I think that dreams aren’t meant to have meanings either. I mean a dream isn’t there just to be intrepreted or to be a message from our subconscious - like you said, if that were the case then I’m sure our subconscious would find a much more effective way of communicating the message to us. But dreams must have some kind of point, some kind of reason for them to happen - and maybe wen we work out what that is, we’ll be able to work out what it is each dream is trying to help you with, and that’s a sort of meaning, isn’t it?
I disagree. Personally, I think that dreams often do have meanings which can reflect our state of mind. Certainly most of us experience similar patterns of dreams at times. One prime example is that a lot of people dream of buildings falling down and/or tornados when they are under stress. This makes sense to me.
Yeah. I agree that disasters and what-not in dreams can correlate with stress in life. I think I said that (or something like it). I’m just saying that everything doesn’t have to be a symbol or allegory. And as for our dreams having a purpose, I believe it’s entertainment. As respite for our conscious minds, we get these cool interactive fantasies while we sleep. I’ve heard it said (though I’ve never seen any data) that you go crazy if you don’t dream. That makes sense to me. I got really depressed when all I did was work and sleep. You need to break it up with recreation. People just need that. I guess our own minds aren’t much different. We need breaks, and we get them every night when we sleep.
I could be completely wrong, but if I thought I was, well, I’d have a different opinion.
Although I don’t believe in strict dream symbolism definitions, I do think that certain objects, people, situations, etc are tied to our subconscious. That only makes sense, right? It’s just that the symbolism is different for everyone. I’ve had numerous dreams with obvious symbols - a daisy, a snake, a burning moon… these seemed to dominate my dream and have a specific meaning. And sometimes there’s no symbolism whatsoever. I think it’s possible your mind just portrays the symbolism you are already familiar with, but it still differs per person, and doesn’t always occur and not necessarily to everyone. Whichever it is - dreams remain fascinating. 
Anyone who’s tried WILD should have experience with the random thoughts and images popping up at some point… before I got into LDing I never paid attention to that but these days I am more aware when my mind’s falling asleep. I think it’s so strange it just randomly creates thoughts and images and keeps on going whilst I forget about what I was thinking about earlier and then fall asleep.
Anyway - I don’t think dreams are meant to have meanings… I believe they’re more a way of information processing through your brain whilst your body’s asleep. It HAS been proven that people who don’t dream for a few nights become paranoid, have hallucinations, become depressed and may eventually go insane. They’ve tested this with two groups, who got the same amount of sleep - only one group was woken up every time just before they entered the REM stage, so they never got to dream. They were the ones showing symptoms of psychoses, whilst the people with REM sleep felt fine.
Still, since your brain is processing information, what occupies your subconscious may come up in a clear or less clear way. I’ve actually had dreams tip me off on a lot of things, like relationships that weren’t going right, or projects that weren’t working out. I’ve had crushes on people only because I kept dreaming of them!
So, to conclude… there’s a distinction between the function, the working and the effects of dreams, and the only thing we can really be sure of is the latter, since we can observe it in daily life. The working of dreams can be analysed in laboratories with brainwave monitors and godknowswhat, but it still doesn’t tell us everything that our brain is doing, exactly. And the function of dreams remains mostly a mystery, although at least it’s been proven that dreaming is necessary for your sanity.
Sometimes I have really creepy dreams, not scary in the least, just…creepy. I dont know whether this happens to anyone else, but when you have these dreams, and you think about them after, you get a tingle all over, and you scalp starts to itch and you feel slightly queezy, one of my friends has had one of these. Ive had too many. My head itches…
Anyway sorry…one of these horrible dreams waswhen one of my teeth fell out, and I went to my mum and told her one of my teeth had fallen out and that i was very upset cos itd never grow back…then i felt another wobbly one, (my head REALLY itches now) and i touched it and it fell out too, so i got a mirror and lloked at my mouth, and there were like…holes or something in my gums, and you could see all the roots to my teeth, and they were all becoming loose. It was disgusting.
The hypothesis I subscribe to is that some dream signs are universal, or at least culture-wide. Our brains have evolved to recognize faces in random, inanimate mediums, (The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan) so obviously some things are programmed into the brain and we all have (relatively) similar slates to begin with. Add to that the fact that some happenings are hugely related regardless of the species you belong to. Death and family are huge factors in the lives of most of the species on the planet.
