Two Observations by a Layman About Dreams - Part 1

While dream events may be fantastic, within the dream, the self of the dreamer remains remarkably true to the dreamer's real self. The dreaming self may behave in uncharacteristic ways, but then the dream context is often uncharacteristic. Therefore, the personality of the dreamer—particularly his internal mental life—is usually revealed in his dreams.

Two Observations by a Layman About Dreams - Part 2

Dream-like imaginative flights are pervasive in human experience. While awake, we daydream, free associate and plan. As we fall asleep, we associate in strange ways, often representing one action or thing by other, oddly associated, actions or things. When sleeping, we sometimes dream in narrative-like ways, rejecting plainly illogical associations for a more coherent, realistic dream experience. In all states, a kind of dreaming goes on, of varying degrees of coherence, logic, and realism.

Details

We search for meaning in details. For example, it's difficult to imagine a train station in the abstract, without specific features. The station here—a shadowy, grey, stone vault where oblique columns of light and warmth, indifferent accidents of nature, stream down onto somber travelers far below—is, for the thoughtful viewer, a personal space filled with telling detail: my parents hurry along on the cold station floor—in the 1950s, an era of grimness for me—and I, their sole child, an anxious toddler, brushing against the warm, coarse, familiar fabric of my father's suit, follow with my hand in his. Our trip, a reprieve from the protective confinement of my middle-class home, is a small adventure.

A dream consists of meaningful detail as well, which is essential for describing it. The physical world, our thoughts and associations, and our mood and emotions within the dream come alive in many specific details thoughtfully recorded.

This image of New York's Grand Central Station is from the mediabistro blog UnBeige. Buy the poster.