Why do we have dreams?

Talk about anything in here.

Why do we have dreams?

Postby Kura Ookami » Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:55 am

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?
Absence is to love as wind is to a flame. It extinguishes the little, it ignites the great.

Life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been real life you would have have been instructed where to go and what to do.

When i argue with reality I lose.....But only 100% of the time.

Once you've decided on a course of action, only you can finish it. As long as you remember that, there's nothing you can't accomplish.
User avatar
Kura Ookami
 
Posts: 766
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:00 am
Location: United Kingdom

Postby ssj2gohan61 » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:01 am

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
Love is that feeling you get when a girl looks at you and it feels like your driving a car at high speeds and experience a sudden drop. You know what i mean? That sudden sinking feeling you get in your stomach? Yeah, that's love. Leave's you speechless everytime.
User avatar
ssj2gohan61
 
Posts: 769
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2004 10:09 pm
Location: New Mexico

Postby bigsleepj » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:13 am

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.
User avatar
bigsleepj
 
Posts: 3432
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: South Africa - Oh yes, better believe it!

Postby LorentzForce » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:15 am

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 :)
Image
User avatar
LorentzForce
 
Posts: 1263
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2003 3:18 am
Location: Between B and E

Postby Hephzibah » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:29 am

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

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

Question, has anyone actually had a prophetic dream?
Hephzibah
 
Posts: 1494
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:00 am
Location: Australia

Postby bigsleepj » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:37 am

Talame wrote:My dreams often involve me fighting and saving the world!!! I love my dreams :grin:


Now why can't I have dreams like that? ;) :thumb:
User avatar
bigsleepj
 
Posts: 3432
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: South Africa - Oh yes, better believe it!

Postby Kawaiikneko » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:27 am

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....
Image
User avatar
Kawaiikneko
 
Posts: 1404
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:47 pm
Location: I live in a house in a state in a country

Postby ZiP » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:30 am

I got your Scientific answer right here
--To Write Love on Her Arms

"That time and absence proves - Rather helps than hurts to love."

"Feelings, emotions, they are good, but they cannot be Love's foundation. When of Love, these things last. When of romance, these things end."

"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, it's what you are expected to give -- which is everything."
User avatar
ZiP
 
Posts: 1205
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2003 10:00 am
Location: I could be anywhere, even Indiana

Postby EvilSporkofDoom » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:43 am

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..
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
-Hebrews 11:6

User avatar
EvilSporkofDoom
 
Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Feb 29, 2004 6:00 am
Location: Maryland, USA

Postby shadowblade » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:16 am

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?

Proud Member of the Challengers Guild ^_^


Life is not about us using God for our purposes, but about Him using us for His purposes.

Faith is not creating a false reality, but acknowledging God's promises for us.

The dreams I dream for you
Are deeper than the ones your clinging to
Let the old dreams die
Like stars that fade from view
And take the cup I offer
And drink deeply of the dreams I dream for you
-Avalon


[color=Navy]Bill: Ted, you and I have witnessed many things, but nothing as bodacious as what just happened.
Besides, we told ourselves to listen to this guy...
Ted: But what if we were lying?
Bill: Why would we lie to ourselves?
-Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
[/color]
User avatar
shadowblade
 
Posts: 213
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:20 am
Location: Lost in my own imagination

Postby Jman » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:55 am

I liek drems!

Adopter of Locke *0/0*
Adopter of Felix *0/0*
Adopter of Insanewithapen *0/0*
Adopter of Zelda27 *0/0*
Adopter of Sakura's Wings *0/0*
Adoptee of Cap'n Crack *0/0*

---
"It never hurts to try to make new friends, except when it does hurt…
but that's only when you're trying to make friends with a charging rhinoceros." ~ HolySoldier5000

---
"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. "
-Isaiah 53:5


|J|c|r|e|w| --- Jman's Antidrug
---
(\_/)
(O.o)
(> <)

Copy The Bunny Into Your Sig
Help Him Achieve World Domination...

---
It’s not like we hate him or want him to die
User avatar
Jman
 
Posts: 683
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2004 4:25 pm
Location: PA

Postby Anison Twilight » Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:35 am

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.
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
-Job 30:29
Image
User avatar
Anison Twilight
 
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2003 1:39 pm
Location: Never in the Present

Postby Jman » Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:46 am

umm holy crap can we got a admin please!

[EDIT: Nevermind they took care of it]

Adopter of Locke *0/0*
Adopter of Felix *0/0*
Adopter of Insanewithapen *0/0*
Adopter of Zelda27 *0/0*
Adopter of Sakura's Wings *0/0*
Adoptee of Cap'n Crack *0/0*

---
"It never hurts to try to make new friends, except when it does hurt…
but that's only when you're trying to make friends with a charging rhinoceros." ~ HolySoldier5000

---
"But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. "
-Isaiah 53:5


|J|c|r|e|w| --- Jman's Antidrug
---
(\_/)
(O.o)
(> <)

Copy The Bunny Into Your Sig
Help Him Achieve World Domination...

