AN INSIGHT INTO DREAMS
Mind
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during sleep. Although dreams may have existed since even before, the earliest recorded experience of a dream came from a Sumerean king, named ‘Dumuzi of Uruk’, who ruled sometime around 2500 B.C. However, despite the fact that dreams have shared a part of our lives for at least thousands of years and during this time humans have always sought to illuminate the underlying mechanisms of dreams, they have not been able to get to its true bottom so far. This essentially means that the science behind dreaming encompasses a number of different theories in each of its aspects. Hence, in order to understand the science behind dreams soundly, let us take views from various angles to it.
In the Greek and Roman eras, dreams were interpreted in a religious context. It was believed that they were direct messages sent by the gods or the deceased to them either as forewarnings or prophecies. Thus, it is not surprising to know that the people would pay much heed to their dreams and actually determine their courses of action accordingly. In fact, special shrines had been built where people could go and sleep, hoping that messages would be delivered to them in the form of dreams. Moreover, their belief in the power of dreams was so strong that it even directed the actions of political and military leaders. Reportedly, dreams interpreters would accompany military leaders to battles to help them with war strategy.
However, over the years, technological advancements have allowed humans to modernize their comprehension of dreams. This prompted the development of numerous theories by scientists and researchers, each of it reinforced by plausible evidence. It was towards the end of the nineteenth century that one of the pioneering theories was proposed by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud’s theory, dreams provide unconscious expression and reflect our unconscious desires, thoughts, wish fulfillment and motivations. Dreams bring our inhibited longings to surface, thus enabling us to experience them. Hence, dreams can be described as “disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes”[1]. Another theory is “information-processing theory” or “self-organization theory”. This explains dreaming as a side effect of brain neural activity when memories are consolidated during sleep. While we dream, helpful memories are nourished to last longer, while less useful ones evaporate. The third theory is “threat simulation theory”. Under this theory, a dream, as a social simulation function or threat simulation, provides the dreamer a safe environment in which to practise important skills especially potentially dangerous ones, such as evading a wild animal, escaping a stalker, falling over a cliff, et cetera. In this way, we are able to prepare ourselves for similar situations should they occur in real life. There is also a theory suggesting that dreams are a consequence of our brains trying to interpret external stimuli ( such as a dog’s bark, music or baby’s cry ) during sleep. Last but not the least, a theory even regards dream as a medium to spur creativity. This is because in dreams, we are able to transcend real-life restrictions and experience things that are impossible in the real world. That is why artists of all kinds are seen to credit dreams for inspiring some of their most creative forms of artwork.
Irrespective of any of the above-mentioned causes of dreams, dreams can be of different types. One of them is “daydreams”. In contrast to the other types of dreams, daydreams occur consciously and while being awake. However, while daydreaming, you are remote from your surroundings and, as usually said to a person caught daydreaming, “zoned out”. Another type of dreams is “lucid dreams”. These dreams take place during REM (Rapid-Eye Movement) — one of the stages of sleep — and surprisingly you are aware of the fact that you are dreaming when undergoing through one. The other type of dreams is “recurring dreams”. They are called so, for they repeat more than once and revolve around themes, such as confrontations, being chased or falling, etc. “Prophetic dreams” also form a type of dreams. They are the dreams that foretell a future event, so if you have a dream about an incident and later it happens in real life, know that you have had a prophetic dream. Last and also the least favorite of the types of dreams is “nightmares”. As we all know, these are scary or disturbing, and virtually everyone gets a taste of them from time to time.
Already feeling overwhelmed with knowledge acquired about dreams so far, right? Nevertheless, you may find yourself slightly disappointed to learn that in spite of all the notions and theories mentioned so far, the bottom line is that we still do not possess sufficient knowledge or evidence to truly perceive the essence of dreams. However, that does not at all means that reading all the fore-mentioned information has been futile. Indeed, it does offer us an insight into dreams.
[1] “Experts Weigh in With 7 Theories About Why People Dream,” Verywell Mind, accessed December 8, 2020, https://www.verywellmind.com/why-do-we-dream-top-dream-theories-2795931.
