I've been re-reading this thread and all the points for and against.
The thing is this: We all want to believe. Even when the realistic part of you censors dreams back into the unconscious (where they belong, actually
), I don't think there's any one of us that wouldn't get a shiver down his/her spine if someone would be able to prove that dreams are not just wishful thinking, they have a deeper meaning, and through them you can find your real self.
Alright - but maybe we don't have to look that far inside ourselves to find a connection. Look at this community, as well as other LOTR communities: thousands of fans, as different as night and day, with different personalities, different interests besides LOTR, all finding enough common ground to spend extremely enjoyable hours together debating ME issues or playing ME-related games, or being moved and shaken by the same book phrases or movie scenes. Does anyone find it hard to believe even
now that what we share is a deeper and perhaps more significant thing, than what divides us? Maybe we do have a more profound understanding of things. Yes, I know I'm being vague. That's because that understanding rarely translates itself in logical terms; more often it is felt.
Another point I was trying to make is the similarities of fairy tales across cultures. I'm talking really marked similarities: one could call them plagiarism, only in an ancient time when these cultures had no way of interacting. Of course, these similarities can be accounted for in a variety of ways, but isn't the easiest explanation (as Occam's razor suggests) the fact that we are moved by the same things?