I elaborate on facets of the Light State of consciousness, see my previous post for details
Three further notes on the Light State: First, Liberty is an especially prominent figure in Liberty Leading the People and will probably draw most people’s initial focus, just as certain loud noises or disturbances generally attract the same amount of Foreground processing regardless of who is experiencing them. But there can be substantial variation in what attracts the Foreground processing of different individuals, especially if the perceptive range is not dominated by any given stimulus. Observe, for example, the below painting by Kandinsky. What initially attracts the attention may vary from person to person.
Second, there may be instances when Foreground processing may almost recede to the Background, such as when completing repetitive or relaxing activities. This activity can be likened to a landscape painting, such as Van Gogh’s below, where no particular spot demands foreground processing attention and instead it is the cohesive whole of the painting – the cohesive whole of Light State consciousness – that prevails.
Third, there remains the question of the subconscious. Freud did not find this concept helpful, using instead the idea of the preconscious and unconscious minds to encompass what others would normally describe as the subconscious. Preconscious is easy enough to explain using art, such as in the Arnolfini Portrait below: The symbolic meaning of the oranges, dog, mirror and various carvings in the painting can be consciously recalled separately from one’s direct perception of the objects, just as thoughts in the preconscious can be recalled to the conscious mind.
But where Freud found little difference between the unconscious, which could not be recalled, and the subconscious, I see the subconscious as being the part of the unconscious that cannot be actively recalled, but can manifest itself in conscious behavior to the extent that it can be identified as the subconscious. If a person behaves poorly towards people of a certain race without knowing it, they are unconscious of the reasons behind this behavior. If they are called out or come to certain realizations about the nature of their prejudice – if that is indeed the reason behind their behavior – then the subconscious is revealed, much like a surfacing submarine now reveals its existence.
All this is to say that dreaming transcends all three states – Bright, Light and Dark. We can experience survival mode while in a dream and wake up in a sweat. We can experience dreams very similar to our normal waking experiences or experience heightened states of mental and physical arousal. And we can dream without really knowing we are dreaming at all. So can a machine dream? Stay tuned…