[Discussion] Dreams - What are they?

[mzmingle]

Dreams. Everyone has had them. Do they mean anything?

There are the little magazines for kids that say that certain dreams mean things. Is that true?

The Questions...

• What are dreams?
• Do they mean anything?
• If so, what do they mean?
• Is there any way to make yourself have a dream?
• What about lucid dreams?

Discuss!

[Chaval]

What are dreams?
Do they mean anything?
If so, what do they mean?
Is there any way to make yourself have a dream?
What about lucid dreams?

Well when it comes to what they are I think that most of them are just reflections of the things you thought the most, things you are truly afraid of and things that somehow you thought in the past but never noticed. Also I must say that sometimes they can kinda predict the future... I've had a deja vu more than once.

About the meaning, to me they don't really mean much except of the obvious things that crossed your mind or saw and you never even noticed. Also they might mean desire toward something or someone depending the situation... they can mean a lot of things.

Hmmm... I don't really think so but I must admit that if you have something stuck in your head for a very long time you sometimes "make" yourself dream about it. Want the most stupid example? I once dreamt I was playing KH358/2 Days BEFORE it was released HAHAHAHAH

Never tried it and don't really care about it. It's just a dream.

[Pizzey]

What are dreams?
A "movie in you head". Simply, thoughts that you have when you are sleeping where you or someone else you know are in some sort of scenario.

Do they mean anything?
I think so; I feel it's your subconscious telling you things that you may not be aware of. Whenever I look up my dreams in a dream dictionary, they tend to be rather accurate.

If so, what do they mean?
All depends on what you dream c:

Is there any way to make yourself have a dream?
Maybe. I mean, there's times when I start thinking about something right before bed and I doze off and end up dreaming about it, but I don't really think that's considered "making myself have a dream".

What about lucid dreams?
I don't know a lot about them. My friend explained it as "having complete control of yourself in your dream", but other than that, I dunno.

[PiemanFiddy]

Originally Posted by mzmingle

Dreams. Everyone has had them. Do they mean anything?

There are the little magazines for kids that say that certain dreams mean things. Is that true?

The Questions...

• What are dreams?
• Do they mean anything?
• If so, what do they mean?
• Is there any way to make yourself have a dream?
• What about lucid dreams?

Discuss!

They're visions in the back of your head which portray an image. The very same image that you see when you're awake, only blurrier since all of your other senses have been neutralized.

I think they do mean SOMETHING. Dreams are the embodiment of something that the person thinks about on a daily basis. It creates a more surreal environment for that person to experience their own thoughts.

Yeah, It's called falling asleep. XD

I heard a few online tips about lucid dreams, they can be looked at through a simple google search. I think they're pretty interesting, but a little too out-of-the-way to actually get it working.

[chakalaka25]

When I think about it I realize that I have no idea

[Livewire]

Let's all go watch Inception!

Dreams are projections of the subconscious, fantasies, etc. It's almost like a projector that replays images and scenes from your daily life back to you at night, almost. It is kind of hard to explain. XD

[outfox]

Now this is a discussion we should light a bowl for.

It's been said by many psychologists that dreams are direct symbols of our subconscious mind. Complex, often confounding, it's no wonder most people have a hard time remembering their dreams. The only way to induce a dream is by sleeping (astral projection is another story; and dreams do not occur during meditation, unless of course you fall asleep). A dream becomes lucid once you become aware you are dreaming during a dream. Lucid dreams are actually really awesome, although hard to come by without dedicating yourself to practices that build your ability to recollect your dreams and recognize the difference between dream and reality. Here's a link for folks who are interested in lucid dreaming. If you want to enrich and virtually elongate your life I recommend you follow those methods.

[Arlo~]

Dreams are actually a way of your mind recapping what it did and thought that day, but it leaves some parts out, or mucks up the order. And adds in bits we don't remember.

Every person you don't know in your dream is someone you've seen before.

[Insomniac]

Dreams are what your brain does to prepare you for real life events and are also a product of thought. I had a dream about chameleons last night because I was stressed that my chameleon might die overnight ^^;. It all depends.
(I woke up and she's bright green, no sunken eyes, nice and healthy)

REM sleep and non REM sleep also help explain how we dream. I thhhiiink how it went was that the reason some people sleepwalk is because they're in REM sleep, the brain is playing through a possible chain of events and you are reacting to it in dream to 'prepare' you for real life events that may happen. Non REM sleep is probably just crazy nonsense. Kinda like taking LSD, but minus the LSD, haha.

