Is it possible to record a dream?

Most of us dream four to six times a night. But we forget 90% of our dreams 10 minutes after they end. Any app or latest technology, or at least an attempt to record a dream has not been developed yet. However, it is possible to record a dream by writing it down and making drawings or sketches related to it. Dream journals are best to document dreams in order to analyze and interpret them. Some apps like Somnio and Freud provide that service.

According to Antonio Zadra, a psychology professor at the Université de Montréal, Dreams are designed to be forgotten. For him, it’s very important to not confuse dream experiences with reality.

A dream is one of those things that are unexplainable by science. Science cannot make sense out of your dreams; it can only explain its point of view on the topic. It is such a ‘topic’ where science’s explanations can be seen as just another perspective.

What exactly is a dream and can it be recorded?

We have often wondered if it is possible to record a dream. The answer is no. In fact, the thing that prevents us from recording dreams is the process of dreaming itself. Because dreams are not stories that start and finish, like a film or a novel. For Antonio Zadra, it’s better to think of our dreams as mental phenomena that happen in sleep, rather than short films with remembered plots. According to Zadra, “dreams do not express a desire for fantasy, but rather the need for a private sphere where we can freely think about what we want to think about without external interference.”

The psychologist claims that our dreams are similar to the thoughts we would have in our day-to-day lives, except this time, there is no external interference or inner censorship to cut ourselves. The result is a story that is coherent and relatively complex. Many even compare the stories that we tell ourselves in our dreams with the movies we have seen.

And since those dreams are not put under any external pressure, anything is possible. They do not have to make sense or be relevant to our lives, which can be why many times they seem bizarre or incoherent.

It may be possible to record a dream using virtual reality technology. In this method, a person would wear a headset and be immersed in a virtual world. While in the virtual world, the dreamer would recall their dream and the headset would record it. Recording brainwave activity during sleep is one partial way to do it. With electroencephalography (EEG) devices, measuring electrical activity in the brain, there are some bare ways, with limitations.

Also read: Is our collective consciousness different from the consciousness of each individual?

How do you remember your dream?

Although your dreams are very unique and different from every dream, it is possible to have at least some common characteristics that you can use as a reference while remembering them.

So, if you can’t remember your dreams exactly, but you can remember their basic motives, their types of characters, and their most recurring themes… Then it’s enough to start thinking about those motifs that you did not know about the first time. That way you will allow your mind to enrich the memory of these recurring themes with more and less important details that will make up a growing story in your head.

The creativity of the unconscious mind in dream

In the past, many cultures have thought of dreams as a way to communicate with the supernatural. Ancient Egyptians used dream interpretation to help guide their decisions and the interpretation of dreams was an important part of the beliefs of many religions.

According to Antonio Zadra, “Dreams are a product of imagination and they’re completely subjective experiences “. And because there is no censorship or external pressure during dreaming, our unconscious mind has complete freedom to explore its own creativity.

Conclusion

Dreams are the product of our imagination. They do not have a meaning or a purpose. Recording dreams may not seem impossible, especially with modern technology, but it is still unproven whether it is possible. Accuracy is another factor just waiting. Dreams are still a mystery, and their nature and purpose remain largely unknown. Scientists have studied dreams for centuries, but the only thing they can say for certain is that they occur during certain stages of sleep. So, technology for recording dreams is far from being possible.