The final frontier may not wind up being space; it may be dreams. Although many theories about dreams are touted, nobody really knows whether dreams have any actual meaning.
Significance
The significance of dreams resides in the fact every mammal dreams. They dream because they enter into the stage of sleep necessary to do so. This stage is known as rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep.
Function
The function of dreams comes down to a physiological state that takes place during REM sleep that manages to produce what are ultimately auditory and visual hallucinations. A dream is a product of the brain that is no different than a hallucination that is produced by a drug like LSD or sensory deprivation.
Effects
The effect of a dream on the body is no different than if the body were actually experiencing what is taking place. In other words, they can also be felt. If a person dreams that he is being chased, the heart begins pumping blood and releasing adrenaline. If the dream is sexual in nature, both men and women are actually capable of sleeping through an orgasm.
Identification
The process by which dreams are produced by the brain has become far less of a mystery, while the reason that dreams exist is as elusive as ever. Sigmund Freud identified dreams as containing coded subconscious messages that act as a puzzle toward coming to an understanding of repressed desires. All examples of dream interpretation as hidden symbols can be traced to Freud's theory of psychoanalysis.
History
Dreams have historically been related to prophecy. The Bible contains many episodes in which dreams contained the power of prophecy, as in the Book of Daniel. In addition, almost everyone has a story in which the episodes of a certain dream appeared to come true. Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his own death just days before his assassination.
Misconceptions
The single greatest misconception about dreams persists as almost an urban legend: If a person dies while she is dreaming, she will actually die in her sleep.
Potential
Even if dreams cannot actually foretell the future, dreams have been known to inspire future events. The Gothic masterpiece "Frankenstein" was conceived by Mary Shelley after a dream. Dream imagery is represented in the works of surrealist painters like Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. Paul McCartney has claimed that his classic song "Yesterday" came to him in a dream.
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