I think all those horoscope/dream reader/crap is a bunch of asshair, honestly. :\

[zephyr6257]

What are dreams?

Thoughts in your sleep.

My dreams usually have things to do with what happened the day earlier.

As much as I try, I can't force what I want to dream. Whatever I dream of is something I didn't think of dreaming.

Do they mean anything?

I guess, in some occasions. I've had several dreams which had some sort of resemblance or warning of what's going to happen the day after, but they could be coincidences.

If so, what do they mean?

They mean however you want them to. It's basically human perception. You can never really say what your dream means, because everyone has their own opinion, how it will affect their life.

Is there any way to make yourself have a dream?

By falling asleep. Haven't heard of any other way.

What about lucid dreams?

Lucid dreams are freaking awesome. I have them once in a while. I don't know how to cause them, unfortunately. I'm also too lazy to do the old-fashioned way of journaling your dreams to get the pattern, and start lucidifying your sleep. I once turned a mountain, into a house, into an old man (as in THE old man in Kanto), into a rock, into a basket, into a bunch of fruits, and for a few minutes, I played real-life Fruit Ninja. Then, I woke up. I was on a plane, I don't know if that was the reason why I lucid dreamed. I rarely sleep on plane trips, even on long ones, so I can't tell.

[RedBulll]

Dreams are the outcome of the inner thought of humans. Things or incidents which affected a person’s inner thoughts will be recalled when they are in to a deep sleep. That’s what we call as dreams.

[CourageHound]

What are dreams? Images you see while sleeping due to rapid eye movement. Something like that.

Do they mean anything? Possibly. From what I know, dreams are something known very little about in terms of in depth meaning. Possibly just merely to process our innermost thoughts or experiences while we are dormant in the stasis of sleep, wilist creating images relating to those thoughts? They could possibly mean something bigger.

If so, what do they mean? Depends on what ya dream. Possibly to prepare you for something? I think thats where da' javu comes from

Is there any way to make yourself have a dream? I think there is but idk at the moment

What about lucid dreams? I had a semi lucid dream on several occasion. Not sure how they are very applicable to everyday life or in-depth meaning since you control them. Tons of fun tho.

[LightningAlex]

What are dreams? - Some of the posts above have good explanations.
Do they mean anything? - I've learned from a psychologist that the meaning, or rather, the purpose of dreams is to keep you asleep. For example, if the blanket falls off of you during your sleep, you'll dream about the North Pole or something that explains the cold. This also explains how something that happened in a dream happened in real life. For example, if you somehow hurt yourself during your sleep (But not strong enough to wake you up), you might dream that someone or something hit you in the hurt place. People often wake up with bruises or small cuts, and think it happened because they were dreaming it. It's actually the other way around, they were dreaming it because it was happening during their sleep.
Is there any way to make yourself have a dream? - Every human actually dreams every night, but forgets their dream a couple of seconds after waking up. The best way to remember a dream is to wake up while dreaming it. That's why we remember most of our nightmares - the fear wakes us up while we're dreaming it.

Also, here's an interesting fact about nightmares: There are several parts of your brain that are active during "normal" dreaming. During nightmares, however, they are less active. The more active brain part during nightmares is the part responsible for memories (The hippocampus). It's as if you're actually remembering those scary events, instead of dreaming them.

[Thereaperofdeath19]

in my opinion i think dreams are very interesting for we can never tell if it is real or not hmm i search more about dreams down the track it sounds great

[droomph]

Dreams are the poop demons eating your soul

I dunno what dreams are, I usually dream really groggy but it feels real. It probably is just a tactic to keep yourself asleep, and since you dream about trivial real things, it's a way to categorize a bit.

It's like watching TV four hours straight when you're feeling down. It's a way to keep you down for a while, and learn something from the dreams. And since none of your dreams actually do anything to help you if you don't analyze what it means, it's strikingly similar to TV. And besides, when you have a weird dream, it's just like the TV networks trying out a crappy new show that gets pulled two episode in.

[Ice-Dragon]

What are dreams?
Quantum physics can answer this. Ionic wave movement occurs in the glial cells of the brain. This makes it a perfect place for supporting and producing holographic imagery.

