Maybe when you fall asleep .. you unplug from this ether and plug into another ...an alternative reality if you will ... perhaps ...

dreams are about your brain relaxing but ticking over which manifests itself in dreams. everyone dreams every time they sleep.

Some say that dreams are our brains categorising, filing, storing our experiences of the day. And that we always dream but don't always remember them.

My first college degree was in Mathematics and I have had a few dreams where I am traveling in a three dimensional spiral.

Most of the dreams I am able to remember are involving my dogs, and typically it's about them getting irretrievably lost, hit by cars, or otherwise harmed. I take these as cautionary messages from my subconscious to be mindful and watchful for their welfare when they're outside or we're walking near busy streets. I suppose those dreams emanate from my fear of losing them.

We've had quite a few posts on dreams-you should check them out.

I wonder about bears? I mean all that rack time. I bet they dream on & on about of all that honey, fishes and all those pretty sows they sowed.

I think dreams have a biological purpose, probably involving memory. As far as the meaning of a dream is concerned, yes they can give you insights but their meaning is similar to a rebus, it is not straight forward as in a syllogism.

I don't think its a survival mechanism. Many people take medications to suppress their dreams and they are living much happier lives as a result. Night terrors (really bad nightmares) can be so disturbing that they drive a person to suicide, one of my best friends died in this way.

It's been pretty well demonstrated that our subconscious / unconscious is far more influential and active than most people realize, and it deals in symbols. Dreams are highly symbolic manifestations of what is occupying the subconscious mind -- as the conscious mind is not at the forefront during sleep. Or that's the general idea anyway. Google "dream dictionary" for several sites that discuss the POSSIBLE meanings of various dream imagery. Don't take it too seriously because I think it's rather individual and contextual. Most of the theory of dream interpretation originated with Carl Jung, one of Freud's rogue students.

I don't remember most of what I dream. However, the zombie nightmare comes around every few months or so. I have no idea what that means, other than I hate zombies. "Night of the Living Dead" ruined me for life. I saw it when I was probably about 9 or 10. I'm not kidding about how bad it fucked me up.