The Mysteries Of Dreams Essay Research Paper

The Mysteries of Dreams

Once an individual is born, every night a dream is a way to escape from daily life. People often try to interpret their dreams so that they can learn from what their dream means. Others just figure that their dream has nothing to do with their day to day life, and that the mind was going into a different dimension. But they are wrong! Every dream has something to do with the person who dreamt the dream. Some dreams might be a piece of cake to analyze while others might have to dig deep down in order to figure it out.

Nobody knows when the first dream interpretation took place. The earliest recorded interpretation was in the bible, when Joseph analysed the dreams of two people, a cupbearer and a baker (”The History of Dreams”). This first analysis paved a pathway for the following philosophers. The second recording of a dream was by Aristotle, a Greek philosopher. He stated that “dreams are formed by disturbances of the body” (”The History of Dreams”). This means that dreams are a result of something that took place in the day. That a person thinks of before he/she goes to bed. (”Dreams and Daytime fears”). The next well-known philosopher was Sigmund Freud. He thought the analyzing of dreams was a very useful and powerful tool in uncovering thoughts and desires (”The History of Dreams”). It is thought that many people overcome stressful situations in their dreams (”Dreams and Daytime Fears”). So if a person was afraid of snakes, in his/her dreams he/she can imagine touching a snake. Then when he/she wakes up, he/she would not be as afraid anymore. So people can conquer a fears in their sleep that they might not have been able to do when they were awake. All the philosophers that started the dream interpretation period helped shape the way for people to figure out what their dreams meant and how to confront the situation.

On an average, people spend one third of their lives sleeping (”Introduction”). During a portion of that time, a person ventures into what resembles another world and that is what is called a dream. A dream is an occurrence that even if it cannot be remembered, every night every human being experiences one. When people dream, they have delusions of things that may not happen in the “real-world” so they do it in their sleep.

There are four stages of sleep, which everyone goes through each night. In the first stage a person is in a very light sleep and can be waked up by any little noise (”The Dreaming Process”). If the person is not disturbed, this stage of sleep only lasts for a few minutes. In stage two a person goes into an even deeper sleep. This is when the dreams start to form, but only in vague images (”The Dreaming Process”). By the time the sleeper reaches stage three, his/her blood pressure and heart rate have slowed down. The person’s muscles also become relaxed, and his/her breathing becomes steady and even. The only way to awaken the sleeper now is by a loud noise or if he/she hears a repetition of his/her name (”The Dreaming Process”). The next stage is when the sleeper starts to put together his/her thoughts and dreams start to come about. The sleeper is also now almost impossible to awaken. The sleeper’s brain starts to heat up and REM (rapid eye movement) begins. This is when the dreams take place. If the sleeper is awakened during this time, he/she will be able to remember his/her dream (”The Dreaming Process”). The first REM period lasts for only a few minutes and then goes back into a deep stage four. When a person is in REM, he/she is in stage four, but just a different part of the same stage. Throughout the night the sleeper will keep going through the process of stage four and REM until he/she is awakened in the morning (”The Dreaming Process”). If the sleeper wants to remember his/her dreams he/she has to try not to be awakened by any noises other than natural noises.

The method of interpreting a dream is very simple. It just takes a lot of time and effort. But once a person has mastered being able to interpret his/her dreams he/she can find out information about his/her selves that he/she may have never realized before. The first thing that has to be done when going go to bed is to keep the mind clear. If a lot of things are on a person’s mind before he/she goes to bed, it will be more difficult to remember the dream in the morning. Next to the bed there should be a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, so in case the sleeper wakes up in the middle of the night, he/she can write down what he/she was dreaming about. When he/she wakes up in the morning, he/she should write down everything he/she remembers from that night. Next, on the backside of the paper, the person should write down any problems that he/she has been having lately during the day. Once he/she has figured out the major symbols, he/she should look them up in any number of books (Bright 12-14). For example if a person dreams of a church, the analysis would be that he/she has a need for spiritual help or guidance. Following these steps will lead a person to successfully uncover the secrets of his/her life that he/she might otherwise not realize.

Even though a dream might just seem like an event that happens every day and doesn’t mean anything, if a person actually attempts to finds out what a dream really is, he/she will find more information that will boggle their minds. A dream could tell people why they are so stressed out about the littlest thing, then can help them figure out a way to over come that stress. So if people want to dig deep down into their souls, all they have to do is dig deep down into their dreams.