Why do we have dreams?

[Kura Ookami]

I've been thinking alot about dreams lately. Why do we dream at all? What purpose do dreams serve?

Are dreams prophesies as the ones we read about in the bible are or just our overactive imaginations?

It's a question that has puzzled scientists for a while. Why do we dream?

[ssj2gohan61]

hmm I really dont know I often wonder this myself...maybe we just think of something like a desire or a fear so much it just stays in our mind and we end up dreaming and well lol I dont know I tried, Id like to see other peoples opionions...good question Kura

[bigsleepj]

Our dreams are reflections of our joyous memories, our painful traumatic past, emotions, anxieties and fears and desires all roll into an incoherent narrative. God can communicate through dreams, but not all dreams involving Him are neccesarily a message or a vision. I once had a nightmare during a terrible chapter in my life where I dreamed God damned someone just because He could even if the person obtained Salvation (not the kind of thing you want to dream about in any case). But I can understand how the circumstances in my life at that contributed to this (espially some anxiety concerning the Nature of God).

Also each dream has a different meaning for every different person. If, by sheer chance, two person have dreams that are similar, then for each that person it can be interpreted in a different way.

I enjoy dreaming, but I know that I should not always take them too seriously.

[LorentzForce]

We dream (as in, sleeping thing) because that's what we think about. Imagine you're just sitting in a nice, cool, beach, under a shade of sort, and just thinking random thoughts. Yep, your brain's doing exactly the same thing while you're sleeping, just with one major difference; you aren't exactly conscience.

People usually dream in whatever that was important to them or such just before they sleep. This is because your brain is thinking about it, even subconsciencely. Can't be helped. This is why when you're dreaming it's mostly random; completely random. It often doesn't make any sense when you wake up, but then again, you forget it soon afterwards anyway.

I hope that answers the technical side of the question. I'll leave the poetic interpretations to others

[Hephzibah]

My dreams often involve me fighting and saving the world!!! I love my dreams

Of course, I watch too many action movies... so that would definitely influence my dreams.

Question, has anyone actually had a prophetic dream?

[bigsleepj]

My dreams often involve me fighting and saving the world!!! I love my dreams

Now why can't I have dreams like that?

[Kawaiikneko]

I haven't had a nightmare in forever. Maybe its just me, but I could be standing in a room full of corpses in my dreams and not be disturbed or scared....

I have a friend who has actually died in her dreams twice. There's some meaning to dreams like that, but I can't remember what it is now. lol You're not supposed to die in your dreams....

[ZiP]

I got your Scientific answer right here

[EvilSporkofDoom]

I've had lots of dreams about the apocalypse that have frightened me, so yeah, I have had some prophetic dreams.
I don't really enjoy dreaming - most dreams I wake up from make me feel unsettled, because in most of them the atmosphere is forlorn and foreboding, even if the dream itself isn't actually scary.
I've never been sure myself why we dream what we do, but what LorentzForce said sounds pretty good to me..

[shadowblade]

Dunno really. I don't think mine have any special meaning behind them, most of them anyway. I just have a bunch of weird, random dreams. I think I've had dreams with cartoon characters plenty of times. And some of my dreams seem like Final Fantasy, or some RPG like that. Lol. I've had a few serious ones, not that I can remember now though.
Oh, I remember one dream where my friend showed me a really cool, but weird shaped Taz pen and told me she got it from a church friend. Then the exact thing actually happened a few months later. I kept telling her that she told me all this already, but she had just gotten the pen from her church friend that weekend. Weird right?

[Jman]

I liek drems!

[Anison Twilight]

I've heard once some one describe dreams as your mind cataloguing(sp?) your day. I can believe that because usually my dreams have to do with my day. Sometimes they don't but that's alright. Dreams rock. I had one once where I dreamed that the rapture had happened and I can't even describe my joy when I dreamt this. I can tell you one thing though. You know the falling dream, the one where you just keep falling forever? Well this was the opposite. I was falling up, and the more I went up the faster I went. It was awesome.

[Jman]

umm holy crap can we got a admin please!

[EDIT: Nevermind they took care of it]

[ShiroiHikari]

>.> I must have psychological issues or something XD; I never have good dreams. they're always weird or disturbing. like dreaming about old boyfriends and scary homicidal babies and online friends who want to be more than friends. >_o

[LorentzForce]

I often dream of falling. It's very cool and refreshing, until I hit the ground and wake up.

[Kaligraphic]

I've had lots of dreams about the apocalypse that have frightened me, so yeah, I have had some prophetic dreams.

Not every dream about the apocalypse is prophetic. Maybe you just read that left behind series too seriously.

