Meaning Of Dreams
(Meaning
of Dreams Pt 1)
(Meaning
Of Dreams Pt 2)
(Meaning
Of Dreams Pt 3)
(Meaning
Of Dreams Pt 4)
Do dreams have meaning? Yes, but the question is more difficult
than it first appears.
If you don't want to think
about it too much, you can jump to the end of this text and
read the section on Is the Dream a Message?
Let's try another question
first. Is life itself meaningful? People debate this issue
endlessly without full agreement. Some are quite sure the
answer will always be an opinion rather than a fact. Others
feel it is self-apparent that for those who continue to choose
living, that life is, for a fact, meaningful. Others don't
find the game of fact-finding the most useful way to answer
the question. In other words, everyone has his or her own
way of addressing questions about the meaning of life, and
of course, the many aspects and parts of life as well, including
dreams and dreaming.
Now we could do this democratically
and vote :
Are dreams meaningful?
YES
NO
...and tally all the results.
But this democratic consensus
isn't what people are interested in when they ask if dreams
are meaningful. So what do we mean when we ask if something
has meaning or not? Generally the answer depends on the context
of the situation.
In the context of science
when we ask if dreams are meaningful, it often means whether
or not they function to help us thrive and survive in some
way. Different sciences will approach meaning differently
as each operates under a different story/context. A psychologist
may want to know how the dream works to show a person a better
way to live and experience life, while an anthropologist may
be more interested in how the dream impacts the way people
in a tribe alter or confirm the way they live and interact
with one another. A brain scientist may be more interested
in how dreaming and sleeping contribute to the restoration
of our health or consolidation of our memories and experience.
Artists and writers are more
interested in the inspirational aspects of dreaming and how
they can carry the images, novelties and creative dreaming
process over into their own waking processes and creations.
Spiritual and tribal people
are often aware of a different meaning of dreams, the dream
as a message. The message may be from an ancestor, a spirit
or god, or even from one's own soul or unconscious.
The same dream may have different
meanings to all of these people. Which one is correct, or
are they all incorrect in looking for meaning in a dream that
has no meaning?
Many people in the Dream Movement,
a loose coalition of individuals and groups that study and
work with dreams, formed the Association for the Study of
Dreams (ASD) in 1984 as a "non-profit, international,
multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the pure and applied
investigation of dreams and dreaming."
1. The purpose of the organization was many-fold, "to
promote an awareness and appreciation of dreams in both professional
and public arenas; to encourage research into the nature,
function, and significance of dreaming; to advance the application
of the study of dreams; and to provide a forum for the eclectic
and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information."
1 The overall consensus was that dreams have many levels and
layers of meaning, but that the final decision about just
what these meanings would be had to be left up to the individual.
That is, the individual was to be the final authority on the
meaning and value of his or her own life, and this included
one's dreams.
2. However, just because a bunch of
people get together and decide whether or not something is
true, doesn't necessarily make it so on all levels and for
those outside of the group. If you doubt this, look at the
disagreements between what things mean to different religions
and the millions of people who die fighting over these meanings.
Continued
Pt 2..
(Meaning
of Dreams Pt 1)
(Meaning
Of Dreams Pt 2)
(Meaning
Of Dreams Pt 3)
(Meaning
Of Dreams Pt 4)
| Authors Details: Richard Wilkerson
Web
Site |
More Information in our Dreams Section
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