There is a little disagreement on exactly what dreams are about, but most scientists agree on this basic explanation: Your brain pieces together images and stories from random electrical pulses it receives from the brain stem. These pulses are sent out every hour and a half or so, while you are sleeping. Your forebrain (the front part of your brain) tries to make sense of the signals, like you would try to make sense of an abstract painting. The way your brain interprets these signals determines what you dream about.
What Do Dreams Mean?
It's hard to know exactly what dreams mean - or if they mean anything at all. Interpreting dreams is a very complex procedure. Some sleep experts think the way your brain interprets the electrical pulses may tell you about yourself - in the same way an ink blot test can.
Dream interpretations dates back to 3000-4000 B.C..Back in the Greek and Roman era, dream interpreters accompanied military leaders into battle. Dreams were extremely significant and often seen as messages from the gods. They were seen in a religious context and in Egypt, priests also acted as dream interpreters. The Egyptians recorded their dreams in hieroglyphics. People with particular vivid and significant dreams were believed to be blessed and were considered special. People who had the power to interpret dreams were looked up to and seen as divinely gifted. In the bible, there are over seven hundred mentions of dreams. Tracing back to these ancient cultures, people had always had an inclination to interpret dreams
Dreams were also seen as prophetic. People often looked to their dreams for signs of warning and advice. Dreams often dictated the actions of political and military leaders and aided in diagnosis for the medicine men. Dreams was a vital clue for healers in what was wrong with the dreamer and used them to make a diagnosis.
The Chinese believed that the soul leaves the body to go into this world. However, if they should be suddenly awakened, their soul may fail to return to the body. For this reason, some Chinese today, are wary of alarm clocks. Some Native American tribes and Mexican civilizations share this same notion of a distinct dream dimension. They believed that their ancestors lived in their dreams and take on non-human forms like plants. They see that dreams as a way of visiting and having contact with their ancestors. Dreams also helped to point their mission or role in life.
In modern times Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, developed a theory of dreams which he published in his famous book, The Interpretation of Dreams. To Freud the dream was the "royal road to the unconscious" and represented a wish, often sexual in nature, that we repress because it is unacceptable.
This view of dreams has now largely been discounted, not least by a follower of Freud, the psychiatrist Carl Jung. He saw dreams as a way of the unconscious communicating with the conscious part of ourselves in order to bring something to our notice and restore our equilibrium.
Carl Jung, thought that images in dreams (monsters, masks, 'rents, whatever), represent the same things to all people. He called it our "collective unconscious." This kind of thinking that has inspired dream dictionaries, which attach specific meanings to major symbols that may show up in your dreams. Others believe that the meanings behind your dreams are more personal than that and may be shaped by past experiences.
In ancient times the holy men like priests or the professional interpreters use to interpret dreams. Most of the ancient kings and emperors used to appoint learned persons for the interpretation of dreams and other such experiences. This is also true that in those days most of the dreams were said to be of divine value.
In Hindu mythology, there are many accounts of dreams wherein future events were forecast. In Hindu's most popular epic "Ramayana" there are accounts of many precognitive dreams. When king Dashrath was on death-bed, his sons Bharat and Shatrughna were in their maternal grandparent's town. One might both of them had a peculiar dream in which they saw, their father king Dashrath died. When awoke Bharat and Shatrughna were stark worried about their father's health and hence they started donating valuables to the poors to mitigate the effect of the bad dream. But by noon they received a message of their father's death. He had passed away at the same time when they had the dream of his demise. In another chapter Sati Sulochana, wife of great demon warrior Meghnath , had a precognitive dream about her husband's death.
What Do Dreams Mean?
It's hard to know exactly what dreams mean - or if they mean anything at all. Interpreting dreams is a very complex procedure. Some sleep experts think the way your brain interprets the electrical pulses may tell you about yourself - in the same way an ink blot test can.
