h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Many people report 'stress' dreams about turning up to an exam completely unprepared. Perhaps it's just me, but I know anecdotally of others who have bad dreams about their first jobs; on the face of it, it seems that earlier events persist into later nightmares. If this is the case, then why is it these events feature strongly in dreams, when the following life-events can be so much more dramatic?

(Or perhaps your dreams don't involve a more youthful era)

I have a paranoid dream that I'm not actually a doctor, and that the last 7 years have all been faking. Sometimes I have go to the GMC website to check that my name is really on it.

In my 20s and 30s I had a recurring dream that I was floating down the upstairs hall toward the stairs in the big old house I grew up in. The narrow stairs went down a flight, turned 180 degrees half way and then descended another flight to the main floor. I would get halfway down the first set of steps and then wake up in a sweat, terrified at what was around the corner. This went on for many years until I mentioned it to my older sisters at a Christmas get-together.

Much to my surprise they burst out laughing. It turns out that at that landing there was a laundry chute that led to the basement (where the laundry was)- a straight 25 foot drop to a cement floor. As my protective older sisters they wanted me to stay away from the little door that was just about my size (age 4).

So they told me it was the door to Hell.

No wonder I'm an atheist now.

"there was a laundry chute that led to the basement (where the laundry was)- a straight 25 foot drop to a cement floor. As my protective older sisters they wanted me to stay away from the little door that was just about my size (age 4). So they told me it was the door to Hell. No wonder I'm an atheist now" [clzoomer]

Apparently you're not an atheist in your dreams. Either that, or it's possible to believe in H*ll even if you don't believe in heaven.

The Mesozoic, mostly.

paul, the dream convinced me of the gullibility of children when indoctrinated from a very early age. My 'de-conversion' was achieved after many years of observation and thought. However, I respect the beliefs of everyone in all their myriad varieties and would never argue against them in any way since they are beliefs, not theories. I would note that this has been a relatively recent decision.

OK?

OK!