This is Part One of a series exploring the science and philosophy of dreams, written by first time contributor Victoria Collins. Although a dream is defined as ‘a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep’, most would agree that they are so much more. We have heard of many unusual things about dreams and some very interesting theories about their origins, many of which we will explore in this series.
We often hear of dreams which people have had and then days later, they realize that they have a moment of recognition – a moment from their dream. These sensations known as déjà vu are often thought to be prophetic dreams. In a prophetic dream, you “see” the future through your dream. It is difficult to determine that a dream is prophetic because we can only confirm such a dream after it has taken place. Even then, we only hear of the success stories; there are so many other dreams that do not come true. Thus, a prophetic dream is likely just a pure coincidence
Another idea that is also likely is that you are remembering a memory and repeating what you did. This idea is in fact supported by science: ‘Dreams don’t reflect an attempt by the brain to create an exact memory of what happened, but rather an attempt to put a new memory in context of existing knowledge.’ Does that mean that the brain subconsciously ponders about the ‘what if’? That answer is up to each person to decide for themselves. Have you ever had a seemingly prophetic dream? Let us know below!
