Dreaming In Perspective, Guide to understand dreams Options

This topic is meant to help readers learn how to understand their dreams and to use them to better their lives by providing convenient and objective information on the subjects presented. This first post is an introduction to the content. I've tried to format it in a way that will be easier to read. Simply look at the bold text and you know what that section is about. If its not interesting you can skip on down to the next without any trouble.

For the most part these are just my thoughts. I do not dictate myself as an authority in any of this content. It is, however, based on years of learning, practice and legitimate higher education. As a psych major I have taken courses on dreams, interpreting them and understanding their psychological relevance. I have been using real techniques (that I will share at some point) to help people interpret their dreams for about 3 years now.

As always this is not my thread. Anybody who wishes to contribute may do so (If fact I kinda hope some of you help out as it would be easier on me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) ) So if you have any articles or information to share it would be welcomed.

1. General Physiology: Dreams are a state of mind where the body is mostly paralyzed, unconscious and the brain fires neuro pathways at random. This random firing of brain cells produces the affect of a dream. A dream in and of itself is regarded as nothing more than the random formation of images and sensations. Any five of our senses can be experienced, though smell is the rarest, despite its connection to memory. There is no data proving or disproving that dreams carry any denotative meaning. Also there is no known single location where dreams originate in the brain. One can experience dream like sensations at any time in the sleep cycle. But the most vivid dreams occur during REM (rapid eye movement). REM lasts for a period of about 10-30 minutes during the stages of sleep. While the REM stage of sleep only lasts for part of the night, people can expect to go through 90 minutes cycles and experience this stage several times in one night. It is believed some times dreams may actually resume, as though set on pause when REM is over and then continues where it left off when a person reenters REM. We could get into the stages of sleep but they have little to do with dreaming (at least in laymen's terms) and its really boring.

Everybody dreams. Some, like about 10-12%, dream only in black and white. Most people actually have dozens (possibly even hundreds) of dreams in a single night even though the over all period of time that we dream only lasts for about 2-3 hours. Most dreams are short lasting, going from only a few seconds to minutes. Some last up to 15 or 20 minutes and only on rare occassion do they last longer than 20 minutes. It is estimated that people will have from over a billion to possibly even a trillion dreams in a life time. The problem with gauging this is in knowing when a dream begins and when it ends. Over half the total population experiences reoccuring dreams.

Dreams are strongly linked to memory formation and processing. The vast majority of people, something like 2/3, do not remember many of their dreams and for the most part of their life do not regard them as important, even though they spend about 6 years of their life dreaming. When a person wakes they lose about 90% memory of their dreams in about the first 10 minutes. People can be taught to remember how to remember, even control/manipulate their dreams. The most vivid dreams occur either in the latest stages of sleep (like early in the morning) or when people take naps in the afternoon.

Despite common belief only about 10 percent of dreams are of a sexual nature. The reason why these kinds of dreams are thought to be common is because they are the easiest to remember (who'd of thought that?).

When it comes to sleep disorders the only common ones are insomnia (too little REM) andf hyposomnia (too much sleep). Its estimated that 1/3 of the population will suffer from some form of insomnia or sleep apnea (episodes of snoring) in their life time. Other commonly known disorders, parasomnias, such as sleep walking/talking/eating (in rare cases even driving or sexual activity) only happen in a very small portion of people and they very seldom remember such occurances. Despite popular belief narcolepsy is not a sleep disorder. Its a neurological condition that results in sudden sleeping spells caused by brain seizures.

2. Why do we dream?: Really we don't know why for certain.

There are many theories. For example some believe that dreams serve as an occupant to the mind; the mind gets bored and it produces dreams to stay occupied. The thinking is that if the brain produces dreams it pascifies the body as a whole and makes it less likely to react as though it were under attack, in danger or dying.

Some believe we dream because the mind uses them as a mechanism to process sensory information. Sort of like rebooting a computer. In this way dreams are like an organic cataloging system and information we take in is committed to memory based on the degree of experiences.

Another theory is that the mind never really looses total consciousness and that dreams are forms of expression we are not capable of or willing to show. Thus under this model dreams serve to facilitate the basic human need to express itself in a way that doesn't cause harm or where such expression could cause harm in real life.

Still some believe that dreams are nothing more than a bi-product of natural human functions that serve to maintain the greater health of the whole body. Most theories agree that sleeping in general is a restoritive measure for the body. It is also known that if the body is deprived of REM sleep long enough, it dies. If the body is depeprived of its senses through sensory deprivation long enough, the mind goes insane and creates its own reality. Likewise, some researchers have looking into neuro-feedback for therapy purposes.

3. Do dreams have any meaning?: There are two main schools of thought for this. One dreams do not have any intentional/biological meaning at all. In other words we just dream and then give them meaning when we are conscious as a sort of way to justify their purpose.

