Introduction – Eyes Closed, but What’s Happening Inside?
The room is dark at night. The body rests. But part of the mind is awake. You’re asleep. Maybe you’re running, maybe you’re flying. And sometimes, someone is watching you… Someone you don’t know, but you fear. You are sleeping — but who is that? Who’s watching us? Is it just coincidence, or the voice of the subconscious?
These are among the mysteries humanity has been trying to solve for thousands of years. So tonight, let’s go a little deeper…
I. What Is a Dream? The Brain’s Nighttime Game
1. REM and NREM – Stages of Sleep
Human sleep is divided into two main phases:
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NREM (non-REM) – the stage of deep physical rest
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REM (rapid eye movement) – the stage where eyes move rapidly, brain activity increases, and most dreams occur
During REM, the brain is almost fully awake. But the body becomes nearly paralyzed — a biological safety feature to prevent physical movement that might be harmful.
2. How Does the Brain Create Dreams?
The brain processes the information gathered throughout the day — it selects, combines, deletes, and stores. Dreams are the product of this process. But logic isn’t always necessary. We speak in symbols.
II. The Subconscious – A Hidden Cosmos Within
1. The Difference Between Conscious and Subconscious
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Consciousness — what we’re currently thinking and aware of
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Subconscious — beliefs, fears, desires, and memories we carry without realizing
Freud once said:
“Man hides even from himself through the subconscious.”
2. The Symbolic Language of the Subconscious
Seeing a dog, a baby, a collapsing house, flying, falling, or being naked in a dream — all of these are symbolic.
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Flying — desire for freedom
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Running — fleeing from fear
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Being naked — feeling exposed
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Being watched — need for control, or voice of conscience
III. Who Is Watching Us in Our Dreams?
1. Faceless Entity – Symbol of Fear
In some dreams, people feel watched by someone whose identity is unknown. The face isn’t visible, but the gaze is felt.
This figure often symbolizes:
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Fear and guilt
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Our inner critic
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Shadows of past trauma
2. Familiar Face, Unfamiliar Feeling
Sometimes, the watcher is someone we know — a teacher, a father, an ex. But the feeling is different. That’s because it’s not really them — it’s the symbolic value our mind assigns to them.
3. The “Observer” in Psychology
According to Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes:
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The Shadow represents the hidden parts of the self. It often appears in dreams as a watcher, a pursuer, or a strange figure.
IV. Scientific Explanation: The Brain Is Watching Itself
1. Metacognition
One rare feature of the human brain is its ability to observe its own thoughts — to think and be aware of that thinking.
In dreams, this system becomes scrambled — and we may feel like someone else is watching us. But it's just the brain itself.
2. Lucid Dreams – When the Watcher Is You
Sometimes people realize they are dreaming (a lucid dream). In that moment, it’s as if they gain another pair of eyes. The observer may be our higher self.
V. Mysticism and Philosophy – Does the Soul Travel During Dreams?
1. Does the Soul Leave the Body?
Some beliefs claim that during sleep, the soul leaves the body and travels other realms. The being watching us could be an angel, a guardian, or a spiritual entity.
2. Dreams in Islam
The Quran also refers to dreams:
“Allah takes the souls at the time of their death and those that do not die during their sleep…”
(Surah Az-Zumar, 42)
This verse highlights the spiritual depth of dreams.
VI. Opinion: Is the Watcher Just Us?
It seems that the being who watches us is always with us.
It may be our conscience, our past, uncontrolled desires, fragments of memory, or fear itself — personified.
Each night, we close our eyes. But our brain awakens.
And that brain — watches us.
And that watcher — is the mirror within.
Conclusion
Dreams are not just fantasies.
They are doors to truth — colorful shadows of our unspoken emotions, fears, and memories.
The being that watches us in our dreams may be us.
But deeper down, it could be the shadow self — the part we don't want to see, but always carry.
And maybe… the one watching us is our future self.
Questions & Reflections
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Have you ever felt like someone was watching you in a dream? What did it make you feel?
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What do you think the strange symbols in dreams mean?
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Are dreams just brain activity — or messages from the soul?
Share your thoughts with us — maybe your experience will help someone else illuminate their subconscious.
shefeq.com – Where the language of dreams speaks.