Yes, people still get prophetic dreams today - and such dreams have to match up to the Bible, or they don't count as valid. For the most part, though, dreams are basically rendered from thoughts settling in your consciousness as your brain turns parts of itself off to rest. (kind of like defragmenting your computer's hard drive, only not)

[crossalchemist]

What's interesting is when you wake up inside of your dream and you can control what happens. That's happened to me on several occasions.

[agasfas]

I think it's just a way to process your thoughts that occured during the day-- the good and bad. Or sometimes we dream what we wish would be or what we fear will happen. Dreams are a powerful thing indeed. Now I have a few questions. I hear most people dream in black and white. Is that true, because I dream in color. Also, has anyone ever read something in their dream? I think I remember reading something, it was backwards but I was able to make it out.

Also, I've never really had nightmares. I mean I've had a few when I was young but nothing aside from that. I don't remeber my last nightmare.

[AngelSakura]

<<Are dreams prophesies as the ones we read about in the bible are or just our overactive imaginations?>>
If my dreams are prophetic, expect Vash the Stampede to make an appearence in a "Cathy" comic strip sometime soon.

[Kura Ookami]

What's interesting is when you wake up inside of your dream and you can control what happens. That's happened to me on several occasions.

I wondered if this would come up or not. I've been thinking about that too. Why do people wake up inside their dreams and then can control everything within the dream?

It's called lucid dreaming i believe and it's weird because if dreams were only for sorting out your thoughts for the day or for prophesies then why would people be able to take control?

<<Are dreams prophesies as the ones we read about in the bible are or just our overactive imaginations?>>
If my dreams are prophetic, expect Vash the Stampede to make an appearence in a "Cathy" comic strip sometime soon.

Okay then. I'll look forward to that

[Ashley]

I don't believe dreams are pure prophetic tools--as Kura pointed out, people sometimes have lucid dreams where they are fully aware they're dreaming; prophesies can't exactly be manipulated by man, now can they?

I do fully believe God *can* use a dream to communicate or prophecy; I mean, He's GOD after all. He can do it however He darn well pleases, and He has used deams in the past to communicate to humans; but, it has ALWAYS been with His glory/purpose in mind, not just random stuff. There'd be a couple of factors involved I'd consider too when judging if this is God talking to us or prophecy, like your walk with the Lord, having it confirmed through His Word and having it confirmed through other people when you haven't told them about it, etc. Otherwise I think it's just our brain unwinding or continuing its thought process when we aren't conscious, nothing more.

As for my dreams, I always dream in color. I have a hard time remember them most nights, except for several nightmares. The scariest dream I've ever had was so realistic I woke up and thought an entire day had past, especially since I woke up crying when in my dream I had gone to bed in tears. I dreamed Shatterheart had been in a horrible car accident and had died. The scary thing was I found out the next day he had had a near-miss collision that night which very well could have killed him. O.o;

[Hephzibah]

I know my mum has had tonnes of prophetic dreams (eg us moving to where we are now)... she is an intercessor

Why do people wake up inside their dreams and then can control everything within the dream?

O.O Whenever I realise that I'm asleep, my dreams get really weird and I cant control anything!! its so annoying

[Kawaiikneko]

I had this dream once where a bunch of people were jumping off a diving board into a pool. We were all just going in a circle - jumping in and getting out - but one time after I jumped in people kept jumping on top of me and not letting me come up for air. Eventually I woke up and me face was shoved so far in my pillow I couldn't breath XDD

[BigZam]

I was gonna start a thread kinda like this.....a few days ago I had this dream where I went to an after-school art program for suicidal kids just for somethin to do.....then I met this girl.....but then I woke up. It sucked....but then I fell back asleep and the dream continued but it didn't go so well....the girl had a boyfriend, and suddenly there was a loud noise outside. The building across the street was in flames and there was a bunch of Caucasian people trapped inside. People dressed in firefighter uniforms rushed in but they were really African-American people prejudiced against white people and they were gonna destroy the building. So me and some other person were suddenly over there in a car and started picking people off with a rifle. But there was one man who wasn't prejudiced and he tried to stop them but then I woke up. So strange.....it started out so good but turned so bad.

[Kaori]

I hear most people dream in black and white. Is that true, because I dream in color.

I read once that the question of whether we dream in black and white was never even asked until the invention of the television. Before then, apparently, it had never occurred to anyone that dreams might be in black and white, and the question arose from exposure to black and white television and photography. Most people, at least, seem to dream in color.

