus reveals the remarkable capacity of the human brain to emulate reality. But in normal dreams our self-awareness is shut down. That’s why we often feel fuzzy...
Words: 1773 - Pages: 8
...We have all had a dream where we wake up and are confused because we thought our dream actually happened but in reality it did not. Our brain makes us think this because of how real it felt and how much we want to believe that it really happened. Some of us even have dreams that we will make us ponder for hours. We are caught wondering and trying to remember if it actually did happen. In The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin we begin reading a story about a man named George who mixes up his versions of reality through dreaming. Whenever George enters into deep sleep he begins to dream effective dreams which begin to change the real world. Whenever he has an effective dream he is the only one to remember. George begins going to a man named...
Words: 708 - Pages: 3
...itself but rather by the Law of Attraction as applied to objective reality. Here are some of those problematic questions (all are generalizations of ones I received via email): * What happens when people put out conflicting intentions, like two people intending to get the same promotion when only one position is available? * Do children, babies, and/or animals put out intentions? * If a child is abused, does that mean the child intended it in some way? * If I intend for my relationship to improve, but my spouse doesn’t seem to care, what will happen? These questions seem to weaken the plausibility of the Law of Attraction. Sometimes people answer them by going pretty far out. For example, it’s been said by LoAers that a young child experiences abuse because s/he intended it or earned it during a past life. Well, sure… we can explain just about anything if we bring past lives into the equation, but IMO that’s a cop-out. On the other hand, objective reality without the Law of Attraction doesn’t provide satisfactory answers either — supposedly some kids are just born unlucky. That’s a cop-out too. I’ve never been satisfied by others’ answers to these questions, and they’re pretty important questions if the Law of Attraction is to be believed. Some books hint at the solution but never really nail it. That nail, however, can be found in the concept of subjective reality. Subjective reality is a belief system in which (1) there is only one consciousness, (2)...
Words: 1567 - Pages: 7
... LIBERTY UNIVERSITY ONLINE In this life sometimes we dream so clearly, that is it hard to distinguish what was real, and what was not. Sometimes we dream of things that could not possibly happen. But then sometimes we dream of a love one who has passed on before us, or dream about something that could be happening in real life. It takes us to another place. How do we know that what we believe to be real life is not a dream? In the movie, The Matrix Mr. Anderson, a computer programmer/hacker also known as Neo questions if the life he lives is real, or if they are all being programmed somewhere by a machine. Neo meets Morpheus who shows him that people are under a computer program called The Matrix. Cypher has been shown this as well but tries to forget what he has seen and move on with his life. This task is not so easy. We see also in “The Allegory of the Cave” that the task to forget what you have seen, and lived for so long is a lie. Socrates presents to Glaucon a scenario of men who could only see shadows and that what they saw was their life. Just like in The Matrix, people believed that their day to day life, was all there was, and all that was happening. The men in the scenario think that it is their only reality, just as the people in The Matrix. Then one day in Plato’s excerpt, one man see’s real like just like, Neo. At first it id hard to believe. Then you start to think that, that reality is a dream. But in a way this one that saw the light is lie Chypher...
Words: 650 - Pages: 3
...What Really is Reality? Reality can be defined as many different things, “The state of things as they are or appear to be rather than as one might wish them to be, the quality or state of being actual or true, totality of all things possessing actuality, existence or essence”(thefreedictionary),“ A real event/entity or state of affairs, something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily” (Merriam-Webster), “The world or the state of things as they actually exist as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them”(Google) These definitons all have a common factor of the idea of something being true or real, but how can you tell if it is or is not? Everyone has a different perspective or view on life, some persepctives are clear and some are not. There are many theories on perspectives and reality, but ultimately the choice of what to believe is yours. There are many modern movies that challenge the idea of reality, one in specific is titled Inception. The basic plot of science fiction film Inception tells the story of Dom Cobb and his business partner Arthur who perform illegal corporate espionage by entering the subconscious mind of their targets by using a “dream within a dream” strategy including many “dream levels” to obtain valuable information on their subjects. This strategy of entering minds can also change a person’s reality and perspecitve by enabeling Cobb to plant an idea into the person’s mind changing the outcome of what may or may...
Words: 930 - Pages: 4
...The Motivation of Dreams The ultimate objective of life is to turn dreams into reality. Dreams are valuable because they are the ideal life conditions that people want to live in. They provide a source of motivation to achieve great success in the future. This motivation can be seen in the characters of many novels including David Adams Richards's The Lost Highway and Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In both novels, the protagonists strive for dreams of winning over the loves of their lives through their pursuit of wealth, rejection of reality, and persistence of ambition. Firstly, Gatsby -- the protagonist of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby-- follows his dream of achieving Daisy’s love through his growth in wealth. When Gatsby first meets Daisy, he falls in love with her. However, she soon leaves him for her life that is filled with riches. Because Gatsby was a “penniless young man” (Fitzgerald, 149), he was determined to obtain wealth in order to impress Daisy: “He wants her to see his house...” (Fitzgerald, 80). He had great desire to attract Daisy through wealth and became a rich man who owned a beautiful mansion: “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought [the house]” (Fitzgerald, 91). Gatsby’s quest for money demonstrates great initiative to stun Daisy. Similarly, Alex-- the protagonist of Richards's The Lost Highway-- seeks to gain the treasure of his life, Minnie, by gaining wealth. Early on, Alex loses Minnie to Sam Patch, who she eventually...
Words: 945 - Pages: 4
