Do you think dreams have any significance, and if so, what?

[closeupready]

I had a weird dream about a now-deceased friend of mine, and it was as if he was trying to communicate with me.

It was so real - the events of the dream occurred in the same location where we had our friendship in the late 80's and early 90's, the same hangouts where we'd spend our Saturday nights, but the difference was - he wasn't actually IN the dream, but he was the POINT of the dream - that is, I was on my way to go see him (even though he was dead - I know, weird, but that's dream logic for you). Being deceased, he never appeared in my dream, but I could sense him; his presence pervaded the whole thing. And he's been gone now for 12 or 13 years now.

I was actually sad and crying when I woke up, and I have friends who say that deceased family members will come to you in dreams, depending on how close you were. Do you think there's anything to that?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. They're all about sorting out the stuff we experience while we're conscious.

For that alone it's a fascinating experience. So cool to think how the people who show up in our dreams can represent everything from themselves to some fear or desire we're feeling.

[closeupready]

3. Yes, this one really moved me emotionally.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. We dream of what we fear and/or what we want.

The people in our dreams are the messengers our unconscious mind has devised.

[closeupready]

4. Thanks - that makes sense - I am

searching for a time when life was easier and simpler and when I had - well I miss my now-deceased friend, I guess that's the main part of why it was sad. He's gone, and that chapter is finished forever.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

5. It's difficult to lose those we care for...

Perhaps you'll have another dream and this time it will bring back memories so happy, the dream will brighten your day as your remember it. I hope you will!

[closeupready]

6. Thx

[Sekhmets Daughter]

7. You're welcome!

[MrsMatt]

8. sometimes, I believe

they are messages from those who have passed on. Other times, dreams are just your subconscious messing with you.

I've experienced both. When my parents died (at different times), both came to me in very vivid dreams to let me know they were at peace and to move on.

My mother's side of the family tends to have some weird dreams - some prophetic, others just messages from the dead.

[mythology]

9. I think the themes are representative

But the people in them aren't necessarily. At least in my case, I hope they aren't as I've recently dreamed that one of the nicest people I've ever met was stabbing me to death. I think I sometimes insert people who weren't really identified in the dream when I wake up if that makes sense.

So in the case of the dream of the improbably nice person stabbing me to death, I think it was more that I imposed her face on either a nameless/faceless avatar or it's my brain's way of distancing that I'm metaphorically attacking myself. Note that I'm suicidal, but that I am self-destructive.

Either that or Freud is right and I want to sleep with her.