Friday, April 07, 2006
All about dreams

Dreams – An essential, personal part of U

We may use words to disguise our thoughts. We may leave things unsaid or even lie. We may use a lot of words and fail to get our point across, but to anyone who can read our dreams the body ‘speaks’ simply and clearly.Understanding our own and other people’s dreams requires us to be both an observer and an interpreter. We must watch closely since what we are looking for may not be obvious, but unspectacular signals.

Modern psychology, in its turn, has pondered this problem of dreams and their possible interpretation. The investigations have led to many strange-by-ways and this scientific approach has taken the subject far away from tales and fables.How many of us can patiently stay for the beautiful night to get ourselves plunged in sweet dreams? On the other hand, there are people who keep themselves awake, the whole night, just to remain away from the dreadful dreams that torture them.

Then what are dreams? An inspiration? An omen? A foreteller, or perhaps a warning?
- These are the probable questions that have pondered and haunted mankind for several untold centuries.

A dream is an unconscious psychological phenomenon occurring during paradoxial slumber. There are two types of sleep; slow sleep and fast or paradoxial sleep. They can be distinguished by the simultaneous registration of active currents of the brain, the muscles and eye movements.Slow sleep always precedes fast sleep in a moving cycle, which occurs four to six times a night. Fast sleep is deeper than slow sleep and yet the sleeper experiences at the time a cerebral action. The muscles become paralysed and the sleeper is completely isolated from the outside world. At that precise moment, he dreams. A dream is made up from a series of scenes in which we play a role, either as actor or spectator.
A dream can be a source of inspiration. If some dreams reach so deep down within us, some others remain forgotten.We can remember a dream only if we are awakened during the paradoxical sleep phase which coincides with the dream. But, if we are awakened, say 10 minutes later after this stage, we will remember it no more.

A dream is a particular kind of “thought” which occurs in a brain, which is asleep. Many people are deeply affected by dreams they have had during the night. They are delighted by them, heartened, downcast or perhaps terrified.Certain mental illness can originate from a dream, which lives permanently in a person’s mind and soon turns into an obsession.It is for sure, that dreams often do have an important influence on ideas or behaviour, active or emotional. So analysis of dream is of paramount importance. It is a fact that many dreams focus on something which may occur in reality. The dream, which is born in an unconscious state of mind hides in it, a mass of information, which would be impossible for us to scan at a conscious level.So some dreams enable us to get things into focus and help to understand ourselves better and at the same time to understand our inner-selves. They are like an “internal mirror”. Granted this mirror may well make a lot of people shudder.

Our dreams are independent of our will and of our sense of moral responsibility. We have no control over them, but can only watch them unfold. Certain situation from which we would normally recoil in horror occur in our dreams without our feeling of the least qualm of conscience.When we are asleep, our conscience, our reasoning and our vigilance cease to exist because our cerebral cortex is asleep. Our cerebral cortex is that active part of the brain which is the seat of will and the conscience.

“The interpretation of dreams is the high road that leads to the unconscious”. In order to analyse dreams, it is of prime importance to understand the mechanism that produces them. We have heard many people say “there’s something in me, which I cannot analyse but which drives me to do and think things that bear no relation to my conscious will and desire”.It is an unconscious force that drives him. It is obscure and invisible, which can be analysed only by means of psychological treatment.
Our unconsciousness mainly consists of our memories, our instincts, our habits, our fads and our quirks. The unconscious region is situated deep within us, in certain nerve centres situated at the base of the brain. The unconsciousness is neither moral nor immoral. It is what it is. Hence the dream, which stems out from the unconsciousness, is equally independent and speaks out just frankly.

A dream which features an automobile, be it a train or a car, signifies a psychological change, a journey towards new achievements, fresh inner-horizons and so on.
A dream featuring a bank signifies a concentration of inner-energy (generally it depicts one’s ego).
A dream focussing a bridge is very auspicious for a bridge is something solid which enables us to crossover a dangerous area. But, if the bridge collapses, it means that our inner resources don’t seem very dependable to help to overcome the obstacles.
Thus, dreams can be analysed. But in dream-analysis, one must be very careful in interpreting the language of dreams, for, in a dream, thoughts and ideas appear in some form of disguise. This is because sleep lulls the brain but does not put it out of action all together. There is still a certain degree of consciousness, and therefore of censorship. This subtle merge of conscious with the unconscious results in the appearance of thoughts and ideas in a complex disguised form in dreams.

In order to interpret a dream correctly, one should know the person concerned very thoroughly. Interpreting one’s own dreams is not an exemption to this criterion. It necessitates knowing oneself. And this is much more difficult than is generally imagined.
Knowing oneself is a question of analysing him, of getting him under his shell and of letting him see himself as he really is!
So in order to analyse your dreams, you should take very careful note of your dreams, down to their smallest detail. Then, account them to an experienced interpreter of dreams. Get him to analyse them. The interpreter may be you as well.The state of your inner-self will then be brought to light with the greatest possible benefit to you. You will then thank your dreams for revealing your true self to you.

As I have already mentioned dreams and their analysis will have a strong influence on one’s ideas and behaviour. So before you sit to analyse your dreams, analyse your own self. Decide upon whether you are mentally strong enough to receive unexpected, strange unspectacular signals that might essentially be a very personal part of you of which, your own interest demands some understanding.

Your spirit is the goal. Behold. Nothing else exists.
Let me give you some instances that might help you in analysing your dreams with ease.

Dream No 1

“I am going along a road, I suddenly notice that I am wearing those buckled shoes which I used to wear during my school days. I am walking along and the road is becoming more and more narrow. Then, an old man comes in and instructs me to throw away my tiny shoes”.
On enquiry, the dreamer is found to be a young man of 26. His parents are looking for a girl for his marriage. But he feels that he is still young to bear the responsibility of a family man. He is unconsciously hovering between two desires- to remain a petted child tied to his mother, or to play his role as an adult.
The road goes narrow, i.e. the situation has arrived which will block his progress as a child.
He then receives the order to throw away his childhood shoes, which implies that he can no longer carry his childish behaviour.

Dream No 2 - Journey

To dream that we are setting of on a journey implies that we are progressing towards new ideas.

Dream No 3 - God

To dream of God is an unusual thing, which can influence the whole course of the dreamer’s life. God is symbolised by all the things that suggest perfection, radiation, bounty etc.

Dream No 4 - Garden

Garden in dreams depicts one’s inner state of health. It also symbolises the bent of our mind towards our goal.

Dream No 5- Mountain

A mountain in dreams picturizes that phase of our life, which is strewn with stones and thorns – DIFFICULTY. Our climbing of that mountain represents our ability to manage difficult situations in life.