Mars wrote:i do agree with anti on this one. i think dreams come more from creativity than expression. do you ever remember being in that state right before you fall asleep but you are barely conscious, and your mind just wonders on about random things?
i think dreams are just that. our mind wondering on about random (most of the time) irrelevant things.
I don't think anyone has ever tried to say that dreams are
only a mechanism for processing emotions. Just that if emotions need to be processed and don't get that need fulfilled during waking hours then dreams are the vehicle that they use.
There are many different types of dreams and reasons for dreaming. I am no expert, but I'm pretty sure we still don't understand it all - far from it.
Many theories state that often our dreams are ways of making sense of some new piece of information, or fitting something in that doesn't seem to have any "straight" associations, so it invents metaphoric ones so it can be stored away. Such theories do not clash with the emotional sandbox concept but run alongside it (and are not all that dissimilar).
Of course, if we need certain types of dreams to "make sense" of the world, or store new ideas, but emotional metaphor dreaming is taking place too excessively due to depressive cycles, then it only stands to reason that our ability to relate things or remember things is going to suffer as a consequence. We do indeed see such side-effects, but whether there is a causal connection is open to conjecture I think.
Going back to the original post, I'd say it is not always possible to interpret dreams - even those that seem steeped in metaphor. But the hell/ satan/ world domination example gave me some ideas.
It made me wonder if it is related to your feelings of total independance, Antigreen. Perhaps you feel that others are judging you when you feel they have no right - and hence you get "thrown to hell", but then you excert the "superiority" you feel and end up dominating them all.
Just a thought. It could just be pure "random thoughts" and fantasy, with no inherent meaning.
But I believe you may have missed a point about the list of basic needs.
These basic needs are common to all humans. It is often the *very fact* that some people do not believe they have some of these needs that can lead to psychological problems that express themselves in other areas.
The brain is also very good at building up a compelling picture of why we believe what we believe. So if you believe that you do not need other people then you will naturally paint everything in that light, so that it strenghtens your belief. Likely you have come to believe, for example, that needing contact with other people is a weakness?
Whether you agree with me or not that this could be the case it is worth looking at yourself - especially the words you used in early postings in this thread - as if you were someone else looking on. Compare what you have said to what I just said about our brains effectively burying our basic needs and see if you see a pattern. At least notice the pattern, whether you believe the conclusion or not. I won't suggest that as you do so you might find that it becomes clearer, but if you can improve yourself in any way I'm sure you'll agree that is a good thing?
I hope that something in my ramblings makes sense to someone
Regards,
Milamber