Sigmund Freud, as you well know, thought dreams were ways of fulfilling forbidden wishes or desires, usually sexual.

After Freud, some asserted that dreams were subconscious efforts to work out conflicting emotions.

Others have stated that dreams are the mind's efforts to make sense of thoughts or desires as the body itself is resting and recuperating.

The latest assertion about dreams comes from a Finnish psychologist who believes that dreams provide survival training for us.

This guy, Antti Revonsuo, reached this conclusion by studying the dreaming behavior of rats. Forgive me if I have trouble believing that any person can even figure out if a rat dreams, much less what a rat is dreaming or why. Besides, who really cares?

Personally, I am not sure why we dream and I doubt anyone knows why or will ever figure out why. I do believe, however, that dreams very well may serve at least two purposes.

First, I think, is to enable us to vent anger and other "bad" emotions in a "make-believe-state" so we don't actually carry out violent behavior.

Another is, I think, to enable us to become even more aware of our inner selves. There is more to us than meets the eye! Dreams, I think, provide a vehicle for us to travel to places inside we might not otherwise visit.

So….Dream on!

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.