Mystery of Dreams

There is no one in this world who has never had a dream. A rather bold statement by me without any statistical research conducted. There will be no one in this world who will ever disagree with my bold statement. The mystery of dreams. Have you ever wondered about this mystery of dreams? There are gurus and seers out there who will offer their expertise to interpret your dreams for you, for a price usually. What are dreams? How do they come about? What cause or causes you to dream? What about nightmares? Do dreams convey hidden messages? Why we have dreams which keep on recurring? All are valid and interesting questions, but do we have acceptable answers?

Usually, before I write my articles, I would do a bit of research on the subject from the internet. For this article on “Mystery of dreams” I am departing from the norm. Since the subject of dreams is such a mysterious topic, I thought it would be fun just to present my own opinion and interpretation of what dreams are all about, without any influence from external sources. So, this will be my personal free renditions of what dreams are and why and how dreams come about throughout one’s life. I shall also share with you my recurring dreams and nightmares which I find very intriguing and mind-boggling.

“I think therefore I am.” Or in Latin, “Cogito ergo sum”. This is the famous quotation from Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the French philosopher and mathematician. This simple phrase has a very profound meaning. In simple language; “I am thinking, therefore I exist”. What is it that does the thinking? The brain? No! The brain is like the computer. If you don’t load an operating system into the computer, the computer is just a piece of junk. The brain is the same. When the brain does not compute, we say it is “brain dead”. Then what makes the brain “work” or become alive? There has to be something like the computer operating system to activate the brain into “thinking”. This essential “operating system” is consciousness. With the presence of “consciousness”, the brain begins to function; and when that happens, a new dimension appears. And this is “the mind”. The mind is therefore a synergistic manifestation of the combined interactions of a hardware and a software. The hardware in this case is the brain, and the software; you are right, the consciousness! This is lesson 101 in the realm of “spiritual metaphysical” science.

Now that you understand who you are, let’s begin our quest on this elusive topic “The mystery of dreams”.

Since “I think therefore I am,” then “I dream therefore I am” as well. Do you think animals dream? This is my personal opinion; so you don’t have to agree with what I am going to write. Animals have a lower level of consciousness. I think they don’t have that level of mindful consciousness to able to dream in their slumber. That is why we regard animals as instinctive beings; meaning, they behave according to their instinctive nature. Well, never mind. Let’s come back to humans. We humans are a very complex species because we possess a very powerful and complex brain, driven by a very highly sensitive set of consciousness. This combination produces a highly complex and sensitive mind. This mind functions continuously from the day we were born and never sleeps. That’s why we have dreams. When we are awake, our mind is conscious, and we know what our mind is thinking. When we are asleep, our mind is not sleeping. Only our brain is sleeping. What goes on in our mind during our sleep mode is transmuted into “non-conscious” activities in the form of dreams. What cause and generate these “non-conscious” activities? If we can answer this question, we will understand dreams better.

Dreams come in a mix of four variations; its duration, its frequency, its severity, and its relative reality. By “duration”, I mean how long a dream lasts. “Frequency” relates to how often the same type of dream occurs. “Severity” denotes the level of psychological interference or impact into the subject’s experience. Let me expand these four variation concepts:

1. Duration: A dream can be just a passing sleeping experience lasting a few seconds. Other times, dreams can stretch out to longer period. The longer they are, the more probability that we may remember them when we wake up.
2. Frequency: This is a fascinating variation. Do you experience the same type of dreams in your sleeping sessions throughout your life? Sometimes, the same type of dream keeps on repeating itself even during the same sleeping session.
3. Severity: Dreams carry certain emotional influences onto the subject’s psychological experience. Those very short flashes of “unintelligent” dreams pass throughout the sleep without the subject actually noticing them. Some dreams make us very happy. And then those horrible nightmares!
4. Reality: Are dreams real? We have heard of premonitions in the form of dreams, forewarning the subject of any impending catastrophe. Or some indications of a windfall.

Why do we experience these dream variations? From my personal experience, I attribute them to three major influencing factors:

1. Thought preoccupation: If the person persistently indulges in the same thoughts throughout his waking hours, the chances of him dreaming about the same subject is great. That is why it depends on the behavioral pattern of the person. Those possessing negative behavioral traits such as resentment, hate, and guilt will inevitable not enjoy a good night’s sleep. Their sleep patterns will be disturbed by scaring and nightmarish dreams. In other words, they cannot and are not able to sleep in peace. On the other spectrum, those who lead a life of virtue and equanimity will usually sleep well. These wholesome people usually do not need long hours of sleep, for they experience very high sleep quality.
2. Ingrained preoccupation: Do you have frequent similar dreams that have something to do with your daily live, your past and present jobs, your friends and associates? Most of our dreams are invariably associated with some familiar scenario, be they familiar places, familiar people or familiar dream subjects. I have been subjected to this type of dream during this late period of life. Here is the story about my dreams. I worked in banks for most part of my life. I am now retired, quite a long time ago, to be exact. A major responsibility working in banks was security. So my main responsibility was to ensure that security procedures be strictly adhered to. As I held senior positions in the banks, my responsibility was to ensure that combination numbers of the various safes and main vaults be periodically changed. Also the alarm system had to be periodically tested. I had no problem during my terms of office. Now the “problems” come repeatedly in my sleep! I have dreams of the same nature occurring during my sleep quite often. The theme of my “nightmarish” dreams was always along the line that I had neglected in my security duties, that I didn’t change or had forgotten the combination numbers, and that the alarm system had not been tested for a long time. What a night!
3. Ingrained urgency: This third factor is an enabling call for us to wake up and attend to matter of physical urgency. The most obvious is to “call” us up from our slumber through dreams when our bladders are full. Some of my dreams of this nature are most hilarious. My dreams would inevitably lead me to search for an appropriate place to ease myself, but always unable to find one. Frustrating as this might seem, otherwise I would have wet myself on the bed!! The ultimate rescue came in the form of my waking up on time!

We may try to search for answers to the mystery of dreams, but there are dreams that will forever remain as mysteries. May I share this recurring dream experience here. I often have this dream involving lift (elevator) with two recurring themes. One is that the lift just refuses to stop but keeps on rising at great speed. The big problem is that I am inside this lift, and there is no way out!! HELP!!

Another theme is that this lift does not rise vertically but moves like the ski bubble-car. The frightening part is that this lift speeds around like a roller-coaster and there is no way of stopping it. Yes, the big problem is that I am inside this lift! HELP!!

One thing we can learn from the mystery of dreams; that our mind is a very powerful force. The mind pervades the whole body, emanating both negative and positive energies, according to how we think. The mind never sleeps. The mind is an “amoral” combination of ethereal energies, listening, filing and obeying every detailed instruction that we feed it. If you feed it garbage, you will get garbage. If you feed it with love and tender care, you will receive loving tender care; and sweet dreams too!

Below is a very important video that you must watch every morning when you log on your computer. Spend 10 minutes of your life each morning to watch this video, and if you take heed of the message, you will find in due course your life will be enriched with happiness and sweet dreams too! Pay particular attention @ 7.40 of the video.

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