Dreams And The Conceptual Mind

When studying dreams it is easy to forget the obvious. The dream mind - or the unconscious mind - is the home of ideas. Here we form complex conceptual ideas. For some people these will be intellectual ideas linked to logic. Others use the power of the mind to form creative and imaginative ideas. The link between dreams and learning has long been established. The dream mind also deals with emotions. It is easy to dismiss these as vague and in brain processes a lower process. This is a mistake as emotions are highly complex functions. The best computers cannot mimic the emotions we feel. Overall then the dream mind deals with all of our higher brain functions - creative, conceptual and emotional ideas. From the deepest logic to intuitive guesses. nnI had one dream which has had a major impact on my own understanding of dreams. This is of interest in the study of dreams. I dreamt of a soldier. His name is Major Sharpe. I was just looking at him. I then woke up. The dream then was short. Why could such a short dream be of so much interest. Well inside this one symbol was packed so much information. It indeed formed the basis of a conceptual idea which had been forming in my own mind. nnPersonally I often try to spot issues which trigger dreams. If something important happens the day before then we can assume that it may generate a dream. In this case something important did happen. One of my hobbies is photography. I take photos of surfers on my local beach. The previous day I took too many risks and my camera ended up soaked with water. A vital piece of equipent was ruined. nnSo how can this short dream be linked to this event? Well Major Sharpe is a fictional TV character played by Sean Bean. He is the archetypal hero. He was constantly taking too any risks. He charged over battlements, he was popular with his fellow soldiers. He always led the charge and was hardly ever injured at all. He was seemingly indestructible. This man personified my own mood the day before. I was taking risks. I got carried away. I ignored simple rules. nnThe dream then contained precise conceptual ideas about how I acted. Its a very self critical dream. If my own mind could be summed up then I felt that "I had taken stupid risks. I felt that I was like the fictional character Major Sharpe. That failure was never a possibility. Yet such actions were stupid. Such risk taking belongs in fictional novels not in real life. My own stupidity destroyed a vital piece of equipment."nnThe dream contains vital building blocks of a new conceptual feeling linked to this recent event. It sums up my own self critical and negative feelings about my own risk taking. Yet it also makes no obvious link to this event. The precise usage of this one single symbol is not hinted at. This dream then is quite typical. The dream mind does not (unlike the poet) hint at how its various symbols should be interpreted. nnDreams link to the formation of conceptual ideas. The various symbols together or ideas and emotions that are quite complex. The dreams we have may in fact link to how the dream mind actually stores conceptual information. They are not just random references to the day before. Instead they are the very building blocks of conceptual information. nnSo when we study our own dreams then we should be aware of the conceptual ideas forming inside our heads. The intellectual issues that are consuming our minds. The emotions and intuitive dilemmas we are thinking about. Indeed it maybe helpful to write these down. Jot down some emotional ideas forming. For instance quotes such as nn"Yesterday my sister was acting strangely. I wonder if there is something wrong" nn"I am feeling tired right now. I wonder if this is linked to work? Or maybe is it caused by relationship issues?"nnSo when we try to interpret the symbolism of the dreams then we are in fact comparing it to the conceptual ideas that have just formed inside our own minds. We interpret dreams backwards. We guess the issues which have triggered the dream. then we see how the symbols are consistent with the ideas forming inside our own mind. nnby Internet dream interpreter UncleSirBobby. nnhttp://www.unclesirbobby.org.uk