Aubrey Southard

What do dreams tell us about ourselves?

What are dreams? The formal definition of dreams are a succession of images, ideas,
emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of
sleep.
But what do our dreams really mean? Why some nights do we have terribly frightening dreams
that leave us feeling uneasy even into our waking hours, and some nights we dream about our
everyday normal activities? The answer to that question is one that has been highly debated for
as
long as people have inhabited this earth. From the earliest civilization of Mesopotamia, to the
theories of Freud, even up to today, scientists have not been able to agree on the reason we dream
the things we do.
The Mesopotamian civilization was the first to develop writing, and therefore were the
first
to document their dreams. The first dream ever documented is known as the dream of Dumuzi of
Uruk. In his dream he saw his own death. He cried out to his sister Geshtinanna the dream
interpreter to tell him what his dream meant. She told him that his enemies would be coming for
him and that he would die. Very soon after her interpretation Dumuzis dream came true and he
was killed. In ancient Mesopotamia, like many other early civilizations it was believed that
dreams
were individual warnings sent from the Gods themselves. That every single aspect of a dream
told
a story of what would happen next, nothing that happened in dreams was accidental. Dream
theory
has come a long way since these first accounts, but these theories were the beginning of dream

interpretation as we know it today.

Speeding up to the early 1900s we come to the theories of Sigmund Freud. Known as the
father of psychoanalysis, also known as the talking cure. Freud studied the human mind more
then
anymore before him. His book titled the Interpretation Of Dreams is said to be the most
revolutionary step forward in the history of psychology. Freuds most famous quote reguarding
dreams is dreams are the royal road to the unconsciousness. meaning that when were asleep it
gives our minds a playground of sorts. A no holds barred time for our sub conscioness to run
rampent. To assess the days events and to let loose what our real thoughts and worries are. Freud
came across this theory in a dream of his own. He was worried about a patient being in ill health
and had blamed himself for it. But in his dream he witnessed a doctor giving his patient a shot
with
a dirty needle which brought him relief. This dream itself brought on Freuds theory of dreams
being Wish Fulfillment. He had wished that his patients condition was not his fault and so in
his
dream that hope was fulfilled. Freud went on to believe that the major function of dreams was
wish
fulfillment.
Most modern day dream theories are somehow based upon the original theory of Freud. It
would be near impossible to reference the science of dreaming without refrencing the
experiments
of Sigmund Freud. But in 1977 John Allan Hobson and Robert MCcarley challenged Freuds
theory of dreaming. They believed that dreaming is the result of random impulses coming from
the

brain stem. Using an EEG machine, they discovered that dreaming is a freak psychological
occurance, rather then a psychological function. They believed that our dreams are meaningless.
Dreaming is just our brains thnking while were sleeping. Random insignificant thoughts that are
just electrical impulses firing.
So why do we dream? There have been countless theories over the course of history but
never any real conclusive results. It is however widely believed that dreams are our brains ways
of
thinking while were asleep. But how much further then that does it go? Are our dreams sent
from
the heavens themselves as warning signs from the Gods, do our dreams tell us the things we wish
for that we cant admit to ourselves in our waking moments, or are our dreams just a succesion of
images our brain plays like psychobable to keep us entertained while were asleep? Maybe well
never know, but it sure is fun to have a theory.