Your mood during dreams

[Dale]

When interpreters analyze dreams, do they need to take into consideration the dreamer's mood during the dream? It seems to me that it would be pretty important. You can have what would normally seem like a pleasant dream, but wake up feeling creepy. Wouldn't that change the meaning of the dream? What do you think?

[Wolfjk]

Originally Posted by Dale

When interpreters analyze dreams, do they need to take into consideration the dreamer's mood during the dream? It seems to me that it would be pretty important. You can have what would normally seem like a pleasant dream, but wake up feeling creepy. Wouldn't that change the meaning of the dream? What do you think?

Hi Dale,
Moods and other emotions are part of the dream. Many times one wakes up from a dream with a lingering emotion or a strange mood, however dreams use emotions to raise the level of consciousness in sleep. It seems that moods and emotions - the whole gammut - contain some energy that is needed to put the brain in gear. However dreams have very little meaning, but do the vital job of controlling the level of consciousness in sleep, and do the waking up.
The meaning is limited to the nature and charecter of the sleeper. No more than you would get from talking to the person or reading one of his/her letters.
In cases of nightmares or bad dreams, sometimes the text of the dream gives a hint of what caused the dream.
Cheers Wolfjk

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Wolfjk

Hi Dale,
Moods and other emotions are part of the dream. Many times one wakes up from a dream with a lingering emotion or a strange mood, however dreams use emotions to raise the level of consciousness in sleep. It seems that moods and emotions - the whole gammut - contain some energy that is needed to put the brain in gear. However dreams have very little meaning, but do the vital job of controlling the level of consciousness in sleep, and do the waking up.
The meaning is limited to the nature and charecter of the sleeper. No more than you would get from talking to the person or reading one of his/her letters.
In cases of nightmares or bad dreams, sometimes the text of the dream gives a hint of what caused the dream.
Cheers Wolfjk

Wolfjk, thanks for your reply. However, I am surprised that you say dreams have very little meaning. I'm new on the board, so if you have discussed this before, you might give me some reference points to read what you've said on the subject. You don't believe there could be psychic dreams? If not psychic, then perhaps even dreams warning you of a health problem? I read somewhere years ago that dreaming of being in the kitchen means you should be concerned about your diet or your stomach. Being in the bathroom in your dreams is a warning to be aware of an intestinal problem. I might agree with you that dreaming of specific things might be a means of waking up, or that having a pain in your dream might simply be a discomfort in the way you are lying in bed, but there seems to be a lot of cases where dreams turned out to be prophetic. You've given me a lot to think about. Thanks, and I'd really like to get more input on it from you or anyone else who would like to discuss it.

[Wolfjk]

Hi Dale
Thanks for your post. I have been on this forum for a number of years and my posts give an indication of my ideas and experiences.

You don't believe there could be psychic dreams?

I believe that dreams deal with the problems and tasks that arise in sleep, the total control during sleep time. However if the sleeper believes in precognition or other types of psi, the subconscious mind uses this belief as a source of mental energy to arouse the sleeper’s level of consciousness. However the expected psy or precognition is not there.

If not psychic, then perhaps even dreams warning you of a health problem?

Dreams do sometimes indicate what the problem in is in sleep, however it is always about the sleep the dream happens in. Reoccurring dreams may give an indication that there is something wrong.

I read somewhere years ago that dreaming of being in the kitchen means you should be concerned about your diet or your stomach

I find that when there is something bad happens in the digestion system during sleep the subconscious creates a dream that brings the sleeper near to the waking level in case of the need to vomit. In cases of bad indigestion the dream uses the language of the sleeper in a symbolic way to indicate what is happening. If the sleeper calls indigestion “heartburn” there is often something burning or aflame in the dream. Going into a restaurant, or the kitchen is often in the dream, the name of the food might also be hinted at. In dreams when there is indigestion or stomach ache the subconscious creates a dream that tries to divert the sleeper’s attention from the pain or discomfort, and usually the indigestion or stomachache disappears by the time the sleeper wakes up. It is only on rare occasions when there is urgent need to wake up that the dream turns into a nightmare.

Being in the bathroom in your dreams is a warning to be aware of an intestinal problem

Bathroom dreams are very common, however they don’t mean that there is necessarily something wrong with the digestion system. Most of the bathroom dreams occur when the need arises in sleep to use the bathroom. The dream tries to delay the waking up for as long as possible by making the bathroom dirty, locked, or open to public view.
These are my experiences and my ideas on dreams. You will find many who differ greatly. However variety is the spice of life. I hope you enjoy staying on this forum.
Cheers Wolfjk

[Dale]

Wolfjk, I gather from your replies that the only reason we dream is to either keep us sleeping or to wake us up. If you are right, then is there any reason to have our dreams analyzed?

Here are two examples of dreams I had that seemed prophetic: (1)I dreamed the same dream three nights in a row and a week later something tramatic happened. (2)I dreamed that my uncle was beaten up and a few days later, he was mugged and terribly beaten. Were these just coincidences?

Anyway, I will go read your other posts. Your explanation of dreaming is so new to me that I find it very intreging and in most cases, I think you are right. Are there ever any exceptions as far as you're concerned?

[Wolfjk]

Originally Posted by Dale

Wolfjk, I gather from your replies that the only reason we dream is to either keep us sleeping or to wake us up. If you are right, then is there any reason to have our dreams analyzed?

Here are two examples of dreams I had that seemed prophetic: (1)I dreamed the same dream three nights in a row and a week later something tramatic happened. (2)I dreamed that my uncle was beaten up and a few days later, he was mugged and terribly beaten. Were these just coincidences?

