Psychologists tell us dreams play an important role in our lives. Even clergymen acknowledge that subconscious experiences during the one-third of our lives that we are sleeping have meaning that we may not yet fully understand.

Dreams are a part of an unseen and hidden world. Decoding that world has fascinated many of history&8217;s great, creative personalities.

Dreams often occur like pages out of a book. One event follows another, and the dreamer may be a character in the story or the omniscient one looking on as the story unfolds.

Some experts say we dream about 100 minutes of any eight-hour period of sleep. Although the dream is an imaginary thing, it may include real events or happenings based on what the dreamer has done in the last couple of days.

Knowing that, one still may have difficulty figuring out a dream that seems eerie and troubling. Such was the case for me a couple of nights ago.

Immobilized, I felt a huge strong hand grasping and holding tight to my arm. I saw no face, only the big fingers that held fast. The bedroom door had swung shut, as if a wind had sucked it there.

I opened my mouth to scream. Nothing. Struggling to make a sound, I knew the words would not come. Everyone has had that experience during a nightmare.

&8220;Dear, help me! Who is this?&8221; I tried to call out to my husband. I sensed he had risen from the other side of the bed. He had not. He touched my shoulder, and I awoke.

For me, the nightmare is rare. Why did this dream come on this night? Some say particular foods or simply a heavy meal before going to bed can affect dreams. Our supper was bland &8212; no pizza, no peach cobbler. Nor were there other influences often associated with troubled sleep. We saw no sci-fi movie, read no scary stories.

However, the news magazine by my bed held stories about recent kidnappings, such as of the lovely 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in Utah and the tiny Samantha Runnion kidnapped and murdered in California.

I had looked at the headline on the cover of the magazine but had not read the story before falling asleep. Was it thoughts about the families that brought on the strange nightmare for me? Many of us have imagined the terror of the two girls in their abductions and the despair of their families. We can only imagine. And I guess we can dream.

Songsters, poets, playwrights and painters have taken dreams as devices to develop their themes. Dreams play prominent roles in the Bible. Psychiatrists in modern times have taken details from dreams to help patients unravel problems.

&8220;To die, to sleep; perchance to dream: ay, there&8217;s the rub,&8221; Shakespeare writes. &8220;For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause.&8221;

Dreams. Some bring a sense of pleasure; others are troubling. Despite centuries of study, scientists truly still do not understand the meaning of our dreams.

One thing we do know. Dreams are good for us, even the frightening ones.

It is fitting to remember all the world is not the pleasant place most of us enjoy and that even in pleasant places, violence can take hold &8212; like the vicious hand that broke my sleep and gave me reason to be thankful and humble in a fragile world that so suddenly can run amok.

Joan Gandy

is community editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 445-3549 or by e-mail to

joan.gandy@natchezdemocrat.com

.