MetaPhysics - Dreams - what they may say

- REM (rapid eye movement) Sleep The REM stage of sleep has been recorded to effect the following physiological changes during dream moments: low voltage brain wave, accelerated and more variable heart rate and breathing, relaxation of the head and neck muscles, partial or complete erection of the penis.

- NREM Sleep (non-rapid eye movement) is accompanied by ocular quiescence, more regular breathing and heart beat, tension in head and neck muscles, slower but higher voltage brain waves and absence of penile erection.

Dreams

There has been a number of scientific studies by psychiatrists, psychologists and reputed institutions into the nature and implications of dreams. There is also an interest in dreams in relation to paranormal human powers and behaviour. The following is based on a series of readings on the topic including Calvin S Hall's book -'The meaning of Dreams' without placing undue emphasis on the esoteric. According to Calvin Hall, director of the Institute of Dream Research, dreams are not unique to mankind; for animals also dream, as any dog-owner knows. Dreaming itself is psychological, not physiological but it is often accompanied by physiological changes. Each person seems to dream about much the same sorts of things from year to year, even when there are radical changes in ones waking life. The unconscious is perhaps unchanging. Dreams have been scientifically analysed in terms of EEG (electro-encephalograph) recordings of eye movements made during sleep, physiological changes recorded during dreams, and the symbolism and objects mentioned in dreams.

Some dreams seem to be induced in that they are related to some stimulus, but they also include more than just the stimulus. There is a notion that external and internal forces acting on a sleeping person do produce the real experiences of dreams, forces like sounds, smells, lights, temperature changes, bodily positions, bladder pressure, stomach aches, muscular cramps and fever. Nightmares may be induced when respiration is interfered with, and dreams have been traced to the secretion of endocrine glands. The action of the above listed forces are likely to be a result of the similarity of their effects on the person in terms of psychological occurrences. For example, the emotion of anger causes some part of the body to get overheated, and internal changes may overheat these same parts and thus induce dreams.

Dreaming has been associated with illusion* - faulty interpretation of an object, and with delusion* - mistaken judgement or belief often caused by wishful thinking. Conscience - ones network of right and wrong, sanctions and prohibitions - plays a role in dreams. Some dreams actually carry information about impending events - a point over-emphasised by paid fortune-tellers.

Dreams may be a form of hallucination - perception of an object without external cause.Dream images are pictures of our conceptions. Worldly events and activities are never the subjects of dreams, but dreams are formed of the personal, the intimate, the emotional and the conflictual in our life. What a person thinks of himself greatly influences how he behaves. One who thinks of himself as a moral reprobate will experience a life suffused with feelings of guilt and shame even without performing actions that justify such feelings. One who is convinced that he is inadequate and inferior will find it hard to reach success. One who thinks his father is stern, demanding and autocratic, will give such roles to his father in dreams. A woman who sees men as threatening will dream of men chasing and attacking her. A person with a complex system of thought will play a diversity of roles in his dreams. According to Freud, satisfaction of impulses or wishes is the main reason for dreaming. Dreams are full of alibis for doing things which the conscience declares wrong. We are hypocrites even in our dreams. It is therefore not surprising that nearly all slangs for penis, vagina and intercourse are found in dreams. Those attracted to others of the same gender will dream of homosexual relations. If you find the world cold and bleak, you will dream of rocky coast in freezing weather. Conscience contributes form to dreams. For example, prohibitions may become walls, curbs, locked doors, restraint like applying the brakes of a car or seeing the police threaten.

Movements* in a dream represent ambition, progress, achievement, breaking with family ties, fleeing from something or dying. Means of transport - cars, trains, boats, air planes and other instruments of power represent the vital energy of ones impulses, especially the sex impulse. One who plays passive parts in his dreams feels dependent on others. But when active such as driving cars instead of being driven in a dream, one is reflecting that he has a self-image of independence and mastery. A bridge in a dream symbolises a transition in life. Perhaps our dreams also show who is dreaming of us. Strangers in a dream represent the unknown, the ambiguous, the uncertain. We do not dream of those with whom we have a satisfying relationship.

Theriomorphic dreams are those in which animals are used to represent conceptions. For example, a horse may represent wild lawlessness, licentious animal passion, and masculine sexuality. A woman dreaming of a horse attacking her, may be out a fear of being raped. Black and white stripes in a dream reflect bad and good sides of an issue. A ring may represent female genitals and a gun may represent male genitals.A civil war is an internal war in a nation and may in a dream signify an inner conflict. Misfortunes befalling a dreamer may represent self-punishment.

The five major conflicts that lie in man concern

1) those between freedom and security,

2) moral conflict of right and wrong,

3) life and death,

4) sex and aggression,

5) infantile struggle to define the world.

Anxiety about any of these could induce dreams.

One can only think ones own thoughts. Hence the belief that others have put ideas in our heads is a delusion of a disordered mind. That does not rule out that others do influence how we think about ourselves, about our self-confidence and our attitudes to third parties in our wakeful life. Artemidorus wrote oneirocritic on dreams. He suggested that to dream of being in a crowd may reflect loneliness, that being clothed in a dream may signify a feeling that one is naked, and dreaming of being a dying man means that one is alive. Where there is hatred, there is usually fear. Similarly, spatial opposites like back and front, or up and down, or right and left in a dream represent corresponding contrasts like the higher and lower aspects of man's nature. Women seem to have weaker conscience than men. In dreams, desire for emasculation may be represented by loss or injury to a leg or arm.

Some observe that husbands and wives often resemble each other. Very old couples are often found to resemble each other more closely than when they were young, and this is thought to result from biological impacts of their psychological mutual identification with each other. It could be that genetic similarities underlying such physical resemblance led to the initial attraction between the couple in the first place. It could also be that seeing each other constantly for so long as lovers live together possibly induces physiological growth to resemble each other.

Unconscious guiding principles influence our choice of vocations. Dreams of success are rare since our accomplishments do not provide the mind with the potential for tension.

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