Many people choose to believe their dreams provide an unknown meaning awaiting discovery. Many trusted and credited theorist provide persuasive arguments that seem reasonable and enticing. The brain is such a complex organ that the theories regarding the unknown workings of it seem reasonable. There are many functions of the brain that remain unknown especially during the sleep cycles. It would be much more perplexing if dreams provided insight to the future or were attempts from the brain to work through our inner personal distress. Many people attempt to decipher their dreams and make conclusions because our brain is wired to make connections and decode what we experience in our everyday life. We have emotional responses to everyday stimulus and when we have an emotional response in dreams we have the same reaction. That is to understand what is the meaning and why do we feel the way we do. In the article How to Build a Dream it is concluded that, “Dreams have no inherent meaning.” Dreams do not provide meaning but they are filled with emotion. It is easy to assume that a dream seeming so real and vivid must provide some symbolism. In actuality modern …show more content…
We often feel great emotional connections to our dream persuading us there must be a message or hidden truth when simply there is not. Our brain levels decreases tremendously when we enter deep sleep and we no longer think logically. The plots of dreams seem hard to decipher because they have no intended meaning. We cannot explain why the brain chooses to fire certain parts of the brain during dreams. Although, we can conclude from modern research that dreams are the outcome of a state of chaos within the brain. It is irrational to base choices and decisions in your waking life from what you experienced in your dreams when your brain waves were at low levels. Dreams do not provide a hidden
But to me, dreams are a way of guidance to what is next after this life. Ultimately, we also may never know the true meaning behind dreams. However, I believe it is important that every human being has their own logical interpretations of dreams in order to understand themselves in a deeper and more enhanced way. Stephen King’s belief that our conscious goes deeper than we have been thought to think hints that our personalities, emotions, desires and overall-selves can be understood to a greater degree with the help of dreams. Not only do I agree with King, but I also believe that it is a great achievement to be able to understand ourselves in ways other people
For years, psychologists have been wondering over the mysterious field of dreams. Dreams have always been mysterious. The content of the dreams can shift instantly, featuring unexplained events or sudden terrifying images (Whitman, Ornstein & Baldridge, 1964). The fact that the content of dreams can be enthralling is what causes many psychologists to believe that there has to be some implication to dreams (Webb & Cartwright, 1978). While many theories are formed to explain the functions and meanings of dreams, there is a lack of evidence on their purpose. In fact, recent researchers such as G. William Domhoff suggested that dreams most likely serve no real purpose (Domhoff, 2001). This research essay considers the whether there are a significant functions and meanings of dreams by responding to the following questions.
In Stephen King’s article,“The Symbolic Language of Dream,” he states, “ I think that dreams are a way that people's minds illustrate the nature of their problems. Or even illustrate the answers to their problems in symbolic dreams”(38). Dreams shows the individual unconscious and being to glimpse one's deepest desires and problems that are happening in their life. There are certain symbols that have meaning to them. In Carl Jung “The Importance of Dreams” every object and sign in the dreams represent a deeper meaning than what it actually is. How every individual person has a separate meaning to that object. While dreams can show a person's deepest fantasy and wishes there is also a dark sides to the dream. In the unconscious mind a person's
The interpretation of dreams by Sigmund Freud holds a ton of information, mostly about what our dreams mean and how they can influence our daily lives. He expresses on page 310, that dreams can be wishes, fears,
Having that exhilarating dream, or terrifying one makes me wonder about dreams. The wonder of dreams grows by the day. I continually ask myself why do I dream; what causes me to dream? Where do our dreams originate and occur? Do my dreams have meaning? The answers to these questions are a little complex. The answers I have to give are very sophisticated and need to be thoroughly thought out.
In the first chapter of Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams the master himself explains to the reader that every dream divulges itself as being a structure of psychological nature. Freud goes on to describe that each dream is meaningful and that some dreams may be designated to a precise point in the activities of the wake mind.
