Common Dream Meanings
What is Dream Analysis?
For centuries, mankind has tried to analyse and interpret the meaning behind dreams and what their purpose is. For humans to cope in the waking world, dreams give our minds the space and freedom to make sense of the reality of our lives. There are cynics that believe sleep is just another function of the human mind, whereas those of a more mystical mindset believe dreams have greater meaning and can at times, be prophetic. Either way, many of us dream, and dream very vividly too. Others do not remember their dreams yet are intrigued to do so.
Lucid Dreaming
The term “lucid dreaming” was first addressed by the shamans of the ancient world. To be able to control, be consciously involved and interpret one's dreams was believed to be as important, if not more, in how one lives in one’s everyday waking life.
In more recent years, the interpretation and understanding of dreams has been studied at great depth, most notably by the psychoanalyst Freud and his student, Jung. Dreams are seen as an information centre of memory, cultural beliefs,experience, perceptions and can form concepts and ideas. Where the conscious mind is disciplined, controlled and analysed, dreaming gives way to freedom, imagination and non conformity. Jung termed this the “Collective Unconscious”. Their work is used as the basis for further development for practising teachers, researchers, scientists and students alike.
Psychics & Dream Analysis
Many psychics claim to have the ability to foresee future events through their dreams. It is not uncommon to hear stories of tragedies, births or sometimes catastrophic events being predicted by individuals that have come true. To scientifically understand this has been cause for debate for many years.
Even the people that have seen these scenes pass through their dreams and repeat into a wide awake reality cannot explain such uncanny coincidence. Had a similar event been experienced through watching a television show or a newsreel and was subconsciously stored away in the back of the mind and revealed in a subconscious dream state? Or does the person experiencing the dream go subconsciously into another dimension and predict future events?
When science looked at dreams, it discovered that the brain generates weak electrical impulses that are also known as brain waves when dreaming and is the same in unborn foetus’. When the brain is actively placing emphasis on mental effort and concentration, the electrical activity is greatest. This is termed as Beta wave activity, which can also be apparent when anxious.
Extremely high frequencies of Beta waves are also associated with poltergeists. Therefore, the more relaxed the state of a person dreaming will allow the mind to access dreams that, like an unborn foetus, has no judgement or concept of what is being displayed and can only be truly analysed in a waking state; this is where dream analysis comes in.
Meaning of Dreams
If the meaning and purpose of dreams has often caught your attention, you will be familiar with seeing “dream dictionaries” on the bookshelves or via online resources. However, is it as simple as scrolling through an online database to decipher our dreams or flick through the pages of a book to tell us what our subconscious is trying to say?
Reading our dreams is as ancient a practice as it is in trying to read the stars in our galaxy. So surely we should understand in this modern age what our minds have and still are trying to personally tell us!
According to Freud, in dreams, two thoughts could be condensed into one image. To complicate things further, he saw this process as disguising unconscious wishes. So maybe while we are having a worrying dream of seeing our partner having an affair with someone else, maybe subconsciously this is concealing a personal desire to be having a secret affair with someone other than our partner! The image in a dream forces the dreamer to think about the image in a conscious way and brings it to the consciousness of the dreamer whether they like it or not.
The main thing to remember in Dream Analysis is that many images are symbols for something in our waking consciousness. Also that much is placed on what each symbol means to the individual.
In order to understand dreams, or if dream analysis is something that is to be studied, writing out the dreams as soon as they have been experienced is key to clarification and to explain their meanings. The more times this is practised, then the clearer the dreams will become and a depth of knowledge will be created for the dreamer to use their dreams to interpret and help them in their waking life.
