Death. The inevitable. The certain. Aren't we faced with it enough in our waking life? Why should we experience this in our dreams too?

Firstly we must keep in mind that we are the architects of our own dreams. We all have different beliefs, values and cultural influences on our definitions and beliefs on death. Dreams are best understood when the dreamer is actively exploring the dream. However, this doesn't mean we can't discover the general theme of death and dying in dreams.

    We're on to you Mr Reaper....

So, what is the one thing we all have in common in relation to dreams? Fear.

We all fear death. (Yeah, sure there are always THOSE people who say they don't but hear me out.) We fear death because of the existential paradox it leaves us dreading every single day. It is the only certain thing in this world that we are surrounded by and experience through others every day. Paradoxically, it is also the most uncertain thing we experience in this world, as we don't know what follows it.

We all fear the unknown & the uncertain, especially if we know we are bound to face it sooner or later!

So what could death represent in our dreams?

Well, if we go by the general observation we just made death in dreams could represent our fear of the unknown! Think about it, our dreams are basically our thoughts and influences experienced vividly. We face uncertainty every day and we definitely are not always certain about decisions we must make every day, if we did they wouldn't be decisions anymore and life would be boring and pointless.

Death in dreams could represent this existential crisis we experience on a daily basis. Death also represents the end of something and the potential to allow the birth of something else. If we stay with the analogy that our dreams are just our thoughts and influences then death in dreams could vaguely be the projection of the birth and death of our thoughts in our subconscious realm.

This is of course a very vague and general explanation of what dreams could represent in our dreams. The details of the dream and the relevance of those dreams to the dreamer is the only way of understanding your personal meaning of death in your dream. Keep in mind that nightmares are there to grab your attention. Dreaming of death doesn't always have to be something you should be scared of. Most of the times it is simply an expression of your thought processes right now and your mind is bringing your attention to it.

There are many interpretations of death and dreams! Expect more articles about death and dreams in the future!