[livingsacrifice]

I havnt had a dream in awile. I could never fit together the pieces of my dreams. on minute, Im unloading a full clip of ammo on a guy and he still lives. But thats ok, cause i can take a few clips too. but whats spooky is that i think i can feel it. then the next minute i could be across the world trying to fly with out falling. I would end up dying in the end. I guess death doesnt really bugs me.

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Not every dream about the apocalypse is prophetic. Maybe you just read that left behind series too seriously.

Yes, people still get prophetic dreams today - and such dreams have to match up to the Bible, or they don't count as valid. For the most part, though, dreams are basically rendered from thoughts settling in your consciousness as your brain turns parts of itself off to rest. (kind of like defragmenting your computer's hard drive, only not)

..I was afraid to use the word "prophetic" lest someone infer that I interpreted my dreams about the apocalypse as a revelation from God or something, but no - I know that my dreams aren't meaningful, and I don't take them seriously; I just said that they were prophetic because the content was - they're about the rapture and tribulation, and well, apocalyptic is akin to prophetic, isn't it? But no, I don't think having prophetic dreams means I think I'm some sort of visionary - I'm not that self-important -.-;

[Arbre]

I hear most people dream in black and white. Is that true, because I dream in color.

My dreams are always in color.

Also, has anyone ever read something in their dream? I think I remember reading something, it was backwards but I was able to make it out.

Before I started chatting for hours online with people, I could never, ever make out words or text in dreams. Now I can. I've even had dreams that were entirely text based, like an IM conversation. >_> Other times, it'd be like a group of people were in a room talking, but there was a chat with text going simultaneously as they talked. I 'm not online now as much as I used to be and those types of dreams are gone.

Also, I've never really had nightmares. I mean I've had a few when I was young but nothing aside from that. I don't remeber my last nightmare.

I had several last night. One was where people were torturing little kids, and my siblings were among them. =/

I had one where my littlest sister was killed. I've had dreams where my family was kidnapped. I've had dreams where I was with a lot of my friends who are Mormon (at airports, at BYU, at a campfire roasting marshmallows, etc) and I couldn't get up the strength to tell them I'm not Mormon anymore (that was a recurring theme for a while). And yes, that was a nightmare; because the emotions in that were really distressing. -_-

I've had others where people were kidnapping people to harvest their organs. In that one, I fought them by throwing butcher knives. I don't like violent stuff at all, so that disturbed me. In those dreams, even if I'm able to run away with some people, it's like I can never save them all or we never really escape, we're just temporarily ahead of them as they track us, and then I wake up.


My dreams are more vivid when I go to sleep in some extreme emotional state (depressed, scared, worried, etc). The dreams don't necessarily correlate to those emotions, but it makes them clearer and more intense, which makes them much more memorable the next morning.

Some dreams are kinda cool, though. I have music in some dreams. Mostly nightmares, I guess, but the music's neat... It's fully orchestrated and sometimes it has lyrics. Sometimes a person in the dream is singing, and sometimes it's just background music (as I run away from something o_O). Like boss music... it's creepy most of the time.

And the settings where my dreams occur can be creative too. Like super complex mansions that have awesome rooms and floor designs and connections. They just appear as I walk from room to room. And in one dream I was walking around on my high school campus (does anyone else have a lot of their dreams take place at school settings?) and I looked up at the sky and it was like looking up from underwater with the ripples on top. The light was all flowing and swirling around.


I'm having more nightmares now, so I'm starting to not like dreams anymore. Too much violence.

[Hephzibah]

And in one dream I was walking around on my high school campus (does anyone else have a lot of their dreams take place at school settings?

I used to, but now that I've left school I dont really have any more Which I am very thankful for!

MY dream last night was another fun one I was some spy or something running away from the cops. I got to scale buildings, race fast cars, dodge bombs

[BigZam]

[quote="Arbre"]My dreams are always in color. Before I started chatting for hours online with people, I could never, ever make out words or text in dreams. Now I can. I've even had dreams that were entirely text based, like an IM conversation. >_> Other times, it'd be like a group of people were in a room talking, but there was a chat with text going simultaneously as they talked. I 'm not online now as much as I used to be and those types of dreams are gone.

I had several last night. One was where people were torturing little kids, and my siblings were among them. =/

I had one where my littlest sister was killed. I've had dreams where my family was kidnapped. I've had dreams where I was with a lot of my friends who are Mormon (at airports, at BYU, at a campfire roasting marshmallows, etc) and I couldn't get up the strength to tell them I'm not Mormon anymore (that was a recurring theme for a while). And yes, that was a nightmare]

hey arbre do you happen to live in Utah? Cuz I do