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| Goya: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters [wikipedia.com | ] |
What are we dreaming about?
Calvin Hall collected more than 50,000 dream reports from 1940s to 1985. Following research found that people all over the world dream of mostly the same things. Personal experiences from last day or short period of time has big influence on content of dreaming. Sexual themes occur no more than 10% of the time. During dreams we experience real emotions. Unfortunately, mostly negative: anxiety, abandonment, anger, fear, but also joy and happiness.
Dream interpretation
Since ancient times people wanted to know what their dreams mean? Magicians and priests in ancient cultures prepared a lot of books of dreams interpretations. The are used also nowadays. However in XIX century Sigmund Freud begun scientific attitude to dreams.
In his "The Interpretation of Dreams" published in 1899 he explained that dreams are driven by unconscious wish fulfillment. Freud called dreams the "royal road to the unconscious", part of our mind, which is completely hidden. He also argued that our desires disclosed in dreams are related to early childhood memories and experiences.
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| Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung in movie Dangerous Method [filmweb.pl] |
In his theory dreams have both manifest and latent content. First one is completely meaningless and sometimes masks latent. But the second one, this hidden content, relates to deep unconscious wishes or fantasies. In according to his theory we will dream about things, which are important to us, even if we don't realize it and don't confess to that.
Popular but... helpful?
Since the 1970s, dream interpretation in East countries has grown increasingly popular. In "The Dream Game", Ann Faraday outlined techniques and ideas than anyone can interpret his own dreams. Today, consumers can purchase a wide variety of books that offer dream dictionaries, symbol guides and tips for interpreting and understanding dreams.
But some other experts claim that dream interpretation reveals more about the interpreter than dreamer.
"Unless you find your dreams fun, intellectually interesting, or artistically inspiring, then feel free to forget your dreams" – pointed William Domhoff.
What do you think about dream interpretation? Is that helpful or is that just superstition?
Are you dreaming? What about?
Sources:
I don't believe in dream interpretation. Maybe not at all, only in some part of it. Analysing what our dream means is really interesting, but for me not reliable. I have some special books connected with this topic and sometimes I don't agree with the meaning of some dreams. It can be helpful for some people who believe in it, but for me it is more superstition than something really important. Yes I'm dreaming, but generally I don't remember my dreams.
ReplyDeleteI never remember my dreams. I don't know, maybe it depends on place where I sleep, who knows? I don't really believe in a dream interpretation. There are many books which explain their meaning but for me they aren't reliable. Perhaps for somebody who remember their dreams it's helpful but for me not at all.
ReplyDeleteI dream a lot and I know about it but I don't remember a lot of my dream. In short time after wake up I remember about what was my dream but I forget. I know only that I had a dream. I don’t believe in dream interpretation. For me my dream do not mean anything. It’s only activity of the brain which bored when we sleep.
ReplyDeleteI think dreams are superstition because no one can know after sleeping what will happen. I think dreams have influence on us in only way when we interpret it as a sign. After our interpretation we usually do something from our dreams.
ReplyDeleteI love dreaming by the way because I like move to the another world - dreaming world. After dreaming I usually feel great what means that my body is relaxed, my brain is more flexible. I don't know do only I have these symptoms maybe not. Maybe you have these symptoms all the time you wake up despite of you actually don't dream.
I do not believe in my dreams not mentioning about that I always do not remember them in the morning after waking up. But my father and mother belong to the people who are dreams believers. Even though I live 200 kilometers from my hometown, my mom sometimes calls to me and says "Today I have been dreaming about children (or tooth). Take care!" then I feel warned. In my family happens a lot of dreams about dead relatives. Sometimes those dreams make me better mood.
ReplyDeleteDream are very important part of our sleep. If we get a closer look on them they can give us some ideas for our lives. However I am against believing in dream dictionaries, because symbols are not universal and can be interpreted differently depending on person. Often dream give us a view for our deep hidden desires we are not aware of existence. Some dreams may give us a hints for future, but not always should they be taken seriously. On the other hand some visions may come to us at night and they concern our problems we try not to think of. Those are not pleasant kind of dreams.
ReplyDeleteI will have to agree with William Domhoff's opinion. Dreams only happen in our heads and have no effect on reality, unless they remind us of some unpleasant experience from our past. In that case, they can make us feel worse.
