Is it logically possible to have a dream within a dream? Or is there, as it were, only one "level" of dreaming?

When we deliberate, we often make note of pertinent constraints as we form our opinion. For instance, a jury member might arrive at a different recommendation than she would have otherwise if she observes a judge's instructions to ignore a particular piece of testimony. Does the ability to determine our beliefs by considering some factors and not others show we can in some sense control what we believe?

What is the difference between sensation and perception? Can you have perception without a sensation?

As someone who is clinically depressed, I have often wondered: philosophically speaking, is trying to treat depression wrong? People are depressed for a reason, possibly because life's pretty damned depressing once you get down to it. It seems to me that in plenty of cases, depression is a logical reaction to this planet, a rather depressing thought in and of itself. Despite the wars and the plagues and the genocides and the poverty and the seemingly countless other reasons for one to be depressed, people treat depression like a disease when it seems more like a perfectly acceptable reaction to the human condition. Treating depression like this appears to me as a rather unsubtle way of trying to trick people into believing everything is going to be okay when reality seems to contradict this. Any thoughts?

Does it make sense to talk of unconscious IDEAS? I know psychoanalysts often talk of unconscious ideas, but am puzzled by their supposed status. Many of our physiological processes are unconscious to us, but ideas? If there were unconscious ideas, how would we identify them, and how would they relate to our conscious ideas? A fan of Hume

Do some people believe their own lies?

Since intelligence is defined as a person's 'mental capacity', and what might be seen as 'mental capacity' to one person might be very different to another person depending on their 'mental capacity', doesn't this mean intelligence is relative to the person observing it? If it is relative, does that make it impossible to determine intelligence absolutely through measures such as IQ tests?

Is there a difference between the words and expressions a person uses to say what he/she believes, and the beliefs themselves? Is one more important than the other?

I have read some recent material about dreams that seems to say Freud got it wrong. If my understanding is correct, dreaming is a by-product of moving information from short term to long term memory. A recurring dream is simply the result of a recent event that has a connection to a past event. And as with all events in our lives, the emotional context has an effect on how vivid the actual memories are and perhaps the dreams as well; but, the updating process - dreaming - is essentially meaningless in itself. From this, I conclude that many folks waste time and money on dream interpretation which is at best harmless entertainment and at worst harmful pseudoscience, especially if one acts on what they take to be a prophetic dream. What does philosophy of mind say about dreaming?

I may want to go to the kitchen because there is some food there and I want to eat. (Suppose that.) One of these desires is a "fundamental" desire (I want to eat) and the other one is merely "derivative". Are there better words usually used to express this difference between two kinds of desires? Do you think that most desires are, as I called them, "derivative" and that there is only a small set of "fundamental" desires (like the desires to be alive, healthy, free, without pain, and loved)?