In sleep, the manifestation of ideas, images, and emotions that are instigated by physical or spiritual impressions. Dreams can be sensory, telepathic or predictive.
Sensory dreams are often the result of some compensatory event, even the type of food eaten late at night. Nightmares or bad-dreams can be the result of actions, intended or performed, that threaten ones well being. Persistent nightmares are ultimate warnings and if unheeded can destroy or imbalance personalities. Shadows of inhibited thoughts or feelings are often cast within dreams. The solution here is to be honest and express such feelings within one's waking life to avoid them being cast as disturbing shadows (or symbols) in the dream state.
In telepathic dreams, the symbolic content involves the fusion of sub-conscious awareness being brought to the surface in a way that formulates a natural outcome. These dreams tend to be more associated with thought communication, such as the meeting of a future mate, or events brought to circumstance by powerful and often, collective, emotions.
Predictive dreams are those of a psychic nature, where the individual not only taps into the impressions of higher planes, that escape space and time, but is able to process this information into the physical mind.
With dreams, development is required to know the difference between a purely physical impression and a spiritual impression. In many dreams we defeat the limitations of time and space by traveling vast distances and annihilating time with the resulting impressions happening within seconds or minutes. The reason dreams are often distorted is that when one enters the planes of spirit, the individual is freed from the restrictions of earth and, in an effort to remember spirit experiences in earthly limitations, one gets distortion.
It is possible to develop the mind to register spiritual impressions. Some have a greater aptitude, while other requires more intensive training. Ideas and symbols in the dream state often reflect the nature of one's reality. It is possible to develop experiences while dreaming in order to effectively "tune-in" to the nature of alternate and greater realities.