In my humble opinion, if a dream is repetition & elaboration on the daily human activities of the person then there is no need for interpretation. When the dream is unexpected or contains a set of new sights & new unusual talking or activities, then I shall look for an interpretation at least out of curiosity. Some dreams come in a way which gives future cases: you see a dream today & it becomes a reality may be after few years. It is amazing how we humans function & the final answers have not arrived yet by all means of science & technology. 

How often research results are biased because of privacy reasons, e.g. humans do not want to talk about it? For instance, would dream-based networks be revealed when people would provide their private mental data base to others?

There are thousands of publications dealing with mechanisms provoking dreams and reasons why dreams exist, but how much remains hidden/biased, e.g. in the framework dream exchange in social communication networks at different spatial-temporal scales?

If dream exchange between beings is a form of mental communication, does it reflect work or pleasure/leisure?

The idea to "memorize" our daily experience as an unexplored stock of data is brilliant, but very hard to put in practice. The problem is WE do not know what is constantly "passing though" our heads even when we are awake, left alone when we are dreaming. Try to REMEMBER a dream you just had when you awake... You KNOW that you are unable to put it in words. Alfred Schutz used to point to it to show what passing from one "finite province of reality" to another is about.

Well, in fact it is all about exploring "thematization", that is, exploring the process of passing from "what is going on inside our heads" to the explicit, word-shaped way of thinking. Late Husserl explored it (e.g. in "Erfahung und Urteil"), Heidegger made of it a kind of new mythology in his Sein und Zeit. Today - nobody cares. Nobody explores the subject. At least officially.

In my humble opinion, if a dream is repetition & elaboration on the daily human activities of the person then there is no need for interpretation. When the dream is unexpected or contains a set of new sights & new unusual talking or activities, then I shall look for an interpretation at least out of curiosity. Some dreams come in a way which gives future cases: you see a dream today & it becomes a reality may be after few years. It is amazing how we humans function & the final answers have not arrived yet by all means of science & technology. 

Very nicely said Dr. Nizar,

Dream interpretation is still a controversial issue. The majority believe that these interpretations are real. As far as I know that dream interpretations have no scientific evidence to support their conclusions upon. They can be as valuable tools for understanding messages from the unconscious mind.

The amazing thing is that the phenomenon massively occurs at any time all over the world, that every citizen can have/has dream experiences, but that the topic remains a controversial issue from a scientific point of view.

If scientists would never dream themselves, would they believe what the citizens in general tell about dreams?

If capacities to dream have been selected by Darwinian selection or an other kind of selection process, why are these capacities considered as by-products of (other) mental activities/experiences?

Is dreaming like a form of mental leisure (cf. watching a movie) aimed to motivate people to take a brake/sleep/pause?

Do dreams simulate potential future environments, e.g. the better confront/anticipate the future?

What is the relationship between day-length and dream patterns? Does dreaming reflect seasonal patterns?

Proximate explanation: Longer (summer) days implies more visual input during the day reflected in more dream images at night?

Ultimate explanation: Shorter (winter) days induce more intense dreaming  to stimulate/promote sleep, e.g. people wish to re-experience a nice dream and therefore wish to continue sleeping?

Is it possible that dreams mentally connect people from distant places?

Dear @Marcel, in order to enrich the discussion, I am bringing two good papers about dreams!

Article Measuring consciousness in dreams: The lucidity and consciou...

Article Dreams and dreaming among the elderly: An overview

We had some discussions previously in the field of dreams! Maybe this will bring some more answers!

Dear friends, please, have a look in RG activity: Can we experience smell in our #dreams!?

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_cant_we_easily_remember_our_dreams_Why_can_we_remember_the_last_nights_dream_better_during_falling_asleep

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_do_you_interpret_the_flying_dreams/1

https://twitter.com/researchgate/status/471569660329349120

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27590756

This is an interesting question with many possible answers.

I remember from my undergraduate studies Aristotle's essay "On Dreams", which is available at

http://www.bhcc.mass.edu/media/03-documents/On-Dreams-by-Aristotle.pdf

Aristotle is helpful because he is matter-of-fact.   He starts by eliminating sense-perception when we dream.   He provides a scientific view of dreams (Part 2, starting on page 3 in the pdf file).    Even when an external object is no longer in the field of vision, impressions made by a perceived object persist (in memory).   And our dreams tend to consist of remembrance of things past or reconstructions what we have observed at some time in the past.   In terms of mathematics, it is common for those that work with problems (e.g., how to prove a theorem) to work through the solution during sleep.   Voila!   We wake up and have arrived at a solution to a problem.

