By do dreams have a meaning I mean a subconcious, psychological meaning, not a mystical interpretation meaning. I know i'll get a few biased answers on a site called rationalskeptics, but if anyone is willing to give a unbiased answer, thank you. Anyway what do you think? I read dreams dont have a deeper meaning and it was an idea brought up Sigmund Frued. I also read dreams are the brain way of processing information. Apparently humans remember everything they see from their day life(subconciously) and process it in their sleep where they dream of it. Now that honestly sounds more reasonable to me than a dream being a sign of something, I think this because, almost always when I think of something in my day life, I have a dream linked to whatever I thought about, like the object (an example) would appear in my dream even if it isnt a big role. Is there any proof that the theory I believe in is true? Could dreams be trying to tell you of a psychological problem (like repressed desires) you might have? Or they just a result of thoughts you had in you're waking life? Also if you have sex with a guy in a lucid dream(in which you are aware you are dreaming) could it be a sign towards you're sexuality? What if you were only slightly aware? I dont know how this forum works so I dont know how im meant to write or the answers I am expecting if I have said something wrong or offensive just tell me nicely as I have been on other forums where I had people insulting me. Anways thanks a lot, and im looking forward to hearing from you.

I think some have meaning, but it's open to interpretation. Maybe meaning isn't the right word, it's more like a reflection of whatever is going on IRL. I have many dreams where I'm trying to do something or get somewhere, and for one reason or another I can never accomplish it. Almost always happens when I'm busy as shit with several projects on the go.

Of course dreams have meanings. If they didn't mean anything, you wouldn't remember them. The bummer bit is that the meaning of a dream tends to be ascribed to it after the fact, when the brain tells itself stories about the noise it just did. So the stories can possibly shed some light on what the bits of your mind you don't pay attention to very much are up to, but the particular dream probably doesn't figure into the process very much. That is to say that I very much suspect that the same dream would be remembered differently if it happened in exactly the same way on two different days.

ScholasticSpastic wrote:Of course dreams have meanings. If they didn't mean anything, you wouldn't remember them. ...

I suggest that you rethink that bit, because you don't have to understand the meaning of a dream to remember it. More likely, you wouldn't have the dream in the first place if it really didn't mean anything at all. A dream is a reflection of what is going on in your mind while you are asleep, so it cannot be totally meaningless, even if that meaning isn't always obvious afterwards.

DavidMcC wrote:

ScholasticSpastic wrote:Of course dreams have meanings. If they didn't mean anything, you wouldn't remember them. ...

I suggest that you rethink that bit, because you don't have to understand the meaning of a dream to remember it. More likely, you wouldn't have the dream in the first place if it really didn't mean anything at all. A dream is a reflection of what is going on in your mind while you are asleep, so it cannot be totally meaningless, even if that meaning isn't always obvious afterwards.

I suggest you rethink this a bit, because something has to mean something to you for you to remember it. Also, the bit where you insist that dreams cannot be totally meaningless is bullshit. The dream we have is not necessarily the dream we remember. The dream we remember always has meaning, but isn't necessarily anything beyond ex post facto confabulation on the part of nature's most rationalizing lump of cells.

ScholasticSpastic wrote:

DavidMcC wrote:

ScholasticSpastic wrote:Of course dreams have meanings. If they didn't mean anything, you wouldn't remember them. ...

I suggest that you rethink that bit, because you don't have to understand the meaning of a dream to remember it. More likely, you wouldn't have the dream in the first place if it really didn't mean anything at all. A dream is a reflection of what is going on in your mind while you are asleep, so it cannot be totally meaningless, even if that meaning isn't always obvious afterwards.

I suggest you rethink this a bit, because something has to mean something to you for you to remember it. Also, the bit where you insist that dreams cannot be totally meaningless is bullshit. ...

Didn't I just say that a dream cannot be totally meaningless? The problem is that we don't necessarily understand what that meaning was when we wake up, even if we remember the dream.
Also, why do you think we remember a different dream from the one we had?

If we don't understand the meaning then it doesn't have any meaning, tautology to the rescue. See? I can haz filo sophie.

DavidMcC wrote:Didn't I just say that a dream cannot be totally meaningless?

