" A lost but happy dream may shed its light upon our waking hours, and the whole day may be infected with the gloom of a dreary or sorrowful one; yet of neither may we be able to recover a trace" - Walter john de la Mare
Dream is one of the mysterious gifts from God, because according to each person, dreams can be different and it's hard to explain it. Some dream can be amusing, while others are nightmares. Thus, all dreams are related to our hidden emotion, fear, desires and needs.
Some psychiatrist interpreted that dream is the product of sick mentality and healthy persons dream less. Usually a healthy people sleep well and hardly have dream to remember. The fact is that everyone has dreams but healthy person couldn't keep hold of information about his dream due to his sound sleep.
Dream is also a mind incidence and it happens in your mind. It can happen because you hold back and whatever is repressed comes in the night when the conscious repressor is asleep. The unconsciousness release itself in dreams. So in other words, dream is also the language of the unconscious. Dream can be interpreted into two illusion and vision.
The former is a day to day dream which is mainly produced by our daily activities. While the latter one which is known as vision could turn into reality. Therefore, let's us elaborate the two kind of dreams;
Leo Tolstoy was one the greatest novelists in his time. He was so receptive intelligent to even find out what others feel about and his novel ‘War and Peace and Anna Karenina' was known to the world.
It appeared that since 1890 to 1910 and twenty years before he died, a lot of admirers made pilgrimages to his dwelling place in order to hold a glimpse of his face, to hear the sound of his voice, or even touch the hem of his garment. Every sentence he uttered was taken down in a notebook, almost as if it were a "divine" revelation. Some press men even noted down Le Tolstoy`s words to his children "The night is getting late, its time to bed".
The famous, intelligent and great creator Leo Tolstoy's had a mysterious dream. In his dream he always saw vast desert and sand in every direction. It was burning hot, and his shoes getting away form him. He was chasing it and there is no question to get it back.
Then he always woke up covered with sweat and anxiety because of his strange dream. Out of depression he approached many of his friends and psychologists but none could help him. So eventually he called on two of his trusted friends Chekhov and Gorky and told them about his strange dream.
His friend Chekhov told him, "Your life is a meaningless life, just like those two shoes, going for no reason, but continuing in a desert where there is not even a tree to rest. But one has to reach, so they are going". And suddenly Tolstoy realized the fact that it was true.
Being a famous novelist, a poet, and a musician to behave like an ordinary people shocked the whole world. He denounced all wealth, fame and glory and lived like a beggar mainly imitating the life-style of Jesus Christ.
His wife being from a royal family couldn't stand anymore, there was continuous fight. Eventually he set out from home never to return again. That was the last part of Leo Tolstoy's life.
Unlike Leo Tolstoy, some people solved their problems after dreams. Kekule, a great chemist gave the structure of benzene molecule after a dream. Dreaming about benzene's molecular structure he saw a snake biting its tail while in whirling motion.
Thus, the formula he saw in his dream was applicable in reality and the problem of benzene molecule was solved. Most dreams are based on events that happened during daily activities. In fact all our dreams are also linked to our daily activities and works.
Now let's re-examine about Joseph's dream. In his dream he was worshipped by all his brothers although he was the youngest among them. Surprisingly, he believed his dream to come true and because of these dreams his brothers misunderstood him. In Genesis 37:18-20 we find this happened in the life of Joseph.
All his brothers thought that they could conspire against him and also set his dream to naught. First, he was sold as a slave by his brothers to Egypt. Secondly, he was put into prison where the King's prisoners were bound and there he made friends with the King's butler and baker.
The butler and the baker were in prison because they offended the Pharaoh. There Joseph worked so well that God blessed him tremendously and the warden of the prison gave all the keys to Joseph. He interpreted a butler's dream that one day he would be freed.
When the butler was freed from the prison, Joseph begged him to explain his situation to Pharaoh so that he might be freed from prison since he had been falsely accused. And that opportunity came one night after Pharaoh dreamed a dream that greatly troubled him.
This dream is recorded in Genesis 41:1-16. Pharaoh called all of the magicians, witches and doctors in Egypt and asked them to explain the dream, but none could do it. On butler's request, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream and Pharaoh was happy and impressed with the wisdom of Joseph. So, he appointed Joseph to be the second ruler of Egypt. Then when severe famine broke out, all his brothers went down to Egypt and bowed down before Joseph for his favor.
In fact, all our dreams are like a projector to our concealed emotions, worries and desires. During my class 7th standard I fell in love with one girl. However, I felt shy and never dared to express about my feeling to her. Surprisingly, she used to appear in my dream every night and the same thing happened to me. I dared not even talk to her.
Thus, my dreams rather tormented me every night. And finally, I decided to tell her all my feeling without any inhibition. I fastened my belt and conveyed all my feeling about her one fine day. And she accepted my love and the following night I had a different dream. In my dream, I dared to hold her hand tightly!
This dream was the sweetest dreams I ever have! We are living in a mysterious and fascinating world of dreams where the rules of reality do not apply. We realize that our dreams are unique and fascinating. However no other individual can have your background, your emotions, or your experiences.
Every dream is directly connected with your own reality and experiences. Thus, in interpreting your dreams, it is important to draw from your personal life and experiences.
We dream during the periods of light sleep especially in the morning. Scientists have proved that almost everyone dreams three to five times during an 8 hour sleep. We can reexamine our position and condition through our dream.
Sometime we used to enjoy so much our dream and for so enjoying it, we struggled over again to have the same kind of sweet dream. In the contrary, our dream sometime brings only nightmares which only frighten us the whole night. Remember that a dream unifies the body, mind, and soul. It provides you with insight into us and a means for self-realization and exploration.
In understanding your dreams, you will have a better understanding and discovery of your true self. As Michel de Montaigne said, "Dreams are the true interpreters of our inclinations, but art is requiring sorting and understanding them." So let's all stay a while and explore, discover, have fun, make friends, and find out what's in your dream.
Wish you all to have a sweet dream!
Isaac L. Hmar, a research scholar at Dept. of History M.U, writes regularly for e-pao.net .
He can be reached at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on February 09th, 2006
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