Jonathan Brown6 said:Where does my consciousness actually go when I'm asleep? Like, am I even alive while I'm out? Do I still have a soul during those hours? Where does the "me" part of me just vanish to? But then again, I’m always still me. If I can't remember a single REM cycle or any of my dreams... then I guess I don't really sleep. I just go to bed and then suddenly wake up and I'm myself again. It feels like it happens in an instant—well, maybe not a second, but in that tiny fraction of a moment where I lie down and then immediately I'm getting up from the bed. Is there some kind of jump between hitting the pillow and my consciousness waking back up? Does my awareness just shut off for a bit, or does it reset, or maybe it stays on the whole time? My clock shows eight hours have passed since I went to sleep, but all I can remember is that last REM phase. Am I even conscious during REM? I mean, I guess my consciousness has to shut off if I believe that time actually exists—like, the idea that this world keeps moving even when I'm not spiritually present... I have zero clue what happened while I was sleeping. No images, no memories, nothing. Where was I?
I’d suggest looking for some answers to your questions in "the art of dreaming" by Carlos Castaneda. You might want to dive into his other books too; they're pretty fascinating and offer an experience that could shift your perspective on the world, even if just a little. Of course, fully accepting everything he says requires living that lifestyle to see the truth for yourself, which is pretty tough to do nowadays. In short, while dreaming, you can actually achieve a state of lucid dreaming by looking at the palms of your hands in the dream—kind of like how someone else mentioned in a previous post about repeating "I am." Just read the book before you try anything, because it isn't all that simple or harmless.