By: Zeela Shoaib
The word ‘dream’ has two versions. One is which we envision for ourselves and is closely tied to our ambitions. While the other kind of dream is always shown to us, sometimes depicting such detailed endeavors that we ourselves are left dumb-struck by wonder.
Since, the beginning of time, when being a scientist was not a concept, humans had no clue about what these images and visions might be. They related it to myths, sorcery, and magic because they lacked knowledge about the human brain and its capabilities. In ancient history, some civilizations interpreted them as divine revelations. In Chinese history, people said that a part of the soul was released during slumber to journey into a dream realm.
However, as humans stepped outside the age of oblivion and started discovering about the fascinating aspects of science, reason, and logic, they deduced an intricate connection between emotions and the human body. This led to theories about dreams representing a man’s inner desires and anxieties. Sigmund Freud, who developed the psychological discipline of psychoanalysis, made some interpretations about dreams in the early 1900s. He wrote that dreams are linked to one’s internal desires and may have a lot of variation in their nature.
So, in the present century, we can conclude that dreams are images and visions created by our brain while we sleep and these visions can be exciting, frightening, romantic, or sometimes bizarre. Most people tend to forget their dreams but some can vividly remember all that happened and occasionally, can even recognize some people by their behavior, faces, and even voice.
Dreams aren’t only limited to this concept. Some dreams, called lucid dreams, are even more bizarre as during these dreams the dreamer is aware of all that is going on. During a lucid dream, the dreamer can sometimes also gain some control over the dream characters and the narrative which is highly intriguing. Gaining control in a dream gives a taste of living in a realm where a person is relieved from all liabilities and suffers no consequences for his actions.
Many people feel compelled to ask about what their dreams mean. Whether they possess a life-changing revelation or are merely some tricks played by our brain?
The common answer to this is that there is no reliable interpretation of dreams. They all may have varying meanings according to people with different perspectives. Although some superstitious people do give a lot of importance to dreams and sometimes misinterpret them. However, in Islam, dreams are considered important because they are the only way of receiving future divination. Among true and false dreams, true dreams hold importance in Islam as they are believed to come from the supernatural world ( dar al-Huq).
In conclusion, dreaming is an astounding phenomenon as it shows how our brain can perform wonderous activities even when we are unconscious. We, as humans, do not possess the power to control 100% of our brain which depicts how powerless we are.
Written by
Zeela Shoaib
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