Alfian

I’ve always had this fascination for dreams. I still remember the very first dream I had. Well, not the first dream but rather the very first nightmare.

Here’s how it goes :

I am in my uncle’s house. A big one. I walk around and then I chanced upon an aquarium. I stand in front of it and stare it, awed by the fishes. So I was itchy-fingers and stuck my hand in. And then all of a sudden I hear some thunderous rumbling from outside. When I opened the door nearby, this huge flying creatures swarmed in by the hundreds. They’re like monkeys. Flying monkeys! No wait, you know the wizard of oz kinda flying monkeys? Yeah those are the ones. Pretty much like the image above but it was scarier then. Anyway, so they swarmed in and took my uncle and aunt and just flew off. Like poof! Went in, grab, went out. Then I was left all alone. Its a blurry image but I can only remember the next part was that I was on a beach with someone else. And then pretty much, I woke up.

Oh come on! I was still in kindergarten back then! 5/6 years old. Don’t ask me how or why, I just remember.

Some facts:

• Before the nightmare, I’ve never watched wizard of oz (until years later)
• The uncle/aunt in the story never had an aquarium in their house, ever.
• I hate the beach/sea

Anyway, the images of that nightmare lingered in mind for years to come. Few years back, I started to wonder and ponder and blunder.

Like, why do we dream what we dream? And then there is the idea of deja vu. Why does it happen?

Are dreams supposed to tell us something?

Like..

• Why the monkey?
• Why my uncle/aunt?
• Why an aquarium?
• Why the beach?

Something important about dreams that I like is this :

“The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history – Wiki”

Yes yes, I know wiki cannot be fully trusted, but trust me, when it comes to this kind of information, Wiki suffices. Dreams are never really understood. They are never really thoroughly researched. Why?

Because dreams are immaterial. They are not something which we can hold on to. Something we can see clearly. So they can never really be understood. Scientists try and speculate theories about the framework for dreams but not everyone can actually agree to one.

Now, that’s interesting.

Anyway, so I read up a few books. What I found out (and I believed in) was this.

Dreams are basically the activation of your subconscious mind. The world we’re living in, the world right now, the one of you reading this, is of us using our conscious mind. There lives another part of our mind researchers refer to as the subconscious mind.

A person’s subconscious mind activates whenever he/she does something mundane and repetitive.

The idea between the sub and the conscious mind is a very interesting topic altogether. But to put it in layman terms, your conscious mind is what you can see and accept as reality. Your subconscious is what you push away and reject as fantasies or as we call it, dreams.

Wonder why sometimes you get these awesome epiphanies while bathing? While sleeping? So you get the drift.

Speculation still going on between the meanings behind some dreams. No one really knows. We can all only succumb to theories and speculating.

About the only place where you can see a dream really unfolding in reality, is the big screen. And then you can have like a million viewers all around the world help you decipher the meaning behind the story. The meaning behind your dream.

But why then, don’t dreams happen all the time? Like, how its only some nights where we dream, whereas other nights we just snore?

Frankly, I haven’t a single clue. But if you do find out, please tell me.