These pages are an attempt to collect and report the types of imagery or events that
are shared or common among people. This is not a dictionary of dreams and I do not subscribe to
the notion that a certain symbol or item appearing in a dream signifies the same thing
to everyone. Rather, I'm looking at events or concepts that seem to occur in the dreams
of us all, or at least that are similar throughout a certain culture.
One of these that appears to be experienced by many people is the 'missing class' dream.
I have had this dream on many occasions. It is not the same dream, but rather a concept or
type of dream that occurs but in varied situations. Mine usually take the form of me realizing
that I haven't been to class for most of the semester and worrying about whether or
not I will be able to pass the class or an upcoming test.
Dream analysts could probably pose a myriad of ideas of what this symbolizes, ranging
from feelings of inadequacy, lack of self-confidence, some childhood fear of a teacher,
etc.
But this is really a simple one when you look at it. In our society, after our early
years, most people spend a dozen to a dozen and a half years going to class. The brain
becomes used to that as a norm. After graduation, however, you go off into life and
usually cease going to classes. The brain knows why this is but, subconciously it
is not used to it, and this occasionally manifests itself by becoming part of your
dreams. Since you have not gone to class, your brain works this into the dream but
with the twist that you should have been going and, since you haven't, you are falling
behind. I stopped going to classes on a regular basis over a dozen years ago and this
type of dream still crops up frequently.
The key to 'analyzing' your dreams is to look for things that are common. I'm not referring
to dreams that repeat exactly but rather to ones that are different but contain similar
threads or events or concepts.
Another event that seems to be universal is the dream where one is relieving himself or
herself but never finds 'relief' the 'peeing dream'. This one is also easy to explain. It is a self-defense
mechanism employed by the brain to keep you from certain disaster. In truth, you really
do need to relieve yourself and your brain works this into a dream such that you find
a place and begin to go. Since you aren't truly doing anything, the pressure never
subsides so you feel like you still have to go and 'just keep peeing' This mechanism
is not in place for younger kids, especially because at that age they do not seem to
know the difference between the dream world and the real world. There are variations
of this, for example, if the dreamer is one who has trouble doing this while people
are watching, the dream may become one where the dreamer is continually being caught
and thus never gets to the point of going.
The Dream World
While all of us have different minds and see things in different ways, there seem to be
some things that are 'universal' when it comes to how our mind acts when the body is
asleep.