Determining the Purpose and Types of Dreams
Through the ages dreams have held the fascination of people from all walks of life. Why? For the same reason you opened this book. Deep inside we know dreams to be an integral part of who we are, a legend of where we have been, and a map toward what we may yet become. This chapter deals with dreams and the purpose behind them.

Why We Dream
Why we dream is not the most exciting part of dream work. I admit it is the opening of most dream books, and the paragraphs are most likely to be skimmed while the reader thinks blah, blah, blah, get to the good stuff already. But this book is the type where if you miss one part, later on when the plot thickens you may find yourself rewinding. To save you some time, please stay with me.

Why we dream is a question never fully answered. Laboratory tests show that without sleep for prolonged periods humans become disoriented, slow witted, agitated and depressed. When participants are finally able to sleep, they immediately go into the dream phase of sleep and remained there for a prolonged period of time. This shows that not only is sleep essential to our well being, but the process of dreaming is also essential. Many theories have been formed as to why we need dreams. Some believe we dream to exercise the brain. Others believe we dream in order to keep the mind occupied while our body restores itself. Yet to our earlier ancestors the answer would have seemed obvious.

Temples were erected to help spiritual seekers find solace and answers to life's quests through the dream world. Futures were seen and taken seriously. Dreams held a place in the lives and hearts of humankind. Then came the age of discounting our ancestor's ways as silly superstitions belonging to less advanced cultures. This reduced dreams to nonsensical images of our sleep. Yet still we dreamed. In modern times we exhumed dreams only to view them as if they were dirty little secrets. In fact Freud, although contributing much to the area of dream research, made his very best attempt to make them just that. We lost touch with the meaning of dreams and beat them to death with a big logic stick, looking for meaning in books which insisted on certain interpretations; "this means this, and that's that.' Once again interpreters were sought after, this time from the comfort of the couch as we probed deeper into why we think and act the way we do.

Then came the resurgence of the deeper meaning of dreams; the renaissance moved beyond serving as a tool for psychotherapy and we gradually began to gravitate to a new exciting perspective, taking dreams to higher levels of comprehension. We saw a recent resurfacing of the concept of mixing dreams with spirituality. And once again, everything old was new again.
Since we are now beginning to see ourselves as connected, spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally, it becomes easier to see how dreams reflect the same holistic model. As a result of the information age and our newfound understanding of the importance of dreams, a demand to demystify the process began. Spiritual-based dream books hit the market encouraging people to see and hear the meaning of their dreams for themselves.

Even with this approach, it is still entirely possible we may never know the full extent of why we dream. We do however know a few things about dreams. From modern technology we now know there are three fluctuating levels of sleep (commonly mistaken for four when including Beta which is a state of wakefulness, not a stage of sleep at all). The three actual stages of sleep are:
1. Alpha - The state between sleep and wakefulness also achieved through meditation and said to be ideal for experimenting with extra sensory perception (which we will be exploring in a later chapter).
2. Theta - Light sleep where most dreams occur.
3. Delta - Heavy sleep where SEM (slow eye movement) or NREM (non-Rapid eye movement) occurs.

Types of Dreams
As important as it is to have this measurable information, the meaning of dreams still tugs at our hearts, making it apparent that, from the oddly bizarre to the dreadfully mundane, all dreams serve a purpose. To find the purpose of dreams we first need to conceptualize what it is dreams do. Dreams fall into one of four categories. Each category has its own purpose and can often overlap with others within a given dream.

1. Processing - Processing dreams examine, sort and classify real-life events, to make it easier for us to handle circumstances and interactions with others. They are the brain's way of processing what happens to us during our waking hours. These dreams often appear jumbled, abstract, and parable like, and seem to jump from scene to scene without any apparent connection.
2. Anxiety - Anxiety dreams are the body's way of relieving stress through dreaming about imminent dangers, problems or conflicts. We do this in order to create a safe outlet for releasing anxiety and stress.
3. Fantasy - Fantasy dreams play an important role in creating mirror images of hidden thoughts, where feelings and desires paint pictures of what we would like to see come true. Through this type of dream, we derive feelings of wellbeing, accomplishment and pleasure that may otherwise be lacking in our lives.
4. Inspirational - Inspirational dreams are messages transferred to us by our higher power to further our soul's journey.

Determining your Dream Type
Knowing which category your dream falls under is the first step to interpreting dreams. Determining the type of dream you had makes it easier to understand what a dream is trying to say. So how do we go about getting past this first hurdle? It actually seems harder than it is, and all hinges on something with which you and I are very familiar. How easily you determine your dream type has to do with how in touch you are with your emotions. It is amazingly easy once you get the hang of it. It all has to do with how the dream made you feel.

Some symbols are easier to pick up on then others, such as dreams about being pregnant, or giving birth are almost always signs of new creative beginnings; these therefore are classified as inspirational. Other symbols are not so easy to interpret without classifying. For example: the symbol of a person dancing would be interpreted quite differently in each of the following types of dreams. If the image appeared in a processing dream, it could simply be a reproduction of an image you saw on TV or something that ties in with an event your mind is trying to reckon with. In this case the image would take on a curious feel. If the same image appeared in an anxiety dream, the connotation would be much different, taking on an almost horror-movie type feel. Now if the dream were a fantasy dream the dancer would probably end up looking more like Brad Pitt or Sharon Stone. Then again, if the dream was inspirational in nature, a freeing feeling would be with you as the dance symbolized the dance of life or some such deep meaning resonating with you and leaving little room for outside interpretation.

As you can see, if you are not able to determine the area your dream fits under it is easy to get mixed up and come up with a wild interpretation not fitting the dream or the dreamer at all. Here is where logic comes into play. Like any decision in life, determining your dream type is best made with a blend of logic and emotion. There needs to be a basis for acting upon what you believe the dream is telling you, especially when it comes to inspirational dreams. After all, the "I dreamed it therefore it must be revelation" attitude can be a messy business. So before we get any further I would just like to clarify a few things. Inspirational dreams can mean a great many things to different people, and whether I or someone else interprets your dream or it is self interpreted, a level of responsibility still lies with the dreamer. People have done crazy and horrifying things in the name of inspiration and even for dreams believed to be messages from above (which unfortunately makes it necessary to have to mention this at all), but if for any reason you believe you are God's chosen or feel the need to strap on your tennis shoes to join an alien race in the night or think your dog is part of the CIA, for gosh sakes close the book and see a therapist-I wish you all the best.

Now for those of us who can distinguish reality from fantasy lets continue. I have never had an inspirational dream steer me wrong, but some dreams can be misinterpreted as inspirational. I once had a very convincing dream I had cancer. I don't have cancer but I did fear it for a few years after my mother passed away from the disease. The dream bothered me so much, I went for a physical, which turned out just fine. If I had insisted, however, the dream was inspirational I would still be running from doctor to doctor in attempts to find this nonexistent cancer. Because I checked the dream with reality by going for a physical I was able to determine the dream to be an anxiety dream and not an inspirational dream at all.

The guidelines for determining whether a dream is inspirational or not are simple, yet important. First check the dream with reality. Do what you have to do to find out if, in fact, there is a basis for the dream in your waking world; if there isn't, let it go. The second word of advice is to measure it against your own moral code. If the dream is asking you to do harm to yourself or put others in jeopardy financially, mentally, physically or emotionally then chances are you are misinterpreting the dream. True inspirational dreams occur to improve your life and the life of those around you and will in no way do harm. With that aside, let's move on with the next step-extracting the who, what, when, and where of dreams.