Ananya+Subramaniam+2014

Dreams

To dream. To be submerged in an, at times, cacophonous world comprised of unreal mixtures of light and sound and color. Reality is conceived by the inner mind, over which there is no control. And the immersion of the individual within the dream can be so deep as to alter their perception of the real world once they awake. Sleep cradles the mind, but dreams excite it. They bring it alive. And to dream is to create a world to which no one else has access, no one else has power. For everything is yours, and of your conception. The changes that occur in dreams could reflect your inner wishes and have the ability to help you realize the true extent of your beliefs. Or they could be useless, meaningless, a place for all deep thoughts to die. To dream.

But why do dreams occur? Are they a manifestation of years of pointless toil, heartbreak, and suffering? Or are they simply a subconscious running-free of the mind, in which all is let loose to take its own nonsensical course? Some dreams have the power to be tear-jerkingly moving, or heart-stoppingly intense, whereas others simply twist and turn in confusing ways, blurring together all the events in a person’s life into some convoluted version of reality. People, places, and events that are a part of everyday life are mixed into a strange reality that often follows the person after they wake up. Disputes can arise over what someone did to someone else in a dream, which realistically makes no sense. In this way, the world is unbelievably uncontrollable. The actions that someone else has imagined during their sleep can affect their day to day life.

And what about the meaningful dreams? Those that prove emotions, or stir up feelings, or reveal hidden truths. The dreams that serve to elucidate life and its daily ups and downs are the most valuable dreams. The loss of someone in a dream can prove to a person how much they truly love them. And the realisticness of it all can cause them to awake in tears. Dreams can reveal inner truths or even lead to the uncovering secrets. For in dreams, a person’s consciousness is lost, and they are made a viewer of their buried thoughts, those that they hope not to surface. The dreamer simply sits by as their deepest thoughts are at play, and can be enlightened by this experience. The world is no longer under their control, and neither are their thougths. This can be the single force that changes their perception of the world when they wake up. For when they awake, their ideas may be different, their thoguhts may be different, their emotions may be different. When they awake, they face a new world, free from the idealism of their dreams. When they awake, reality awaits.