What is a Dream?

We all have some idea of the basic concept of what a dream is, ofcourse, for it's a common experience, we all have dreams, and so consequently there is a basic understanding of it that we form from experience, cultural and religious beliefs, and science. But exactly is it? Well it all depends on how you interpret, what you interpret. The official definition you might find in a dictionary of a dream is "A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep." This take really gives no insight as to what a dream actually is, it is simply stating random components of a dream, without really defining what it is. The use of the word "involuntary" is also the biggest flaw in that definition because it is possible to exercise free-will, conscious thought, cognitive ability, a strong sense of self, and the ability to remember waking life memories and/or other dream memories within a Lucid dream, a fact, that contradicts that dictionary definition. The Psychologist view is that a dream is, mental activity typically in the form of an imagined series of events occurring during certain phases of sleep. So a deeper look into that they are saying that a dream is a steady flow of subconscious, repressed, or forged memories, mental images, and interpersonal beliefs, wishes and desires, all collectively merging together to form a world entirely within your imagination, made by your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs during primarily REM (Rapid eye movement) sleep. Religious views on dreams typically involve some type of mystical or spiritual element to them, In Islam, Christianity, Judaism as well as many other religions there are cases of prophets, saints, holy men having prophetic, or warning dreams. There are also instances of the Lord visiting people in their dreams, as well as angels and spirits in some Monotheistic religions such as Christianity or Islam. Some religions and cultures placed a much greater importance on dreams, like the ancient Egyptians believed in many interpretations of dreams accepted in their society an example would be, dreaming of a cat symbolized a large bumper crop,and seeing yourself in a dream having relations with your wife during daylight symbolized that your sins will come to light and their god will have seen your misdeeds. These symbols and believes were part of there way of life, and they structured their entire lives around it. The Native American Ojibwe people believed in dream catchers, shaman interpretation, spiritual dream quests, spiritual communication in dreams, mutual dreams, lucid dreams and had an entire religion and culture with a foundation in dreams. They believed a dream was a spiritual world, in which waking life had some influence. My Theory, similar to the Ojibwe belief, is that a dream is an alternate reality, that acts as a bridge between the physical world of waking life, and the spiritual world. This bridge, a dream, is our subconscious imagination manifesting in a particular cross dimensional plane in which the spiritual world intersects with pieces of waking life we bring into the dream (memories, thoughts, mental images, emotions). The soul leaves the body when dreaming, allowing this phenomenon to occur, caring with it all your passions, desires, beliefs, emotions and memories. In a Lucid Dream, your mind and soul become aware of this event, allowing you to exercise free-will, control more aspects of the dream world, and bring more aspects of waking life into the dream. A dream is simply, a bridge between the physical and spiritual world.