The contrast between ’those who are dreaming think they awake, but those who are awake know they are awake
I have an uncommon relationship with the dream world, as I remember many dreams every night. I often dream within a dream, I might do this more often than most because dreams occupy a larger portion of my thoughts than they do in others, or I might just be remembering those dreams more than most do. When I wake up within a dream, I often think I am awake. On the other hand, sometimes in the middle of dreams I know I am dreaming. Usually it’s not something I think about while asleep or awake.
I also have hypnopompic sleep paralysis, and sometimes wake up thinking I am dead. This is like the inverse of sleep walking—the mind wakes up some time before the body can move. I’m not exactly sure if one breathes during this period or not, but it’s certainly impossible to consciously breathe and one immediately knows that one cannot, so if one does not think oneself already dead (which for me is rare) one thinks one will suffocate soon. Confabulating something physical blocking the mouth or constricting the trunk can occur. It’s actually not as bad to think one is dead, because then one is (sometimes) pleasantly surprised by the presence of an afterlife (even if movement is at least temporarily impossible) and one does not panic about dying—at least I don’t.
So all in all I’d say I have less respect for intuitions like that than most do.
I have an uncommon relationship with the dream world, as I remember many dreams every night. I often dream within a dream, I might do this more often than most because dreams occupy a larger portion of my thoughts than they do in others, or I might just be remembering those dreams more than most do. When I wake up within a dream, I often think I am awake. On the other hand, sometimes in the middle of dreams I know I am dreaming. Usually it’s not something I think about while asleep or awake.
I also have hypnopompic sleep paralysis, and sometimes wake up thinking I am dead. This is like the inverse of sleep walking—the mind wakes up some time before the body can move. I’m not exactly sure if one breathes during this period or not, but it’s certainly impossible to consciously breathe and one immediately knows that one cannot, so if one does not think oneself already dead (which for me is rare) one thinks one will suffocate soon. Confabulating something physical blocking the mouth or constricting the trunk can occur. It’s actually not as bad to think one is dead, because then one is (sometimes) pleasantly surprised by the presence of an afterlife (even if movement is at least temporarily impossible) and one does not panic about dying—at least I don’t.
So all in all I’d say I have less respect for intuitions like that than most do.