Why do we dream?

We dream because this is the way that we can listen to our inner selves and understand how our thoughts, feelings and actions are affecting our consciousness. Dreams are messages from the inner subconscious mind to the outer waking conscious mind. Dreams never lie which is why it is imperative that someone who wants self awareness and self discovery make the time to interpret and use the dream message in his or her life.


How come we don’t always remember what we dream?

Dreams are best remembered in the reverie state (that inbetween stage of awake and asleep). Many people miss out on this stage because they wake up so quickly. People who hit the snooze button too often and then leap out of bed often skip right over the reverie state. This can happen when an infant is born and cries in the middle of the night to eat or have a diaper change. The mom and dad miss out on the reverie stage because their attention is so immediately drawn into the physical. Sometimes people don’t remember their dreams because most of their waking thoughts are focused on physical things. Desire is an important factor. Sometimes it is as simple as wanting to remember your dreams that makes a difference. People who are curious about the deeper meaning of their life experiences will usually remember lots of dreams. One thing we’ve proven in over three decades of teaching people to interpret dreams is that anyone can learn to remember and interpret their dreams.

How come if you can remember your dream, when you tell someone about it, it’s hard to go into detail?

This has to do with the skill the dreamer has in describing the images in his or her mind. One way to improve this is to practice describing things in your environment in words that are clear enough that someone could draw a picture of what you are saying. Also, dreams are like echoes which means they can fade away. Students in the School of Metaphysics (sponsors of dreamschool.org ) are taught to write out their dreams in detail immediately upon awakening. Writing what you remember is the best way to capture the details plus you have a permanent record in case you do forget.

Why do we think of such weird things when we dream?

Dreams only seem weird if you don’t know the Universal Language of Mind. This is a language common to all of us. It is a picture language and is based on form and function. For instance when you dream about a car it represents your physical body. The form is the car and the function of a car is for transportation. A car is symbolic of the dreamer’s physical body because the body is how you, the soul or spirit move around when you are awake. Another example is a house which represents the dreamer’s mind. We have a book that defines over 1000 dream symbols in the Universal Language of Mind. When you know the meaning of this language, then what might seem strange will actually begin to make sense.

What makes us walk, talk, and laugh in our sleep?

In this case the dreamer is actually acting out the dream. This happens when someone has difficulty releasing their attention from the physical world when they go to sleep so part of their attention is in the conscious mind and part of it is in the subconscious mind where dreams occur.

Is it true that your dreams really only last 6 or 7 seconds?

This research has been done by many scientists around the world who study sleep patterns and many have come to this conclusion. We teach about consciousness and the whole mind in the School of Metaphysics. Our research indicates that time is measured differently in the Subconscious Mind which is where dreams occur.

If you dream a thing more than once is it supposed to come true?

Not that we know of! There are precognitive dreams, however. These are dreams that foresee the probable future. As we talked about in the answer to the question above, time is measured differently in the Subconcsious Mind. This makes it possible to go into the future in the dreamstate and see what is likely to occur. Precognitive dreams are related to deja vu which you ask about in your last question.

How come if you can’t remember your dream, you sometimes get a flashback of it, but you can’t really still remember it?

The answer here is related to the question above about remembering details in your dreams. The memory flash of the dream is usually stimulated by something in the dreamer’s environment that reminds them of the dream. It is like hearing an echo but not being able to discern what is being said.

Are daydreams in relation to dreams?

A daydream and nightdream are different. The difference is that when someone is awake they can let their attention drift to the past and the future without much purpose. This is like fantasizing about the great time you will have at the next school dance or what you did with friends over the weekend and how you wish something was different. Daydreams are all in your brain and conscious mind.

Nightdreams are messages from your subconscious mind to your conscious mind. It is possible that a nightdream could reveal that you are spending too much time daydreaming and not enough time with your attention in the present moment!

About how many dreams does the average person dream at night?

Again, many scientists have done sleep studies and concluded that a person can have three to five dreams a night. Our research indicates that the more someone studies, interprets and uses their dreams the more dreams they will remember in one night. Often students will remember three to five dreams by the time they are studying in the advanced series of lessons where we teach about the subconscious mind.

Also, as a dreamer advances by developing concentration, memory and attention he or she learns to wake up in their dreams (this is called lucid dreaming) and to cause their dream to happen intentionally.

What makes deja vu?

Deja vu is a French phrase that means ?already seen?. This is a phenomena where the dreamer suddenly finds their experience familiar like they’ve been here before, or seen that person before. They have had a dream that had elements of precognition in it. As we said, time as we know it in the physical world does not exist in the subconscious mind. This is why you can dream about something that has not happened yet. Deja vu is the feeling when you become aware that you have seen this person before or been in the same setting. People who have these kinds of dreams are ready to study and learn about their whole mind.•

©2004 School of Metaphysics