---
It’s not like we hate him or want him to die
User avatar
Jman
 
Posts: 683
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2004 4:25 pm
Location: PA

Postby ShiroiHikari » Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:53 am

>.> 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
fightin' in the eighties
User avatar
ShiroiHikari
 
Posts: 7564
Joined: Wed May 28, 2003 12:00 pm
Location: Somewhere between 1983 and 1989

Postby LorentzForce » Thu Dec 30, 2004 9:35 am

I often dream of falling. It's very cool and refreshing, until I hit the ground and wake up.
Image
User avatar
LorentzForce
 
Posts: 1263
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2003 3:18 am
Location: Between B and E

Postby Kaligraphic » Thu Dec 30, 2004 11:08 am

EvilSporkofDoom wrote: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)
The cake used to be a lie like you, but then it took a portal to the deception core.
User avatar
Kaligraphic
 
Posts: 2002
Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: The catbox of DOOM!

Postby crossalchemist » Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:55 pm

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.
formerly known as linwood

"The power of Christ forgives you!"
-Brett (a friend from college, parodying the famous line from 'The Exorcist'.)

My new homepage!

My Infamously Semi-Famous Story Blog:
The Sheehy Brothers Adventures!

Dr. Bryan Enderle, Chemistry lecturer at the University of California at Davis gives an excellent talk on Science vs. Faith once in a great while. I tried to record it once, with very limited success, this link is what I have.
Science vs. Faith
User avatar
crossalchemist
 
Posts: 119
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 10:00 am
Location: Somewhere far far away, where they'll never find me.

Postby agasfas » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:09 pm

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.
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.." Prov 17:22

The word 'impossible' isn't in my dictionary... but I don't really have a dictionary you know? - Eikichi Onizuka.
Sorry, but I stop being a teacher at 5 o'clock. - Eikichi Onizuka.
User avatar
agasfas
 
Posts: 2341
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 7:27 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Postby AngelSakura » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:11 pm

<<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.
Think happy thoughts.
User avatar
AngelSakura
 
Posts: 1430
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:51 pm
Location: North Yorkshire, England

Postby Kura Ookami » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:19 pm

linwood wrote: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 :lol:
Absence is to love as wind is to a flame. It extinguishes the little, it ignites the great.

Life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been real life you would have have been instructed where to go and what to do.

When i argue with reality I lose.....But only 100% of the time.

Once you've decided on a course of action, only you can finish it. As long as you remember that, there's nothing you can't accomplish.
User avatar
Kura Ookami
 
Posts: 766
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:00 am
Location: United Kingdom

Postby Ashley » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:31 pm

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;
Image
User avatar
Ashley
 
Posts: 7364
Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 10:00 am
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Postby Hephzibah » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:54 pm

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
Hephzibah
 
Posts: 1494
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:00 am
Location: Australia

Postby Kawaiikneko » Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:41 pm

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
Image
User avatar
Kawaiikneko
 
Posts: 1404
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:47 pm
Location: I live in a house in a state in a country

Postby BigZam » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:11 pm

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.
gone for good...
User avatar
BigZam
 
Posts: 489
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:00 am
Location: Under the shadow of His wings

Postby Kaori » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:17 pm

agasfas wrote: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.
User avatar
Kaori
 
Posts: 1463
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:48 pm
Location: 一羽の鳥が弧を描いてゆく

Postby livingsacrifice » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:40 pm

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.
User avatar
livingsacrifice
 
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:12 pm
Location: Ohi-Ohio, round on the end, high in the middle

Postby EvilSporkofDoom » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:48 pm

Kaligraphic wrote: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 -.-;
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
-Hebrews 11:6

User avatar
EvilSporkofDoom
 
Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Feb 29, 2004 6:00 am
Location: Maryland, USA

Postby Arbre » Fri Dec 31, 2004 11:00 am

agasfas wrote: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.
User avatar
Arbre
 
Posts: 277
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:25 pm
Location: U.S.A.

Postby Hephzibah » Fri Dec 31, 2004 2:00 pm

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 :thumb: Which I am very thankful for! :D

MY dream last night was another fun one :D I was some spy or something running away from the cops. I got to scale buildings, race fast cars, dodge bombs ;)
Hephzibah
 
Posts: 1494
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:00 am
Location: Australia

Postby BigZam » Fri Dec 31, 2004 2:26 pm

[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 :)
gone for good...
User avatar
BigZam
 
Posts: 489
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:00 am
Location: Under the shadow of His wings

Next

Return to General

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 222 guests