According to Freud, the human mind is characterised by a dynamic component, which he refers to as the “censoring agency”. This concept is also perceived by some to symbolise a certain authority. This agency is responsible for determining whether an emerging desire is suitable for entry into consciousness. It excludes anything that could potentially cause discomfort if the desire were to be...
According to ancient principles of Sanatana(eternal) dharma, the four Purusharthas include Dharma (righteous), Artha(just means for acquiring wealth), Kama (fulfilling basic desires and needs of human life), and Moksha i.e enlightenment, be one with the Paramatma. The ultimate goal for human birth is described as Moksha or being one with Paramatma in Adi Shankaracharya's VivekaChudamani. One...
Andrew Baxter is a generally overlooked philosopher of the first half of the eighteenth century, known almost exclusively for his critique of Berkeleyan idealism. In this paper, I show that he was much more than just a critic of his immediate predecessors, by setting out his undeservedly ignored theory of dreaming and demonstrating its depth, originality as well as its potential to challenge...
Quantifying the neural signatures of consciousness remains a major challenge in neuroscience and AI. Although many theories link consciousness to rich, multiscale, and flexible neural organisation, robust quantitative measures are still lacking. This paper presents a theory-neutral framework that characterises consciousness-related dynamics through three properties: hierarchical integration...
In this article, the dream motifs related to Chinggis Khaan in the Mongols ancient literature are analyzed and interpreted in connection with oral tradition, focusing on their functions, characters, and descriptions. The dream motifs found in The Legend of Mother Alan Goo, The Dream of Dei Sesten, The Legend of Defeating the Three Hundred Taichuud, and The Novella of Chinggis’s Two White-Grey...
The Free Energy Principle (FEP) and active inference unify perception, action, and learning within a single variational framework, yet they remain silent on why there is phenomenal experience at all. Awareness-First Theory (AFT) proposes an ontological inversion: rather than deriving consciousness from non-experiential dynamics, it takes awareness as ontologically primitive—taken as the base...
An aesthetic product of a fluid vision of existence, by erasing the boundaries between interior and exterior, the surrealist self is itself a system of communicating vessels supported by the project of totality, but a totality of a dynamic, energetic nature, unlike the synthetic totality of the romantic one. If the romantic self, with which it shares the dream of totality and centrality, is an...
In this paper, I examine the relationship between subjective and objective experiences in dreams, highlighting their psychological and philosophical significance. Dreams act as a space where personal emotions and universal symbols intersect, offering insights into human consciousness. Historical perspectives- from ancient traditions to Freudian and Jungian theories- inform our understanding of...
CirculationNovember 4, 2025Sanam Alilou, Alexandria Salib, J. Kempe et al.
Background: Around, 10% of cardiac arrest survivors report vivid Recalled Experiences of Death (RED)— heightened lucidity, visual and auditory awareness, and a perception of a purposeful life review - which positively impact the quality of survivorship. However, these experiences are often labelled as hallucinations or dream like experiences. As Natural Language Processing (NLP) - a scalable...
This appendix reviews evidence that dreams are reported to occur during lighter stages of NREM sleep as well as during REM sleep. It reviews debates about whether REM-related dreams are more fantastic and irrational than NREM-related dreams, and whether the length and complexity of dream recall differs between sleep stages. Determining whether there are sleep stage-related differences in the...