Essay Sample on Dreams: Meaningful or Meaningless?

Introduction

Dreams are the images and thoughts that occur to an individual while deep asleep. Dreams usually happen mostly during the deepest stage of sleep, which is referred to as rapid eye moment (Bulkeley, 2016). Past research suggests that dreams typically do not mean anything (Bulkeley, 2016). The paper below focuses on analyzing two dreams that I have dreamt of as well as evaluating whether dreams carry meaning.

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1st Dream

The first dream that I dreamt about is about falling from a tall building. We had organized to visit one of the tallest buildings in our country to have an adventurous moment. The name of the building Times tower that is located within the capital city of the country. The building is a 30 storey building which hosts many government offices. Besides, the building has many states of the art restaurants and contains good sceneries for entertainment and especially children. We were particularly interested in the spectacular view of the city from the tallest point of the building. We had heard good stories from people who had visited the peak of the building, and we were very excited to get experience.

When day dawned, we took a bus to the city and were excited about seeing different towns. It was a 2-hour drive, and we reached on time. We had lunch together in one of the restaurants with my friends and had a good time. So, we, therefore, decided to walk up the stairs from storey to the other. After around thirty minutes, we were finally at the tallest peak of the building. Apart from us, there were other visitors who were enjoying the scenery while others were taking photos of the city. We first spotted that is within the town with a beautiful view of flamingoes that were pink in colour.

We also spotted big mountains that surrounded the city. We started taking pictures of the town and later our own photos. It was my turn to pose at an edge on the building that I slide and fell. It was the most painful feeling that I felt as I was falling down the building. I screamed for help, but my voice was not loud enough for anybody to help me. The distance was far that I never touched the ground, and it was the scariest experience in my whole life. That was the point at which I woke up from the frightening dream. The experience seemed real but was glad that it was just a dream.

2nd Dream

The second dream was about my wedding, the royal family. Since I was a child, I had always admired to have a significant and colourful wedding. I was dating a member of the royal family for a long time, and the day to marry had dawned. I had chosen the best colours and cloth design while my bridesmaid was getting ready for the day. I was emotional but excited at the same time with the reality that I was soon going to be a member of the royal family. Everything around me looked glamorous, expensive and beautiful. Our wedding was supposed to be conducted at the biggest in the town. We left for the church accompanied by my parents and my bridesmaids as well as my two flower girls. The church looked glamourous and was the most spectacular thing I had ever seen.

All the guests that we had invited were already at the church as well as the bridegroom. Most of the visitors were my childhood friends as well as those that we went to high school together with. My parents helped me as I walked down the aisle. The experience was magical, and I could see the groom emotional and joyful.

The clergyman was ready to help us recite the wedding vows, and I was officially handed over to my husband to be. We exchanged our wedding rings and put them on our ring fingers. We later signed our marriage certificate in the presence of our witnesses. The clergy handed over the marriage certificates, and the church was joyful as the congregation clapped and congratulated us. We then proceeded to the reception where we were supposed to take lunch and entertain our guests as well as receiving wedding gifts. The peak of the day was when my newly wedded husband was supposed to introduce me to his family members at the castle. I remained silent as he introduced me, and it was at that point that I woke up and realized that it was just a dream.

Analysis of the Dreams Using an Information Processing Method

Psychologists link the working of a brain to how computers work and are categorized into several stages. According to the information processing method, the steps in a dream include attending, encoding, storage, as well as retrieving. Also, the model describes the processes of receiving information in an individual's memory (Civitarese, 2018). The procedures include short-term memory, sensory memory, as well as long-term memory. Dreams occur from the thoughts and events of an individual's life (Civitarese, 2018). For instance, if one spends a lot of time thinking about a terrible experience during the day, it is likely that the individual will dream of having the experience at night.

Information is gathered through the senses in the process of transduction. Information or experience is first recorded in an individual's mind through seeing, touch, or listening. Information is then stored in an individual's memory and later retrieved while dreaming. Children dream more compared to adults. For instance, in my first dream, it was as a result of the fantasies I had concerning one day visiting a tall building in the country. The thoughts were inspired by my fellow students who had visited the place and narrated their experiences. Therefore, the dream was as a result of listening to the many stories I had heard about the place. The second dream was inspired by my desire for perfection and admiration of a good marriage. The fact that I kept admiring marriages and especially those in the royal families resulted in a dream related to that kind of inspiration.

Symbolic dream analysisSymbolic dream analysis involves the process of dream interpretation, where meaning is assigned to a dream. In certain cultures, a dream is considered to be a supernatural communication (Freud, & Oppenheim, 2018). Besides, there are communities who believe that dreams are divine interventions whose message can be interpreted by people using spiritual powers. For instance, the first dream of falling from a tall building can be interpreted as a sign of instabilities, anxiety, as well as insecurities. Therefore, according to the symbolic dream analysis method, I was probably suffering from anxiety which led me to dream. Besides, some psychologists relate such type of dreams to a sense of failure.

Introspective Dream Analysis

Introspective dream analysis involves spending considerable time to examine an individual's feelings and thoughts. Introspection involves an individual analysis of a dream and looking at one's actions and personalities (Langs, 2017). It involves meditating about a particular dream. For instance, in the second dream, One would meditate and try to assign a meaning to it as the desire to have a beautiful and good marriage and family.

Conclusion

Dreams usually happen mostly during the deepest stage of sleep, which is referred to as rapid eye moment. Both dreams are as a result of my everyday experiences as well as the desires dear in my heart. Dreams occur from the thoughts and events of an individual's life. For instance, if one spends a lot of time thinking about a tragic experience during the day, it is likely that the individual will dream of having the experience at night. Information is gathered through the senses in the process of transduction. Symbolic dream analysis involves the process of dream interpretation, where meaning is assigned to a dream. In certain cultures, a dream is considered to be a supernatural communication. Introspection involves an individual analysis of a dream and looking at one's actions and personalities.

Bibliography

Bulkeley, K. ed., 2016. Dreams: A reader on religious, cultural and psychological dimensions of dreaming. Springer. Retrieved from

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2015&q=Interpretation+of+dreams&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3AVuMTCnsGe1cJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D1%26hl%3Den

Civitarese, G., 2018. The necessary dream: New theories and techniques of interpretation in psychoanalysis. Routledge. Retrieved from

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2015&q=Interpretation+of+dreams&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3AqgdRvJaQK2YJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D2%26hl%3Den

Freud, S. and Oppenheim, D.E., 2018. Dreams in folklore. Pickle Partners Publishing.

Langs, R., 2017. Decoding your dreams: a revolutionary technique for understanding your dreams. Routledge. Retrieved from

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=2015&q=dreams&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3AwFi0tY9PkxYJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D3%26hl%3Den