Dreams What are They and What Do they Mean?

I think dreams are our minds way of "ticking over" while our body goes into repair mode. I also believe we can only dream of things we know already, with many interesting facets of that information creating new scenes.

Lucid dreaming is my personal favorite, I love to see where I can go and just how far, often replaying scenes to change things for different outcomes. That way, they never scare me and I am always the boss.

When dreams are vivid and seem important, this is where our half asleep mind is feeding us information we can actually use and put into practice in the waking world.

Cool.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Originally posted by nerbot
I think dreams are our minds way of "ticking over" while our body goes into repair mode. I also believe we can only dream of things we know already, with many interesting facets of that information creating new scenes.

Lucid dreaming is my personal favorite, I love to see where I can go and just how far, often replaying scenes to change things for different outcomes. That way, they never scare me and I am always the boss.

When dreams are vivid and seem important, this is where our half asleep mind is feeding us information we can actually use and put into practice in the waking world.

Cool.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

In the thread csuldm linked on page 1 there is an analogy by someone that likened it to our brain being a computer CPU and dreaming was like the computer running a virus scan, hard drive defragmentation, and memory check (or similar terminology) while in "sleep mode". I really like that analogy, and agree with it.

I remember an episode of Star Trek: TNG where the crew were stranded outside a binary star system and nobody could reach REM sleep and dream because of aliens trying to communicate telepathically with Diana Troi to communicate a strategy for escaping the star system. Long story short is they forwarded the idea that if the crew could not find a way to reach REM sleep and dream that they would eventually be driven insane. As the days wore on the crew started exhibiting signs of the negative side effects of being unable to reach the state of REM. Basically exhibiting signs of distraction, unpredictable mood swings (snapping at people and other outbursts of emotion), paranoia, hallucinations etc. I always wondered and believe that there is most probably truth in that. I think it is pretty common knowledge that lack of sleep effects at least most (if not all) people negatively.

On that note however, I need to have a meet and greet with my pillow myself. It is going to be light soon and I am hoping to be awake before noon lmao.

I have issues with number three and four but cannot rule them out obviously.

I've been quite active in my "dreamworld" for a little over a decade now (about 14 years that I can recall). A place that seems by all manner of investigation, consistent and fixed. So consistent and unchanging that simply finding myself in one of many of these recurring locations triggers instant lucidity most of the time (as far a I know). It is this dream world and nothing else that has led me to believe that dreams are not always symbolic and most definitely not always fed by our (current?) life experience.

It's pretty safe to say that dreams are my biggest passion. I really am not a fan of dream dictionaries and that whole approach though. I've had two successful attempts with Remote Viewing which I think ties into dreaming somehow.
I luuurve dreaming!

Dream Tip: Eat a spoon full of Peanut Butter before bed.

Originally posted by DarthDreamer
I have issues with number three and four but cannot rule them out obviously.

I've been quite active in my "dreamworld" for a little over a decade now (about 14 years that I can recall). A place that seems by all manner of investigation, consistent and fixed. So consistent and unchanging that simply finding myself in one of many of these recurring locations triggers instant lucidity most of the time (as far a I know). It is this dream world and nothing else that has led me to believe that dreams are not always symbolic and most definitely not always fed by our (current?) life experience.

It's pretty safe to say that dreams are my biggest passion. I really am not a fan of dream dictionaries and that whole approach though. I've had two successful attempts with Remote Viewing which I think ties into dreaming somehow.
I luuurve dreaming!

Dream Tip: Eat a spoon full of Peanut Butter before bed.

The facts I listed came from the "15 Interesting Facts" website. I didn't list al 15 because some of them were redundant with what I found on wikipedia. How factual the "facts" are of course is a matter of opinion, because it is only one source of data. Freud believed in the symobolism of dreams, but of course he is noted as saying that "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". I've never had a remote viewing myself, so can't comment on that.

