Mitch: You know, um, something strange happened to me this morning...

Chris: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?

Mitch: No...

Chris: Why am I the only one who has that dream?
-Real Genius, 1985

There's no one absolute explanation as to why we dream- only theories! Freud said it had to do with 'hidden desires', Jung said it was hidden meanings but not always desire, Cayce said it was our body's way of building physical, mental and spiritual health, while others say it is just information picked up throughout the day that the brain doesn't know what to do with.

For the most part there's two main camps of theory:

According to the physiological theory, dreaming has to do with what happens in the brain while we sleep. As we go about our daily life, synapses (or call them: pathways) between brain cells constantly transmit and receive messages. It's what keeps us in motion and how we are able to maneuver ourselves through the day. At night, when we sleep, our brains stay just as active- and it is dreams that keep the synapses firing. (For safety's sake, the body enters a type of paralysis to keep us in our beds.) Our brain waves during the phase of REM sleep (REM sleep being the 'dreaming stage' of sleep) are exactly the same as the brainwaves that we have when we are awake!

Those in the psychological camp believe that dreams stem from thoughts and emotional needs of our daily lives and that it is our unconscious mind helping us to deal with the things we have not or cannot. Various objects, situations or people are thought to symbolize true feelings and are meant to help a person delve deeper into the inner self.

No matter what camp you set your tent up in, just about everyone can say they've had at least one dream in their life that truly mystified them. Whether it was foretelling, magical or all too real, the point of its origin shall remain a mystery!