Why are we so obsessed with dreams?

[lwm3398]

That's my question: Why?

It just seems like there's a morbid fascination with dreams. People devote their entire lives to telling people the meanings behind dreams that seem to be too strange and out there to make any sense or mean anything. Some say dreams can give advice or even be clairvoyant. There are books that teach people to find these meanings if they can't find one of these dream-readers. There are other books that teach people how to be lucid dreamers, how to control dreams, stop nightmares, wake up on command (I love lucid dreams. Absolutely love them). Some people keep dream journals simply to remember their dreams, which is something I do. Inception is a movie about secret agents that go inside dreams to change the way people act and think (Is what I can gather from previews and trailers, I might be completely wrong).

So, I just want to know why you think we all seem to have this kind of obsession with dreams.

Edit: No, that's the wrong word. Not obsession, fascination. I want to know why you, someone who obviously dreams like everyone else, think people are so fascinated by dreams? And I want to stress that I am interested in dreams, too. I'm just wondering what your opinion on dreams is.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

Because they're fuckin weird, man! I mean, you close your eyes and sometimes you get to watch a movie based on your experiences? Fuckin whoah-status.

Also because dreams tend to present images or themes from our lives which may carry a profound emotional attachment, and when people see these things in their dreams, they may be inclined to search for meaning or understanding in those images.

 

[Teh Ty]

I love having dreams, because it seems to be something you would never think of, and something that you would never be able to do, but you're fully able to do it, unless you have a dream about someone other then yourself.

 

[Snor]

yes there must be a secret message in that one dream where I am running on a tropical island dressed like jack sparrow making a dastardly escape by firing a cannon at the British!

in all seriousness I don't see the point that people make of dreams, things that are important to you or have an impact on you simply need processing which tends to happen in your sleep (which is why you might have noticed studying and then sleeping really helps remembering it)

 

[Harlemura]

When humans don't understand something, we want to understand it.
We don't properly understand dreams.

Might be as simple as that. It's probably deeper than that, but you lot can come up with the complicated ideas.

 

[Lizardon]

This just reminded me of this

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I would say it's because of the general mystery behind the 'human condition'. Humans are strange creatures, and we don't really have a great understanding of ourselves as it is. Dreams tend to be generated by a mind acting of its own accord without much noise filtering out things that don't fall into our understanding of logic.
So basically, the way I see it, is dreams represent a reletively uncensored state of personal freedom that people rarely get to experience in reality. It can be interesting seeing what places your mind goes to when you're not holding yourself back.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Its an escape from reality, much like gaming. People who study dreams may feel the same way about YOU.

 

[Ziggy the wolf]

its kinda obvious, we are escapists, people who escape from our own lives into other worlds or just into a good book or game. Dreams are the original form of escapism and have fueled the greatest and worst things of this world. if we could not only discover the true nature of dreams but learn to control and enter them then we would find a new form of bliss or maybe thats just me

 

[Palademon]

This just reminded me of this

DAMN YOU NINJA

Anyway, this is the exact point. Why would you NOT be concerned or interested in a subconscious hallucination revealing your personality, that suffers from amnesia as soon as it ends?

 

[Blue Musician]

Because dreams can give me ideas and emotions which real life-alexithymia-autism cannot give me.

 

[Mr.Petey]

Personally if there was an option to switch off dreams when sleeping, I'd be clamoring for that button before you could say duvet.
I don't mind the nice casual random dreams but I hate the ones which force me to relive school days and "what if" romantic fantasy scenarios. I hate the way a dream can almost force you into believing that it's the only reality you've ever known if that makes a moment of sense.

Some dreams I've had that seem like another day around here and it'll confuse me later if it was either a dream or a memory of real life. Thankfully that doesn't happen too often as worrying as it sounds heh

 

[Lust]

Dreams have you break from the norm.

It's the only time you can really let yourself go. I think it would be similar to death.

 

[FC Groningen]

Some psychologists say that dreams are the thoughts you put aside during the day, which includes fantasies. Don't be surprised if you can't remember you had those, because subconscious thoughts are included.


And about the option of "shutting dreams off"; Apparantly some study (can't find a source immediately) shows that if people that don't dream at all, they will grow nuts. A lot of people just don't remember them at all once they wake up.

 

[tomtom94]

Because they are all to do with sex.
Seriously though? Because anything that breaks us out of our monotonous existence fascinates us.

 

[Dexiro]

People don't interpret dreams because of some crazy future predicting advice, it's because they can be useful for identifying things in people's subconscious. Like someone might have a reoccurring nightmare and interpreting it could find what caused it.

Also dreams are AWESOME! Why wouldn't you want to make a fuss about them occasionally ;D

 

[Rarhnor]

The reason to why we some are anxious to share their dreams, can be the same reason we want to share our music with others.

Why someone would find dreams interesting, relies on psychological enthusiasm (I think).

I, personally, don't remember my dreams, or nightmares for that sake. I wish, I would remember them, however. Your world feels pretty bland without mysteries (even if that "mystery" is a dream).
Since I do not have them, or at least can't remember them, I do not get those, whom share their dreams.

 

[lwm3398]

How can you say if a dream is 'seemingly useless' to someone if you're not the one who dreamed it?

That's why I put the word "seemingly" before "useless". I understand that dreams can have meanings, or be your mind's way of putting subconscious thoughts into the front of your mind. I think they may be an outlet for all of the thoughts and ideas you had, consciously or subconsciously, throughout the day, so that when you wake up your mind is... "cleansed", would be the word. Or, if not that, just some kind of expression, animation, or recycling kind of thing for a person's thoughts while they sleep. Some people say they go to bed completely at a loss for how to do something and then wake up knowing how to do it, probably because problems you thought about during the day are worked out during dreams, and those dreams, dreams that solve problems, are the ones you usually don't remember, along with 99.99% of all other dreams.

I don't think dreams are useless, nor do I think being interested in dreams is stupid. I myself am interested in dreams, along with what their meanings may be. I guess it's really my fault you answered like you did. Upon re-reading the original post I noticed it sounded like I was asking a very serious question from the point of view of someone who thought dreams were worthless dribble. It wasn't as serious a question as I made it seem; Rather, I was just asking what people personally thought about dreams and people's fascination with them.