Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur usu

ally involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.[1] The content an
d purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a top
ic of scientific speculation, as well as a subject of philosophical and religiou
s interest, throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is calle
d oneirology.[2]
Dreams mainly occur in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep when brain acti
vity is high and resembles that of being awake. REM sleep is revealed by continu
ous movements of the eyes during sleep. At times, dreams may occur during other
stages of sleep. However, these dreams tend to be much less vivid or memorable.[
3]
The length of a dream can vary; they may last for a few seconds, or approximatel
y 20 30 minutes.[3] People are more likely to remember the dream if they are awake
ned during the REM phase. The average person has three to five dreams per night,
and some may have up to seven;[4] however, most dreams are immediately or quick
ly forgotten.[5] Dreams tend to last longer as the night progresses. During a fu
ll eight-hour night sleep, most dreams occur in the typical two hours of REM.[6]
In modern times, dreams have been seen as a connection to the unconscious mind.
They range from normal and ordinary to overly surreal and bizarre. Dreams can ha
ve varying natures, such as being frightening, exciting, magical, melancholic, a
dventurous, or sexual. The events in dreams are generally outside the control of
the dreamer, with the exception of lucid dreaming, where the dreamer is self-aw
are.[7] Dreams can at times make a creative thought occur to the person or give
a sense of inspiration.[8]
Opinions about the meaning of dreams have varied and shifted through time and cu
lture. The earliest recorded dreams were acquired from materials dating back app
roximately 5000 years, in Mesopotamia, where they were documented on clay tablet
s. In the Greek and Roman periods, the people believed that dreams were direct m
essages from one and/or multiple deities, from deceased persons, and that they p
redicted the future. Some cultures practiced dream incubation with the intention
of cultivating dreams that are of prophecy.[9]
Sigmund Freud, who developed the discipline of psychoanalysis, wrote extensively
about dream theories and their interpretations in the early 1900s.[10] He expla
ined dreams as manifestations of our deepest desires and anxieties, often relati
ng to repressed childhood memories or obsessions. In The Interpretation of Dream
s (1899), Freud developed a psychological technique to interpret dreams and devi
sed a series of guidelines to understand the symbols and motifs that appear in o
ur dreams.
Ancient history[edit]
The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenou
s Australians for a personal, or group, creation and for what may be understood
as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating.[11]
The Sumerians in Mesopotamia left evidence of dreams dating back to 3100 BC. Acc
ording to these early recorded stories, gods and kings, like the 7th century BC
scholar-king Assurbanipal, paid close attention to dreams. In his archive of cla
y tablets, some accounts of the story of the legendary king Gilgamesh were found
.[12]
The Mesopotamians believed that the soul, or some part of it, moves out from the
body of the sleeping person and actually visits the places and persons the drea
mer sees in their sleep. Sometimes the god of dreams is said to carry the dreame
r.[13] Babylonians and Assyrians divided dreams into "good," which were sent by
the gods, and "bad," sent by demons - They also believed that their dreams were
omens and prophecies.[14]

In ancient Egypt, as far back as 2000 BC, the Egyptians wrote down their dreams
on papyrus. People with vivid and significant dreams were thought blessed and we
re considered special.[15] Ancient Egyptians believed that dreams were like orac
les, bringing messages from the gods. They thought that the best way to receive
divine revelation was through dreaming and thus they would induce (or "incubate"
) dreams. Egyptians would go to sanctuaries and sleep on special "dream beds" in
hope of receiving advice, comfort, or healing from the gods.[16]
Classical history[edit]
Dreaming of the Tiger Spring (????)
In Chinese history, people wrote of two vital aspects of the soul of which one i
s freed from the body during slumber to journey in a dream realm, while the othe
r remained in the body,[17] although this belief and dream interpretation had be
en questioned since early times, such as by the philosopher Wang Chong (27-97).[
17] The Indian text Upanishads, written between 900 and 500 BC, emphasize two me
anings of dreams. The first says that dreams are merely expressions of inner des
ires. The second is the belief of the soul leaving the body and being guided unt
il awakened.
The Greeks shared their beliefs with the Egyptians on how to interpret good and
bad dreams, and the idea of incubating dreams. Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams
, also sent warnings and prophecies to those who slept at shrines and temples. T
he earliest Greek beliefs about dreams were that their gods physically visited t
he dreamers, where they entered through a keyhole, exiting the same way after th
e divine message was given.
Antiphon wrote the first known Greek book on dreams in the 5th century BC. In th
at century, other cultures influenced Greeks to develop the belief that souls le
ft the sleeping body.[18] Hippocrates (469-399 BC) had a simple dream theory: du
ring the day, the soul receives images; during the night, it produces images. Gr
eek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) believed dreams caused physiological acti
vity. He thought dreams could analyze illness and predict diseases. Marcus Tulli
us Cicero, for his part, believed that all dreams are produced by thoughts and c
onversations a dreamer had during the preceding days.[19] Cicero's Somnium Scipi
onis described a lengthy dream vision, which in turn was commented on by Macrobi
us in his Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis.
In Abrahamic religions[edit]
Jacob's dream of a ladder of angels, c. 1690, by Michael Willmann
In Judaism, dreams are considered part of the experience of the world that can b
e interpreted and from which lessons can be garnered. It is discussed in the Tal
mud, Tractate Berachot 55-60.
The ancient Hebrews connected their dreams heavily with their religion, though t
he Hebrews were monotheistic and believed that dreams were the voice of one God
alone. Hebrews also differentiated between good dreams (from God) and bad dreams
(from evil spirits). The Hebrews, like many other ancient cultures, incubated d
reams in order to receive divine revelation. For example, the Hebrew prophet Sam
uel would "lie down and sleep in the temple at Shiloh before the Ark and receive
the word of the Lord." Most of the dreams in the Bible are in the Book of Genes
is.[20]
Christians mostly shared their beliefs with the Hebrews and thought that dreams
were of a supernatural character because the Old Testament includes frequent sto
ries of dreams with divine inspiration. The most famous of these dream stories w
as Jacob's dream of a ladder that stretches from Earth to Heaven. Many Christian
s preach that God can speak to people through their dreams.

