Are we to be held responsible for the evil things we might do in our dreams?
Although we aren't directly harming anyone in a dream, depending on your level of consciousness in your dream you might be making the intention to do so, and intention is very important.
Some of us when we dream it's a hazy blur and we're not conscious enough to comprehend what we're doing. We might "see ourselves" doing something horrible in a dream and be unable to control it and wake up thinking "That was horrible! I'll never do that in real life".
But I have always dreamed very vividly since I was a child and in some of these vivid dreams I was nearly as aware of what I was doing as if I was awake. And in that state of awareness I've done some really nasty things, including but not limited to severely maiming (with intent to kill) a man in a very brutal and gruesome way who broke into our house (in the dream of course). I remember it crystal clear and even now I look back on it and remember that I did it in a state of panic of having an intruder in the house. If that was real... I can't say I would have acted any different.
Also lately I've been doing a lot of drawing animals in my dreams and again sometimes I'm as aware as in real life, sitting there with the pencil in hand thinking "I shouldn't do this" but being unable to control myself. That's happened once in real life but I stopped after making a couple of lines on the page and then deleting it off the computer (so it was more mouse in hand rather than pen in hand). But in the dreams I'll start to draw quite detailed animals perfectly aware that what I'm doing is a complete no-no.
Then there are the... erm... masturbation dreams, where I wake up... you know... :embarrass I worry about those especially.
If a dream is vivid enough can we be held accountable for what we do in it?
Although we aren't directly harming anyone in a dream, depending on your level of consciousness in your dream you might be making the intention to do so, and intention is very important.
Some of us when we dream it's a hazy blur and we're not conscious enough to comprehend what we're doing. We might "see ourselves" doing something horrible in a dream and be unable to control it and wake up thinking "That was horrible! I'll never do that in real life".
But I have always dreamed very vividly since I was a child and in some of these vivid dreams I was nearly as aware of what I was doing as if I was awake. And in that state of awareness I've done some really nasty things, including but not limited to severely maiming (with intent to kill) a man in a very brutal and gruesome way who broke into our house (in the dream of course). I remember it crystal clear and even now I look back on it and remember that I did it in a state of panic of having an intruder in the house. If that was real... I can't say I would have acted any different.
Also lately I've been doing a lot of drawing animals in my dreams and again sometimes I'm as aware as in real life, sitting there with the pencil in hand thinking "I shouldn't do this" but being unable to control myself. That's happened once in real life but I stopped after making a couple of lines on the page and then deleting it off the computer (so it was more mouse in hand rather than pen in hand). But in the dreams I'll start to draw quite detailed animals perfectly aware that what I'm doing is a complete no-no.
Then there are the... erm... masturbation dreams, where I wake up... you know... :embarrass I worry about those especially.
If a dream is vivid enough can we be held accountable for what we do in it?
You should avoid telling your bad dreams to people. Even good dreams, I would keep under wraps and tell only those close to me.
