Page 38 - The Little Man in the Tower

The Little Man in the Tower

most times during sleep, the brain waves are large and slow. But at
certain times, they become smaller and faster. During periods of fast
brain waves, the eyes move rapidly as though the sleeper were

watching a series of events. This stage of sleep, called REM (Rapid
Eye Movement) sleep, is when most dreams occur. If awakened during
REM sleep, the person is likely to recall details of the dream…

During REM sleep, the pathways that carry nerve impulses from the

brain to the muscles are blocked. Therefore, the body cannot move
during dreams. Also, the cerebral cortex—the part of the brain
involved in higher mental functions—is much more active during
REM sleep than during non-dreaming sleep. The cortex is stimulated
by neurons (nerve cells) that carry impulses from the part of the brain
called the brain stem. 1

In other words, a dream is nothing more than the totality of all
perceptions arising from the interpretation of the impulses reaching the
relevant parts of the brain.

Notice that what we refer to as "real life" occurs in exactly the same way.
Electrical impulses reach the relevant sections of our brain. There they are
interpreted, whereupon we perceive the totality of these perceptions as "the
real world."

This leads us to a crucial question: What is the source of all these
perceptions? Habit leads us to believe that we always interact with the
originals of outside world. The fact is, there is matter in the outside world,
but we can never experience the original of this matter.

36