[Sydian]

Ignoring what's already been said about them being complex, I personally think that sometimes they are signs. I think that people, dead and alive, can send you messages through dreams. I had a dream after my grandfather died where he was getting mad at my uncle for sitting in the chair he used to sit in, then he got mad that they replaced his tv in the house, which is funny, because it was something he'd do if he was still here. My cousin's husband had a dream the night before my paw paw died and in that dream, my paw paw gave David the remote to the tv and told him, "Make sure you keep the volume up loud. People think I do that cause I can't hear, but I really just like to piss'em off."

I'd continue, but I already think you guys think I'm weird for thinking that. v_v I'm not saying it's true, it's just my personal feelings on it, so if you feel the need to scientifically disprove me, then whatever. lol

[Corvidae]

I just think dreams are manifestations of your thoughts throughout your life, which is why "dream dictionaries" annoy me because they don't take the personal context into it. To me, the crow or raven is a radically different symbol than it may be to other people, for example, since I use birds to represent people in my waking life.

When I have a lot of dreams about someone, it means I'm thinking about them a lot. When those dreams are... a little interesting, I think that illustrates my feelings that I'm not really paying attention to in my waking life.

[CourageHound]

Originally Posted by Sydian

Ignoring what's already been said about them being complex, I personally think that sometimes they are signs. I think that people, dead and alive, can send you messages through dreams. I had a dream after my grandfather died where he was getting mad at my uncle for sitting in the chair he used to sit in, then he got mad that they replaced his tv in the house, which is funny, because it was something he'd do if he was still here. My cousin's husband had a dream the night before my paw paw died and in that dream, my paw paw gave David the remote to the tv and told him, "Make sure you keep the volume up loud. People think I do that cause I can't hear, but I really just like to piss'em off."

I'd continue, but I already think you guys think I'm weird for thinking that. v_v I'm not saying it's true, it's just my personal feelings on it, so if you feel the need to scientifically disprove me, then whatever. lol

I altually hope dreams have a deeper or more spiritual meaning like this. I'm not a very practical person anyway. I've talked with some friends saying that dreams may be some type of bridge or gate to another world. Trying to tell you something, show you something, or bring you somewhere. I'd love for this to be the case. Cuz science sometimes makes things about our everyday hopes and dreams boring.

[J]

Originally Posted by CourageHound

Cuz science sometimes makes things about our everyday hopes and dreams boring.

A central tenet of the scientific approach to reality is the idea that 'wishing something to be true does not make it so.'
While it is true that the world would be a cooler place if dreams were indeed messages sent from the afterlife, it is insufficient grounds for thinking that to be actually the case.
If dreams can be explained with neurochemistry and cognitive biology without the invocation of dead spirits and clairvoyance, thus becoming (as you put it,) "boring," then that would be no fault of science: it would just mean that they were "boring" to begin with.

Of course, I'm not discrediting your opinion by calling it 'unscientific.' I am merely clarifying what 'science' does because its function had been misrepresented.

[CourageHound]

Well yes, but I would rather be ignorant of the nature of something like say dreams not actually being something magical, and live with that happy thought, rather than come to the realization that its just a simple body process. Kinda like how ur folks would break it to ya that santa isnt real. I totally respect scientific views and understanding of the way the world works. I just like to have that hope in mind.

And for all we know there could be things that science cant explain about dreams(or things that science hasnt even tapped into) soley cuz we're only human.

[Laugh]

Originally Posted by droomph

Dreams are the poop demons eating your soul

WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS MAKE ME LAUGH????????

Dreams are, like what Livewire said, projections of the subconscious, fantasies, etcetera. Imo, dreams always have a meaning or a purpose, random or not. Even if it has nothing to do with you, it still has a reason on why you're dreaming about it. The reason depends on what you're dreaming about -- for example, you dreamed about winning the lotto. It's one of those fantasy wishes you're wishing about, and therefore, it pops up in your head while you sleep.

Does that make sense?

[Broken_Arrow]

dreams can be a message..it's like warning from something going to happen..sometimes it tells us about somebody's sufferings so we can take care of them..like for example..when you see someone shorter than normal that means that this person isn't okay irl at all and same for the long hair..longer hair than normal means sadness..dogs means enemies specially black ones and lion means death sometimes..depends on how the dream is..but also there is some silly dreams that has no meanings which we see as a reflection of what we have thinking of a lot before going to sleep....you might dream you're walking with sponshpop which is silly and funny dream...depends ^.^