Sunday, September 14, 2008

Why do we dream?


About 100 years ago, Freud declared that dreams are the path to the unconscious. Oddly enough, despite all the progress in science today, we are no closer to understanding why we dream. Does dreaming have a biological function or is it just noise? Dreams can be in color or black and white, with or without sound, and yet we still don't know why it happens at all. So I put it to you - what do you think is happening when we dream?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some said...sleep is temporarily death... some said sleep and death are brothers. I think dreams' purpose is for us to experience what it's like to be without our body..so we don't get too surprised afterlife. I even think that dreams are reminders to us that we could never be in full control of ourselves...to some people who like to be in control of themselves, it might be an upsetting idea.

I don't think anybody can know what is happening when we dream, except there is very little sense of being left.. and in some cases, we dont know who we are in are dreams.

If we understand dreams then maybe we can understand what's it's like after death. Perhaps that's why no science can ever solve this mystery as both matters are beyond human powers to control.

"There is less charm when one thinks of death, but there is more peace--Tolstoy"---I would think this is applicable to dreams as well.

Paul_R said...

Jennifer:

An interesting perspective. I think you are right when you state "dreams are reminders to us that we could never be in full control of ourselves." Our dreams are a place we can be insane in comfort and safety. It's a place where the irreconcilable are reconciled and therefore is an excellent place to practice dealing with death.

From a Fruedian perspective though, it would have related more to wish fulfillment and that will yield a very different answer to the question why we dream.

I wonder if animals dream?

- Paul

Anonymous said...

dream is that we want to be but we can't do it

Anonymous said...

Last night I had a dream. It was that someone who seemed to treat me badly in my dream, but I took revenge on that person, and I was happy for that. But when I woke up this morning, I couldn't recall who he/she is. What a pity.


Extremely want to recall--Rachel

Anonymous said...

I used to dream of my father, my uncle and cousin and they died many years ago. I also used to beat a bad guy in my dream. These nightmares made me tired and unhappy when I woke. I wonder why I had the kind of dreams on bad things.

I had some beautiful dreams but I forgot them.

中國人說:日有所思,夜有所夢. What you are thinking in the day will come out in your dreams at night. Maybe it is a place that reveals something of me.

Your question lets me think on this: will babies dream?

Mei-ling

Anonymous said...

I never think this question. It is occult. I always forgot my dream. Sometimes I know I had a dream when I woke up, but it is unclear. Another interesting thing is everything always connects strangely in my dream and I was dreaming and thinking why the connection is strange. Yes, I know I am dreaming when I have a dream. In my few memory for dreams, I played a viewer as watch a moive I played. I have woken myself up from a bad dream when I was a child. I saw I was drown by flood in a dream. I was so scared, but I know that was a dream not the truth. I didn't want to know the end of the dream. I had to leave the bad dream. I tried to open my eyes and I did it. I was really happy the bad dream did not come back when I fell in dream again.

Anonymous said...

Why do we dream? Because we think too much in the daytime.

Anonymous said...

If you remember that dream content when you wake up, it is unhealthy to you. Because you can't really relax. You can't really take off.

Anonymous said...

Dream,dream,dream.
A dream is a hope.
A dream is a power to come true.

Anonymous said...

dream is expressed your feeling-hope,fear or any small thing from life.

by the way~ I had a dream a few weeks ago...a black cat rus my body and then i woke.

Paul_R said...

Amanda:

I'm not sure I believe in dream interpretation, but I do think it's amusing. I looked up your dream and this is what the dream dictionary said:

To see a cat in your dream, signifies much misfortune, treachery, and bad luck. However, for the cat lover, cats signifies an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power. If the cat is aggressive, then it suggests that you are having problems with the feminine aspect of yourself.

To dream that a cat is biting you, symbolizes the devouring female. Perhaps you are taking and taking without giving. You may be expressing some fear or frustration especially when something is not going as planned.

To dream that you chase the cat away, signifies that you will overcome your obstacles.

To see a white cat in your dream, denotes that you are going through difficult times.

To see a black cat in your dream, indicates that you are experiencing some fear in using your psychic abilities and believing in your intuition. You may erroneously associate the black cat with evil, destruction, and bad luck.

Any truth to any of that Amanda?

- Paul

Paul_R said...

Kiki:

I found this one for you about your "drowning" dream:

To dream that you are drowning, signifies that you are overwhelmed by emotions or repressed issues that is coming back to haunt you. You may be proceeding too quickly in trying to discover your unconscious thoughts and therefore must proceed more cautiously and slowly. If you drown to death, then is refers to an emotional rebirth. If your survive the drowning, then a waking relationship or situation will ultimately survive the turmoil.

Any thoughts?

- Paul

Paul_R said...

Mei Ling:

I think a dream is a very natural place to encounter a loved one who has passed away. Death is the most difficult thing psychologically to come to terms with and it therefore seems to me, that the dream world is the ideal place to explore that realm. Did you consider these dreams healthy or unhealthy?

- Paul

Anonymous said...

I think this one is better…signifies that you will overcome your obstacles.

But I didn’t chase the cat away… Actually, the cat runs away my body.

In Chinese culture -black cat is bad luck… So, in my idea, the black luck is gone and I will better and better…ha ha ^_^

Others definition are soooo sad!!!