First, let examined the definition of dream according to Sigmund Freud “dream is the disguised fulfilment of a repressed wish. Dreams are constructed like a neurotic symptom: they are compromises between the demands of a repressed impulse and the resistance of a censoring force in the ego” (Freud, 28). This simple means that all dreams represent the fulfilment of a wish by the dreamer. Dreams are the mind way of keeping an individual asleep and to digest and work out all that we have going on inside our brains, the negative, positive, fear and unclear thoughts and actions. This set the framework for dream work. Freud also stresses that even anxiety dreams and nightmares are expressions of unconscious desire. Freud further went on to say that, “the general function of dreaming is to fending off, by a kind of soothing action, external or internal stimuli which would tend to arose the sleeper, and thus of securing sleep against interpretation” (Freud, 28). With this, it shows that a dreamer can take apart his dream and analysis it, if he or she remembers, once conscious.
Despite the large amount of time we spend asleep, surprisingly little is actually known about sleeping and dreaming. Much has been imagined, however. Over history, sleep has been conceived as the space of the soul, as a state of absence akin to death, as a virtual or alternate reality, and more recently, as a form of (sub)consciousness in which memories are built and erased. The significance attributed to dreams has varied widely as well. The Ancient Greeks had surprise dream encounters with their gods. Native Americans turned to their dreams for guidance in life. Shamans dreamed in order to gather information from the spirits.
Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Dreams occur during a certain stage of sleep known as REM. Several different psychologists, including Freud and Hobson, have studied dreams. Psychologists have provided many theories as to what dreams are and the meanings behind them.
The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.
Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to understand the different functions of the human body, how we move, talk, act, and for the most part many of these physiological behaviors have been explained on some level. However, one area of the human body that has had researchers and scientist confused for a long time is the mind. Many things go on inside the mind that don’t make sense and so far have no tangible explanation of why it occurs and how. One of the most fascinating and mysterious sections of psychology is that of dreaming. We dream thousands of dreams every night, but why and what do they mean?
Dreaming is very different than everyday life, yet somehow still relates to it in some way. In everyday life we have stress and happiness along with many other emotions. Yet in someway when we drift off into a deep sleep this emotions come right back. Dalai Lama once said that “sleep is the best meditation.” Sleep may be the one thing that people turn to, a place where your mind is totally set free to do what it wants and think what it wants. An idea or vision that is created in your imagination that when suddenly when you awake, feels so real.Dream reflect reality because most peoples dreams are in fact related to past, and recent experiences, or events that have happened in a person’s life. Dreams are more than just a method of entertainment, They should be taken more seriously because of the fact that with dreams imitating own reality, you can then learn more about yourself.
What is a dream? Why do we have dreams? Do dreams have deeper meaning in our lives? The answers to these questions have eluded and intrigued many psychologists throughout history and have sparked my interest as well. As an avid and vivid dreamer I have often found myself wondering what the true meanings to my dreams were. So what are dreams? “Strictly speaking, dreams are images and imagery, thoughts, sounds and voices, and subjective sensations experienced when we sleep.”1 Even after thousands of years of research, psychologists have still not come to an agreed answer on why we dream. There are as many opinions out there as there are individual dreams. Some psychologists believe dreaming is simply the minds way of distracting itself from outside information during sleep to allow people to get deep rest. Others such as Dr. Eric Hartman suggest dreams serve almost as a psychotherapy in which the brain can make connections between different emotions and thoughts in a safe protected environment. Do dreams have any direct correlation to everyday events and experiences? Are they meant to aid individuals in understanding and interpreting their world around them?
Although an individual believes a dream has no importance, statistics have proven that dreams can be sent as warning messages or messages of reassurance. The aftereffects of the dream can leave feelings ranging from foreboding to understanding to complete confusion. The only part left to figure out is how the dream applies to daily life.
All of us dream, several times at night. It is believed by some that we sleep in order that we may dream. Dreams can come true if somebody makes them true, as the saying goes, “A dream is just a dream, unless you make it come true”. Dreams provide us the actual picture of our thoughts. Dreams may tell us about any physical event which took place with us or which is going to happen with us. The dream is trying to inform the dreamer about his condition in any walk of life. Basically, we can dream about anything logical or illogical, fictious or non-fictious and reasonable or unreasonable.