Dreaming

Isn't it so weird that while dreaming you can vividly see images yet while awake your not able to picture images in your head. For example, in a dream I could see my friends or my parents vividly yet while being awake I can't get my mind to be able to pant a picture of these people for me to examine. What do you believe dreams are? Some people believe you can see the future or communicate with people who have passed on in dreams. Do you believe this? Personally I'm not sure what I believe dreams are but I don't think there anything as spectacular as talking to the dead but I think there is more behind them then that we know.

Nah, I don't believe in that stuff.

Dreams are basically your brains way of organizing it's long term memory. Nothing to do with seeing the future or communicating with the dead.

Maybe dreams are t firing synapses in the brain and memory consolidation while in REM sleep. Maybe it is symbolism about repressed or unacceptable behaviors as Freud said. Or something completely different. Interesting, though.

I've had an interest in dreaming and sleep my whole life. I've spent many hours researching it.

However, dreams don't have anything special like talking to the dead behind them. However, dreams have some aspects lots of people don't understand. Some people think they don't have dreams. This is not true. Everyone has dreams, some people just don't remember them. Also, lots of people believe you are stuck with either remembering your dreams or not. This is also false. Some people are born predisposed towards remembering dreams (have easily recalled their dreams since they were little)  and others need to improve their "dream recall" a lot before remembering much.  Improving "dream recall" is something that is a very simple task, but that takes a while to develop. It's similar to being good in sports in that you can be born predisposed to it, but true ability comes through practice.

I don't usually type long messages, but I am a little passionate about this topic.

I've always thought the ability to see in dreams but not while awake to be interesting. I don't believe dreams are anything more than a collage of thoughts though.

I for one paint many vivid images while awake...but rarely remember my dreams anymore. 

You can create a picture in your mind while awake

and dreams are basically things you have seen at some point in your life (usually bunched together making something weird)

Nightmares, some believe, are your brains way of tackling a situation that hasn't happened yet, to better prepare you for it. This might even date back to the 'caveman' era. We've all had nightmares, but they change as we grow older. When you're young, you dream of monsters coming to get you, running away from wolves, etc. This sounds like something a caveman would've dreamt about, and help himself better understand how to tackle it when it does happen. When we're little we dream about monsters, when we grow up our nightmares change to car accidents, loved ones dying, having no money. Things that are more likely to happen, or even, will happen, and so the brain uses this 'off' time to work out what we'd do if the event happens. We also learn in our dreams apparently. I have first hand evidence of this, via video games! When I was a little boy, I was stuck on Sonic. Spring Yard Zones boss. You know the one where he lifts the blocks away that make the platform you stand on. Anyhow, I couldn't do it. That night I had a dream about it, and the next morning I did it in one. Dreams, for some reason, intrigue me!

The current explanation from pscyhology and neurology is that dreams are a reorganization activity for your brain. It can only take place during sleep because during the day you actively use your brain and you can't reorganize it without heavily interrupting performance (similar to how a computer can't really work while it's defragmenting).

The whole idea that dreams/nightmares mean something and/or are supernatural is bullcrap left from the Freudian age. It doesn't amount to any more than pseudoscience, and is only useful for those New Age con artists.

I wish I didn't forget all my favourite dreams a few minutes after waking up, it's funny as hell thinking about them sometimes.

I find deja vu most interesting, to dream a sequence like walking up a certain road in a certain way, wake up the next day and realize halfway through you just did excatly what you dreamed is bizarre. Am I crazy or does that happen a lot to other people?

Well, some dreams do mean something, don't they. I mean clearly if you keep dreaming about something, that has to mean something. I dream about spiders a lot, because I've an irrational fear of them. So they're my nightmares. However I agree that you can't dream the future or speak to the dead in a dream. However technically you can have a dream that may depict coincidently something that may happen in the future.

Also, I remember watching a show that says usually our first dream of the night is what we were doing last. So a lot of us probably have a very short dream involving a game we were just playing.

"Well, some dreams do mean something, don't they. I mean clearly if you keep dreaming about something, that has to mean something. I dream about spiders a lot, because I've an irrational fear of them. So they're my nightmares. However I agree that you can't dream the future or speak to the dead in a dream. However technically you can have a dream that may depict coincidently something that may happen in the future.Also, I remember watching a show that says usually our first dream of the night is what we were doing last. So a lot of us probably have a very short dream involving a game we were just playing."

