What we "know" in dreams might be a deception from the subconscious mind. In dreams we often seem to have an inferred understanding of history within the dream world and a knowledge of people, places, or things that we only know in the world of our dreams. Nothing in a dream should be necessarily taken at face value though often it makes sense to do so
According to dream analysis constructs of certain schools of psychological or spiritual thinking, what we see and think in a dream might have very specific universal significance. I would suggest that rather than all-encompassing symbolism, our dreams represent ideas that are specific to the dreamer.
Within in a dream we might automatically seem to "know" something without any explanation or any actual easily explained background. In your dream you might encounter a person whom you seem to know though in actuality this person would be a stranger to you in waking life. Likewise you might recognize a place otherwise unknown to you or remember something that never really happened.
Dreams often seem to be in a world where we already know everything concerning that world almost as though our mind has made up a story that we can readily accept as true. Our dream story is filled with subconsciously prefabricated knowledge that we rarely question within that world of the dream.
There is a possibility--perhaps a probability--that the dream reflects things we've read elsewhere, seen in movies, discussed with others, or even merely thought about. It could be that the dream reconstructs this remembered world and the story that goes with it in order to analyze our memory of what our mind has assimilated or the subconscious uses this acquired memory in a symbolic manner to represent something else from our waking life.
Whatever the case may be, dream knowledge might be very different knowledge than anything that we actually know from waking life. That dream knowledge can be puzzling when we look back on it, but at the time we are experiencing that knowledge within the dream world it all makes sense to us or at the very least is assumed or easily accepted.
Do you ever seem to know things in your dreams that don't really make sense in waking life? Do your dreams often come with a history that your mind accepts in the dream, but after awakening you know the history is not real? Does dream knowledge ever confuse you after you've awakened and leave you with feelings of doubt?
I'm not sure I've ever encountered this in my dreams. If I have, I can't remember!
ReplyDeleteI love dreaming and I dream every night. Very vividly. Sure, sometimes I don't know why I dream the things I do and who those people are and where that house is. But I also have realized that many of my dreams take on a story from what I was watching on TV when I fell asleep. I usually fall asleep with the TV on as it helps me get to sleep...and then I sometimes dream a scenario that finds me in the middle of story that got its storyline directly from the show I fell asleep to. At least those dreams are easily explained...
ReplyDeleteMichele at Angels Bark
The reality of my waking life often conflicts with the reality constructed in a dream. Conflicted, for sure.
ReplyDeleteI always find it amazing in dreams when I know certain things to be true- even though they are not true in real life. I have very clear dreams and I remember bits and pieces (or more) of my dreams each night. Great post! :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
Arlee, I share your view that dreams are more likely to be specific to individuals, rather than an expression of a collective unconscious, although I suppose they could actually be both.
ReplyDeleteI find my dreams are quite instructive if I take the time to look at them and do some writing and thinking. I'll have to take note in the future if I have unexplained knowledge in any of them -- that's not something I have noticed thus far.
Susan
from clearingspace4joy.wordpress.com
I don't know if I have unexplained knowledge in my dreams or not. There's none I recall and I dream almost every night. Sometimes I end up in the same place I was in a previous dream and then I know I've been there before.
ReplyDeleteUsually my dreams come out of left field and have nothing to do with anything I've read recently or watched on TV. That part's puzzling.
Sunni
http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/