The first step in
understanding dreams is to define what we mean by the
word '
dream'. There are many interpretations of this word in the
English language. One set of these meanings include such things as
nightmares,
day dreams,
REM sleep, and
such - these are not the dreams that
I speak of. I am talking of the dreams that belong along with
hopes,
desires,
aspirations,
fantasies and
goals.
First off, a dream is a type of goal, it is a goal that is not
necessarily attainable. "Not necessarily attainable" - What does
that mean? Something that is necessary is within the control of the
dreamer. An example:
When I was working at a company, one of my coworkers was a young Indian
intern, he had three goals in life:
- Become an engineer at the company
- Get married
- Buy a house
When my
contract was up, he had been hired on as an
engineer, as was
expected. He was from a
religiously strict family, and thus had an
arranged marriage in the future. I can only assume that the
purchase of a house is not very difficult for an
engineer (shoot,
I'll be able to in another year, and he had a year head start on
me).
He had no dreams as I define them, he had three goals. Each goal he
can attain if he so desires, and thus they are necessarily attainable.
Nothing prevents him from attaining any of the goals.
So where does that leave dreams? Think to the words we stick after
'dream' - 'dream date', 'dream job',
'dream girl' and others. These are things that
we don't necessarily have control over. A dream job and dream date,
while we may seek and look for them, they may be forever beyond our
reach; even if we do everything correctly in attempting to attain them.
Thus, they are dreams.