There are many suggestions to answer the question, “What do dreams mean?”
Could it be indigestion
There are those who simply believe dreams are the result of things like indigestion. Which May in fact be tangentially true. For example, we may have indigestion due to some worry or problem in our life that we can’t quite ‘digest.”
Day Residue
There are some dreams that seem to merely be the product of what is called “day residue.” That is images and events of the previous day. However, given that we perceive and experience thousands of objects and events each day, it begs the question “Why are these particular things in our dreams?”
Merely nothing
Some believe that dreams have no particular meaning at all. They surmise that dreams are merely a sort of electric reordering of our brains activity during the day that help us restore balance in our waking thinking.
Bible Dreams
The Biblical authors clearly believe that dreams are at least sometimes messages from God. We find them both in the Old and New Testament writings. The stories of Joseph and his dreams have been retold many times. You may be familiar with the musical version, Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Coat. Many also know of the several dreams in the stories of the birth of Jesus.
Freud
In more modern times Sigmund Freud “discovered” and explored the unconscious through the study of dreams. Through the use of his free association technique he helped his patients find personal meaning in there dreams. He believed dreams had much to do with early childhood and repressed emotions.
Jung
Carl Jung broke with his mentor, Freud, over the meaning of dreams. He believed dreams have more to do with our present and future than our past. He also thought dreams have a compensatory function that helps balance our Self. If we have an over exaggerated sense of our Self importance that can brings us “down to earth.” If we have low self esteem they can “lift us higher” to a better appreciation of our worth.
Jung also introduced the concepts of archetypes and the collective u conscious. Dreams may present us with stories related to ancient hero myths or images from cultures of which we have no conscious knowledge.
One other interesting phenomenon Jung discussed is synchronicity. Sometime we what we see in our dreams will show up in real life the next day. One memorable example from my dreaming was when I dreamed of a big yellow road grader. Although I had not seen one in a long time and this was not day residue. The next day I saw one. Then in my future we purchased some land on a dirt road that is regularly graded by o e of these machines.
Message from the unconscious
Sometime dreams contain important things observed unconsciously in the day that perhaps we should look into in the morning. For example is you dream of having a flat tire it might mean that you are feeling like one you are metaphorically “out of air.” On the other hand it is also wise to check the air in the tires of your car!
Direction and Encouragement
Dreams can give us direction and encouragement. I once lost a position and was concerned and discouraged. I dreams I was at a picnic hanging upside down on a tree limb above a picnic table holding a stretched out T-shirt with my hands. I woke up laughing. I thought “Been there done that got the T-shirt. Time to move on!”
Problem Solving
Sometimes dreams help is solve important problems. There are several real life example of famous people whose dreams helped them with their discoveries. Albert Einstein had an important dream that lead to E=mc2. Elias Howe Following a dream solved a design problem for his invention of the sowing machine. There are many other examples.
Inspiration
Dreams can also inspire the creation of real life stories. Many books and movies probably began as dreams of their authors. I don’t know this for a fact but the Tom Hanks movie Joe vs the Volcano seems much like a dream to me. Also the ever popular Princes Bride has a distinctive dream quality.
Relationship advice
Dreams can also give us messages regarding our relationships. They may help us see how we are acting negatively towards our spouse. Alternatively, they may warn us about the falsehood of a colleague.
Metaphors
We may find meaning in dreams by looking for metaphorical images. For example, dreams of falling May indicate a lack of “understanding.” A dream of missing teeth might telling you some situation in life is “hard to chew.” Perhaps you dream of a foul smell. You might consider something in your is “rotten.”
Our own Language
Morton Kelsey calls dreams God’s Forgotten Language. If we pay attention to our dreams we might also discover that dreams are a language all our own. That is to say, the I,ages our are dreams are mostly individually particular to us. For example, when I was a raging workaholic I often dreamed of driving large vehicles that were out of control. Over time they changed from big trucks and busses to cars and even to a bicycle. If you keep track of your dreams in a journal you will be better able to learn your specific “dream Language.”
Conclusions
Thus you can see there are many ways that dreams have meaning. There is day residue, There are repressed emotions and memories. There are inspirations a clarifications. There are warnings. There is advice for relationships. There are encouragements and corrections. There are connections to the collective unconscious and archetypes. There is humor in metaphors. There is a personal dream language to be learned. There may also even be message from God.
I hope this post has been helpful and informative to you and I encourage you to read the other post in this series about the meaning of dreams. Happy dreaming.