Ah, so if I'm unconsciously thinking about spiders and therefore dream about them, could the dream not be interpreted that I am thinking about them too much, but didn't know until you just interpreted my dream?

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Ah, so if I'm unconsciously thinking about spiders and therefore dream about them, could the dream not be interpreted that I am thinking about them too much, but didn't know until you just interpreted my dream?

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Dreams are cool. There's a specific chemical in your brain that makes us able to produce dreams. I heard that scientists were able to extract this chemical and concentrate it into a drug. Obviously this drug is a very, very strong hallucinogen and you basically dream while your awake. Its fucked.

Also, i know dogs defiantly dream. I'm not sure if all animals dream but dogs defiantly do. Sometimes my dog is sleeping and it looks like she's dreaming. She'll make little barking noises and toss and turn, he eyes flicker as well. To me these are all basic signs of dreaming, what else could be going on?

"BrickRoad said:

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Ah, so if I'm unconsciously thinking about spiders and therefore dream about them, could the dream not be interpreted that I am thinking about them too much, but didn't know until you just interpreted my dream?

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That's merely a use of semantics. I "interpreted" your dream in the sense that I gave you the current scientific theory on the matter, however my interpretation was not specific. It could've also been given to somebody who had repeating dreams about zombies for example. When I say dreams can't be interpreted, I mean you can't say "you constantly dream about spiders, spiders have 8 legs, each leg signifies a problem in your life that you have to solve", the fortune cookie psychology used in the 19th century (and still used today by con artists). "

I've always found dreams to be interesting. One of my favorite movies is The Matrix because of how it handles the debate of reality. Like how all of our senses are merely electrical signals interpreted by our brains. So when we are dreaming, it seems like these things are really happening, and if we weren't able to wake up, how could we tell it's a dream? Fascinating stuff, I think.

Dreams don't have any paranormal explanation behind them, just look it up on any psychology website or something like that.

And I don't know about the rest of the people, but I daydream all the time.

I believe dreams are a great way to entertain yourself, either during the boring period of time you sleep or when you try and dig meaning out of them.

Dreams are a way of thinking when you are asleep.

"Dreams are a way of thinking when you are asleep."

You should watch Waking Life, pretty interesting stuff.

What I hate most is Sleep Paralysis. This has happened to me once in my life so far (actually only 3 or so weeks ago). It's when your mind is at an awake state, but you are unable to move any part of your body, and you hallucinate vivid images. The good part is that this only lasts around 5-10 seconds (although there have been cases when some were in this state for as long as 45 minutes). The bad part is that this, at least for me, was a terrifying experience. Being exposed to this for the first time ever, I remember trying to move my arms and being unable to, then starting to heavily breath through my nose as I look up at my closet door and see perfectly placed bright dots placed all over it while an ominous voice boomed in my head (although I don't remember what it said).

The worst part is whenever I lay in bed, and lie perfectly still, I instantly think I am paralyzed and have to jerk my arms in order to prove otherwise.

"You should watch Waking Life, pretty interesting stuff.

What I hate most is Sleep Paralysis. This has happened to me once in my life so far (actually only 3 or so weeks ago). It's when your mind is at an awake state, but you are unable to move any part of your body, and you hallucinate vivid images. The good part is that this only lasts around 5-10 seconds (although there have been cases when some were in this state for as long as 45 minutes). The bad part is that this, at least for me, was a terrifying experience. Being exposed to this for the first time ever, I remember trying to move my arms and being unable to, then starting to heavily breath through my nose as I look up at my closet door and see perfectly placed bright dots placed all over it while an ominous voice boomed in my head (although I don't remember what it said). The worst part is whenever I lay in bed, and lie perfectly still, I instantly think I am paralyzed and have to jerk my arms in order to prove otherwise."

I'm inherently aware that dreams mean complete and utter jack shit, but I'm a writer, and my dreams always seemed so vivid that I ended up working on a script about two people who share the same dreams. Throw in a little 'real world' drama, and I have a nice little love triangle going, and a suitably depressing ending, so it's mostly a matter of me just getting down to ironing out plot points in the mid section.
By the way, that idea is copyrighted, so if any of you motherfuckers want to make some money off it faster than I do, expect to be cutting me in =P

Dreams are just a fucked up version of what had happened in the past.