We all Dream..... why?

We all dream. Every night - as we dim the light of perception - we enter the realm of the dream. In this dream state our imagination runs free with little or no interference from our conscious mind. In the morning, when we awaken and return to consciousness, we may bring with us a recollection of the wanderings of our imagination - we remember the dream. To dream is natural, it is a universal experience. As sleep research has shown even animal dreams. How we regard the dream, however, varies from culture to culture and from person to person.

Unfortunately most of us remain blissfully unaware of our dreams - we fail to remember them. Even if we do remember a dream it is typically dismissed as meaningless and unimportant. For those of us who do place an importance on dream it still remains a mystery. So what is a dream?

Originally the dream was held to be the voice of God. Most aboriginal cultures hold that the dream is sent by the Great Spirit and serves to offer advice and instruction.
This idea of the divinity of the dream can also to be found in ancient Egyptian and Greek society. The ancient Greeks constructed temples they called Asclepieions, where sick people were sent to be cured. It was believed that cures would be effected through divine grace by incubating dreams within the confines of the temple.

In the early part of this century, however, the dream was championed by two great psychologists, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. For Freud the dream revealed that which the dreamer would rather keep hidden. By exploring the dream one was forced to face that which was suppressed and rejected within oneself.

Jung had another theory. Jung felt that the dream acted as a mirror for the ego - revealing that which was missing within the consciousness of the dreamer. For Jung the dream acted as a teacher and guide on the road toward wholeness.

The psyche, or mind, is made up of two distinct fields- the conscious and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is also referred to as the ego. The ego, or conscious mind, represents our awareness and capacity for thought and self-reflection, whilst the unconscious houses our instinctive wisdom and patterns of behavior.

Active within the unconscious is a creative force which seeks consciousness - the unconscious seeks to be made known. This drive toward consciousness is the force of individuation - the force by which we come to realise our greater potential…. What is generally known as Dream!

The way of the dream offers an alternative. For the dream belongs to the twilight zone of consciousness - where the ego and the unconscious meet.The conscious element of the dream lies in its remembrance, the unconscious element lies in its mystery and perplexity. Half conscious, half unconscious, the dream acts as a bridge between the known and the unknown. To listen to the dream is to listen to the unconscious. Through doing so one relieves the need for the unconscious to force itself upon you.

Dreaming is one of the most fascinating experiences of the mind. At the same time it is one of the most perplexing. So often we know that a dream is trying to tell us something but still its meaning eludes us. Its language appears strange yet familiar. If our unconscious mind is trying to tell us something why doesn't it just come right out and say it? Why the puzzle instead of the picture?

Dreams are riddles rather than proclamations. They ask us a question hoping that we search and find the answer to ourselves. Dreams aim to broaden our mind, to teach us what is beyond our comprehension. If a dream were to speak directly to our present state of consciousness then all would be easily understood … yet nothing would be discovered. A dream is by necessity… a mystery.

To interpret your dreams is to travel this splendidly majestic road. Dreams offer us a passage into the unconscious; they give us a place to start. And it is damn useful because we can not sit and think… ok... So what is it that am not aware of?!

So how does one answer the riddle which the dream is? First of all it is not the obvious. With any dream, you admit that you’re vexed up. This is what signals to you that you’re in the right state to begin. The dream teaches us most when the mind is empty and free of preconceptions. Each dream is unique and must be approached in its own way. Dictionaries of symbols, dream books and various psychological theories offer us very little when it comes to the actual dream.

Next list all the components of the dream, be they people, places or circumstances. The third lap is most important. Next to each of the dream components write down all your associations to the dream elements. After this you may also amplify the dream. The verbatorical interpretation of dream is just the size of your palm.

Dream interpretation was taken up as part of psychoanalysis at the end of the 19th century; the perceived, manifest content of a dream is analyzed to reveal its latent meaning to the psyche of the dreamer.

A person, supposedly my friend had a very weird dream. She found herself being chased by a dog and then she fell from a cliff. This dream repeated itself for over a month. When after a month, she couldn’t handle the situation, she went to this psychologist. After reviewing her activities in the recent days, he came to a conclusion. Due to official problems she was facing from her manager, she was losing control and had tried to break away from the trauma by attempting suicide. After thorough counseling, she stopped getting such dreams.

The above condition was not a whole lot complex. Dr. Bharathi, Dream counselor with a private hospital narrates a case file where her patient was the key spectator of an act of unintended crime committed in her deep slumber. The patient was constantly dreaming about a dark alley where she sits and draws a sketch of a boy over and over again.She was suffering from part memory loss. After going through treatment for a period of about six months, she was able to get over with it. It so happened that during her visit to Shimla, with her gang of friends, in a skiing accident, her boyfriend accidentally fell down the mountain slope and in the process cut himself in a silver lining that was hung for electrical purpose. After she regained her consciousness, she had been in a state of shock and underwent treatment for another two months.

To quote a personal experience, I always had this feeling that I speak to an old lady in the dark in a room painted of stumps with red paint. She constantly babbles about a door which has to be opened using a silver key. Till date, I couldn’t figure out what it means. I have gone through my entire family lineage… hoping to find the lady’s portrait… just in case she was giving me a clue about a hidden treasure!!!

Well, you know when you have interpreted a dream correctly when you get an 'Aha!' reaction. Just like a riddle, all of a sudden you 'get it' and everything makes sense.
If you penetrate only part of the issue which the dream presents or slip up in your interpretation, then the unconscious will send a follow up dream. If you fail to interpret the dream entirely then it will often come again. This is the phenomenon of repetitive dreaming; since you didn't really listen the first time, the unconscious sends out the same message again… unless you find out what the heck it means!

One last but a very important point. Dreams aim to rebalance a partial or lopsided attitude. They serve to teach you a lesson. Externalize the internal by applying the dream to your everyday life. It is only in this way that you truly honor your dream.