The essence of dreams

I think Hughes did a really great job of presenting a straightforward account of what is involved in dreaming and the different theories involved with that state of consciousness. It was very scientific and as factual as the unknown can be; after all, what are dreams but the unknown? Dream interpretation is not limited to the psychoanalyst trying to tell you you have unresolved sexual urges for your mother -- what each person takes from his or her dream is a form of subconscious interpretation.
If dreams really are trying to tell us something, there is no way to know if the dreamer properly interprets the dream the first time around. For example, the dreamer may focus on something other than what was intended by his or her subconscious, which might give the dream a very different meaning than what may have been intended, if anything. But is it necessarily true that a dream must have a deeper meaning?
In the example of Shamanism, Shaman are said to "travel," which could be interpreted as controlled or lucid dreaming. If Pearce is correct and we ask questions in a certain manner to derive a certain answer, then it could possible follow that if a Shaman has some idea of what he is looking for as a cure or an explanation, he can guide his "travels" to a certain destination or conclusion. I have no doubt that to be a Shaman is to be a highly trained and intelligent individual, combining the years of study with a natural talent for compassion and healing.
That being said, after so much experience and practice, if someone were to approach the Shaman with a question regarding a concern the Shaman might have had even limited experience with in the past, could not the Shaman -- either subconsciously or otherwise -- direct his "traveling" to familiar territory first to discover if they answer might be there? No matter what position we hold in our community, especially when it comes to helping others, I believe we tend to be more comfortable with attempting something familiar first before trying a new approach.
I am not so certain that I entirely agree with Pearce's statements about seeking certain answers by asking certain questions and vice versa. Surely there are times when we ask something in hope of a certain response (fishing for compliments, asking someone a question you truly do know the answer to in order to see how they might react, etc), but I am not sure I believe it is possible that every question is asked for an already known answer.
We may have a sense of the response. For example, as I was driving my car with its manual transmission through downtown Harrisburg, I managed to stall at a light (how embarrassing, I know...). My friend who was with me, having never driven anything except automatics, asked why my car stalled. As I tried to explain, I realized I did not necessarily know the details. So, as always when in doubt, I called my Dad, who knows everything, and when I posed to him the same question, I was asking with a vague understanding of the mechanics of my car, but clearly I did not know everything. I feel the latter is an example of asking certain questions in search of a certain answer you are already mostly aware of. But when my friend asked the same thing of me, not being mechanically-inclined, she had no idea what I might say.
Socrates made it a practice of asking questions to draw out an answer. If I'm not mistaken, he believed that we already have the answers within us; it is just a matter of finding them and recognizing them. I do feel there is much we bury withing ourselves that sometimes takes time and patience and an objective third party to help us see; however, I'm a little unsure about the belief that each of us hold all the answers.