This Is Why You Can't See Yourself In Your Dreams

People often call outer space the final frontier, but what about dreaming? There is so much we don't know about dreaming — even if we can reasonably pinpoint what it means to dream about certain objects or situations, such as fighting with someone or riding a roller coaster. We dream all night, not just in REM sleep like is often believed — even if we don't realize or remember it — and we dream in real time (via HuffPost). If this is the case, then why don't we see ourselves in the dreams we do remember?

Clinical psychologist Rubin Naiman explains that dreaming is essentially the digestive system of the brain. More precisely, he says, "At night, the brain metaphorically swallows, digests, and sifts through information, and, just like the gut, eliminates [some]" (via The Huffington Post). This is why so many people believe that dreams carry special meanings; it's the subconscious' way of sorting everything you've consumed and experienced since you last slept.

There is something to be said about the fact that we can't see all of our dreams, nonetheless seeing ourselves in them. Despite this, we can still have dreams that involve the self and our bodies. For example, some people experience repeated dreams in which they're naked. This often means that the recipient of these dreams needs to accept themselves and their bodies more and stop being too hard on themselves (via MindBodyGreen). Still, in these instances you're not seeing yourself from an omniscient point of view; you're still in your body and having a first-person view of your dream world.

Our best understanding is that you can't see yourself in your dreams because you're living your dreams out. You're seeing your dream from your own point of view because it's your dream world. You can even die while living in a dream and still live to tell the tale, but this happens in your normal first-person point of view (via HuffPost). 

Who knows, though? Maybe there are people who can see themselves in their dreams, or maybe certain circumstances are required to reach this different point of view in your dreams.