What is a Dream?

[morningstar]

If you look up the strict scientific definition of a dream it states that "the REM-dream state is a neurologically and physiologically active state"...which is true, however, is there a deeper more profound side to it? Is there also a spiritual side to dreams?

Many cultures throughout the ages have believed dreams to be a gateway or portal to other states of being...to a more spiritual realm. It is a magical place, unencumbered by the weight of a fully conscious physical mind.

Is one more open to alternate realities/dimensions when in the dream state? Judging from my own personal experiences, and the experiences of countless others, I would say yes.

Some dreams are, very simply put, a mishmash of mind junk left over from our daily lives. But there are others which we sense or know to be more than that - some which cannot be ignored. These are the dreams that stand out...that have deeper meaning - the dreams, that in some cases, can change you and your perception. Their images speak to us from a place that is not of the physical...a place that resides within us all.

Dreams often provide profound messages - either from without or from within...or both, at times. For me, they are a very mystical experience.

[elijah]

Dreaming is an escape into another reality -- one of those dimensions which can exist only in the mind and of which full comprehension is totally impossible in your physical waking state. I have always felt that remembering your night dreams is one thing but to try to rationalise and interpret them seems to reduce their potency and that is maybe why the dream-memory is such an ephemeral event.

Those dreams are maybe for the sleeping hours and for the waking ones there is the daydream, which are those dreams that create reality and can be rationally interpreted.

[Frater G]

michael said:

I have begun to understand that possibly a dream is the existence of the spirit, and the physical mind is trying to interpret only to come up with a surreal or abstracted version of a separate reality. When I think about it, why would the physical existence need to dream?

Good point, you're right....a separate reality. Modern physicists look at the nature of matter and how light, all information, is processed through the brain. It's been said that actual reality is just a matter of perspective. The movie "What the Bleep do We Know" touches upon this.

[morningstar]

Dreaming is an escape into another reality -- one of those dimensions which can exist only in the mind and of which full comprehension is totally impossible in your physical waking state. I have always felt that remembering your night dreams is one thing but to try to rationalise and interpret them seems to reduce their potency and that is maybe why the dream-memory is such an ephemeral event.

Those dreams are maybe for the sleeping hours and for the waking ones there is the daydream, which are those dreams that create reality and can be rationally interpreted.

I must ask you, Elijah...if dreams are a dimension which exist only in the mind - then how would the comprehension of them be impossible in the 'conscious' awake state? Are not our conscious and sub-conscious minds woven into the tapestry of who we are?

It would seem that the subconscious is a step toward the spirit...perhaps the portal through which we glimpse the eternal side of our selves.

Michael, you do make a good point - that the physical mind is trying to interpret a "separate reality"...and I would agree with the statement that actual reality is a matter of perspective and can be very subjective.

[vajramukti]

Perhaps a dream is a glimpse behind the veil. Difficult to understand and fully comprehend for that very reason.

Many dreams are indeed a mish mash of left over mental junk. I have wondered if there is any lesson to be learned in the way our subconscious mind organizes that mish mash into a dream.