The Means of Dreaming

http://viktorialove.com/tag/dreams/

Perhaps you’ll no longer be asking what does a dream means because it has been so common already. But here are some of the meaning of dreams according to books and foreign personalities which I have searched on the internet.

• Dream is a series of thoughts, images or emotions that occurs during sleep period.
• It is a state of abstraction.
• Its content is shaped by experiences early in life, creating the hope that psychoanalysis could use our dreams to reveal our childhood miseries and can cure human torment and a wish-fulfilment—Sigmund Freud.
• It is bizarre, otherworldly and are likely to be moulded by mundane (practical details of life), humdrum (dullness) and everyday activities as life-changing events—The Daily Telegraph by Harvard University.
• It is little more than mental fireworks; a non-sensational by-product of memory consolidation—other scientists.
• Give profound insights into the mind’s workings—Robert Stickgold (Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Sleep and Cognition)
• Dreams are not neutral rubbish, but are involved in consolidating/unity and making sense of memories—Findings of Telegraph/Harvard Survey
• They are special kind of mental experience which seems to be real and as if it actually happened.
• Messages from God or ancestors.
• They are dynamic mixture derived from current stimuli, past experiences, interests and urges.
• They are myth and religion showing the individual’s path toward self-actualization—C.G. Jung.

The Sisylana  (This means analysis which was spelled backward)

http://www.strategicvisionlimited.co.uk/ourservices.htm

The EEG as it was mentioned records the electrical impulses given by the brain and can tell when a dream occurs but it can never say what the dream is all about because only the dreamer could do that. Through this, the relationship between dreaming and the rhythms of sleep was shown.

We can say that the sleeping person is dreaming through the REM or rapid eye movement. With regards to the blind person, their eyes do not move but rather make use of their sense of feeling and hearing to know what is going on with their dreams.

Scientists also stated that four out five dreams are colored but usually are in gray, black or white and nobody has able to determine it yet why is it so. There were experiments conducted before which proves that what people have eaten or drunk before sleeping doesn’t have any connection with the person’s dream. For those who experienced or are experiencing nightmares, you are most probably under stress or have had experienced traumatic events. But then, it is only common during childhood because you do not know yet how to handle frightening situations.

The Main Line

There are lots of ways in analysing dreams in which whenever new methods of collecting dreams arise, new methods of analysing them arises too.

The principal method used in analysing a dream is the content analysis be it gathered within the laboratory or at home. It refers to the elements of the dream such as people—males or females; familiar or stranger; objects like buildings, implements, clothing, etc.; and animals.  It simply determines the similarities and differences of each dream.

For example, it was found out in a study that male dreamers usually dream about males too wherein they are aggressive and less friendly. But whenever there is an interaction with the females, they are less aggressive and are friendlier in their dreams. While in women’s dreams, interactions with both male and female are just equal.

The Science of Dreaming

http://www.jmls.edu/students/organizations/eblsa/index.shtml

Because of these things, scientists doubted whether dreams have a purpose. According to some researchers, here are the benefits and functions of dreaming.

·         It helps people live normal life because they are able to work out their emotional problems.

·         It helps strengthen new learning by storing it in memory.

·         Helps remove ridiculous or irrational thoughts from people’s mind, can think more clearly and act sensibly when they are awake.

·         Essential to mental, emotional and physical well being.

·         Great balance wheel for cultural repression.

However, the problem with those psychoanalytic theories about dreams is that they can explain any gathered data only to realize that they have explained almost nothing.

But then, Henry David Thoreau said that dreams are the touchstones or key guides to determine once character. That’s why, human’s dreams are still being studied scientifically to discover more on man’s nature.

So much for that, I myself often experience dreaming at night. I used to make myself busy because I feel bored upon doing nothing. During night times, whenever I don’t have anything else to do, sometimes I make use of reading until I fall asleep. I don’t want to be thinking anything before sleeping because that might just be the cause for me to have dreams about it. That’s why, I used to tire up myself. So tired that once I go to bed, I could immediately fall asleep.

This ends another chapter of my blog. For the next topic, come to think of something which is somehow related into dreams which is also related into science. And just to add up, dreams are also considered as “meaningless biology.”

By the way, here are some links just in case you want to know the means of the color in your dreams, its symbolism and other things.

• http://petrix.com/dreams/color.html
• http://www.mydreamsvisions.com/dreams
• http://lucidity.com/LD8DFM.html

REFERENCES

• The New Book of Knowledge (D)
• Encyclopedia Americana Volume 9
• The Encyclopedia Americana Volume 9
• Academic Americana Encyclopedia Volume 6
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3320339/science-the-science-of-dreams-the-results.html
• http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/dream
• http://www.yoga-age-com/modern/dreams.html
• http://www.sleeps.com/basics.html