Why Do People Dream
By: Steve | Posted: 25th July 2008
All species of animals dream in one form or another. These dreams have more than one purpose, as do many things in the natural world. One reason is partially understood by today's researchers and psychologists. The second bigger reason is unknown in the modern world. Read on to learn this secret information.
Dreams Provide Therapy The first purpose dreams in to resolve internal issues. Dreams provide us with our own internal therapist. A simple example is how dreams help us overcome fear so we can survive: Imagine primitive man starting to spread out around the world. He had a limited understanding of how the world worked and limited language skills to transmit the things he did understand to others. A mechanism was required so that this man could overcome his fear and spread life across the planet. Primitive man might have been afraid of thunder storms or large mammals or complete immersion in water. But he needed to overcome his fears so he could feed his family and the species could continue to survive. He could not be paralyzed by fear. During sleep, dreams show us these fearful experiences over and over again. Through this repeated exposure, our brain becomes acclimatized to the object of fear, and so the fear is lessened. The next time we are faced with the same situation, we are better able to deal with it. These therapy dreams are predominately during the rapid eye movement (REM) portion of sleep and are the dreams we most often remember after waking. To understand the larger purpose of dreams we are going to have to take a small detour: Delta Brain Wave Activity during Sleep For more than 30 years, researchers have used a device measure people's brain activity during different actions such as solving puzzles, meditating and sleeping. This device is called an EEG and it measures the electrical activity of the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp. There is normally a single overriding brain wave frequency. Researchers have divided this frequency measured by the machine into several categories and given each category a name. When people are awake and active the main measured frequency is in the 12 to 30 Hz range, called the Beta region. With eyes closed and very relaxed, the measured brainwave frequency slows down to 8 to 12 Hz, called the Alpha region. The Delta region has a main brain wave of less than 3 Hz. This occurs during slow-wave sleep (SWS). In SWS, we have some dreams but much less than during REM seep. People will reach the Delta region on average after four to five hours of sleep. Most people do not remember their dreams that occur during SWS. Delta Brain Wave Activity during Meditation When the same EEGs are on Yogi Masters during meditation, their brain waves will slow down further. Sometimes they will slow down all the way to the Delta region. But these Yogi Masters are not asleep; they are having profound meditations. Some modern meditation music uses a technique called binaural audio combined with headphones to help people reach the same state. The Secret Purpose of Dreams The Planet Earth is a living thinking organism. The name Gaia is often used to describe the Earth it in this context. The Gaia consciousness is very different than human consciousness because is composed entirely of energy. Humans are the central nervous system of this organism. We collect the data and transmit it to the collective. As people, our experiences reach our brains from our five senses. When we touch something with our hands, the nerves carry the sensation from the skin to the brain. The brain gathers the data. The data is in an electro-chemical format as it transmits to the brain. As people crawl and walk and drive around the planet, we collect experiences. There is a mechanism to transmit those experiences to the Gaia consciousness every day. The conduit between our consciousness and the collective consciousness open during sleep when Delta brain waves are present. The same brain wave state of mind that mystics reach during meditation. The daily experiences transmitted to the collective as pure energy, similar to the way a Wi-Fi system works for a computer. From Wikipedia, "After sleep deprivation there is usually a sharp rebound of SWS, suggesting there is a "need" for this stage. The major factor determining how much slow-wave sleep is observed in a given sleep period is the duration of preceding wakefulness." The purpose for this is not yet known by science. I suggest the purpose is that we must fulfill our role for the planet, transmitting our experiences to the collective. For more information, see the Higher Balance website.
About the Author
Occupation: Electical Engineer
Steve has studied and practiced the techniques and knowledge from Higher Balance Institute for over 3 years. He has also attended numerous Higher Balance retreats and received one-on-one training from Eric Pepin several times.
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Tags: many things, puzzles, fears, psychologists, language skills, rapid eye movement, electrodes, immersion, primitive man, secret information, brain activity, one reason, mammals, electrical activity, eeg