Symbolic Dreams Research Paper

The Interpretation of Dreams was published by Sigmund Freud in the year 1900 as a thought provoking compilation of ideas surrounding the cognitive processes of dreaming. Although it has been translated and edited since its original publishing date, it reads as if to hold true to Freudian fashion; addressing levels of consciousness and their effects on how specific dreams are formed. Freud makes a clear and reverent effort to acknowledge others theories, as well as his own, in an attempt to explain the unexplainable. His focus throughout the text is to hypothesize on how regression, resistance, and censorship all play a delicate role in the remembrance and interpretation of ones dreams.

Dreams have long fascinated the human race. This alternate reality, separate from the conscious world we see around us, has captured the interest of many people throughout history. In fact, mankind has been studying dreams since the invention of the written word. Perhaps the lure of dreams is that there seems to be some significance behind them. Most reject the idea that dreams are just random meaningless fragments of data. The vivid sensations that dreams create are just too powerful to ignore. The world of dreams is filled with peculiar phenomenon and unexpected events that beg our attention. Consider the following example of a dream:

The best part of a long, hard-working day is when you finally get to lay in your bed, close your eyes and let your imagination run free. As you sleep your mind takes you to another place far away from the real world. You begin to dream. Over the night, you may have several dreams. In the morning, you may wake up and wonder what your dreams were suppose to mean for you and your life. By analyzing your dream, it "gives a true picture of the 'subjective state'-how we really feel about ourselves-which the conscious mind cannot or will not give" (Wietz 289). In order to find the meaning of a dream, you have to pick out the most important symbols and define them. But you may be wondering what exactly is a symbol?

Freud outlines methods of interpreting dreams. The first is a symbolic interpretation of the dream. This method identifies symbols in the dream that represent something in the waking life, making the dream simpler to understand if done correctly (Freud 129). The second method is to "decode" the dream. Symbols are said to be universal and every symbol has a counterpart that it represents in the waking life. In effect the real meaning of the dream is encoded into universal symbols and must be decoded to understand it (Freud 130).

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people do not think much about the dreams that they have, unless they are recurring. Dreaming is “a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during REM sleep.” Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank god that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we may think. If people took more time to consider the meaning behind the dreams they have, then dream interpretation could be used as a means to help resolve issues in our awaken lives, including helping to

I found the reading "The Symbolic Language of Dreams", written by Stephens King, a very interesting story to write about. King stated a quote in his introduction saying that dreams are a useful way that help people find the nature of their problems; or, find answers to their problems in a symbolic way. The purpose of this essay is to show that dreams and imaginations were two main factors in King 's successful life. Hence, dreams and imaginations are critical factors when writing; they sure can resolve many issues and expand our thoughts in order to write better and longer books. Without passion writing good books is impossible.

Prior to this project being assigned, I always thought that dreams were just your brain organizing or processing information throughout the night, but now that I have been researching my strange dreams, I have realized that they correlate to my life. My dreams mostly consist of disappearances, forgetfulness, disagreements, and individuals morphing into other beings. A majority of my dreams included friends and classmates, occasionally I would dream about strangers. I have not had recurring dreams, but what amazes me is that all of my dreams so far have had similar meaning when I research them.

Thesis Statement: Dreams are successions of images, emotions, and sensations that occur subconsciously during sleep.

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

Martin Luther King Jr. believes in everyone and no one should give up. Kings powerful voice and actions make him an excellent hero. King was a humble man and caring man. Many people wanted to hear what King had to say. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great example of a hero because took leadership into his own hands, he led the march on Washington, and has won a Nobel Peace Prize.

Have you ever had a dream that you wish you could understand the meaning? Many cultures across the world delve deep into the mystery of human dreams. To many ancient cultures dreams were windows to other worlds as well as past lives. Many people felt the need to understand their dreams because they felt that it would directly affect their lives.

The steps for dream work with repetitive dreams are virtually the same as non-repetitive dreams. After listening to the dream; group members share their feelings, work with metaphors, listen to the dreamers response, explore context, listen to playback, orchestrate projections, listen to the dreamer’s final comments, and attend to the follow-up at the next meeting. The difference in working with repetitive dreams lies in noticing any changes that have occurred over time. In the case of my dream, I moved from the top of the stairs to the bottom of the stairs, standing next to the Canals looking for a boat, by the end of the third dream. It is important to notice the aspects of the dream that stay the same, or are consistent from dream to dream

Ever wonder when having a dream if it’s a sign from the universe? Others probably don’t put much thought into it, they’re just images in your head while you sleep that’ll be forgotten by time the day really begins. People have been questioning dreams since A.D and it wasn’t until the late 1800s that those questions starting getting the attention science. It was none other than psychology’s own Sigmund Freud that that sparked the debate of dreams. In this article, Sweet Dreams Are Made of This written by Gerhard Klosch and Ulrich Kraft, they told not only the work that Freud started with dreams but continuous studies that have been made by many others to help crack the mystery of dreams.

Freud believed that dreams represent repressed desires, dears and conflicts. He distinguished two aspects of dreams: the manifest content (Actual event) and the latent content (symbolic meaning of the event). In Freud’s latent content all of the symbolic meanings had a sexual background. He viewed dreams as revealing conflicts in a condensed and intensified form.

Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Everyone dreams, whether they remember it or not. The real question is why some people remember their dreams and others do not? The art of remembering dreams is influenced by the first few minutes after waking, the health of a person, environmental, and biological factors. A person has a large impact on their ability to recall dreams along with what they dream about, even though many people do not know about this.