Yes. And I disagree with that. I am distinguishing between our memories of events and the events themselves.

The problem is that we don't necessarily understand what that meaning was when we wake up, even if we remember the dream.

Whereas what I'm saying is that what we remember and the dream are two different things. What we remember is the story that we tell ourselves about the dream.

Also, why do you think we remember a different dream from the one we had?

Because dreams are meaningless, but our memories of dreams are not meaningless. And because I am comfortable with the idea- supported by plentiful research in the field- of false memories. Memories of things which never happened, or memories which are of events which happened, but which differ significantly from more objective records of what has happened.

This isnt supposed to be a debate, Im looking for solid-ish answers. I have been lucid-ish dreaming a lot more than usual lately. I dont know how I compare to other people but I did not many have lucid dreams before. But I got HOCD and I usually try to remember what I dream and mostly do. So I was wondering if dreams do have meaning because my dreams are somewhat recurring in a way. The dreams arent simillar in terms of what happens but it always somehow involves a male person (non-sexual way) who I might know, more like seen around. Usually its anyone who I think I might have feelings for. This guy who I once thought I had a crush on (due to my hocd), I had a non sexual (as far as I can remember) dream about where I called him for some reason the rest I dont remember. I also had a dream where I accepted I was gay but it felt forced and uncomfortable and I felt like I was lying to myself. I had another dream just now actually where these zombies where breaking into my room and one started touching my privates and I thought I dont care if its a guy and then thought ew and woke up. The dream wasnt EXACTLY lucid but I could think to myself, and I dont think I was aware its a dream but at ONLY CERTAIN TIMES, I could control my body for like 2 seconds. I also have violent dreams once in a while. Most female sexual dreams I have involve rape, and only had a maximum of 8 gay sex dreams but I can only think of 2 but I think I had like 4 -5, how many have you had and are my numbers normal? Are my dreams a result of repressed desires or are they things from my waking life. I am familliar with Frueds idea of repressed desires and all that but I think dreams are a result of thing from our waking life, for example I didnt think of the guy I thought I had a crush on, in a while but I remember him and suddenly I have a dream where I talk to him. Something like that<<<<<<<<happened way too many times to be a coincidence. But I didnt think of rape so where does the rape thing come from. Most of my dreams are linked to my waking life but only a couple arent and those are what scares me. ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS I ASKED, I REPEAT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS I ASKED, I cant stress that enough please PLEASE answer any questions I asked I always tend to get half-assed answers.

P.S Pardon the caps lock it was supposed to be like that so it catches your eye and for effect So could my dreams mean something? Do dreams have meanings or give signs of repressed desires? OR are they as a result of our waking life. Thanks a lot and sorry if I came off as rude im talking about the last part to be more specific

My own dreams are always nonsensical, bordering on crazy.

I had a dream where a friend of mine and I were hiding in the backyard of a strange house at night because we wanted to steal glowing green and orange fishing line from some boxes they had in the backyard. I have no idea why, that's just what I dreamt.

The people living in the house was a large korean family, and they'd occasionally come out of the house and "patrol" the surroundings. In my dream, it was raining and muddy in the backyard, and we constantly had to be on the lookout for patrolling koreans. We make it up close to the house, take some rolles of fishing line and then we get spotted by the koreans and then I wake up.

Is there any meaning to this? No. It's brain-gibberish. A random and nonsensical mix of ideas, memories, concepts and experiences cobbled together in some "scenario" that plays out in your head.

In another dream, I'm on a train traveling from Copenhagen to Aarhus. I have to pee a lot in this dream and end up peeing in my pants while on the train, so I go to "the shower" which suddenly exists as a single dedicated shower-car.
So I'm standing in the shower in the shower-car, naked, washing pee out of my pants, and then a lot of girls come in and start laughing and pointing at me. So I try to act cool while standing there naked, washing pee out of my pants while calmly explaining the situation to them and then the dream suddenly skips to the train arriving at Aarhus. But there is no trainstation, and the entire city is gone. There's just a lot of jumbled traintracks with trains driving on them all over the place. As I walk out the train I was with, I notice that it is being pulled by a rack of blue iron bars on 4 wheels (I can't even describe how nonsensical this construction is so I made a drawing), from which a hollow glass-sphere is suspended in mid-air, containing the driver of the train. Then the dream ends and I wake up.