The second theory is that dreams do have meaning, or more over purpose, that being to process information and act as a sort of second consciousness to help the greater mind realize repressed memories along with their emotions and desires. Under this theory, dreams act as a sort of diagnostic tool bringing physical and mental issues to the attention of the greater mind.

4. States of consciousness: There are four basic levels of consciousness during dreams.

- No awareness or control at all. The vast majority of dreams (about 90%) are spent at this level. These dreams are usually not the ones you remember - you can be not very commonly. In these kinds of dream the content tends to be wild and more like static from a radio than coherent imagery with detail and possibly meaning. People have no control over their actions within dreams at this state and do not know they are actually dreaming.

- Little awareness and control. Of the dreams people do remember these are the most common. They generally take place in a generic theme; like a school, church, home, favorite park, outerspace or under water. In this state people sometimes report flying, falling, talking or writing they cannot understand or see familiar faces. Also people are engaging is some activity like doing the dishes or taking a test, walking a dog - basically any common activity. Most people do not have control in this state but sometimes they get like a "burst" of awareness that allows them to control very simple details.

- Lucid dreaming; some awareness, some control. At this state a person is aware enough to realize they are dreaming. For the most part elements within the imagery and content is still out of control and random. But people at this state can control specific details by willpower alone. These kinds of dreams are vivid and easily remembered but tend to be shorter and only last from a few seconds to minutes. This is because once the mind is aware, its no longer unconscious and it begins to wake up. These kinds of dreams are also very rare, occurring in most only 3% of the time. Incidentally one of the most common themes for lucid dreams in men around the ages of 15-35 is sexual in nature.

- High lucid dreaming; total control, total awareness. In this state a person is able to control every detail, interact with their dreams, change dreams even explore theoretical ideas like magick and astral projection. Like lucid dreams, without practice, they last only a short time but are extremely vivid. However these kinds of dreams only occur naturally about 1% of the time.

5. Psychological relevance:

- Therapy. Psychologist have linked dreams to memory and memory function. It is believed that with the aid of council a person can recover repressed memories that can shade light on hidden desires, emotions, thoughts, experiences as well as help in the healing process of dealing with traumatic events. Dreams may be able to help amnesiacs recover lost identities, be used to help people with Alzheimers or other memory loss. Dreams in general can be used as a medium by therapists to facilitate recover from mental disorders - even schizophrenia - but especially with depression and anxiety and other mood disorders.

- Recreation. Dreams can be a good source of relaxation. In high lucid dreams one is basically God of their mind and can do anything they want; anything they can imagine.

- Exploration. We have machines to monitor brain waves and pin point what happens where and this gives some insight into the secrets of the brain. But to really understand the brain, more over unlock its secrets, we'll need to actually explore dreams themselves to gather empirical data. Consider this: intellect and memory could be related to our ability to dream. Now consider the really good stuff: Dreams might be able to help us understand paranormal sciences and do so irrefutably - things like psychic abilities, telepathy, shared dreams, astral projection, even telekinesis and mind over matter could be unlocked through our dreams.

- Self diagnostic. Dreams can alert us to health problems if we are able to recognize the proper patterns in our dreams.

6. Mystical/occult relevance: Dreams have long been associated with magickal powers. Shaman thought of the dream world as its own reality independent of this world in which supernatural beings existed and could be contacted for service. Dreams could be the keys to understanding metaphysical existence. We may be able to tare down the doors of perception and see the universe in a way that truly shows us reality for what it is. Dream magick in general is considered a powerful tool and its highly flexible, anybody can do it without having to be a master at some craft.

[edit] Information updated

This post has been edited by Acid09: Feb 24 2008, 08:00 PM

Sample dream interpretation

My Dream:

I was dreaming I was in my old house. It was empty and I noticed the white walls and brown carpets. I am standing in the kitchen and I let my dog in from the back yard. But instead my dog, a giant ferret waddles in. Same coloration as my dog, she's just a ferret. I am trying to pet the ferret and for some reason it seems timid towards me. I ask it "whats wrong with you?". My aunt picks it up and when she picks it up, it becomes more receptive towards me and even wags its tail and pants like a dog.