My experience with lucid dreaming is hard to recall specifics because I did not actually record the dream. All I remember is my mind telling myself in the dream "This is just a dream", to which I then tried "to wake myself up". I would "wake up" in my dream but in actuality was still dreaming. About 5 minutes later in my dream (which in real time may have only been a few seconds as time perception while dreaming is fairly impossible) I would realize that it was a dream still and tell myself "wake up this is just a dream" then try and wake myself up again. This repeated about 5 times before I actually did wake up in reality. Was an odd experience for a first time, being aware in your dream that you are dreaming when you don't really expect it.

I see no harm in your tip, unless of course someone is allergic to peanut butter.

All I remember about my dreams this morning were about being back in high school and everyone being affected by the same polarization that the country and people on this board are experiencing regarding the current hot topics involving politics. I think I need to slow down on spending so much time reading and commenting on the current doom porn topics in politics. That is all I really got from that dream though, me being back in high school was an interesting twist.

My wife thinks dreams mean EVERYTHING. I think they mean NOTHING. Oh well.

Originally posted by Darkphoenix77
My experience with lucid dreaming is hard to recall specifics because I did not actually record the dream. All I remember is my mind telling myself in the dream "This is just a dream", to which I then tried "to wake myself up". I would "wake up" in my dream but in actuality was still dreaming. About 5 minutes later in my dream (which in real time may have only been a few seconds as time perception while dreaming is fairly impossible) I would realize that it was a dream still and tell myself "wake up this is just a dream" then try and wake myself up again. This repeated about 5 times before I actually did wake up in reality. Was an odd experience for a first time, being aware in your dream that you are dreaming when you don't really expect it. You may create temporary death scenarios by overdosing on video games, and the dream will follow those rules, but these types of mental structures are only temporary and will not stay with you long term.

False awakening can be annoying. A surefire way to wake yourself up from a dream is to kill yourself in the dream. It works for everyone. This is because the death archetype is notoriously undefined, nobody really knows what happens when you die. Since it's so undefined, when you use the death archetype in a dream, it's like a computer program calling a function that doesn't exist, causing the program to crash.

On the other side of the spectrum, reliable control comes from using archetypes that are well defined and robust. That is to say a Harry Potter fanatic will be able to successfully use magic wands in a dream, while the non Potter person would struggle to get the same success rate.

Originally posted by The Cusp

Originally posted by Darkphoenix77
My experience with lucid dreaming is hard to recall specifics because I did not actually record the dream. All I remember is my mind telling myself in the dream "This is just a dream", to which I then tried "to wake myself up". I would "wake up" in my dream but in actuality was still dreaming. About 5 minutes later in my dream (which in real time may have only been a few seconds as time perception while dreaming is fairly impossible) I would realize that it was a dream still and tell myself "wake up this is just a dream" then try and wake myself up again. This repeated about 5 times before I actually did wake up in reality. Was an odd experience for a first time, being aware in your dream that you are dreaming when you don't really expect it. You may create temporary death scenarios by overdosing on video games, and the dream will follow those rules, but these types of mental structures are only temporary and will not stay with you long term.

False awakening can be annoying. A surefire way to wake yourself up from a dream is to kill yourself in the dream. It works for everyone. This is because the death archetype is notoriously undefined, nobody really knows what happens when you die. Since it's so undefined, when you use the death archetype in a dream, it's like a computer program calling a function that doesn't exist, causing the program to crash.

On the other side of the spectrum, reliable control comes from using archetypes that are well defined and robust. That is to say a Harry Potter fanatic will be able to successfully use magic wands in a dream, while the non Potter person would struggle to get the same success rate.

edit on 25-1-2013 by The Cusp because: (no reason given)

I've had dreams where death was imminent before that have awoken me. Not sure I would want to deliberately try and make that happen in a dream though tbh. Your idea of being to be able to use a "trigger item" from your dream is not unlike what was in Inception though and I find that a fascinating concept.

Originally posted by Darkphoenix77
Your idea of being to be able to use a "trigger item" from your dream is not unlike what was in Inception though and I find that a fascinating concept.

Not items, archetypes. Everything in a dream is an archetype with it's own individual set of associations or paths leading to other archetypes. By choosing which archetype to use or focus on, you can tweak what comes next in the dream.

For instance, using a car in dreams can be problematic because they have associated baggage like breakdowns, flat tires, traffic jams. So by using a car, there is a chance to get those negative outcomes. You choose stuff with strong associations to outcomes you want.

