Recent readings have brought me in touch with a way of thinking about dreams that I hadn't heard of before. The idea is that one function dreams can have is to try to reinforce personally-held beliefs which have been challenged by the day's experiences. For example, think of a small child who's scared of men with big beards. Say that during the day that child meets a really nice, friendly bearded man. The child then dreams of a scary man with a beard, the brain's attempt to insist something like "no, we were right, men with beards ARE scary, see?"
Well, yesterday I had a wonderful time, got to see Dog Show perform, enjoyed myself, had a happy day. Then last night I dreamt that I was a Jew in Nazi Germany, trying to hide and avoid capture, but capture was inevitable. I've had similar dreams before, dreams where I'm in trouble, I'm scared, I'm aware that there are nearly insurmountable obstacles in the shape of powerful forces that are specifically out to get me. Dear brain, I love you, and I'm telling you to shove it.
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