Do Human Dreams Have Spiritual Value and Can They Be Interpreted?

Why do we dream? Can our dreams explain a truth or predict a future? Does the concept of 'dream interpretation' in traditional and religious culture have scientific validity? Where does a person go in their dreams? Is there any spiritual aspect to human dreams or what is referred to as 'true dreams'? These are questions that you, the audience of Taboo, have asked us to address in the program. Dr. Taghi Kimiaei Asadi, a specialist in electrical diagnostic medicine and author of the book 'Creation and Evolution of the Brain and Mind,' states that not only is there no spiritual aspect to human dreams, but even Freud's unconscious is no longer a valid concept. He advises not to pay attention to dreams and not to be deceived by various interpretations. In contrast, Dr. Mehrang Khazaei, a psychologist, discusses the importance of dreams, their symbolic nature, and the necessity of paying attention to them. Ms. Khazaei, a question that is good to start with is: what does dreaming signify? What mechanism does it have? As a psychologist, what explanation can you provide in this regard? Mehrang Khazaei: We humans are always captive to the daily factors of life, challenges, and anxieties, and all of these can affect our dreams. In our daily lives, we deal with many matters that occupy our thoughts and affect our emotions. After our bodies are relieved from daily activities and we enter a semi-dormant state and fall asleep, these feelings and thoughts begin to react again. Therefore, the dreams we see are usually a reaction to the thoughts, activities, and feelings we had throughout the day. Dreams are always an inseparable part of our existence. Some are clear, while others come as nightmares. Thus, the role of dreams is to fulfill our desires. Humanity has always sought to understand the interpretation of their dreams and to decipher the secrets of their dreams. Dream interpreters have always linked dream interpretation to predicting the future from ancient times to today, but a psychologist can discover the roots of some inner problems of the present and past from dream interpretation. For example, suppose some individuals dream of the dead and want to know what that means. A dream of the dead does not mean that someone is going to die. In our real lives, when someone dies, we describe it as that person being finished and no longer existing. Therefore, when we dream of the dead, it symbolizes that a problem that has been in our lives is now being removed from our path, and we are no longer worried about it and are leaving it behind. A psychologist must first look at the actual life situation of a person to interpret their dream and then interpret those symbols. For example, water symbolizes energy and emotions. Murky water symbolizes depression. Dr. Kimiaei Asadi, Ms. Khazaei, says that in dreams, what exists can be symbolic. For example, water or murky water or death... each of these symbolizes something and conveys a meaning. Is that so? When we dream, do a series of meanings get produced? Taghi Kimiaei Asadi: Night dreams have four stages in relation to consciousness. One stage occurs just before falling asleep. Ideas appear that can be visual, auditory, tactile, or anything else. This occurs just before a person falls asleep, and because the frontal cortex is not functioning properly and is inactive, this becomes a state of hallucinations. This is usually related to the events and occurrences that occupied a person's mind throughout the day, and after this very short stage, a person enters deep sleep with slow waves where consciousness disappears, and the person remains unaware of the contents of their mind. After about 90 to 120 minutes, the first stage of sleep with fast waves and rapid eye movements occurs, which is accompanied by dreams. This happens five times each night, and this stage occurs more towards morning. The reason we dream relates to the physiology of the brain and is for consolidating events from the past three to four days and older events. During dream sleep, waves rise from the brainstem and stimulate brain networks, effectively consolidating them. Seventy-five percent of our dream contents relate to the three or four days prior, and the rest pertains to distant pasts. At the end of sleep, when the sleep ends and the person is waking up, they experience other hallucinations, known as Hypnopompic Hallucinations, just before fully waking up. The first and last hallucinations are stored in the aden memory, and all the dreams that people report are actually those Hypnopompic Hallucinations that remain in memory. Because it is at this stage that the hippocampus, the center for memory, works and retains the hallucinations created by the brain, allowing the person to later recount them. The function of dream sleep is solely to strengthen brain circuits. Because if the brain circuits do not activate, the contents and memories within them gradually fade away. Mr. Doctor, do these dreams have meaning, and does dream interpretation exist? Kimiaei Asadi: In my opinion, such a thing has no meaning and has been a fabrication throughout history, and all these symbols are fabricated and have no meaning. There are some dreams that are common among humans, such as being chased by an animal or a snake in a dream or falling from a height. These are not symbolic. In fact, they are the fears, anxieties, and joys or sorrows that have naturally settled in our brains throughout history and are activated at night during REM sleep. No one can understand the contents of another's dreams, and dream interpretation is, in fact, completely unscientific. Accessing the meaning of dreams is impossible. An important issue is that the brain, especially the right hemisphere, creates myths, and when these waves I mentioned (pantogeniculo occipital) reach the right hemisphere, the brain begins to create myths and strange stories that have no specific meaning and are, in fact, the confused activity of brain networks. Very well. Ms. Khazaei, perhaps you have a response. Mr. Doctor Kimiaei considers the symbols you spoke of to be fabricated and states that dream interpretation essentially has no meaning and is unscientific. He uses the term hallucination. Do you have an explanation regarding your opinion? Khazaei: You see, Mr. Doctor said that the brain creates myths, and these are the same symbols that have no meaning. Now, if someone