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 Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:10 am
Introduction
Personally, one subject that I have always been very interested in is dreams.
I started to post a response to someone's question about their dreams, and realized I was writing an essay, so I figured I might as well post it here. This is an ongoing project, and still needs to be polished to perfection with proper sources and more thorough writing, but I will put up what I have thus-far, and announce when it is finished.
Table of Contents
What is a Dream?
Why We Dream.
Important Dreams in History and Lore
Types of Dreams
Dream Dictionaries, and Why They Suck
Methods for Interpreting Your Dreams
Misc. Information I May Have Forgotten
Sources and Citations
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:11 am
What is a dream?
The Oxford American Dictionaries defines a dream as, "a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep." (1)
What a small definition for such an important and complex subject!
Dreams are an important part of keeping you sane. Everyone has dreams, but not everyone remembers them.
Typically, dreams are your mind's nightly ritual of sorting through and categorizing information. Dreams are based in the subconscious, which is why many people have trouble remembering them. It is also part of what makes dreams so mysterious, because our dreams are usually one of the only ways most people can glimpse their subconscious mind.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:12 am
Why We Dream.
Vivid dreams are often indicative of your subconscious attempting to "communicate" with your conscious self. We humans constantly gather information to later be processed in our minds. Everything we ever see/hear/touch/experience in any way is stored away, and in some cases people can actually access this information (this is known as having a photographic memory).
Because our subconscious remembers everything, it will sometimes "realize" something that it feels is important (I know it sounds odd, but it is as though we have two minds. Our subconscious is far more insightful than our conscious mind.)
Anyway, since the easiest time for our conscious mind to come into contact with our subconscious is during a REM cycle, that is when our subconscious will attempt to inform us of what it thinks we should know.
However, our subconscious does not simply say, "Hey, you should go do this and that" it communicates through the use of symbolism and emotion.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:14 am
Important Dreams in History and Lore.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:15 am
Types of Dreams.
(More information to come)
Interactive or Lucid
First Person
Omniscient
Fluctuating
Leaping
Questing
Fleeing
Mundane
Symbolic
Prophetic
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:17 am
Dream Dictionaries, and Why They Suck.
There are many Dream Dictionaries out there (People seem to constantly give them to me as gifts) but frankly I believe them to be complete hogwash.
Dream Dictionaries are very inaccurate because it cannot take the person's personal viewpoint and experiences into account.
For example, in one of the dream dictionaries I have, if I turn to the definition for "Snail", it says,
"Snails crawling in your dream, signifies that unhealthful conditions surround you. To step on them, denotes that you will come in contact with disagreeable people." (2)
Now, according to this book, snails in a dream are considered to be bad. But what if the dreamer does not consider snails to be a bad thing? What if they have fond memories of hunting for snails with their cousins when they were young, and snails give them a warm fuzzy feeling?
Basically what I'm saying is that there cannot be a set standard for interpreting dreams, because a symbol to one person can mean something completely different to another.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:20 am
Methods for Interpreting Your Dreams.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:21 am
Misc. Information I May Have Forgotten.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:22 am
Sources/Citations.
1. The Oxford American Dictionaries
2. The Dictionary of Dreams - 10,000 Dreams Interpreted, Gustavus Hindman Miller, page 518.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:18 am
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:11 pm
OMG I dreamed about a snail when I was three. It crawled up my shoulder and bit my earlobe. I remember "waaking up" and screaming my head off but my parents didn't come and it was a one story house. Then finally they came. They said they came the first scream I let out so I must have dreamed some of the screaming. I slept with my hand on the ear facing up out of my bedsheets until I was in third or fourth grade.
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:39 pm
Fumetsu Hime OMG I dreamed about a snail when I was three. It crawled up my shoulder and bit my earlobe. I remember "waaking up" and screaming my head off but my parents didn't come and it was a one story house. Then finally they came. They said they came the first scream I let out so I must have dreamed some of the screaming. I slept with my hand on the ear facing up out of my bedsheets until I was in third or fourth grade. Wow, that must have been a very scary dream! One time when I was younger an ant bit me right on the corner of my eye while I was sleeping. I woke up and went and got my mom to pull it off.
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