Iain R. Edgar has researched the role of dreams in Islam.[21] He has argued that
dreams play an important role in the history of Islam and the lives of Muslims,
since dream interpretation is the only way that Muslims can receive revelations
from God since the death of the last Prophet Mohammed.[22]
In
In
am
er

Asian religions[edit]
the Mandukya Upanishad, part of the Veda scriptures of Indian Hinduism, a dre
is one of three states that the soul experiences during its lifetime, the oth
two states being the waking state and the sleep state.[23]

Dreams and philosophical realism[edit]

Main article: Dream argument
Some philosophers have concluded that what we think of as the "real world" could
be or is an illusion (an idea known as the skeptical hypothesis about ontology)
.
The first recorded mention of the idea was by Zhuangzi, and it is also discussed
in Hinduism, which makes extensive use of the argument in its writings.[24] It
was formally introduced to Western philosophy by Descartes in the 17th century i
n his Meditations on First Philosophy. Stimulus, usually an auditory one, become
s a part of a dream, eventually then awakening the dreamer.
Postclassical and medieval history[edit]
Some Indigenous American tribes and Mexican civilizations believe that dreams ar
e a way of visiting and having contact with their ancestors.[25] Some Native Ame
rican tribes used vision quests as a rite of passage, fasting and praying until
an anticipated guiding dream was received, to be shared with the rest of the tri
be upon their return.[26][27]
The Middle Ages brought a harsh interpretation of dreams. They were seen as evil
, and the images as temptations from the devil. Many believed that during sleep,
the devil could fill the human mind with corrupting and harmful thoughts. Marti
n Luther, founder of Protestantism, believed dreams were the work of the Devil.
However, Catholics such as St. Augustine and St. Jerome claimed that the directi
on of their lives was heavily influenced by their dreams.
In art[edit]
Dreams and dark imaginings are the theme of Goya's etching The Sleep of Reason P
roduces Monsters. Salvador Dal's Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pom
egranate a Second Before Awakening (1944) also investigates this theme through a
bsurd juxtapositions of a nude lady, tigers leaping out of a pomegranate, and a
spider-like elephant walking in the background. Henri Rousseau's last painting w
as The Dream. Le Reve ("The Dream") is a 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso.
In literature[edit]
Further information: Dream world (plot device)
Dream frames were frequently used in medieval allegory to justify the narrative;
The Book of the Duchess[28] and The Vision Concerning Piers Plowman[29] are two
such dream visions. Even before them, in antiquity, the same device had been us
ed by Cicero and Lucian of Samosata.
The Cheshire Cat vanishes in Wonderland.
They have also featured in fantasy and speculative fiction since the 19th centur
y. One of the best-known dream worlds is Wonderland from Lewis Carroll's Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland, as well as Looking-Glass Land from its sequel, Throug
h the Looking-Glass. Unlike many dream worlds, Carroll's logic is like that of a
ctual dreams, with transitions and flexible causality.

Other fictional dream worlds include the Dreamlands of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream C

ycle[30] and The Neverending Story??'?s[31] world of Fantasia, which includes pl
aces like the Desert of Lost Dreams, the Sea of Possibilities and the Swamps of
Sadness. Dreamworlds, shared hallucinations and other alternate realities featur
e in a number of works by Phillip K. Dick, such as The Three Stigmata of Palmer
Eldritch and Ubik. Similar themes were explored by Jorge Luis Borges, for instan
ce in The Circular Ruins.
In popular culture[edit]
Modern popular culture often conceives of dreams, like Freud, as expressions of
the dreamer's deepest fears and desires.[32] The film version of The Wizard of O
z (1939) depicts a full-color dream that causes Dorothy to perceive her black-an
d-white reality and those with whom she shares it in a new way. In films such as
Spellbound (1945), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Field of Dreams (1989), and
Inception (2010), the protagonists must extract vital clues from surreal dreams
.[33]
Most dreams in popular culture are, however, not symbolic, but straightforward a
nd realistic depictions of their dreamer's fears and desires.[33] Dream scenes m
ay be indistinguishable from those set in the dreamer's real world, a narrative
device that undermines the dreamer's and the audience's sense of security[33] an
d allows horror film protagonists, such as those of Carrie (1976), Friday the 13
th (1980) or An American Werewolf in London (1981) to be suddenly attacked by da
rk forces while resting in seemingly safe places.[33]
In speculative fiction, the line between dreams and reality may be blurred even
more in the service of the story.[33] Dreams may be psychically invaded or manip
ulated (Dreamscape, 1984; the Nightmare on Elm Street films, 1984 2010; Inception,
2010) or even come literally true (as in The Lathe of Heaven, 1971). In Ursula
K. Le Guin's book, The Lathe of Heaven (1971), the protagonist finds that his "e
ffective" dreams can retroactively change reality. Peter Weir's 1977 Australian
film The Last Wave makes a simple and straightforward postulate about the premon
itory nature of dreams (from one of his Aboriginal characters) that "... dreams
are the shadow of something real". In Kyell Gold's novel Green Fairy from the Da
ngerous Spirits series, the protagonist, Sol, experiences the memories of a danc
er who died 100 years before through Absinthe induced dreams and after each drea
m something from it materializes into his reality. Such stories play to audience
s' experiences with their own dreams, which feel as real to them.[33]