For many centuries scientists, parapsychologists and esotericists from all over the world have been trying to lift the veil of secrecy and find out what happens to a person at the very moment when life ends and death occurs. Attempts to find omens of imminent death are often tried in a person's dreams, perceiving them as a transitional state from life to death. So is there a connection between dreams and death? Is it worth being afraid of what is written in the dream book? And is it possible to understand from what he saw in a dream that the last day is near?
IF LOOK INTO THE DREAM
Often, after disturbing and terrible dreams, people first of all turn to the dream book. It is not that everyone believes in what is written, as well as in the ability to interpret dreams in general, but it helps to satisfy curiosity or calm yourself.
First, the most obvious misconception is that death in a dream portends death in reality. Even in dream books, one's own death in a dream is not considered as an omen of imminent death in real life.
For example, according to Miller's dream book, one's own death means doubts and hesitations in real life, admission of one's own guilt, fear of an accomplished action or event. According to Freud's dream book, one's own death personifies the fear of losing independence. Wanga believed at all: a dream of death is a sign of a long and happy life next to a loved one. A similar interpretation was given by Nostradamus and the medium Miss Hosse. Thus, according to the dream books, one's own death in a dream can in no way be considered an omen of death in real life.
The approaching death is predicted by completely different dreams. For example, a missing tooth with blood will mark the death of a blood relative. Or the arrival of the deceased, for whom the person agreed to go in a dream. Symbols foreshadowing death also include: a heavenly body falling from the sky, a boat crossing across a river, muddy and musty water, digging a hole, a crowing crow, otherworldly forces, falling into a well or other depression.
But if we turn to more serious arguments, is there evidence that dreams are in any way connected with death, capable of foretelling it, or just reflect the experiences of real life?
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Psychology became interested in the study of the dreams of dying people back in the 19th century. For example, the philosopher and psychologist Maria Louise von Franz in her book "On Dreams and Death" told how she observed the dreams of terminally ill people, in many of them death appeared as a passage through a tunnel, a dark spot or cloud that expands and threatens the dreamer. For example, a young woman who suffered from an incurable disease and died on the operating table, shortly before her death described her dream as follows:
Von Franz in this case calls the bird a symbol of the spirit of life extinct in the body. In other dreams, there were images of a black spot, a dark box. According to her observations, beautiful and colorful images are rarely seen in dreams before death. Another common image is travel.
“I packed two suitcases. One of them held my work clothes, and the other held my jewelry, diaries and photographs. The first was for the mainland, and the second - for America,”one of the patients told about her dream shortly before her death.
Carl Jung, who also watched the dreams of terminally ill people, concluded that shortly before death, people begin to see events in their dreams from the early years of life. In addition, patients often heard beautiful music in their dreams, saw humanoid creatures, motionless figures of people with Mongolian features, as well as wide landscapes and rocks from which voices descend. But unlike Von Franz, Jung concludes that the closer death, the more beautiful dreams look. And negative images are dreamed of when the human body began to fall ill.
The well-known neuropathologist Mikhail Astvatsaturov, while observing dreams, concluded that nightmares before death most often dream of people suffering from heart disease, they usually begin during the latency period. The fear of death appears in the dream. Today it is even generally accepted that in the absence of visible symptoms, frequent nightmares are a reason to see a doctor and have your heart checked.
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SLEEP AND DEATH?
Studies show that in the vast majority of cases dreams are secondary, said psychologist and hypnotherapist Vasily Danilov.
“Dreams are a metaphorical analysis of the most striking events experienced by a person in recent years, and have fallen on the subconscious level of perception. Actually, at a subconscious level, all the changes take place, which then manifest themselves in consciousness. For example, a doctor, a person whose words, by definition, immediately fall into the patient's subconscious, declares that the situation is difficult and the prognosis is unfavorable. Unfortunately, today, incorrect wording of doctors is common. The patient instantly has a fear of imminent death. Perhaps not the first time, but from the second or third time this message will reach the subconscious,”he said.
At the same time, in practice, it turns out that if a person perceives a dream as an omen, then the subconscious mind will begin to actively work to realize this very dream.
According to the psychologist, even if such a dream was dreamed, then you need to perceive it not as inevitability, but as an attempt by the subconscious to help.
“Any dream is a sign. An attempt by our subconscious to help us. Warn us about something, suggest. Dreams of imminent death are no exception. It is important to treat such a dream correctly. Such a dream should not be taken as inevitable. Only as a warning about the need to change something in life,”concluded Danilov.
There is no direct connection between dreams and death, says the somnologist Maxim Mironov. But dreams are able to inform people both about the experience they have experienced and about future events, connected with this experience.
“First of all, I have to disappoint the lovers of mysticism: there is no direct connection between sleep and death. But our brain is a very complex organ with many functions that is ahead of consciousness. While our dreams are great informants about past experiences, or about upcoming events associated with this experience.
The moment of death remains hidden for a person forever, and dreams testify to the spiritual nature, says Natalia Chumakova, the founder of the 7 PLAN theta healing club.
“In his works, Jung concludes that the human unconscious does not pay attention to the physical end of life. As if the psychic life of the individual will definitely continue further. At the same time, there are some dreams that symbolically report the end of the life of the physical body, but do not raise doubts about the continuation of the mental life. The unconscious unambiguously believes in life after death. Symbolic pictures can be seen at any point in life, simply by referring to an experienced theta practitioner.
Dreams foreshadowing death can be dreamed by people even when a person simply realized the existence of death or was afraid of it, said Natalya Kalaberdina, a psychologist and founder of the Right Decision training center.
“From the point of view of psychology, and Freud was the first to analyze dreams, if a person was sick or thought about death, then he will surely dream of something. Freud wrote that at such moments there are scenes of parting, moving and some kind of transport. But when a person does not know about death, he does not dream of anything. At the same time, Freud said that in any human cell there is information about the entire history of mankind. He described a case when a small child in his mind had an idea of being, the structure of a person, dust.
Thus, dreams symbolizing death can be dreamed by a person when he realized that death exists, was afraid of some fact of death. Jung said that dreams are symbols, and symbolism is very individual, therefore, in the minds of each person, death can be perceived by a different spectrum of symbols. At the same time, it was Jung who described the theory of archtypes and methods of archetypical defenses, which, when consciousness collides with frightening images, seek protective symbols. Thus, death in a dream can be personified by the image of an angel, a conversation with God, going to heaven,”concluded Kalaberdina.
Ekaterina Degtereva