I Dreamed a Dream

Have you ever seen a monster? Been chased by someone you fear? Or meet someone from a far place? Probably, every question abovementioned is possible in your dreams. Dreams are these unlimited and involuntary shuttering of imageries while sleeping or unconscious. It is a human experience that whets everyone’s interest. Amazingly, this human experience is not just exclusive to us. It extends to certain types of birds and most of the mammals, here the animal kingdoms hares some commonality.

Dream takes a toll on the man’s interest. In fact, there is a study centered on dreams- oneirology. The interpretation of dreams even took created a great faction between world’s most prominent psychologists namely Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

There recognizable characteristics of dreams that carry a lot of us. Dreams are more like a pantomime or silent movies. It composes more of images than scent, taste or sound. You are more likely to see yourself flying or falling than hear your roommates talking.

"A dream is, therefore, among other things a projection: an externalization of an internal process." -- Sigmund Freud.

They also show imprints of our personality. Deep in our mind live our hidden thoughts, desires or emotions. Aside from slipping these thoughts in your tongue, we dream of these as if the thoughts remind us that they exist. And that they need to be expressed. 

Basic conflict: Desire to establish an autonomous and independent life either through a career or marriage, preferably the latter, vs. fear of leaving the security provided by the family.

Spotlight dream A1: I dreamed that I volunteered to go overseas as a teacher. I went to Italy to teach the children there. My dream consisted of leaving my family and being very graciously welcomed in Italy by an Army officer and his wife. I was married shortly after my arrival there. Most of my dream was the difficulty I had leaving home.

Interpretation: The basic conflict is clearly projected into this dream. She does leave home, even the country, yet despite the presence of parental substitutes in Italy and a speedy marriage, much of the dream is concerned with the difficulty she has in leaving her home. That the dreamer is aware of the conflict is indicated by the explanatory comment appended to the dream. "I guess this dream has to do with my fear of leaving home. I have never been away for more than a week and my folks keep insisting it would be wise for me to leave for a while."

On 1947, Calvin S. Hall had this interpretation of a personality through dream assessment. The dream clearly showed the defiance of the girl to parental submission.

Sometimes people’s dreams seem to be opaque in nature, uneasily understood. The reason why these dreams become hard to interpret is that they come in symbols. Such symbols may have interpretations relatively varying. Dream moods, a website which serves a dictionary provides this:

Lamp

To see a lamp in your dream symbolizes guidance, hope, inspiration, enlightenment and reassurance. If the lamp is dimly lit or unlit, then it suggests that you are feeling overwhelmed by emotional issues. You have lost your ability to find your own way or see things clearly.

To see a broken lamp in your dream suggests that you are shutting out those who are trying to help you. It is also symbolic of disappointments, misfortune and bad luck.

Sausage

To see or eat sausage in your dream symbolizes material values. It may also represent the phallus and thus refers to sexual feelings or tension. 

Dreams also concertize our memories. As you notice, dreams seem to be continuing. They tend to be like television series as it appears as a similar continued dream from the past. Actually, these dreams resembles reality our past experiences. They recur in such a manner that they are derived from one origin- our memory. McNamara’s studies show high similarities upon comparing a diary to one’s dreams. If a man visits a blue room, he will most likely dream of a blue room. In this way dreams become aids to our recall of thoughts.    

Our surreal thoughts carry a lot of meanings and reflections to our self especially our personality. Dreams cannot be compounded in a single book, they are man’s unfathomable experiences that we continue to unravel.