I was shot in a dream with blood running down my leg. I zoomed in visually on that blood running down my leg, thought of it as menstrual blood, and when I zoomed out my vision, I was a woman! I changed the way I conceptualized that blood and used the associations to my advantage.

Originally posted by The Cusp

Originally posted by Darkphoenix77
Your idea of being to be able to use a "trigger item" from your dream is not unlike what was in Inception though and I find that a fascinating concept.

Not items, archetypes. Everything in a dream is an archetype with it's own individual set of associations or paths leading to other archetypes. By choosing which archetype to use or focus on, you can tweak what comes next in the dream.

For instance, using a car in dreams can be problematic because they have associated baggage like breakdowns, flat tires, traffic jams. So by using a car, there is a chance to get those negative outcomes. You choose stuff with strong associations to outcomes you want.

I was shot in a dream with blood running down my leg. I zoomed in visually on that blood running down my leg, thought of it as menstrual blood, and when I zoomed out my vision, I was a woman! I changed the way I conceptualized that blood and used the associations to my advantage.

Okay, I think I get what your saying, you are suggesting using control of your dream to alter the situations, and landscapes presented with it by consciously changing your perceptions of what your mind is telling you the parameters are. In essence, using conscious thought to alter the parameters.

Not conscious thought, focused attention. Everything requires your attention to exist. To defeat anything in a dream, just ignore it. To walk on water or barefoot across a floor full of tacks, don't look down. All nightmares are caused by focusing too much on something.

See the thread in my profile for more info like harnessing the power of novelty or using blind spots to your advantage.

Originally posted by The Cusp
Not conscious thought, focused attention. Everything requires your attention to exist. To defeat anything in a dream, just ignore it. To walk on water or barefoot across a floor full of tacks, don't look down. All nightmares are caused by focusing too much on something.

See the thread in my profile for more info like harnessing the power of novelty or using blind spots to your advantage.

interesting concept, I shall have to try it out if I have a lucid dream sometime again. I can only remember that one time.

Originally posted by The Cusp
Not items, archetypes. Everything in a dream is an archetype with it's own individual set of associations or paths leading to other archetypes. By choosing which archetype to use or focus on, you can tweak what comes next in the dream.

For instance, using a car in dreams can be problematic because they have associated baggage like breakdowns, flat tires, traffic jams. So by using a car, there is a chance to get those negative outcomes. You choose stuff with strong associations to outcomes you want.

I was shot in a dream with blood running down my leg. I zoomed in visually on that blood running down my leg, thought of it as menstrual blood, and when I zoomed out my vision, I was a woman! I changed the way I conceptualized that blood and used the associations to my advantage.

I really like the deeper implications of what you are proposing here. I have never had 'lucid dreams', and honestly don't think that I lack anything because of that, primarily due to who I am in my waking reality, but I am in the process of that changing. I can feel it as something tangible, my perceptual world of dreams has in recent months begun to change, significantly, and the realisation that that world is as much about who I am and what I experience there is as valid as what occurs when I am awake, has become so tactile that I can taste it. When I transform within a dream, that reverberates. I love it.

You don't need to have a lucid dream to experience that sort of control, it applies equally well to the waking world.

Consider the following experiment, what I term a lab coat invocation.
gizmodo.com...

By forcing the participants to wear a lab coat, coaxing them to focus on that archetype, it opened up the associative pathways to things like critical thinking, logic, observation, allowing the lab coat group to perform better than those told it was an artist's frock.

Really that idea of the lab coat is no different than ancient gods who were associated with certain things. By invoking those gods, it opens up the associative pathways in the same manner the lab coat does.

Working with dreams allows you to see these associations in a literal way, but they work the same in the waking world.

I watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie last night which inspired a Doctor Who dream. How does that work?

In the latest season of Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes is actually a lesbian lizard woman, and Holmes is her human lesbian lover. Since Doctor who is my all time favorite show, the archetypal structures that define it in my mind are much more powerful than those that define the classic Sherlock Holmes. So by watching the Holmes movie, it activated that archetype, and it's most prominent connections lead to Doctor Who!

