WHY DO WE DREAM?

Hello everyone!!! 

In today's blog we are going to discuss about the most thrilling topic of all. That is "Why do we Dream?" 

First thing first, dreaming can be of two types: Day-Dreaming and Night-Dreaming.

So let me explain you the difference between the two with the help of a few examples...

Imagine that you along with your family members are watching a news channel on the television. Suddenly your mother snaps you by saying "Hey where are you lost? I am talking to you". At this moment you realize that you were actually dreaming of a brand new bicycle that you want and in your dream you were riding it and enjoying the ride. 

This is an instance of Day-Dreaming!

A man daydreaming...

I am sure that all of you must have gone through the phase when you wake up in the morning and smile to yourself thinking that it was just a "dream"! Some of us also wake up at the middle of the night, say around 2 a.m. or  3 a.m. and are scared so much but then we realise that it was a dream and not the reality. 

This is what we call night-dreaming!

I am sure that the examples must have made everything clear. However, now we shall look at the two types of dreaming from the perspective of psychology!

In case of Day-Dreaming, we are the owner of our dreams. We are completely aware of what we are dreaming, why we are dreaming and when we are dreaming. In this type of dreaming, our conscious is completely aware of our dreams and we are also aware that its not the reality and is just a dream that we wish to see!

However, in case of Night-Dreaming, we are not the owner of our dreams. We are not aware of whether we are dreaming or its the reality. Our conscious is fooled and our Unconscious is the ruling power during our Night-Dreaming. We are not aware of what exactly we are seeing in the dream or why we saw a particular dream. In fact, once we get up we don't even completely remember our dream. Even if we remember that we tend to forget it after some time.

In today's Blog we are going to address to the question "Why do we Dream?"

The answer to this question comes from Psychology.

In order to explain this easily you all must be aware of Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalysis.

So let me give you some brief and crisp information about this important personality of psychology.

Sigmund Freud is known as the Father of Psychoanalysis. In this theory of his, he talks about the levels of consciousness, structures of personality, ego-defense mechanism and psycho-sexual stages of development.

From all this, what is relevant to us are the forms of personality. So he says, that all in all, our personality is governed by three basic structures, that are: Id, Ego and Superego.

1) Id: it is based on the 'Pleasure-Seeking principle. According to this, whatever a person wishes to do, s/he does irrespective of whether it hurts others or not.

For example: In case of small children, i.e., around the age of 4-6 years, Id is highly active in them. We all have seen kids getting their wishes accomplished either by hook or by crook. They may create a chaos in the toy shop for getting a small battery car or soft toy, they may cry for it or they may even scream and shout for it. At this time they don't think whether others are getting disturbed and hurt by their actions or not. All they know is that they have to get a particular toy anyhow!

This is what Id tells them to do!

2) Ego: it is based on the 'Reality principle". According to this, a person doesn't completely listen to her/his Id, instead the person figures a polite way out to get her/his work done.

For example: the child asking for the toy may be directed by his Ego to politely ask her/his parents for the toy, instead of creating a mess!

3) Superego: it is based on the 'Morality principle'. According to this, a person is highly moral in her/his ways of behaving. S/he always does her/his work in accordance to the society and the people who make it up. So they are those who never actually follow their heart and do only those things that would keep others happy and satisfied.

In case of adults, Id is active in them but not as highly as it is in the kids. However, we all have had thoughts that we are unable to share openly with others in our surroundings. These thoughts reflect our actual self, but all of us tend to deny or dismiss them because we think that they are morally and ethically incorrect! These thoughts then move away from our conscious mind(about which we are aware) to our unconscious mind(about which we are not aware but the thoughts and feelings still exist). We may ignore certain thoughts but our kind mind never ignores them. Our Id is so stubborn that it will not be happy until its wish is accomplished. We may deny the thoughts of our Id but Id plays its card and makes all its wishes come true. However, its not affected by whether its wishes are being accomplished in reality or in our dreams!

So by now you all must have got a fair idea of what are dreams are about and why do we have them. Its actually the thoughts and feelings of our Id that go into our unconscious mind and then our reflected in our dreams. However, the thought may not be directly reflected in our dreams. It always accomplishes itself in an indirect way so that the person doesn't get hurt or affected by those thoughts and feelings.

For example: a student might see a dream that she has missed her school bus and is running behind it to catch it. This dream signifies much more than it actually appears to be! It may actually reflect the unconscious thoughts of the girl. This dream signifies that unknowingly the girl is tensed about her career. Missing the bus and trying to catch it signifies that she is somehow trying to catch her career and make sure that its bright! 

The strange part is that the girl or people in general are absolutely unaware of their thoughts which are a part of their unconscious mind.

Also many-a-times we see some people in our dreams with whom we have fights, conversations or other activities. However, we are unable to identify them or see their faces. This is because our Id is trying to carry out and fulfill its wish in a much simpler way so that we are not bothered! 

So this is the basic reason behind "Why we Dream". Also, what we dream actually unfolds the thoughts and feelings that reside in our unconscious.

I hope this Blog was helpful and informative! 

SAKSHI KAUSHIK

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Sakshi Kaushik