Dreaming: A Gateway to the Unconscious?

Question

Last night, I had a dream that my deceased sister called me on the phone. I knew that she was dead, and wondered how she had managed it. If I were religious, I would take this as a sign that she was trying to contact me from the beyond.

However, I am sure that dreams helped institute beliefs in an afterlife. Our far, far distant ancestors dreamed and, no doubt, they also dreamed of their loved ones. How did they reconcile the knowledge of death with the dreams? Were their loved ones still alive . . . Someplace?

This idea is not original with me as a friend of mine defined this as when humans began to have abstract ideas in our early days; he did not connect it with religion, though. However, I have never read anything academic about it.

Gwendolyn2018 9

Answer 1

Not long ago I had a similar dream. I got a telephone call from my uncle, who died 14 years ago. I don't remember what he said to me. I just remember thinking that he could not be calling me because he was dead. Then I realized that I was dead. I could walk in the air and I started singing the theme song from that TV show where the guy became a superhero when he wore a red suit. Then I tried walking on water so I went to a swimming pool. The Flipper showed up and I started singing that theme song.

It was actually a pretty happy dream. But it had nothing to do with anything. Dreams are random. They are a nightly garbage collector where your brain does maintenance on your neural network. Weird connections like that happen. Somehow this one connected dead uncles to old TV shows.

Answer 2

The Dream-time myth.
[aboriginaldreamtime.com.au]

Answer 3

Perhaps you find this interesting :

Dreaming: A Gateway to the Unconscious?

Answer 4

Are you sure your dream was last night, and not this morning?

Answer 5

Dreams especially vivid dreams are the minds way of dealing with grief. It is reasonable that those who have been religious all their lives would describe their dreams as proof of an afterlife and I believe that religions have taken advantage by promoting that falsehood.

Answer 6

Your hypothesis is as good as any I have heard.

Answer 7

I sometimes dream about things happening. When I wake up and check it is always as in my dreams.

Answer 8

I agree that much of this is simple wish fulfillment of wanting the loved one to be OK in another place and this goes into religion. I have had similar dreams and experiences. A friend of mine was once worried about his dead nephew until the man finally appeared at his bedside one night and told him he was alright. Everything was OK, he said. Many accuse me of believing that the dead appear to the living when I tell this. The truth is that my friend needed this experience. The appearance had nothing to do with the dead nephew.

Answer 9

After my father hung himself I dreamed that he had survived and apologised to me when he got home. I don't know if it was him contacting me from the Beyond or just my mind trying to appease my trauma.


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