Originally posted by The Cusp
I watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie last night which inspired a Doctor Who dream. How does that work?

In the latest season of Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes is actually a lesbian lizard woman, and Holmes is her human lesbian lover. Since Doctor who is my all time favorite show, the archetypal structures that define it in my mind are much more powerful than those that define the classic Sherlock Holmes. So by watching the Holmes movie, it activated that archetype, and it's most prominent connections lead to Doctor Who!

Dr. Who is an awesome TV Show, lesbian lovers with one being a lizard woman is an interesting twist though

It is amusing how our dreams at times can be soooo fantastical.

I had 2 dreams I can remember before waking up this morning.

First one took place at a public swimming pool, I remember getting inside the back of the car but I don't remember exactly why. I used to get bullied in high school and teased alot because of my clumsiness. A jock/bully from my high school pushed the car over a cliff a few hundred feet up in the air. I remember trying to find the safety belt an get it engaged before the car hit bottom (like a seatbelt would make much difference). The car never crashed, and I didn't know why, then I figured it out. It never hit bottom because my mind stopped it from the inevitable crash. I went back up to the swimming pool at the top of the cliff and somehow realized I could use my mind to cause things to happen. Upon seeing said bully (name isn't relevent to story) I used my mind to cause his nose to start bleeding, then when he realized his nose was bleeding I caused his eyes to start to bleed. He started getting freaked out at this happening, I then forced him to walk towards the cliff and when he got there I let him know I was the reason these things were happening to him. I remarked to him "This cliff is really rather high isn't it?" to which he replied "yes, it is...." He must have thought that he had no choice and I was going to force him into jumping (I hadn't made up my mind at that point), and he jumped of his own free will and would have certainly died. I had 2 choices, do nothing and he dies or try to do something. I used my mind and slowed his descent when he reached about 20 feet from the ground, I then tried guilding him to the swimming pool to allow him to drop the rest of the way. My power gave out before he got over water and he fell the last 15 feet to the concrete landing on his feet, he didn't end up hurt. All I remember after this point before going into dream number 2 was the thought that I hope he learned something about how much being a bully can hurt.

Dream number 2 started at a movie cinema and me, my ex girlfriend and 2 of her 3 kids were present. I was not there to watch a movie, I had some research I was doing, but on what I cannot remember. My ex was sitting on a bench waiting for the time of her movie she was seeing to start, and the 2 kids were in different lines. I went over to her daughter (don't remember why exactly) and she asked me "How do I get (insert boy's name) to like me?" I remember telling her that she was a beautiful young lady and "The best way to get someone to like you is to be yourself, and if that doesn't work then it isn't meant to be." I remember feeling touched and honored that she wanted advice from me. At this point, I went back over to where my ex was and sat down, as her daughter's movie was about to start and she was next in line to get her ticket. And at this point is when I woke up to reflect on the 2 dreams and what I thought they meant, well to me anyways. Also, yes I realize I did not use names, it was on purpose as I just don't feel right using names of people I know or using false names.

reply to post by The Cusp


I understand what you mean about using prompts to manifest archetypes, and that is what I meant when I stated that I wondered whether my lack of control in my sleeping world, was reflective of the contrasting control I have in my waking world. I have never had any difficulty in using props, when awake, to create a different mode of perception, and indeed of allowing it to direct my situational behaviour. Hence, I lead such actions when I am awake, but needed more of a sense of free-form in my dreamscape. Even if, fundamentally, I am leading myself, it still results in a means of resolution that I would otherwise, possibly, have in the past wished to otherwise avoid had I a choice in the matter. Having lost much of that baggage, I feel less so inclined, and realise that the dreamscape can offer me other, deeper, insights/experiences if I can have greater directive control over them. Not something I can achieve overnight though (no pun intended).