Anyway, I will go read your other posts. Your explanation of dreaming is so new to me that I find it very intreging and in most cases, I think you are right. Are there ever any exceptions as far as you're concerned?

Hi Dale,
Thanks for your post.

is there any reason to have our dreams analyzed?

I think dreams are very complex, especially dreams that are caused by psychological problems; hurts, defeats and doing something that causes embarrassment an shame. Traumas of axidents, wars, and loss of loved ones are even worse. Councelling and talking about the problems is better than any analysis. My experience is that dreams are an active part of the healing process and what dreams do is more important than what they mean. Personally I think Freudian analysis sometimes hits on some aspects, however C.G Jung was mistaken in almost every idea about dreams and his type of analysis does more harm than good.

Here are two examples of dreams I had that seemed prophetic: (1)I dreamed the same dream three nights in a row and a week later something tramatic happened. (2)I dreamed that my uncle was beaten up and a few days later, he was mugged and terribly beaten. Were these just coincidences?

Some dreams appear to be prophetic however we all consciously anticipate what might happen in the future. I am sure sometimes prior to your dreams you thought about muggings and attacks on people in your area and was worried about your uncle. Dreams do use our everyday cares and worries, past and present to construct the dreams. When you take everything into consideration, the seemingly prophetic dreams must obey the mathematical probability.

Are there ever any exceptions as far as you're concerned?

There are always axceptions and strange experiences one can't explain. I had my fair share of them! I think dreams are subject to the Laws of Thermo-dynamics, especially the fact that the temperature and activity of a body always falls naturally towards its sorrounding. There is a constant need for some sort of energy to keep the sleeping mind from becoming inactive. There are a lot of uncertainities in the quantum nature of life.
Cheers Wolfjk

[Dale]

Aha, OK Wolfjk, I think I understand what you are saying.

When I had the same dream three nights in a row, was my subconscious mind trying to get me to face a situation that I knew was going to happen but had been supressing?

Is that possible? While awake, I can say... I never saw that coming! I guess that would be a whole new field of thought... how the subconscious mind can know things the conscious mind couldn't comprehend.

[keyboardslave]

This has been a very interesting thread to read. I find dreams, and the fact that we have them, to be fascinating.

What you've touched on in your last post Dale leads a person to wonder this: if we were to practice the act of "consciously" UN-suppressing our "subconscious" while awake or asleep, if we would encounter MORE psychic ability or phenomenon. Perhaps through meditation and other means, we would be able to get a clearer picture of the workings of our own minds? I personally believe that anyone can develop psychic abilities to some extent with practice, though I never would have thought to be intrigued by it if it weren't for many occurrences of it happening in my life to bring me to want to explore why and how it happens.

I too have had dreams (out of nowhere and without a precursory event or thought to trigger them) which did materialize "in real life" a few days later. The scene of an huge auto accident involving many cars, semi-truck, ambulance and fire trucks on the scene, for example, happened EXACTLY as I had already "pictured it and heard it" in my dream the night before. It was like looking at a movie I had already seen, everything was in exactly the same place, the same color, the same scenery of trees and roadside in the background, the same amount of hazy daylight in the sky, etc.

From wolf's statements I have read, it appears that sleep allows our minds to enter a relaxed enough state to "work through" deeper realities and thoughts and experiences, but that interpretations for dreams tend to be "over-analysis" of basic functions?? Am I getting this or wayyy off?

I have enjoyed this discussion and look forward to reading more.

[Wolfjk]

Originally Posted by Dale

Aha, OK Wolfjk, I think I understand what you are saying.

When I had the same dream three nights in a row, was my subconscious mind trying to get me to face a situation that I knew was going to happen but had been supressing?

Is that possible? While awake, I can say... I never saw that coming! I guess that would be a whole new field of thought... how the subconscious mind can know things the conscious mind couldn't comprehend.

Hi Dale,
I find it strange how the subconscious mind knows whatis going on in the sleeper's body during sleep. It is even more strange how it can pickout a though or a long forgotten experience from any time of the sleeper's life and weave it in to a dream. Only people with very good memory can make out where one orthe other part of a dream came from. The idea of duality is not accepted in todays philosophy, but that is exactly what dreams indicate; a superior intelligence in control of the material brain! However I find it a very selfish entity as it concerns itself solely with the welfare of the individual.
If you can imagine: in waking life we use our brain to control our situation, in sleep the subconscious takes over the control of the body and brain, but how does it know what is happening to the body during sleep? Yet you touch a sleeper ever so slightly and the dream changes.

When I had the same dream three nights in a row, was my subconscious mind trying to get me to face a situation that I knew was going to happen but had been supressing?

I think your subconscious was using your fear or apprehension of the thing happening to wake you, or to raise your level of consciousness. You can't suppress anything from the subconscious! However it will use everything for one single purpose: to look after the sleeper.
Cheers Wolfjk

[Dale]

Wolfjk and Keyboardslave, you both are so far ahead of me in understanding dreams that I'm sure my questions sound naive. But I have another one. Wolfjk, you said our dreams are there to protect the dreamer. But how can a nightmare protect anyone? When you wake up with your heart racing a mile a minute and fear running through your whole being... how can that be helpful? Personally, I'd rather be woken up more gently.

I've always thought that dreams are controlled by our personalities, attitudes, health, and what we had for dinner. Still I hoped that there were such things as true prophetic dreams.

I may start meditating. I've been told that meditating helps you to remember your dreams.