On Dreams

 Dreams and their superficial undertones. Let's kill those two elusive birds with one stone - logic.

You see, with dreams, you don't need an expert to bombard you with psychological jargon or 'devoted' Christians to blow your world out of proportion by mistaking your dreams for doomsday. All you need to do is study your own dreams over the years. 

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, that's because it is.

Our aim in trying to understand our dreams is to lead a somewhat easier life. I don't suppose there is any noble end that we are running towards here.

Dreams happen for a few simple reasons. First, when we are overexcited about something in real life, our subconscious takes note and decides to relive those moments when we are asleep. These are mostly good dreams.

Second, when we are trying to suppress something, perhaps a traumatic experience. When those thoughts want to sprout into their full realization but are trimmed by the sharp knife that is our conscious faculty, well, they have no choice but to attack at our weakest. Those are the nasty dreams, those that cause us to crave their meanings. 

And last but not least, the dreams that just come. Most of them we'll forget. I call them the useless ones - I am not an expert, so don't take my word for it.

I have to agree, the compulsion to understand what our dreams mean is overwhelming, especially if they are the recurring ones. But the truth of the matter is that nobody will help you, not in the way you imagine anyway.

Circling back to my promise to you of murdering the two birds using logic. Most things in life can be explained by logic to a sufficient degree. Of course, there is the element of uncertainty, but we can work around it. I prefer 60% certainty to the seductive 90% probability. Or even 20% certainty.

It is very tempting to maneuver situations in life using superstitions and 'hope,' which is just a fancy word for supernatural intervention. But it doesn't have to be that way, and here's why that kind of thinking and execution makes things very dangerous: by way of exponential expansion, stacking one uncertainty upon another upon another causes the whole to appear precise, but when put to the test, it is a shitty plan.

Let's follow the dream trail. As I had mentioned earlier, all we need are our dreams and a little logic. Some dreams used to recur constantly for you ten years ago. At that moment, you were struck with grief, uncertainty, and fear. Maybe you thought it had a deeper meaning. If you are a religious person, you must have approached your pastor or just told... someone. It was easier that way. You didn't get much help other than the shoulder pats and some prayers. Weeks eloped into months, into years, and now here we are. To what extent did any of your dreams ever come true? Somewhere near the starting point of the spectrum, I'm sure.

And before you claim that God gives you visions, let me stop you right there. If I predict the future ten times, and only two of those predictions actually come to pass, am I really gifted? Or was I just lucky? A 20% success rate in something doesn't make anyone an expert; hell, even students won't pass with 20%. So, let me destroy that boat before it even leaves the dock.

What I'm trying really hard, with minimal success, to say here is that dreams don't hold the major weight that religious texts accord them. In a mythical world, sure. But in the real world, not to my knowledge. 

They are just your imaginations breaking free of your constant interruptions and tetherings, and sometimes, when they're feeling generous, they will make you smile. But when they are feeling cheeky...