Or something like that

reply to post by Darkphoenix77

I have had and do have all kinds of dreams, most I forget, and more I don't really want to remember, anything from happy peaceful dreams to real nightmares, and by real I mean real. But I have had deja vu dreams, dreams of the futures, and plenty of the dreams were you know that your dreaming, I have had plain dreams were I am just sitting around watching things, to crazy dreams of all kinds of things and people, even talk to other creatures and entities through dreams. I don't know were you got that you can only dream of things you know or seen, because that is not true, the mind does process things before hand while dreaming, but that is not really dreaming that is it just booting up and running scenarios mostly, but yes you can dream of plenty of things and people you have never seen before, in fact for me at least my mind had a hard time processing and interpreting lots of it so it chooses and picks from what it knows, but some of it is so bizarre it can not be explained and there is nothing to compare and contrast to from the things I seen.

Unfortunately I do not care to remember it all, once in a while I do, or I tell myself that this time I will write it down so I can dissect it and get to the bottom of it, but come morning I never actually do that, only did it a few times. And the really interesting dreams they usually come up at the oddest times, and most of that is when its a deja vu type event, or a scene that will in one way or another effect me in the future which is all normal stuff, but the others are really hard to put into any sort of context. Other then that most come and go like river flowing into the sea and I think there is a place were all of it gathers a sort of nexus for all realities and dreams, you know the whole akashic records thing, something is keeping track of it all. But in all it's hard to remember it in this waking world, not only that but its dangerous to remember them all while in this world, it really screws with things and your perceptions of things, it sort of stretches you thin its kind of like juggling or trying to do a whole bunch of things at the same time as compared to being fully focused and present on one thing.

Originally posted by galadofwarthethird
reply to post by Darkphoenix77

 

I don't know were you got that you can only dream of things you know or seen, because that is not true, the mind does process things before hand while dreaming, but that is not really dreaming that is it just booting up and running scenarios mostly, but yes you can dream of plenty of things and people you have never seen before, in fact for me at least my mind had a hard time processing and interpreting lots of it so it chooses and picks from what it knows, but some of it is so bizarre it can not be explained and there is nothing to compare and contrast to from the things I seen.

What I read was that the mind does not simply create fictional people with random facial features in dreams. How true that is or isn't I don't know, kind of a hard thing to prove or disprove either way. Even by the time a baby gets into the toddler stage (2-3) they have seen literally thousands of different people even if only in passing on a TV. To prove or disprove it seems an impossibily in my opinion either way, I have no idea where the 15 Facts website got that information. You are correct as far as non-people go there really are no limits in my opinion as to what a mind can imagine.

But in all it's hard to remember it in this waking world, not only that but its dangerous to remember them all while in this world, it really screws with things and your perceptions of things, it sort of stretches you thin its kind of like juggling or trying to do a whole bunch of things at the same time as compared to being fully focused and present on one thing.

Well I think only the most vivid and memorable dreams stand out in memory and get remembered. Most dreams get fuzzy and/or forgotten within 5-10 minutes after having been awake. I know I don't remember a majority of mine except that I seem to have alot more erotic dreams than the 8% to 10% they say is average.

Cusp, I would comment more on your discussion but you are discussing way above my knowledge of the science lol. I am but a dabbler and a conniseur of dreaming at this point.

Originally posted by Darkphoenix77
Cusp, I would comment more on your discussion but you are discussing way above my knowledge of the science lol. I am but a dabbler and a conniseur of dreaming at this point.

Lol, I get that a lot.

Here's an interesting tidbit. Your sleep position can effect the content of your dreams. Particularly if you sleep on your side. This is due to the left brain/right brain schism.

If you sleep on your right side more blood will pool into to that side of your head, making that hemisphere of your brain more dominant. Your so called "left brain" is located on the right side of your body, and is responsible for more abstract thinking. Left brain dreams can be difficult to recall due to the level of abstraction.

Sleeping on your left side tends to produce more right brain dreams. These are more sequential and action packed, making them easier to remember.

reply to post by The Cusp

Think of every facial feature and characteristic you've ever seen as an individual lego piece. Every time you see something new, you acquire a new piece. The dream uses these pieces to create the dream world. The dream can create new combinations out of existing pieces. This is why strange dream characters often seem familiar, they are built out of familiar parts.

This just makes me wonder more so about what a blind person "sees" in their dreams? Time for some interesting research by me.....