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ReplyDeleteI don’t believe in dream interpretation and I think it is superstition. I must agree that our thoughts have massive influence on our dreams but I wouldn’t take them literally. If I think a lot about smth/smn before I go sleep in 95% I’ll be dreaming about it.
I’m dreaming a lot :) I usually dream about people I know but the plot is totally crazy and surreal.
In my case, dreams sometimes give me clue about something. In high school I used to have dreams about exams or class-situations. But most of the time I dream about weird stuff. I've heard that most of the people dream in B&W. And it's so strange for me. I've never dreamed in B&W o_O I'm sure that deja vu comes from dreams too. Lately, I have this dream about me raising a baby pig. I've read in a dream book that it means a lot of cash :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't a clear opinion in issue of dreams. Many times I have heard about dreams which proved to be prophetic. For example my father's case - several times he dreamed about some plane or train disaster, he talked about it and next day it has been confirmed. But my experiences are definitely different. In my dreams I can't see any meaning. Usually it's a conglomerate of strange, illogical stories.
ReplyDeleteDream interpretation is just open to interpretation. Like Rorschach test or IQ. In first case we have different ways to interpret,and two people who are experts of one method will get similar conclusions, but two experts in other method will also reach similar conclusions but different from first par of experts. And we still don't know what IQ test measures aside from skill of taking IQ tests. Psychometry and psychoanalysis are just impossible to get any real insight. This probably suffices as my answer for first question and second question.
ReplyDeleteI do have dreams and remember some of them. They are usually in theme of what I read at the moment. But not whole fantasy. It is not 'I am now friends with Harry Potter', more like me in living in that world as me. To take example further, I was investigating series of events that were clearly made by wizards but I did not believe in what I saw. Dream ended with some auror wiping my memory of events ;P
I rarely remember my dreams and often for short period of time. For me it is a little difficult to believe in a dream interpretation. Nowadays, we can find a lot of interpretations and explanation of dreams in the internet and in other special books. I'm not sure if this is possible,but several times I heard that someone’s dreams has come true, so maybe it is possible.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't have clear opinion about dreams and their interpretation. I'm sure that this is one of the most secret of human. It is powerful and incredible. But I don't know if the general interpretations may be compere to all of us.
ReplyDeleteOf course I am dreaming almost every night and I love it. It is possibility for me to be into my world, I meet interesting people and have a good time in dreams ;p
It is hard for me to answer this question. I really don't know if I believe in dream interpretation or not. Maybe it is true that dreams actually bring a deeper meaning. But I also think that many dreams have no sense at all.
ReplyDeleteI personally have very weird dreams. Sometimes I wonder how these things take up in my head. Am I really such freak? Mostly my dreams are unreal, nonsensical and stupid.
I agree with Kuba Jabłonowski. Dreams' interpretation is a mistery and probably it would be better if that stays in that state. Of course it would be fun, especially interpretation of those "crazy" and strange dreams but I think that we should be careful with that. It is easy to believe those people who "interpretate" our dream. Besides in my opinion we, as autors of dreams, know the best what it may means, but sometimes it can be difficult to admit it.
ReplyDeleteI dream verry often and usually I remember my dreams. I dream about daily situation and stressfull situation. I like dreaming but sometimes it has influance for my feeling during the day.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion dream interpretation has good and bad sites. On the one hand it shows what is in the subconscious and it could be good way to find the cause of behavior. On the other hand we can't be sure that dreams are connected with subconscious. Our brain and behavior of people is so complicated, that it is to hard to understand all behaviours.
In my live dreams it isn’t important think, I don’t care about remember it. But I agree with people who think, the dreams interpretation is a important. But we shouldn’t believe it 100% we must interpretation it.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people in modern world attaches great importance to dreams, sometimes it is generate a mental problems, we must have a balance dream and real world.
Dream is a very difficult subject to research because of hard analysis brain signs. In my opinion is very important process because in this time our body rests and all impressions which appear this day can organized in our mind. I'm really interested in dreams because it's mostly unknown and I have some special experience about it. Sometimes I dreamed about one short situation then I woke up and this day all things which I dreamed happens. It's incredible.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, some dreams have some interpretations, for example, when somebody feel powerful emotions, can have a dream about it. But I don’t think that some definite objects have the same meaning for all of the people.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I often have very strange dreams and think about it for a long time during days. I have no idea, why I have this specific imagination, but I like it.
