In “How Dreams Defend our Brains” (Time magazine, February 15, 2021) David Eagleman of Stanford and Don Vaughn of UCLA see dreaming as a product of the brain’s plasticity. After studying the REM (Rapid Eye Movements) of 25 species they determined that dreams basically hold the space within the brain that is for the visual senses. That is, we dream to hold the space within the brain that is for the visual, keeping the other senses from taking over while the optical sense is not active. This is needed as our brains are very flexible and quickly adapt do what is needed in the here and now.
And so our dreaming remind us that we are capable of many things whether in the here and now or in our sleep.
Given that we dream, we then often have questions about them, what they mean and what is to be done around them.
The dreams we do not recall are often simply there to clean disjointed thoughts out of the brain, sort of empty the trash. The dreams that we do recall for more than five minutes after waking are often a sign of a need for action or reaction.
In order to take action we need to perceive the meaning of the dream. When exploring the meaning, it can be helpful to know that many dream interpretation books reflect the experiences of the writer or their belief system. Often, they do not fit our dreams and sometimes only confuse the matter.
Our best resource for interpreting our dreams is our beliefs or impressions. Some do not make sense right away but given time we can sort them out. Or we might ask a friend their first impression of a dream. Either is better than a book or outside research.
Finally, for those who do not dream, this is sometimes due to a lack of certain B vitamins in the system (as always, check with your health practitioner). Or a lack of REM sleep due to long term stress.
Enjoy.
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