Dreams

Everyone dreams. Young, old, rich poor, American or not, dreaming is a part of the human condition. Since men became capable of thinking, they began dreaming. But when they began dreaming, they also were troubled by it. Why do I dream? What do my dreams mean? These are the questions they asked. Thousands of years before the field of psychology developed, these questions were discussed and debated. They still are. In this paper, I will …

…just as frightened and disoriented when a nightmare is over, it is just as hard now as then to understand the experience. At least then, there was only one view of their meaning. Now there are many, and the theories compete with each other. While we seem more mystified than ever as to the causes of dreams and how to make sense of them, it is just as exciting to try and figure them out.