I was on my philosophizing stool at the watering hole, when a frustrated looking fella jumped up onto the stool next to me.

“What’s wrong, you look worried?”

“Yesterday, my wife bought one of those Red Indian Dream Catchers and hung it up in our bedroom and now I’m remembering all of my dreams!”

“Well, I guess the “Dream Catcher” is doing its job.”

He ordered a margarita and continued:

“This morning, I woke up and told my wife I dreamed a beautiful woman came into the bedroom naked!”

She laughed and said:

“In your dreams, fella.”

I asked her, what she thought it meant.

She said: “You’ll know tonight, darling.”

“Well, my friend, that sounds like you’re in for a good night, don’t worry.”

“But why do we dream?” he asked quizzically.

“Scientists began to know more about dreams back in the early 50’s. They discovered REM, rapid eye movement under closed eyelids, if this was going on, the person was dreaming. When they woke up a person during REM sleep, they remembered what they were dreaming about and could report on it.”

“That’s interesting, but WHY do we quietly go insane with bizarre images and random thoughts, each night?”

“Well, Freud thought it was all to do with sex and aggression, in other words, wish fulfillment. But now, most of that has been refuted.”

“What’s the new thinking, then?”

“Some researchers believe that dreams help solve our problems.”

“Oh, that would be great!”

“Some think it’s just the mind cleaning up the clutter in out brains.”

“Do we dream every night?”

“Apparently yes, because scientists say we have at least one stage of REM sleep per night.”

“Holly Cow! Dreams every night!”

“Some say, dreams are our creative imagination at work.”

“So, if we could remember every dream, it would make us all a Shakespeare!”

I smiled at that remark.

“Where do all these weird dreams come from?”

“Researchers say much of the strangeness of dreams is due to our everyday metaphorical life.”

“Explain that, please.”

“When we say, “we’re down in the dumps”, that means we’re not feeling so good. But when that leaks into our dreams, the brain interprets it literally. So we could dream about standing on a pile of garbage!”

“But I know the difference.”

“Yes, but during sleep, parts of the brain that distinguish between literal and figurative thinking, shut down!”

“So, the woman in my dream was naked, what’s that mean?”

I smiled and said:

“It could be symbolism, that you are unprepared for a challenge. But, the thing is, we are all really strangers to ourselves.”

“Well, I’ll see you. I want to find out what my wife says I’ll find out about the dream, tonight.”

The next day, he dropped into the watering hole and told me that he was lying on the bed, all primed, waiting for his wife. She came in fully clothed and gave him a book entitled:

“THE MEANING OF DREAMS”