Dream Interpretation

[snugglestruggle]

Apologies in advance if this is not the right place for this topic.

Does anybody know how to interpret dreams? It seems the web is full of DI sights and everyone of them give you a different interpretation. I stopped checking them out after visiting 11 of them. There has to be some generally agreed upon symbols and their meanings right? Does anyone know of a good book covering this subject? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx

 

[fire_breeze]

Apologies in advance if this is not the right place for this topic.

Does anybody know how to interpret dreams? It seems the web is full of DI sights and everyone of them give you a different interpretation. I stopped checking them out after visiting 11 of them. There has to be some generally agreed upon symbols and their meanings right? Does anyone know of a good book covering this subject? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx

Welcome to Lit

First off, no one knows what dreams are, exactly. So to interpret them would be a misnomer as we aren't sure of the function of the dream, biologically speaking. Culturally speaking, it depends on the culture.

Dream interpretation is iffy because the symbols within a dream are highly subjective to a person, the cultural surroundings, the environment in which you grew up, heritage, and associations, how that symbol is used within the dream, among others. For example, most people would say that being naked in a dream signifies shamefulness or fear of knowing yourself or of being ridiculed in public. However, it can also indicate exhibitionist tendencies, a comfort with oneself, being open about oneself. Or it could mean nothing more than you half heard a joke about the naked nun who walked into the bar and that's why you dream of being naked in a church.

It also depends on how you view dreams. Most will say that dreams are your subconscious trying to resolve the issues that the conscious mind cannot, which can explain why sometimes you have messed up dreams, or why sometimes the answer comes in the middle of the night that has eluded us for weeks.

Bottom line? Dream interpretation depends on YOU and how you view the various aspects of the dream and how YOU interpret the symbols, and your relationship with each and every symbol.

That being said, there are several okay books out on the market that can guide a person, if s/he so desires, to interpreting dreams. I Had The Strangest Dream is often touted as being pretty good within the 21stC Western context (and North America, I might add).

The Mythology of Sleep is pretty good, as it looks at world myths and archetypes, which is a pretty fascinating read. It's used in number of lectures ranging in Classics, historical anthropology as well as psychology.

And the definitive classic is Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. But remember, it is Freud and well, so in my not so humble opinion, should be read remembering that the father of Western psychology was an opium addict who had a mortal fear of cemeteries.

Happy dreaming

 

[snugglestruggle]

Thanks for the book suggestions, I'll have to check them out.

 

[sunandshadow]

There has to be some generally agreed upon symbols and their meanings right? Does anyone know of a good book covering this subject? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx

Nope. Because any single set of meanings would be wrong for at least half of dreamers. Although it's nice to have a list of what a symbol has meant to several other people, what you have to do is figure out what it means to you.

 

[NippleMuncher]

Dream interpretation is extremely subjective, so it's important to trust the source of information you're using before putting much stock into its validity. Even then, interpretation is only a tool to help you move through issues. Like most tools, there is not one that is right for every job or for every person, so recognize whether it's something you need to put much effort or stock into before dwelling in it for too long.

Having said that, I would agree that it's the subconscious mind trying to resolve that which the conscious mind cannot or will not, and, that interpretation will be based on the dreamers perspective of the dream event and how those events relate to their conscious experiences.

First and foremost, there are no literal interpretations or symbology that is going to be accurate for more than a few people because you're dealing with very personal subject matter. And it's not so much about the symbologies presented within the dream that are important - as they are merely the "subject" - it is how you perceive your subconscious self reacting to the subject matter that is important.

For instance, fear is a big thing with most people, yet in the dream world fear can manifest itself in many forms (falling, boogie monster, water, flying, etc. ). What matters is how your dream state reacting to that fear. If you're facing it down, standing your ground, or fighting back, then odds are you're working through your issues with that particular fear. If you find that you're waking yourself up to escape the fear, then that's a sign that you're not ready to deal with that particular fear at that time.

 

[Boundlife]

And the definitive classic is Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. But remember, it is Freud and well, so in my not so humble opinion, should be read remembering that the father of Western psychology was an opium addict who had a mortal fear of cemeteries.

Happy dreaming

Freud was a loonie, hense the interest in the mind.

 

[fire_breeze]

Freud was a loonie, hense the interest in the mind.

Oh, come now. Give the man some credit. He was a twonie.





Yes yes, I am sooo fired.