I’ve heard before (no idea where), that teeth falling out symbolize large changes in your life (or expected large changes, or imagined). They may mean nothing at all. You may have just seen a character you like have their lives changed on a television show. It’s just a symbol of change (and it’s neutral, it’s not a “bad” change or a “good” change, it’s just that your mind is preoccupied with some kind of change that’s happened in your life. After all, teething, and losing your teeth, though your memories of the times may be shoddy or practically nil, were pretty huge events in everyone’s life.
Well, that’s my thought. I try to accept the ideas that are most reasonable, despite the fact that, as you break it down, most of the world probably operates in an extremely counter-intuitive way.
I agree with that last post… losing teeth is something every one has experienced and if you view it as an arche type, change is a likely one…
The collest thing though is how your subconcious runs away with itself. My teeth loss dreams always start with one lose tooth that comes out and then it just dominos and all my teeth are coming out… haha.
i remember having dreams where i’m clenching my jaws so tight that i felt my teeth were going to break off from my gums. it was pretty scary. for some reason i haven’t had those ever since i got braces. so i don’t know if it was symbolic of my life’s situation at that time or that i just really hated my teeth or what. haha
I just had a dream a couple days ago about my teeth. I was looking in the mirror and noticed that a few of my bottom teeth were loose. My gums were almost melting and I was trying very hard to reposition my teeth, pissed off that my orthodontist didn’t do a better job with my cemented-in retainer. I blame my various gum surgeries, braces, and retainer ordeals for all my funky teeth dreams.
Yay, another Tolle fan. I love Power of Now. It’s like my Bible. (Although I don’t carry it around with me. . .)
I agree with the domino effect, I see one come out, or feel one loose, and then all of em start!
(First post in about 9 months. Does anyone remember me? I haven’t been posting but I’ve still been reading the forums a little.)
Has anyone else here had one of those dreams where all your teeth fall out? I had my second this morning.
I kept asking all the dream characters, “hey, do you think this is one of those dreams where all your teeth fall out?” but they told me it wasn’t.
And the teeth had redness inside them. They were white, but they had a sort of bloody red in the middle, the way a pearl has that pearly glow, except it was an unpleasant red rather than pretty pearliness.
And almost everyone I’ve told this dream to tells me that “I’m sure that means something, but I’ve forgotten it”. so if anyone has any ideas on that, I’d like to hear them.
Thanks.
I used to have those all the time.
Funny I should come across this thread. My mom used to say that when you dreampt of falling teeth it meant someone was going to die.
If the tooth you lost didn’t hurt at all, then it was someone you knew of.
If the tooth you lost was painful, then an acquaintance is going to die.
If you were bleeding when the tooth fell off, then it was a family member or someone close.
My mom has a meaning for everything. She’s really superstitious too.
I think dreams of teeth-loss (often) is about communication. I’ve olny dreamt that I’ve lost a tooth once. I was very puzzled when I woke and and so i told my brother about it. he said that it’s a very common thing to dream about. He also said that he’d read that it’s supposed to mean that the dreamer has (feelings of) communication problems.
I did at once feel that that was true, as I, at the time, was in a situation where I really did feel that I had problems communicating with people around me.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
For the last 2 or so years i’ve been having this odd dream every so often. maybe about once a month… maybe less.
The place is always different, time is always different, but the same thing always happens. i start losing my teeth. in my dream i’ll be walking with my parents talking, or through the halls at school, sitting in class, or just sitting in my room by myself, and my teeth will start to fall out.
Usually i’ll wake up after they fall out or sometime shortly thereafter. Sometimes in my dream people will stare at me… others not. i’m not sure if that makes a difference. but if someone could please clear this up i’d be grateful i’ve been trying to find out for awhile now.
doug, i merged your post to an earlier topic. I hope you find the answers here 
This is an ancient European translation. When you dream of teeth, it means you or somebody in your family will die.
If that was true, I wouldn’t have any family members left. The fact that an ancient interpretation of this exist, proves it has been a common dream theme through history. 
We are attached to our teeth, it would be miserable without them, but teeth are the only body part which can just fall off.
Maybe it’s wrong. Who knows. I dreamt of teeth before and nobody died in my family.
when i think of this…i think “the fly”