Dozing Dreams
William Archer, Gilbert Murray
Routledge eBooks September 7, 2017 DOI: 10.4324/9781315312415-4 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the "psychical explosion" or "alarum-clock" doctrine is contradicted by the fact that some people begin dreaming immediately upon closing their eyes. The author reports frequently recording dreams occurring within a few seconds of dozing off, sometimes knowing of the sleep only because consciousness briefly became incoherent. |
Abstract
AT the same time I think that the strongest argument against the ‘psychical explosion’ or ‘alarum-clock’ doctrine is to be found in the well-established fact that some of us, far from reserving our dream-activity for the moment before waking, begin to dream the moment we close our eyes. This is certainly my own experience. I have been able to collect a great deal of evidence on the point, because I happen to be much given to dozing off in my chair, over a book, so that I have very frequently been able to write down the dreams, or beginning of dreams, which have occurred in the very short time, often not more than a few seconds, during which the coherent thread of my consciousness has been broken. In many cases, I should not know that I had been asleep except for the fact that my consciousness has for the moment become incoherent.