Dream

Author: (USA) Lao Fu
Translator: Li Shuduan et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Dreaming is experiencing things in a non-real world, yet these things are so vivid, almost like a part of our real world. Everyone has experienced vivid dreams, but most people are unwilling to admit that what happened in their dreams actually occurred. For example, you recall two things: one is that yesterday you waited for three hours at a car repair shop and then received a 500-dollar bill, and the moment you recall this, you might remember the anxiety it brought you at the time. The other is that last night you had a dream where a group of wild dogs chased you, and you might recall this dream and still remember the bone-chilling fear you felt. But you only feel the anxiety of the daytime is real, while the fear of the night didn’t actually happen. Because you know it was just a dream. Many people believe certain things to be true, and if you say, "This is just a dream," it seems to degrade their perception of the ultimate reality. Many people act or refrain from acting entirely because of a dream, and there are indeed numerous records of such cases. Based on their dreams, people may have certain premonitions, sensing potential disasters or tragedies, and thus prepare in advance, changing their travel plans. Some even find that everything in their dreams has happened before. There is a hazy state between wakefulness and the dream world, as if in this hazy state, some insights are revealed, which are even more difficult to describe but sometimes more real than everyday experiences. Dreams contain both profound meaning and deep mysteries. Whether people view dreams as the subconscious effort to process unresolved experiences in life or as an enigmatic phenomenon, debating the primal images, symbols, and archetypes in dreams is always helpful in understanding dream experiences. Interpreting dreams requires gathering information and applying it to our individual contexts to seek insight and meaning. However, the information in dreams may be elusive, and what we recall from the dreaming process is often fragmented information or seemingly disjointed images, yet they are rich in potential meaning. The interpretation of dreams lies hidden in sensory images, emotional arousal, or other thoughts and experiences that seem to coexist with the dream, but these images, emotions, thoughts, and experiences appear illogical when viewed with a clear mind. Catching the mystery of dreams is like chasing clouds and mist in our subconscious vision. At other times, our dreams seem unmistakable, conveying clear messages. Some dreams are even precise omens. For example, a woman kept dreaming about triplets before giving birth (this happened before a doctor made a routine pregnancy diagnosis), and when her pregnancy was full-term, she indeed gave birth to triplets. The dream had surprised her greatly, and what surprised her even more was that the triplets themselves became real. Additionally, she dreamed that the triplets were two boys and one girl, which perfectly matched her actual children. Since Aristotle, humans have debated truth and meaning, and the interpretation of dreams has always been at the heart of this debate. The latest consensus in the debate over dream research is that dreaming is a shared human experience. Theoretical interpretations of dreams range from believing dreams to be a series of chaotic, meaningless images to viewing them as carriers of meaningful insights. Between these extremes, people have discovered certain theories, including: the psychological trauma theory, the prehistoric evolutionary imagination theory, the personal discovery theory (such as sexual discovery, bodily discovery, emotional discovery, intellectual discovery, and spiritual discovery), the indirect wish fulfillment theory, and countless other theories. Attempting to define the nature of dreams is like trying to define the shape of clouds. Clouds are objective, while the visual they produce can be interpreted in any way. The same applies to dreams. The content of dreams is like a mosaic floor made of colorful tiles. Often, the most vibrant or seemingly slightly different tiles draw our attention. However, individual tiles (or fragments of a dream) do not represent the complete dream; dreams exist in multiple layers with various meanings. Some dream images originate from regional or cultural patterns, while others are influenced by the dreamer’s inner activities. Although the psychological content of dreams cannot be scientifically categorized, the physiology of dreams has been thoroughly studied. Countless observable signals allow trained observers to see people dreaming, proving that dreaming itself is a real and universal phenomenon. In The Dream Dictionary, you will not find conventional answers about dreams and their meanings. Every dreamer likely looks in three directions at once: the dream itself, the world outside the dream, and the environment surrounding the dream. Dreams are like mosaics. Immersed in a dream, as you experience the dream world, you may also discover this world, a world that has left its mark on you, a world you ultimately hope will affect your life. Sweet dreams.