Dream interpretations dates back to 3000-4000 B.C..Back in the Greek and Roman era, dream interpreters accompanied military leaders into battle. Dreams were extremely significant and often seen as messages from the gods. They were seen in a religious context and in Egypt, priests also acted as dream interpreters. The Egyptians recorded their dreams in hieroglyphics. People with particular vivid and significant dreams were believed to be blessed and were considered special. People who had the power to interpret dreams were looked up to and seen as divinely gifted. In the bible, there are over seven hundred mentions of dreams. Tracing back to these ancient cultures, people had always had an inclination to interpret dreams
Dreams were also seen as prophetic. People often looked to their dreams for signs of warning and advice. Dreams often dictated the actions of political and military leaders and aided in diagnosis for the medicine men. Dreams was a vital clue for healers in what was wrong with the dreamer and used them to make a diagnosis.
The Chinese believed that the soul leaves the body to go into this world. However, if they should be suddenly awakened, their soul may fail to return to the body. For this reason, some Chinese today, are wary of alarm clocks. Some Native American tribes and Mexican civilizations share this same notion of a distinct dream dimension. They believed that their ancestors lived in their dreams and take on non-human forms like plants. They see that dreams as a way of visiting and having contact with their ancestors. Dreams also helped to point their mission or role in life.
In modern times Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, developed a theory of dreams which he published in his famous book, The Interpretation of Dreams. To Freud the dream was the "royal road to the unconscious" and represented a wish, often sexual in nature, that we repress because it is unacceptable.
This view of dreams has now largely been discounted, not least by a follower of Freud, the psychiatrist Carl Jung. He saw dreams as a way of the unconscious communicating with the conscious part of ourselves in order to bring something to our notice and restore our equilibrium.
Carl Jung, thought that images in dreams (monsters, masks, 'rents, whatever), represent the same things to all people. He called it our "collective unconscious." This kind of thinking that has inspired dream dictionaries, which attach specific meanings to major symbols that may show up in your dreams. Others believe that the meanings behind your dreams are more personal than that and may be shaped by past experiences.
In ancient times the holy men like priests or the professional interpreters use to interpret dreams. Most of the ancient kings and emperors used to appoint learned persons for the interpretation of dreams and other such experiences. This is also true that in those days most of the dreams were said to be of divine value.
In Hindu mythology, there are many accounts of dreams wherein future events were forecast. In Hindu's most popular epic "Ramayana" there are accounts of many precognitive dreams. When king Dashrath was on death-bed, his sons Bharat and Shatrughna were in their maternal grandparent's town. One might both of them had a peculiar dream in which they saw, their father king Dashrath died. When awoke Bharat and Shatrughna were stark worried about their father's health and hence they started donating valuables to the poors to mitigate the effect of the bad dream. But by noon they received a message of their father's death. He had passed away at the same time when they had the dream of his demise. In another chapter Sati Sulochana, wife of great demon warrior Meghnath , had a precognitive dream about her husband's death.
In Mahabaratha, the great Indian epic there are several accounts of dreams. Gandhari, the mother of one hundred sons, the Kauravas, had a dream when the great war between Kauravas and Pandvas was on in Kurukshetra. In her dream she saw a tree bearing ripe berries; she was hungry and one hundred dead bodies of her sons were scattered all around her. Berries were at height so she piled up the dead bodies and scaled them to pluck some berries. When awakened Gandhari was frightened to have that dream. But the dream forecast proved correct as all her hundred sons were killed in the war. Likewise there are innumerable dream-episodes in many ancient epics, Vedas, Purans and Shastras. A great significance has been credited to their favour.
It is also believed that all the dreams are not worth-interpretation or have any significance. Only the dreams which are truly prophetic in nature carry a significance. Dreams had after heavy dinner, or after consumption of a drug, alcohol etc. have no significance.
Similarly, dreams related to dreamer's own profession or activity have least significance. For example, a lawyer dreaming about a court case carries no significance. Prophetic dreams that have significance usually appear during the deepest part of our night's sleep, generally between 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Such dreams are good for interpretation.
It is also believed that all the dreams are not worth-interpretation or have any significance. Only the dreams which are truly prophetic in nature carry a significance. Dreams had after heavy dinner, or after consumption of a drug, alcohol etc. have no significance.
Similarly, dreams related to dreamer's own profession or activity have least significance. For example, a lawyer dreaming about a court case carries no significance. Prophetic dreams that have significance usually appear during the deepest part of our night's sleep, generally between 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Such dreams are good for interpretation.
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