Dream can be a clue of what one is feeling as fear, anxiety, anger. But other considerations as dreams can tell us what is going to happen in the future does not appear to be trustworthy at all.

I am Strongly agree answer of Dr. Nizar Matar.

There are some classics already published on this topic:

There were some more works that I had read long ago when I was studying psychoanalysis. As I am a control engineer, this is out of my domain. The suggested books may be a good starter for those who like to learn more on dreams.

@Ljubomir. Dreaming and aging

I occasionally had impressive dreams/visions when young, with an exponential increase from 45 years old onwards.

Are relationships between age and dreaming patterns individual-specific/age-specific/gender-specific/... Are people from some age classes more inclined to talk about it than people from other age-classes?

Dreams can show human deepest thoughts. Using dream interpretation to explore dream symbols and learn a dream's meaning can perhaps lead to understanding ourselves better. There are many books written and many free online dream interpretation sites with dreams searchable easily as they say.

If dreaming is a personaly experience increasing with age, e.g. individual-specific and adjusted to unique local conditions, what can books learn us about the topic?

Do you think that Freud/Jung et al. had access to (reliable) data dealing with dream communication at the population level, e.g active simultaneous dream sharing in social communication networks, e.g. like different dreamers simultaneously watching/experiencing the same dream or dream-based telepathy?

I think dreams reflect personality, some people dream daily life events, some dream and willing to make their dreams possible, some dream of their angst, and so on.

The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind (Sigmund Freud)

After Freud:

What is the relationship between perceived screen images (computer, television that emit energy waves during observation, etc..) and dream expression?

Is the level of mental focus during observation during the day reflected in what kind of dreams will be expressed? Is mental focus higher towards a made-made screen than towards another environment, also having consequences for dream expression, e.g. people dream more or less when they watch a screen more or less?

The important thing is under what conditions we are dreaming and under what we do not. I quote frm wiki:

"Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, as well as a subject of philosophical and religious interest, throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology.

Dreams mainly occur in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep—when brain activity is high and resembles that of being awake. REM sleep is revealed by continuous movements of the eyes during sleep. At times, dreams may occur during other stages of sleep. However, these dreams tend to be much less vivid or memorable.

@Costas Dreams that occur involuntary in the mind

Some people claim they can decide what to dream, i.e. they become an active actor in a dream.

I think that dreams are involuntarily images, emotions, events etc...  some could be from a self or personal behavior results from emotions or problems or wishes Some others could be the  unconscious part of mind resolution of problems (as in mathematics or in science) as part of a continuous thinking process on the subject. And  very few could have a predictive  form of events as a self's signal to be more attentive on ones actions and decisions or to correct them or to focus on some of them ...And very rare could have real prediction form  of external events as part of God's will to some people

"Dreams are an extension of you. They are the buried you, the secret you. They are the you under all of your years and all of your memories and all your secret desires. Dreams allow you peer into your inner self with a strange, twisted gaze. For once you look inside. For once they see through and into the illusion that is you and, for once, images flow without restraint and forced interpretation and labelling of the conscious mind. Dreams are the inner eye, drawing its gaze upon itself."

http://www.kzfreeman.com/2013/02/dreamscapes-and-interpretation-of-dreams.html

What about mental visions, e.g. flashes suddenly appearing during sleep states? How do they differ from dream states?

Dreams are dreams, one shouldn't focus his/her entire attention on them. One should consider them as signals of ones behavior to change  or to improve  or some ideas to explore, or some needed data to have or to store  may be for future behavior. Some people and some religions consider few of them as God's messages to very few people

@Fairouz: How many people in the world claim/claimed they have/they had special/impressive dreams? Religions with millions of followers have started from these kinds of phenomena, or not?

Yes @Marcel, religions have started with God's messages to his prophets through very few dreams.  May be some chosen people by God could have some predictive messages but at a very very small %;  In Monotheist religions, peolple believe that their soul flies in the heaven during their sleeps, and some pure souls could have predictive signals for them, their relatives or their milieu/country may be the world.. however dreams shouldn't be claimed, only prophets were asked to claim god's messages and the events of prophets ended millenarian ago. For common people, dreams are personal..

