-Sigmund Freud
People naturally seek to apply meaning to, well, pretty much everything. From what I've seen, dreams may be one of the greatest sources of "meaning-seeking" in our lives. And it makes sense, who hasn't had a dream that left them wondering, "What the heck was that?!" The crazier the dream, the more desperately we want to find the deeper meaning to it all. So, here’s some help for all you intrepid dream interpreters looking for some of that deeper meaning:
Dream interpretations, like the dreams themselves, are whatever you make of them. Period. End of story. Full stop. (I’m using those phrases for dramatic effect, please keep reading)
Between you and me, I actually use this fact (dreams only having meaning to the dreamer) to have a little fun every time I get someone on my couch looking for outside meaning in his or her dreams. My “interpretation” (or my “analysis” if I’m really getting into it) of the individual’s dream, which I give in a very serious tone, usually involves latent desires to engage in cannibalism, suppressed memories of being tragically abandoned by an important parental figure, and disturbing “evidence” of inappropriate, lustful fetishes (how could it not have that?). The conversation following my interpretation usually goes something like this:
Client: (After a moment of silence) “Really? That’s what it means?”
Me: “Yep.”
Client: “How do you know that’s what it means?”
Me: “Perhaps a better question would be, how do you know that isn’t what it means? Couldn’t I tell you absolutely anything I want to?”
That’s typically the time the client realizes I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about…and that’s the whole point. Analysis that's based on interpretation of the subconscious is loaded with problems. The biggest problem (and in my opinion a fatal flaw) is that nothing a professional analyst tells you can be proven or, more importantly, disproven. There is absolutely no way to know what's happening in the subconscious because, by definition, it's outside the realm of conscious observation! Any analysis of the subconscious can never rise above the level of "good guess".
After I’ve had my fun acting as a dream interpreter (it really is fun to see people’s reactions to hearing how depraved their unconscious self is) the client and I discuss what dreams really are.
Your brain never sleeps; it continues to process information from your five senses even when you’re passed out to the world. The brain’s job is to make sense of the world it perceives… whatever you had on your mind when you fell asleep, combined with the sensory information that continues to come in while you’re sleeping, needs to be processed. The brain takes all the information that comes in, processes it, and tells you what it all means; that's what it does when you're awake and that's what it does when you're asleep. A dream, at its simplest, is nothing more than your brain trying to make sense of what’s going on...and sometimes the results are wacky.
But, you might protest, what of the people who have received important and timely guidance through their dreams? Undoubtedly, dreams can provide needed insight or comfort when we face some difficult situation or impossible decision. What of that? Well, I definitely believe in a higher power that guides mankind and I see no reason that higher power couldn’t speak to us through our dreams. But if that's really what’s happening, shouldn’t that guidance be clear to us without the need for interpretation? I mean, if it’s meant for you, why wouldn’t you understand it on your own? Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered that people would give me the chance to tell them "what it all means"...but I have to draw the line at posing as a prophet who’s capable of translating the will of the universe for other people. I have a hard enough time just keeping myself moving in the right direction.
In the end, if a dream has meaning for you, that’s great because you are the only one with any interpretation that matters. There is no book, expert, or website capable of telling you what your dreams mean if you see no meaning in it yourself. Sometimes a dream is nothing more than some synapses firing for any one of a gazillion reasons.
Dr. Freud made a lot of wonderful contributions to the understanding of human nature…dream analysis was certainly not one of them. If you need any additional evidence that Freud was sometimes way off-base, he also said, “Time spent with cats is never wasted.” Clearly, he did not always think rationally.
