Dream Labs / Blog

What Are Dreams?

Part 3…

What are dreams?  Hmmm… good question.

Well lets think about it.  

While we are awake, we perceive the world through our five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling, right?  This is how we make sense of the world.  During sleep we have none of that.  Literally shut off from the outside world with no external stimulus, our brains create an entire world by itself.  Dreams show us how incredibly powerful our minds truly are.  Creating this world, the brain uses what it has off hand- thoughts, memories, emotions, desires, etc.  And it does so effortlessly without our conscious willing.  Like breathing, it’s a natural process that just happens.  

When we dream, we experience a world that is just as rich, detailed, and complex as the waking world.  It’s filled with people, places, sounds, textures, emotions- everything we would experience in the physical world (and then some).  When we’re there, the experience is real.  It’s usually only upon waking that it becomes elusive and clouded.  Walking around in the dream then, is like walking around in our own internal self.  Everything and everyone in our dreams seems to be a projection of our own subconscious.  

The purpose and meaning behind dreams may be unknown, but I personally don’t doubt that a purpose does exist.  ”Nature creates nothing uselessly” said Aristotle.  To me, being in touch with your dreams, is to be in better communication with your Self.  Big S or little s, our dreams take us on an inward journey towards Self-knowledge.  By understanding our dreams, we can understand who we are, what we want, and where we’re going.  Dreams give us the opportunity to integrate aspects of ourselves that we may be ignoring, they can help us solve problems, reach conclusions, and become a more balanced individual.  By devaluing dreams as nothing more than random brain throw-up, we are cutting ourselves off from the wisdom and wholeness dreams are attempting to bring into our lives.   Call it what you want- subconscious, soul, psyche- dreams are a direct experience of our truest selves.  To quote the ancient proverb, our dreams are a direct doorway to “Know Thyself”.  

- Thomas