@Fairouz: You only need one such inspired/special dream out of billions and the phenomenon should be considered as physical reality. What is the likelihood that such a phenomenon does not exist? 

@ Marcel , may be but at a very very very small % that a dream could turns to real one; So one should focus on reality than on some probable / improbable dreams

@Fairouz: Reality might be one out of a thousand/million/billion dreams.

Next question: Who gets the message and how do people know or accept or transmit this? 

It's always better to experience it, that to read or talk about it.

Cheers

My understanding is - whatever we have gathered as experiences in our current and past lives (my religion allows me to consider this option as well) accumulate in ourselves and get a manifestation in dreams. This further gives us salvation from these accumulations and purify us. Many people say that they usually see only those faces in dreams whom they have seen sometime in our lives. However, in my experience, I have seen unknown faces also in my dreams. 

Can't say whether you can find two people seeing similar dreams, however if you collect a LOT of data, it might be interesting to analyze that and find some patterns. On the other hand, I have met people who claim that they see similar dreams at different intervals. I have also heard stories about ab-origins (so-called) who can converse with each other in dreams.

Laboratory setting might not be a good idea for this as this might take a real long time to reproduce something like this. However, meeting with lots of people and gathering their dreams' data can be started with the people around you and further around them to see some pattern emerging out of the data. 

It is from my modest knowledge and understanding dear Francesca, i'm not specialized in this field, and i believe that prophets and miracles occurrence is from the past. i think that nowadays Human have sufficient sciences 'even from holy books if well understood' and logical thinking, to try solve their problems and make a better behavior and progress ethically, my personal opinion. And i respect all religions and faiths.

Marcel, I prefer a pragmatic reality who could make or help to make progress in ones life, this one couldn't happen only by hard work and good education

@Fairouz: It is from my modest knowledge and understanding dear Francesca, i'm not specialized in this field, and i believe that prophets and miracles occurrence is from the past. i think that nowadays Human have sufficient sciences 'even from holy books if well understood' and logical thinking, to try solve their problems

Is this an argument given that environmental change is everywhere?

@Francesca, i agree with you that not all political parties should be respected. For me I respect all religions even if i do not agree with some practices in some of them, and i respect all faiths when they are ethical and spiritual for good being. Religions are spiritual for the universal truth, they are the mean to connect human with the creation (God), they shouldn't be dogmas and not politics or political parties who run competitions for powering their societies. In competition scheme some could loose and some could gain, but the universal truth from spirituality (religions) is unique and eternal. No man or woman could claims that he/ she has the truth or the best spirituality since he/ she is mortal, only God is able to accept or not his/ her spirituality.  The spirituality of each of us with God (creation) is individual. Politics or political parties are the means to people to organize and manage their societies smartly, they are not spiritual or ideological groups. May be some of them could follow spiritual schools but shouldn't be the dogmas of the truth.

@Marcel, I'm not specialized in environment field, in my opinion, the life evolves, nature too, and naturally environmental change could happen too. I believe in human intelligence and maturity for doing good, and making progress, with or without spirituality. There are people who do not follow religions or monotheist religions and were able to make civilizations as well there are people who were close to spirituality ( not good understood) and were not able to make or maintain their civilization

People with supernatural senses (e.g. medium) can come from distinct terrestrial education background/cultures.

Mediums: I am currently reading books describing experiences from Patricia Darré and Michèle Decker.

''They were not able'' or ''someone else has been too arrogant''?, the two dear Francesca. What i mean by civilization, is the progress made by people of a culture or an area of earth during a period of time. Progress in knowledge, in sciences, in architecture, in medicine, in art, in economy,  ...etc..and in general being. These civilizations have let knowledge, wisdom and architectures to others and to humanity. Unfortunately there are also arrogant people who for power ships needs are able to destroy, kill and oppress others, devastate and damage their civilization or their bases. Arrogant people are able to defeat feeble ones, who are not able to defend their selves or are not able to be in competition with others. Human nature is built on rivalry and challenge, not the same of animal nature which is built on survival and nature ecosystem equilibrium or human needs. Animal being is rich with wisdom from the nature  not the same of human character self egocentric not able to listen to the nature and respect it, and many time nature itself was/is victim of human arrogance. There is no planning scheme of bad or arrogance in animal being, only human are able to make plans for bad or good doing of for powering. Animals do not make powering schemes on their race or on others, human when they think have some abilities, think to extend their power on others or dominate them

i think that animals do not have intelligence to make plans, and are without conscious and unconscious patterns as in human kind, may be they should mark or protect their territory for survival needs and may be they could eat their infants for this instinct of survival. In any case I'm not specialized in zoology field dear Marcel

@F.

