Someone sent me this link to a Time article on dreams. The article is called Why Dreams Mean Less Than We Think, and talks about how we actually give meaning to dreams where there isn't necessarily any. It implies that inferring meaning from dreams is actually an old way of thinking and that the U.S. is only one of three total countries that actually interpret any meaning from our dreams: "According to the study, 74% of Indians, 65% of South Koreans and 56% of Americans hold an old-fashioned Freudian view of dreams: that they are portals into the unconscious." The most infuriating line reads "As I said, we all make dumb choices based on silly information. That's why we invest meaning in dreams." The article tries to state, through the mention of a few studies, that because the brain can be taught to make arbitrary associations with two completely unconnected things, dreams mean nothing (because we are trying to make arbitrary connections from the content of our dreams). I find the argument to be full of holes, and I think the main points don't even really connect with why DREAMS mean nothing, rather they just discuss that the brain can be manipulated, which we knew already.

I firmly believe that almost every dream a person has means something. Our dreams allow us to play out hopes and fears that we either can't or won't express or acknowledge in our waking mind. I dreamt two nights ago that I was back in Prague, visiting Rachel. I walked around the town a bit by myself and came to learn the area a bit. I hadn't booked my flight back to America yet and I was planning on stopping in Spain before I did. My mom came to visit me and she was very sad, and we talked about maybe going to Key West. At the end of the dream she started reading to me from her private diary. She read in English, but it was written in "Hebrew," which I put in quotes because when I looked in the page it was actually musical notes.

You cannot tell me that dream means nothing. I just HAPPENED to dream about Prague and Spain? It couldn't be my subconscious dreaming about how badly I want to go back? The fact that my mom was sad has no relevance? Really? The fact that music was in it (which used to be a big part of my life but now isn't), the fact that Hebrew was in it (I'm trying to go to Israel), and the fact that it was my mom's private thoughts - none of those have any meaning? Give me a break, Time.