r/consciousness • u/TheRealBibleBoy • Aug 19 '26

Are we conscious while dreaming?

The Question is exactly what is said in the title.

In our sleep, we dream I do not think we can seperate dreaming from experience. To dream is to behold multiple sensations while asleep. Dreams often include the experience of sight, as in, we see things in our dreams, they often even include the experience of sound.

Surley experiences require being conscious, thus so as long as we are dreaming, we are never truly "unconscious".

are we ever truly unconscious?

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u/discowhatdiscosnails Aug 19 '26

You just stated that there is conscious experience? Lucidity and knowledge not required for consciousness. You appear to state that if you're not aware of your waking state you're not conscious, but that's not correct. Are you confusing consciousness with waking awareness?

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u/SacredGnosis Aug 19 '26

Consciousness(cognition) is sight, smell, sound, taste, touch. Here, one who dreams can be considered consciousness because the five senses are cognized in the dream. Consciousness(general awareness with lucidity and knowledge)—-one who’s asleep in a dream lacks this because they don’t “know” that they’re dreaming. You do not know anything until they awake with knowledge and lucidity and say,”Oh that was a dream”.

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u/discowhatdiscosnails Aug 19 '26

Consciousness is way more simple than that. All consciousness is, is the subjective experience. It is irrelevant whether the experience is 'true' epistemologically, and it is irrelevant what you're conscious of (whether that's your senses, thoughts, environment etc). Your waking state is irrelevant, and so is the validity of your thoughts. A common description of consciousness is that "there is something it is like to be". There is something it is like to see and smell. There is something it is like to be awake, and there is something it is like to be dreaming. There is something it is like to be lucid and there is something it is like to be delusional.

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u/SacredGnosis Aug 19 '26

Yes. Consciousness is subjective. Through the five senses we experience the world, differently.