dreams of something specific, it is not necessarily always what they see in the image because dreams always speak to us in a very symbolic language, and our semi-conscious mind compares our dreams with objects. For example, in the dream world, a depressed person sees more dreams of darkness and murky water, dark skies, and fires and nightmares. In contrast, happy individuals who are at peace dream of flying or passing through a flower garden and see clear water. Therefore, if someone sees chaotic dreams, it does not mean that these are hallucinations. Dreams are mirrors of the thoughts of our unconscious mind and are directly related to our emotional struggles and inner world. A psychologist, when interpreting dreams, examines these symbols and relates them to the personality and inner problems of an individual. Freud believed that in human lives, nothing happens randomly or by chance. Even our dreams are a result of our motives and unconscious. For example, soldiers continue to dream of war for years after the war ends and still harbor that anger. Well, is this a myth? I want to know what your thoughts are on this matter. In your opinion, is the dream a non-material element and a sign that a spirit has been breathed into humans and that they have a spirit? Khazaei: The phenomenon that exists in our bodies and governs us and gives us the power to think is called the spirit. Some people believe that the spirit, in the sense of a non-material being, does not exist, and what those who believe in the world of meaning refer to as the spirit is, in fact, a series of neural and brain interactions. Therefore, the spirit we are talking about and which religions believe in is the divine spirit that resides in our bodies and is always free, and many challenges arise regarding it. Science can neither prove that the spirit does not exist nor can it prove that it does. Carl Jung says these are characteristics that we inherit from our ancestors and past generations. He said that every human being not only inherits the characteristics of their ancestors but also gains their experiences through heredity. Well, this proves that there is something that can be passed from one generation to another. We can call it 'spirit.' Mr. Doctor Kimiaei, now I return to you. She says that nothing happens randomly and that there is a spirit that, in any case, relates to dreams. Is that so? Kimiaei Asadi: I have repeatedly said that there is no institution, essence, or non-material substance in humans or anywhere in the world, including in dreams. But let me clarify a few points. One is the definition of hallucination. I said that all phenomena created in dreams are called hallucinations. The reason is that whenever there is no external stimulus outside the brain and the brain is producing products with the help of the frontal lobe that reach perception, these create hallucinations. All dreams occur in the three stages I mentioned, which include this definition. Another issue that psychologists should forget is Freud's unconscious. Freud's unconscious is, in fact, the human memory system and nothing more. Even the psyche does not exist separately from the brain. From this, we can conclude that there is no element or essence like the spirit at work. The perceptions that arise, which seem to move from one side of a person to the other, are merely the hallucinations created during sleep with rapid eye movements, and if someone believes that these have a non-physical essence, they must prove how they connect with the brain. This is something that even a philosopher like Descartes struggled with: how the spirit connects with the brain. If you think you have a spirit that travels back and forth at night, you must specify how it connects and why it does not connect during the day and why, when you are asleep, if a thief breaks into your house, this spirit that is around does not inform you? Why does it go to the other side of the world but is unaware of what is happening in your room? Belief in the existence of the spirit or the non-physical nature of dream sleep should be set aside. Freud's dream interpretation was also mostly fabricated. Most of Freud's stories were fabricated, and it later became clear that he created them more than patients actually reported them. Most of the dreams that people report are the contents that remain in their past minds and are later reported. Not only does the spirit not exist, but everything that happens in dreams is entirely physical, and their content can be changed. If you take Benadryl syrup, your dreams become much more pleasant than if you take a pill of Inderal or Propranolol one night. Ms. Khazaei, do you have a response to Mr. Doctor's statements? He believes that even the dreams that people report are often a kind of storytelling they create. Do you have a point to add to the discussion? Khazaei: Mr. Doctor has left us hopeless (laughs). You see, psychologists believe that our conscious mind is like an island that rises from within a sea, and we only see one part of it that is above water, but the vast part where our true self resides is below that water. For example, an anger that has been within me for 20 years can be refreshed by seeing a similar face. Or the face of a bully who bothered me in my childhood can appear in my dream and create anxiety in me. Now I will give you an example. A woman among my patients said that she dreamed she was going home, and suddenly a wolf attacked her and sank its claws into her back, and she woke up in terror not knowing what to do and how to escape from this wolf. In the psychoanalytic session, I realized that this woman is suffering from a serious illness, and that wolf that attacked her in the dream and sank its claws into her back symbolizes this illness in her unconscious mind, which she does not know how to escape from. Therefore, our anxieties manifest themselves in dreams in the form of these symbols. Not everything about humans is physical. Now, biologists believe that in DNA or the element that makes up our genes, there is something that is called the force of attraction to the future. If everything about us is physical, where does this power of thought come from? What power exists in the sperm and egg that determines what state I will be in during puberty, when my wrinkles will begin, when my hair will turn white, and when my death will occur? Why do I not have the ability to resist these changes and am merely a spectator?