It would be easy for a man to mock "Twilight" by Mormon author Stephenie Meyer. But the novel, which chronicles the swooning and ogling of teenager Bella for her vampire boyfriend Edward, should be required reading for all men.

True, a man might find himself screaming at Edward: "Bite her! Just bite her already!"

True, he might fling the book against the wall a few times in frustration -- especially when (spoiler alert!) the final great vampire showdown takes place while the first-person narrator is unconscious, which means there is no action description of what would have been the best part of the book: vampires fighting vampires.

But if a man can read the book -- which, by the way, might make a great movie someday -- he just might come away with an amazing insight into what women want.

And what do women want?

Edward is described as a "beautiful boy" with "perfect lips" and a "voice like velvet." Edward has a "dazzling face" and, let's mention it again, "flawless lips." Again and again he is described as beautiful and gorgeous. He is strong, dark and beautiful. He is immensely talented and beautiful. He is sensitive and beautiful. He is moody and beautiful. Women and girls love him even though his ever-so-beautiful lips are cold and probably stained with cougar blood.

In other words, Edward is the perfect man. And the good part is, every man is Edward.

"But hold on a second," you may say. "I am not even handsome, let alone 'beautiful with perfect lips' -- I'm not sure I want to have perfect lips, I'm not sure I even want to know what perfect lips look like."

But now I am going to give you the secret for understanding "Twilight" and when you understand Bella and Edward you will thereby understand all women.

"Twilight" came from a woman's real-life, middle-of-the-night dream.

In other words, this novel grew out of a woman's subconscious mind. It is telling us things she does not really want us to know.

This, by the way, is a good place to take a moment to encourage you to never tell another person your dreams. If you are the type of person who has no difficulty figuring out the symbolism in your dreams, you probably aren't going around blabbing about your nightmares. If you can't figure out the symbolism in your dreams then beware -- other people will figure out every embarrassing personally revealing detail for you.

And, true to form, this instance of Stephenie Meyer's dream is also personally revealing.

We've looked at Edward. Let's look at Bella. Bella is good-looking enough. She is smart. She is brave. She has pluck. She is clumsy. And, she smells good -- especially to Edward who wants to drink all her blood, except that he loves her and that would end the relationship.

In the topsy-turvy world of symbolism, Edward is every man and Bella is every woman.

Yes, gentlemen. We are vampires.

In a woman's mind, we are Edward. OK, so we are not perfect in our looks, but remember this is subconscious symbolism. Edward's perfection is symbolic of all the love and good things we represent to the women in our lives. It is the good us.

But we are also vampires -- we have the ability to make life miserable for women. We can give into our own desires without regard of how it would destroy their lives.

We have the power to dazzle or destroy.

I am not going to get into anything deeper than this. There are other aspects, perhaps, to this that are best left for MormonTimes.com columnist Laura Brotherson.

What is it about Edward that Bella and all Meyer's fans love? He controls his vampirish impulses and deep desires because he loves Bella. Bella knows he has these desires and admires him more than she would if he did not have these desires.

Sure, he wants to drink her blood, but even more than that, he wants her to be happy and live.

What could be more beautiful?