Michèle Decker : La vie de l’autre côté. Presses du Châtelet 2004 (5 Euros)

P. 62.

Je ne suis pas gênée par le jugement que l’on peut porter sur ces expériences. Certains doutent de leur réalité. Moi, je les vis. Par conséquent, je ne puis douter. Je n’aime pas les étiquettes sous lesquelles on range ces phénomènes en les qualifiant de « paranormaux » ou d’ « extrasensoriels ». Au fond, ne cachent –elles pas la grande ignorance qui est la nôtre ? Car que savons-nous de la vie dite normale, de la conscience, de la mémoire ? Peu de chose. Je ne suis pas plus savante que les autres. Mais l’expérience m’a appris que nos sens, et l’ensemble des phénomènes en jeu dans l’univers , forment un tout qui dépasse les mots, les classifications et les étiquettes. Elle m’a appris qu’il existe deux niveaux du monde. L’un est visible, l’autre est invisible. Ce qui nous arrive résulte en permanence de l’interaction entre eux.

@F. Michèle Decker : La vie de l’autre côté. Presses du Châtelet 2004

P. 83. Je pratique la guérison....

P. 84. Elle dit à des parents: Votre fils sortira du coma à 14 h 30

P. 86. Une infirmière s'écrie: Votre fils sort du coma!

La pendule, au-dessus de l'ascenseur, indique 14 h 30.

How many miracles occur in the world without people knowing this? 

I already said:

If miracles would occur everywhere at any time and any place, how many jobs would be lost?

What would be the meaning of biology-based life when individual lives and their destinies would be fully (100%) decided by spiritual entities? 

And how many jobs would have been lost if a single person would (be able to) do everything?

Many people are willing to participate at brief events, such as human performances in sports events (e.g. sprint), acrobatic performances in airplane meetings, fireworks displays, sunsets, or introductions to meetings. These so-called brief events last only a couple of seconds or minutes, or are consciously perceived by individuals during a couple of seconds or minutes, that is when they pay attention to it. 

Dreams might also be defined as attractive brief events, like the examples mentioned above? Is there a substantial difference between a brief event perceived by the eyes versus the brain actions independent from the eye input?

I agree with you Francesca that human are arrogant, even if some of them bring some knowledge or savoir faire. Yes many civilizations were built on the blood of others or on their efforts. I speak about the content of knowledge and savoir faire not on the means used for making architectures or constructions as symbol of some lost civilizations. Those were lost because they were arrogant civilizations who declined, some of them  disappeared totally and some others let architecture' symbols of their history.

Anyway human nature is complex, some believe on religions and their transcendence with the creator (God), others on miracles and others on reincarnation or something else. The good and the bad coexistent in the same human, each is able to decide to be good or to be bad, to be humble or to be arrogant, to be smart or not...etc.. I think monotheist religions believe in some supernatural events from God's decision and will , may be from destiny who can guide them or help them . People who follow those religions know that each person is followed by angels who write her actions good and bad, her inner thinking and wish.These angels are not seen by us but they live with us from the birth to the dead, may be some of them protect us

Yes the life is entirely an experimentation process dear Marcel

In addition to my previous comment, I would like to add that our dreams can show us our deepest thoughts. Using dream interpretation to explore dream symbols and learn a dream's meaning can possibly lead to understanding ourselves better.

This would imply that dreams are signals. Dreams will by some also be defined as messages from unknown origin?

I beg to differ Mr Fairouz Bettayeb, I perceive life not as an experimentation but continuous unfolding of an individual and its surrounding upon him/her. We are mere seers of this event we call life and just witness the enormous moments during the life time.