Yeah, dreams have meaning. They mean your brain works and perhaps that you give certain things significance. So if you have HOCD, you clearly already have lots and lots and lots of thoughts about sexuality. Lots of people, probably approaching all, dream about unsavoury things, or have such thoughts flash through their minds when they're awake. It's 'normal'. The thing with you is you attach a certain special significance to sexual or sexuality dreams or thoughts. I'd forget about Freud if I were you.

And nope, I'll answer what I want how I want. The people here aren't here to assuage your anxieties. All that will do is make it worse - now you can come to this thread and read and read and read about your obsession. Your post comes across as coming from someone who might need to either calm down a bit and wake up properly, or go and see someone about the HOCD.

Oh make no mistake about it, almost all my dreams involve some form of sexual undertones, if they aren't just outright sexual fantasies

Right. It's normal. And because you probably know that and anyway it's rather nice, it doesn't worry you. If you had a rape dream or a dream about sex with someone or something that isn't your usual fare it may disturb you for a bit at most, then you'd shrug it off. If the OP is in earnest, he's got a mental health issue which means he can't do that, and this thread is not going to help his problem but exacerbate it. This seeking reassurance is classic with obsessive compulsive disorders. If he can get help he should. I say 'if' because I don't know what the provisions are like for people with HOCD in the UAE.

What's the difference between lucid dreaming and daydreaming in your sleep?

Does anyone really know what dreams are? All I have heard are theories. Obviously some theories are more believable than others. I believe that dreams are what we see in our day life being processed. I keep having recurrent(in a way) dreams. I never had these dreams before but have been getting them almost on a daily basis. The only thing that changed is, I keep worrying about my sexuality (a mental condition), I dont know why I have these dreams because now I am sure of my sexuality but I still have the obession over it. I usually have dreams which are sometimes lucid ,sometimes not, and I usually do something sexual and gay and have a feeling of giving in to my (fake) sexuality. I dont know how to exactly describe it but here goes, I feel as though I stopped faking my sexuality and gave in to my true-side, but when I do that it doesnt feel normal and feels forced, when I wake up I think why the fuck was I gay in my dream and what the hell did I think. In real life, I dont like guys in anyway, and when I say I dont like guys it doesnt feel forced. I dont want to live my life with a guy, not because of anyone else but because I dont like it. Could the feeling in my dream mean something in my waking life? I believe in dreams not having meanings, but if I experience a feeling or thought does it mean something? I think its because I always repeatedly say in my day life "no I dont like guys that disgusting" but in my dream im not bothered saying that and just go along with it hence the giving in feeling. Im sorry if I offended you or if you're looking for scientific debates and what not, but if you came by this please give and answer a small one will do. Thanks a lot

I had this dream where someone wrote a question on a wall, and then when everyone wrote answers, the person ignored them all and wrote the same question on a different wall. And then a guy wearing a parka rode up on scooter and collected up all the questions and put them on the same wall...

I've no idea what that dream meant.

Rumraket wrote:Oh make no mistake about it, almost all my dreams involve some form of sexual undertones, if they aren't just outright sexual fantasies

Lucky you! I only rarely get that sort of dream. With me, it's usually fearful, not erotic.

EDIT: OTOH, at least I don't get the disappointment of waking up to find that it was all just a dream!

Username010011 wrote:This isnt supposed to be a debate, Im looking for solid-ish answers. ....

Here?

BlackBart wrote:I had this dream where someone wrote a question on a wall, and then when everyone wrote answers, the person ignored them all and wrote the same question on a different wall. And then a guy wearing a parka rode up on scooter and collected up all the questions and put them on the same wall...

I've no idea what that dream meant.

I'm sure it does mean something, it's just that we don't know what that something is.

laklak wrote:If we don't understand the meaning then it doesn't have any meaning, tautology to the rescue.
...

Not necessarily, unless you just know that we're all geniuses.
EDIT: It's a bit like saying that all of science is already completely known and understood. In the case of the meaning of dreams, that would seem to be a slight exaggeration.