A Dream : Having A Dream

“A Dream Within a Dream,” written by Edgar Allen Poe, questions the complexities of reality using the juxtaposition of two situations that have the reader asking, “what is a dream and what is reality.” The poem consists of two separate stanzas that each portray a different scene, one of calm sadness and one of extreme desperation. Using each stanza and a variety of literary devices, Poe uses these scenes to lead readers to question reality and compare the experiences of each stanza.

Throughout our dreaming experience, we feel different sensations, emotions, and thoughts interpreted through images in a person’s mind. During our unconscious process, the meanings of our inner thoughts are experienced through dreams. Some psychologists believe dreams are connected to our real emotions and others may see dreams as a specific meaning related to one’s life (Young). Dreams can put us in touch with our real motives in life due to the connection they have to reality, but other opinions are believed to be that dreams are simply processing memories letting go of emotional thoughts throughout your day (Hamilton-Parker).

Growing up everyone has experienced dreams, but in this exploratory essay I am going to break down dreams on many different levels to form a better understanding of why it is we have them. Throughout my years of dreaming I have always wondered why do I have dreams, why do I dream about certain people, and why do I have dreams some nights while other nights I don’t have any along with many other questions. How is it that our brains can make these very realistic depictions of our real life, and transfer them into a memory as we wake up? Another very peculiar aspect of dreaming is seeing people or places that do not look familiar to us at all. Throughout my research I have discovered the answers to these questions, and many other aspects of dreams. While I was searching for answers to my questions I found that there is a lot more to learn than I originally thought. I developed even more questions to feed my research along the way.

Everywhere I looked, I saw people applauding. The bright stage lights beamed on my face and I could hardly see the gigantic audience. When I heard my name, my heart began racing as if I had just jumped off of the world’s largest tower. I pushed myself up as quickly as I could and began strolling towards the announcer. I felt the cold winds rustle through the makeup on the pores of my tan, soft skin, making me simmer down. I smelt the freshness of the plastic, silver trophy that was delicately placed in my rounded, sweaty hand. My heart was still darting beneath my skin as I walked back to my spot with the award, tightly in my arms. I could taste victory.

Dreams have puzzled philosophers for thousands of years and only recently dreams have been subjected to empirical research and scientific study. So what are dreams? Dreams are any thoughts, images, or emotions that are expressed during certain stages of sleep, mostly during stage five, known as REM, where the brain increases in activity. Dreams can range from being extremely vivid to very vague, filled with varying types of emotions such as joy, sadness, or fright, and can also be completely clear and understandable or totally unclear and confusing.

A lucid dream is one in which the person dreaming knows that he or she is in a dream, does not wake from it, and feels in control of what is happening in the dream. Researcher Paul Tholey experimented with the induction of lucid dreams in experimental subjects in the 1980s, and wrote that he developed techniques for inducing lucid dreams that had first been tried on himself in 1959 (Tholey 875). One of these techniques was called the “reflection technique, and his experimental subjects were able to induce the state of lucidity in their dreams (Tholey 876). The reflection technique basically involved the subject asking him or herself, while awake, if he or she was dreaming; then, it was hoped, the person would be able to ask him or herself the same thing while asleep in a dream, and thus become aware. By using his techniques, Dr. Tholey was able to test several hypotheses concerning the content of dreams and the eye movements that occur during the dreams.

“Dreams are a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind” (Myers). They can occur anytime during sleep. Although most vibrant dreams occur during deep sleep, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, when a person’s brain is more active. Most people tend to have at least 4 to 6 dreams per night while in REM sleep. While everyone dreams during sleep, but not everyone remembers. Scientist aren’t quite sure why some people remember more than others, but there are many factors that can contribute to why this may happen. What we dream, why we dream, why not everyone remembers their dreams, and nightmares are all topics and questions that have gone through my mind.

Scientists and researchers evolved from other scientist and researches over time. Dream interpretation research grew over time as technology evolved. Yes, psychologist still researching about dreams but is it an issue, no its just something that comes natural to us.

Dreams are something that occur within our mind as we sleep. They play a crucial role in the mood we carry out through the day or the thoughts that we may have, but have you ever stopped to think about how much dreams truly affect you? As of now, our theories of dreams are very different than the first two theories. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, had a theory that "centered around the notion of repressed longing, the idea that dreaming allows us to sort through unresolved, repressed wishing." Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who had a theory that “dreams were a way of communicating and acquainting yourself with the unconscious.” There are many different theories that describe dreams on all sides of the spectrum. They include wish fulfillment, encoding short-term memories into long-term storage, garbage collection, and solidifying what we've learned. Other theories take more imaginative routes of explanation including that of the

remember their dreams when they wake up in the morning. Have you ever questioned why people dream?

It is said that a lucid dream is a dream that can be induced or controlled and is characterized by the dreamer being aware that he or she is dreaming (Lucid). When lucidity occurs, the dreamer “wakes up” inside the dream during fixed states of cognizance. Dreams are caused by things “…our mind knows, however which we cannot handle, is disturbing or something that we keep reiterating to ourselves” (Ganguly). This is why distinguishing significant dream symbols from ambient symbols is important for attempting this state. Many people propose dream interpretation to help better understand the conscious state, but some are said to lucid dream to not only control the dream, but to elate themselves while asleep.

Being able to understand what dreams represent and how they effect a person should be something everyone should understand. Dreams can be a small glimpse or feel so real that it is unbelievable. The issue people have the most is remembering. They can not remember if they spoke with another individual in actually life or if it was all apart of their dream they had. There is so much confusion that the person is almost embarrassed to ask if the event actually happened. A dream like this is considered one of many lucid dreams. What is a lucid dream, how a person can control it, and compare it to the movie Inception.

In the novel, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the magistrate’s progressive, non-linear dreams are a parallel to his growing involvement with the barbarians and his growing distaste for the empire. The great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud said, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” In every dream there is a hidden meaning and when the reader starts analyzing the magistrate’s dreams he reveals that he is oddly attracted to the barbarians and knows he should not get involved and it will be a trial to get close to them.

I dreamed a horrible dream. It had this creature chasing after me. It's flesh consisted of human body parts. I was screaming at it, telling it to leave. Of course it didn't, just chased me with a disgusting smile making this horrible screeching noise. It finally caught up to me and snatched me. It grabbed my arm and twisted it into something, like a balloon animal. It bit my legs and arms and I felt an excruciating pain. I screamed and cried. This felt all too real, it's almost like I could feel the pain in real life. I bolted up in a cold sweat, then I got up to go get ready. I looked in a mirror and it looked like I had been crying. I went and splashed cold water in my face.

I jolted awake in fear. I had a dream. A weird dream. A vivid dream. It was full of people shouting and bright flashes of light. It was confusing yet clear, like some part of me understood it. I didn’t know it would be important then but now I know. How? Well, it happened like this…