Dreaming can tell us a grain of truth about ourselves, but it's very hard to interpretate properly our dreams so it's no big use of dreams interpretations.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell anything about my dreams because i don't dream at all :< The last dream i remember happened about 2 or 3 years ago.
It is hard to assume if dreams can be perceived as a kind of message or some thing significant. I fink it is a fuse of our unconscious thoughts and the pictures from the past which are in our minds. Sometimes my dreams are really realistic but also they are totally absurd, sometimes also exciting and magic. It depends on many factors, but I wouldn't take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteI think dream interpretation is just a superstition. Humans brain is still so undiscovered by science, so we cannot search in our sreams informations if it will be a good day or a bad day.
ReplyDeleteI dream every night of course, but I really rarely remember anything. Sometimes I rememert what I was dreaming about in the morning about 8-9AM, but it is always a rubbish, some parts of memories from last day or few last days.
Goodnight everyone;d
Very often I've been having different dreams. They never will in no way be interpreted, because I know that dreams are a reflection of conditions in which we currently are. I do not believe that someone is trying to send us a message behind the worlds. I believe in the power of our mind.
ReplyDeleteI got crazy dreams! I often dream about historical situations (Grunwald Battle, Warsaw Uprising, Greece Mithology Oo), sometimes about some actual political problems. Last night dreams were about my meeting in U.S. embassy. I meet there our foring affairs minister - Radoława Sikorskiego. We discussed about "world, future and philosophy". I woke up with hard mindfu** :D.
ReplyDeleteDo you know we are close to the "dream televison" technology? A research team at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Japan has successfully displayed simple images produced in the human brain on a computer screen. Dream recorder anyone?
Personally I do not believe in dream interpretations. I think think that dreams arise when the brain is trying to sort out the experience gained on this day.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately My dreams are usually nightmares. I often dream of disasters affecting our planet, alien attacks, wild animals and other scary things. After such a dream lair a few minutes and tell myself that it was just a dream. With these dreams, I believe in the importance confident I should be afraid to go out of the house at all.
Dream interpretation> Guys, please. It's stupid. Dreams are only the result what we are experiencing, they never predict the future. I have so crazy dreams every night! I dream of the castles, dogs which talk just like people, being a clown or living in Africa. Every morning I wake up with a smile because my adventures in my dreams are so stupid and crazy that they make me laugh. I don't interpret, I just keep a distance and live my real life.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion dream interpretations can be very helpfully. I think that our dreams tell a lot about us. It is reflection of our psychology. It can be helpful when people sometimes have some hidden problems. I dream very often. Sometimes my dreams are very terrify, especially when I have some problems. But usually my dreams about my whishes. My best dream was about my future in some tropical island
ReplyDeleteThe best moment to interpret dreams is melange. In a specific condition with aur friends. Then can we know everything about ourselves and our dreams. And interpretations are so real and it solves many of our problems, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSory, this is just a joke.
Freud wrote that, dreams are an expression of our desires. This call our subconscious. Only the interpretation may be mistaken, but so what?
Let's dream, because it's beautiful.
I think that the interpretation of dreams is for me little reliable, for every human being is something else. One interpretation can't match to all dreams. Secondly I don't believe in interpretation of dreams and all predictions.
ReplyDeleteI think it's only superstition. Of course I dreaming, but mostly I don't remember dreams. Sometimes I dreaming about fast cars,school and all situation from my life.
In my family there is tradition to interprete the dreams. When I say that I was dreaming about water, my mom asks me "was it dark or clean water?", when I dream about death, that person will have long life, and so on. But in fact we don't believe in such things.
ReplyDeleteI always dream about things that I watched, read, heard day before. I don't think dreams are sensless but either they are not important for me.
Dreams are like kaleidoscope of events we had seen, that is all for me.
I thing there are same possibilities for dreams interpretation but I don't believe in scientific attitude of dreams, but somehow it is social, culture and phychological area, so maybe it is true.
ReplyDeleteI had few important dreams in my life. This kind of dream we something like a sigh, cutting hair for example. Our brain is very mysterious; we really don't know who we are and how much we are connecting with each other. It is very strange situation that all beings sleep. I don't dream often or I don't remember my dreams but I know people who have many fascinating dreams most every night. I feel safe when I dream.,