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Tag: 1408

  • Dreaming, Wakefulness A Thin Line

    Recently I saw a Film, ‘1408’

    Sleep parameters.
    Biological State of Sleep

    It deals with a study of dreams and waking state.

    One can no call the film as belong to the genre of Horror,Thriller.

    I would classify it as an exploratory film on the frontiers of the Human State .

    A non believer in Ghosts and Religion in general checks into a known haunted Hotel Room despite advised to the contrary.

    Within a few minutes he experiences things that are not normal and he is terrified his reasoning power notwithstanding.

    He meets up with his Father and daughter and is tormented between his beliefs and what he is experiencing.

    He comes out of this situation though he has been told it was not possible,only find he had not come out of it.

    He comes out again and his estranged wife who as skeptical about his experiences starts to believe when she hears the voice of her daughter in the Recording hr husband had made while in the Hotel Room.

    The film ends with a distinct feeling to the watcher of the fIlm even this last sequence might be a Draem or a sleeping State.

    This post is not about the Film but about the Human Sates of,

    Waking,

    Dreaming,

    Deep Sleep and

    Beyond.

    Researchers into Sleep classify Sleep into

    1.REM Rapid Eye Movement-initial state of the Sleep.

    2.Dreaming and

    3 Deep Sleep.

    Alpha and Beta waves are prominently detected for I and 2 respectively and Delta wave is found in the Deep Sleep State.

    This is all the maximum explanation Science could provide biologically on Sleeping?Slumber apart from making loud noises about the Brain needing rest, the body recharging during sleep.

    Psychologists as usual try everything under the sun for explaining away Sleep.

    Sigmund Freud says it is the repressed desires expressing themselves , Jung states it is the Human personality asserting itself in Sleep.

    Behaviorist say, well, it is Behavior!

    But the main question has not been answered.

    What happens during Sleep and what is dreaming and deep sleep?

    Buddhist  Schools speak of the Etheric body, Astral Body

    The Astral body leaves and experiences as befits individual Karma and returns.

    The Vedas. especially Advaita classifies Sleep State into Four.

    1.Jagrat-Wakefulness, the state we are normally in.

    2.Swapna-The Dreaming State.

    3.Sushupti-The Deep dreamless state and

    4.Thuriya-Beyond Deep Sleep ans a step towards Self Realization.

    The Self lies beyond.

    Adi Sankara explains that these states are the manifestations of Consciousness,,Universal Consciousness , not individual Consciousness.

    A Yogi and a seeker of Truth goes beyond this fourth State.

    This is what Lord Krishna means in the Second Chapter of The Bhagavad Gita when he says ,

    Yogi keeps awake while the whole world is asleep and sleeps when every one is awake.

    Come to think of it we can not be sure whether I am awake writing this Post or this is a part of a Dream I am going through.

    The Film Matrix series and of late th Film Inception was based on similar lines,though they based it on SpaceTime and Co-ordinates.

    Some dreams are so vividly real we wake up shaking .

    Rene Descartes the Great Rationalist( Philosophical term , not to be confused with the self-styled rationalist jokers like Karunanidhi and Kamal Hassan) proves the Existence of God the External World and Mind.

    While describing the process of enquiry he says he can not trust his senses for they are not always right.

    He can not trust others’ words as the truth for he does not know whether they can be relied upon.

    As he goes on in this vein he exclaims,

    ” Am I awake or Dreaming, May be It Real world I was experiencing when I was dreaming and this world might be a Dream.

    True the thin line between Dream and Wakefulness is blurred.

    I do not know.

    The Fil 1408 Trailer.

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  • 1408 A Review

    1408 is a film that sets out to explore the world of the paranormal.

    A writer who specializes in paranormal stories gets into a Hotel Room in New York,  reported to have caused bizarre Deaths, despite being warned not to enter.

    Though expected to have an open mind the writer is a Non Believer.

    How he ends up a believer forms the Story.

    The first question one wishes to ask the writer is how a Hotel in a Major City had the room open despite the disasters of 56 people having died in mysterious circumstances.

    The feeble answer through the manager is that the Corporation that runs the Hotel wants it to be open!

    The question how the law enforcing agencies reacted to the deaths is also left unanswered.

    However, the film does bring into the fore all your irrational fears reinforced, especially the basic fears of Water,Fire, Snow and of course Death.

    The scenes are so interspersed with instances where one is intrigued as to the fact whether the scene one witnesses is the Story or one of the spirit made confusions in the mind of the writer

    The Movie also touches on Human tenderness and affection. when  the writer sees his dead child talking to him  and her last days are flashed to him.

    The dialogue  where his dead father tells him –’You are what I was and you shall be what I am’ expresses Life and Death in a simple statement.

    barring these minor points, the film is potboiler playing to your fear of the unknown.

    Might able a Film for those who want to watch a Film that makes them confused for no reason .