Now I'm in the living room and I pick up my back pack. As I do I actually grab two bags. For some reason it seems normal to be carrying two backpacks on my shoulder. They both look like the same back pack I use. I turn to leave and say so long to my aunt. As I am walking down the stairs I turn around because I think I have forgotten something. But when I try to get back in the door is locked. I don't have my cell phone or even car, which I actually have both. I walk out and I see my neighbor's youngest daughter. Apperantly she is suppose to be giving me a ride to class at the college. Its at this time I notice the weather of dream. It is cloudy, cold and seems like early spring beause the grass is a vibrant green. I walk over to Alex's house where her car is parked in the front drive way. She emerges from her car and informs me that her older's sister's boyfriend is suppose to take instead. She wakes into her house and gets him and he and a friend emerge. I do not recognize either of the two boys. I know they are younger (highschool age) and they act their age. They come off as very immature. They walk down to an old brown truck, perhaps from the mid to late 80's and get in. I through my backpacks in the middle between the two and walk back to my house. I have realized that I have no ride back and I wanted to go call a friend to make sure I had one. What stuck out to me at this moment was that I actually left my two backpacks there with these two strangers I did not know or trust. When I walk to the door and knock I hear dogs barking. Each knock is not a banging like you'd expect, but instead sounded like a dog's bark. I then awoke to the sound of my neighbor's dogs barking.

My Interpretation:

In order to understand the meaning of this dream I need to brake it down into its basic story elements. So very plainly I make a list:

Plot: (just paraphrase the dream) I am at my old home. My dog is a ferret. I am going school for class with two backpacks. My neighbor is giving me a ride, but instead her sister's boyfriend does. I walk off to find a ride back home.

Setting: My old home and my neighbor's front yard.

Characters (include other symbols as well): myself, my ferret/dog, my aunt, Alex, her sister's boyfriend and his friend. Other symbols - two back packs, my old house - empty, cold weather, green grass, alex's car, the truck, going to the college

Climax: After trying to get a ride to school I realize I need a ride back. (not very dramatic)

Resolution: I leave the truck to find a ride back from the college.

Meaning:

Now I just run through the list and place a meaning to each of the characters and symbols and simply weave them together. Myself - represents my center ego, acting observer and lead character in the dream. My dog as a ferret may represent deception because my dog is suppose to be a dog, but she appears like a ferret. She also seems to distrust me, which may mean that I do not trust a part of myself or that I feel I am not trust worthy on some level.

Carrying one backpack would symbolize personal/emotional baggage. Since I am carrying two I am really carrying twice the load, weather by choice or necessity is not clear. My aunt probably represents my caring and protective nature. The empty house represents my overall self, as I am entirely and the emptiness may represent a feeling of loss or like something is missing (which I did just move so that makes sense). When I left the first time, by trying to get back in probably means I wanted to make sure I didn't leave something behind, as though maybe there is something I did, but I don't know what because I cannot remember it.

Leaving to go to the college symbolizes exploring options around myself, rather than in myself, to learn something (probably about either why I feel empty in the dream, or how to fix it) The green grass symbolizes feeling lively and full of energy. This is in contrast to the cold weather, which may symbolize hard times. My neighbor's daught Alex probably represents the unreliable side of myself. She came off as though she was suppose to give me the ride, but didn't. Her combined with her car both could mean that I am not suppose to take that ride, that is not right for me.

The two boys who I don't know probably represent manifestations of my own immature self. The old truck means the vehicle of choice is something I know best and both the boys and the old truck combined probably mean I am facing a situation in an immature way hoping to learn something so that I don't feel empty inside. By leaving the truck to find a ride back I am acting dependantly. In real life I would just drive myself. But the need for a ride, both ways, could indicate part of myself that is at least reliant on others for support.

So what I have here is an interpretation or each of the characters and symbols. While I can see there are many meanings, there is no single meaning to the dream overall. No fortune in the fortune cookie so to speak. So now I relook at the dream and instead of seeing it in terms of symbols and characters I can see it in terms of meanings that are like pieces of a puzzle that fit together. The thing about dreams is there really can be multiple meanings. It just all depends how you look at it. And almost always, at least in part, if someone else were to tell you their meaning for your dream, it'd also come out differently.

Overall meaning:
By looking at the meanings of the symbols and interactions between them, instead of the content itself, I can piece together an overall meaning: Facing situations where I may be self-deceptive (ferret) about the emptiness (old house) I feel inside from lossing my home and while live is fair (the green grass) I am facing tough times (weather). I am also carrying heavy burdens (the two backpacks) and want to search for ways to fix or handle it (going to school). I look inwards in myself for answers on which direction to go. At first I am facing the situation with the part of me that is unreliable, perhaps acting more emotionally than normal (Alex/her car). But taking this route doesn't work. Instead I go with what has worked for a long time (the old truck) and to take the immature route (expressed by the two boys), which is to rely on others (explaining the absents of my own car). Before going down this path I make sure I can find my way back when the time is right (getting out of the truck and looking for a new ride)

Now of course this interpretation can apply to my life in any number of ways. Sometimes dreams are really talking about multiple issues within life. In my case I did just recently move. I have been feeling a little home sick and have been seeking knowledge to get over this. By doing so I have turned towards friends and family for support. I don't think I have done it in an "immature" way though.

In the near future I'll add other dreams using different techniques. But this one is probably the most thorough way I know of so far.