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Dreams in the Existence of Human Consciousness

© Lauri Jean Crowe

Dreams have exercised a fascination and wonder over humankind for centuries, with many cultures revering them to varying degrees of importance. While some societies have had little involvement with the dream beyond an interesting diversion during sleep, others continue to hold them in high esteem often making life decisions based on the interpretation of the content of the dream they had the prior night. In ancient cultures, the dream was often sought out through meditation, awaiting a vision which was interpreted as a direct communication with a godform, or through the drinking of various drugged concoctions which would alter their consciousness and allow them to enter the dream realm. We continue to see these practices today.

The difficulty in discussion on the dream is that there is no hard and fast substantiated proof that the dream has occurred; the empirical evidence of the dreaming process is little to none. The process and interpretation of dreams has been studied within a variety of disciplines. Philosophers, biologists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, artists, writers and historians will all give you a different account of what occurs during sleep when the sleeper is dreaming. Yet all will concur that the topic of the dream is one which can never offer one definitive explanation, but rather a host of hypotheses, theories and speculations.

There is no direct means of sharing, examination, or other verification that the dream was experienced, just as there is no tangible artifact which can be presented as validation of the dream. Instead, we are left to hope that the memory of having a dream is enough for another to believe that what we are saying is perceivable. We hope for an intuitive agreement of the possibilities within human consciousness, and proceed from this tenuous thread of understanding -- at times having to suspend our own belief systems in order to learn more about the altered state of existence known as the dream.

The dreaming process can be studied from many angles, but can only be studied within the context of the society and culture which is having the dreams. The dream offers a peek into the psyche, reflecting important beliefs about life, death, reality, the soul, and the boundaries between the self and others. Content of the dream can be a mirror of social, psychological, philosophical and religious beliefs of a people and is often expressed in the art, literature, architecture, monuments and scientific discoveries of a culture. It is through these lasting testaments to the dream that the fascination with them is perpetuated, and why the dream shall forever hold importance in the study of consciousness and humankind.

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