Dream Interpretation-symbolism?

[Pinky Binks]

I was wondering...how is it that all dreams can be interpreted the same for everyone-if that is even a correct statement. For example, I dream about snakes ALL the time and I know the meaning of them in my dreams and I am afraid of snakes in real life, but what if someone who loves snakes or owns one as a pet dreams about snakes...couldn't it be that the symbolism of snakes in that persons dream could mean something else?

[Berrak G.]

Dreams can't be interpreted same for everyone. Universal dream symbolism was a theory that Freud had but it has long been disproven.

Dreaming is basically your mind's way of organizing your thoughts and knowledge while you are sleeping. Therefore, anything that you dream about is directly correlated to your consciousness and subconsciousness. Since no two people can share a consciousness, they can't share dreams either.

You might see the exact same dream with your friend but it will be for very different reasons and will mean very different things.

[YourDreamDoc]

You are right about that. Symbolism basically is based on statistical method. The owner of the dream should know the symbol rather than general symbolism. That is why those so called website or books are only reference. They have no fixed truth basis. In other words, different background and different culture could have different symbolism.

[yeahpussycat]

dream interpreation, or the literal symbolic interpretations are rubbish, quite obviously. if you hate snakes, they like must be something you hate, everyone has different brains, the idea we dream in the same ways is as stupid as the idea we all think in the same ways
xxx

[Proud of my boy]

here is a link that shows a lot of symbols and has additional links with more symbols...

http://dreamemporium.com/dream_symbols.html

you can interpret your dreams better than i can because you are intouch with your inner thoughts and feelings.
i do think dreams have meanings...

[maikerukun]

Dream Interpretation is just that, Interpretation. It is subjective and not objective, as you pointed out, and tends to go by common psychological archetypes. Depending on what psychological archetypes are being used, one can interpret it in different ways -- its an art, not a science. For example, if someone used Freudian psychology, they would interpret the snakes as a sexual symbol. Also the archetypes used are typically from Western psychology -- and every culture has its own interpretation.