Dreams, our windows to the unseen or seen, happy or sad, ecstasies or fears, wished or unwished, welcome or unwelcome episode or unfoldings we live in virtually or in real.

@Sandeep, may be dreams are a form of  therapy against sadness, may be are a form of alert to something worst. They are close to each personal character,  ambition,  history,  intellectual skills, experience...etc.. It is said that ones souls fly during ones sleeps 'unconscious state' may be to meet with ones expectations or to give some insights to ones problems or to make us happy or to give us some alerts... 

Certainly, unconscious thought influences judgment and behavior, but it may be the manner of their generation rather than their concealed nature that lends them such importance. Unconscious thoughts appear powerful precisely because they seem immune to other influences to which conscious thoughts are susceptible

http://careymorewedge.com/papers/dreams2.pdf

If we accept that unconscious 'thoughts/mental states' influence conscious thoughts/mental states, why should we expect that conscious thoughts/mental states do not influence unconscious thoughts/mental states? People 'dream' from aspects related to conscious experiences, or not (which would be adaptive if it would simulate potential future social environments, or not?)?  

Before we can trust our dreams we must trust our inner self, our intimate intentions.

T. Lobsang Rampa 1965. Les secrets de l'aura. Pp. 62-63.

'Presque tout le monde  quitte son corps pendant son sommeil. Puis, lorsqu'on se réveille, on dit que l'on a rêve par ce que, encore une fois, les hommes ont appris à croire que la vie terrestre est la seule qui importe, et qu'ils ne peuvent voyager dans l'espace quand ils dorment. Ainsi, les merveilleuses aventures passent pour des "rêves". Il convient de préciser que jamais personne, aucun savant, aucun médecin, n'a pu expliquer ce qu'était le rêve.'

Beautiful text!

There are dreams and there are visions, which I also had. These are threads directly connected with our spiritual experience. It is very satisfying if visions are reflecting our passion, but when we try to keep them they fly away.

Humans have a kind of invisible subconscious side. In this side many things happens that we are not conscious. Some of these things find expression in dreams. To connect all these sides scientifically, I think that science also must change! Only then we may have a coherent interpretation of dreams.   

That's right, that's how I see that the research of art, that embraces dream, can overflow the thinking. Out of this marriage will come a new religion which will be the prelude of the end of the monotheism, something more matriarchal and sane.

Is that not too much prophetic.

Dear @Marcel and friends, some more new reading, fresh one, blog from today!  Ian Wallace is a dream psychologist and  author of The Top 100 Dreams! "They're not "not real." Dreams don't just "happen." Even when we sleep, we're active participants, not psychic receivers. "We create the dream in the same way that we create our waking awareness of consciousness," Wallace says..."

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a34136/mad-men-don-draper-dream-interpretation-season-premiere/

http://ianwallacedreams.com/

Understand the Meanings of Your Dreams

How to Interpret your Dreams offers all the information you need to start interpreting your dreams and understand the dreams and nightmares you've experienced in the past:

http://www.psychologistworld.com/dreams/interpretation/index.php

The dream could be connected with day-dream. The magic realism of the novels of Johan Daisne  can be compared with the novel of the night- dream. These 2 visual corners could have a common source. That source is always new but also recognizable. I think recognizable is a better word as interpretative.

Reading the novel The Book of Khalid by Ameen Rihani, I was astonished how so many ideas were the same as mine. Ameen Rihani was inspired by the same source when he wrote about the East, the West, Europe, Art, Philosophy and Science... He is searching the edges and makes connections between devotion, art  work and religion, romance, trade.

It is as we are following his dream.

Freud was right when he suggested that we have systems of ``unconscious ideation'' of a symbolic nature. 

http://www.geoffbarton.co.uk/files/student-resources/A%20Level/Misc%20Theory/Language%20%26%20Thought.doc

An atlas of the subconscious, from Tijuana to Reykjavik: What People Around the World Dream About!

Here is another Freud’s interpretation of dreams as encrypted “emotional and intellectual trains of thought”

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/dreams-world-atlas/393182/

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Freud/Dreams/dreams.pdf

People can dream from groups of people, perhaps exceeding 100 individuals during a large social event. In addition, each of these individuals are unique in phenotypic expression/behaviour/cloths.... Any idea how the brain and its biology can put this all together?