Dreams Are Made Of This

What are dreams made of? Longings of the heart and mind, a way to touch the scared or simply the remains of an undigested meal. Possibly none or all of these. The speculations of the purpose of why we dream is an ongoing debate. But, I hardly think our fascination with our dreams will ever be put aside. After all, when was the last time you woke up and said, “You’ll never believed what I dreamt last night?”

The narrator of the film for PBS, “What are Dreams” asks, “They can be bewildering, terrifying, inspiring, but do they mean anything? Are dreams the nonsensical byproduct of a sleeping brain or a window into our unconscious mind, rich with revelations?”

In the PBS documentary, Deirdre Barrett said, (Harvard Medical School): “Dreams have been responsible for two Nobel prizes, the invention of a couple of major drugs, and innumerable novels, films and works of visual art.”

So, that’s a clear vote for the benefit of dreams. I’ve read and heard from other writers that solutions to story problems are sometimes solved in their dreams. Just the word itself, conjures up visions of possibilities, don’t you think?

Here’s the link for the transcript of the PBS film, “What are Dreams.”

Of course there is the other side of dreams. Nightmares. Have any lately?

Till next time,
Elizabeth