Dreams and Meaning

What do dreams mean?
Dreams are a window onto the emotional landscape of our lives. Dreams present emotions to us in symbolic form, as stories rather than as feelings. We often need our emotions presenting in this way - maybe there are emotions we would rather not feel, or maybe our emotions are so complex we need a whole story to make sense of them.
We comprehend our world through symbols: the common symbols of letters and words, the poetic symbols of metaphors, and the great spiritual symbols of myths and divinities.
Through studying our dreams, and the symbols they present to us, and through connecting with the underlying emotions, we can find new ways of understanding ourselves and our place in our community, our world and our cosmos.
Dreams can present us with new possibilities, and can confront us with old fears. Working with our dreams we can learn how to unleash the energy locked up in our fears, and move forwards with confidence and vigour into new opportunities.
Dreams often bring us advice that we have missed in our waking lives ... often playing 'devil's advocate'. Once we've made a life decision, we may find our dreams questioning our certainty. Or if we can't make a decision, we may have a series of dreams, each promoting a different choice!
However, those who have worked with dreams for many years, find that they seem to come from a beneficient place. Dreams challenge us when we need challenging, and support us when we need support; they bring advice when we're being reckless, and spontaneity when we're too rigid.

What is Meaning?
Philosophers down the ages have attempted to define meaning in ever more exact terms. More than 2000 years ago, while Plato struggled to define meaning objectively, in terms of heaven and gods, the Buddha took the extreme opposite approach to look at meaning in terms only of personal experience.
More recently, western philosophers such as Hume, Russell and Popper, have striven to define meaning logically, working from logical or mathematical axioms. However, nearly all of the grandiose statements constructed about meaning in the last 200 years have fallen foul of the fact that, by their own definition, they are meaningless!
Ultimately, meaning is a feeling. Something either feels imbued with meaning, or it doesn't. Also, it's rather a pleasant feeling, and is something we actively pursue. On the contrary, we abhor the lack of meaning, and when confronted with meaninglessness, we become unhappy, ultimately depressed and even suicidal.
In my experience, my own dreams, and the dreams of others, feel soaked in meaning. The more time I spend with dreams, the greater the sense of meaning I have in my life. Does this mean that dreams contain meaning? Well, for me, Yes. For others, I hope I can open the door, and they will peer through long enough to see a little of the world I love!