Well if my wife is to be believed, she is studying Shamanism and
they teach you have a special animal spirit "guide"
and this animal shows up in your dreams sometimes and you
are supposed to interpret this with a differant aspect for each animal.
I am not buying into it much but thats one version of why we dream.
Originally posted by sonhouseSounds right to me, SH. I'll ask the raccoons tonight after I go to sleep.
Well if my wife is to be believed, she is studying Shamanism and
they teach you have a special animal spirit "guide"
and this animal shows up in your dreams sometimes and you
are supposed to interpret this with a differant aspect for each animal.
I am not buying into it much but thats one version of why we dream.
When people are starved of sleep they begin to hallucinate. This would imply that sleep is involved in the integrity of consciousness and perception maybe. The ability to discern the real from the imaginary.
Maybe just as with the yin and yang there needs to be a bit of reality in dreams and vice versa for us to function.
I'm intrigued why the representation of animals is so specific and so constant in our dreams. some examples below
Bear
To dream that you are being pursued or attacked by a bear, denotes aggression, overwhelming obstacles and competition. You may find yourself in a threatening situation.
Cat
To see a cat in your dream, signifies much misfortune, treachery, and bad luck. However, for the cat lover, cats signifies an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power. If the cat is aggressive, then it suggests that you are having problems with the feminine aspect of yourself.
The interpretations are very specific and seem to work. It must be some kind of throw back to our ancestoral days when language was limited but we were still required to remember concepts.
Originally posted by oddbobI have no clue. But i won't be a bit surprised if it doesn't have something to do with just running "Compact and Repair" and disk defrag each day as part of the normal maintainance of the mind.
How do the symbolisms of of our dreams fit into our waking lives?
Why is there a common animal symbolism attached and what advantage does this give us in our lives??
What evidence can I offer? Well.... if we deprive people of their "dream state" they do go totally and sometimes irretrievably crazy. That seems to indicate a required function. Also... maybe we have it backwards. Maybe we don't dream while we are asleep. Maybe we sleep so we can dream. Though economy of utility probably says that they are part and parcel of the deal we struck with god on this consciousness thing.
"God. Are you there?"
"Yes eve. I'm here."
"Don't take me wrong God. Adam is cute. Really. And I like him
to pick berries for me... but he is just sooo..."
"Vaccuous?" God asks.
"Yes! That's it. Can't we do something with him? Just to sort
of 'perk' him up a bit? I get sooo tired of him farting into the
fire and laughing. Ya know."
"Yes, Eve. I know." a moment passes. "Tell you what. I can
make him a bit more interesting, but I don't want to burn out
that brain. What say we make him interesting for a few hours
at a time each day? Will that work?"
"Oh yes God. Thank you, thank you, thank you." she shrieked.
"Now if there was just a Mall about?...."
God was silent for a moment then "Don't press your luck Girl!!!"
ahemm....