The Sand
The Dreaming--The Inner Realm
"I've been working so hard--I deserve a vacation!" How many
times have you heard this, or a similar statement? It often seems as if
our desire to break away from the normal pattern of our lives grows ever
stronger with each passing day. The more we fall into states of mundane
consistency, the more we desire intervals of "personal freedom"
or escapes in which we may indulge our inner goals, passions, and fantasies.
We begin to view these escapes as rewards for dealing with and getting
through thedaily drudge, easing our pain and keeping us focused and motivated
for a relatively long period of time. When we fail to receive some type
of break somewhere down the line, it usually results in mental and physical
fatigue.
Thus, many people believe that due to the economic and social pressures
of modern-day society, escapes in both body and mind are few and far between.
However, take a moment to think and reflect on the truth of the last statement.
Is it really complete? An insightful reader may not agree. To our body
and conscious self, yes, our days are typically spent in the grind of everyday
life; to our other side, our unconscious, and in many ways "true"
self, the situation is quite converse. This duality is instigated mainly
by the fact that roughly half our existence is spent sleeping; consequently,
much of our existence is also spent dreaming.
But what are dreams? The ancients used to believe dreams were a totally
separate realm, ruled by one of the Endless, Dream (also known as Morpheus
or Oneiros). Others believe that dreams are a form of prophecy or latent
information, which will or can have some significance in our lives. According
to G. William Domhoff in his 1985 work, The Mystique of Dreams:
- "Historically, dreams are one reason for the belief in a soul
that is separable from the body; some of our dream adventures seem so real
that we feel they must have happened even though our bodies were asleep.
Dreams also contribute to the notion that there is a life after death--deceased
relatives and other loved ones sometimes reappear with such a stunning
reality in our dreams, talking with us in animated fashion or showing great
emotion, that it is hard to believe, even when we know better, that their
presence is merely the product of our imagination."(Domhoff, 1985)
Every Coin Has Two Sides...
Before continuing, I feel it is necessary to define the realms which
I will often be referring to. I believe that dreams lie at the heart of
the inner realm--the soul, the conscious/unconscious, the true self--and
it is through these dreams that we ground ourselves in this universe. My
model parallels that of the interactionists (although not entirely
the same, as I put more emphasis on the importance of the mind!: The mind
(soul) and body interact; the mind influences the body, and the body influences
the mind. The mind also is capapble of initiating behavior. (Hergenhahn,
1992) Author Neil Gaiman expressed duality with a series of comparisons:
"As death defines life; destruction defines creation; despair defines
hope; desire defines hatred; destiny defines freedom. So then, do dreams
define reality." (Gaiman, 1993) Indeed, most everything within the
universe has an opposite; all coins have two sides. Religion firmly roots
itself in this notion: God vs. Satan, Good vs. Evil, Heaven vs. Hell. Simply
having one means a tilt in the balance of the universe, inevitably leading
to either uncontrollable chaos or incomprehensible utopia--concepts generally
unfathomable to the human mind.
It is commonly agreed that there is a realm of reality. Of course there
is--we enter it and function there everyday. Reality gives us the stage
to actualize our goals, careers, and physical pleasures; it is the canvas
on which we paint the material sides of our lives. However, as we define
our outer realms, so do we need to acknowledge the existence of the inner
world; we need to establish equilibrium in order to place ourselves in
the most efficient position possible within the universe.
The Biblical Perspective
My earliest search into the mechanics of dreaming was answered by,
naturally, my parents. However, the view which my parents took was not
necessarily their own--both my father and mother are strong Christians
and attempt to explain everything using stories and scriptures from the
Bible. Hence, I can recall numerous Biblical references to the power and
meaning of dreams. David Coxhead and Susan Hiller discussed the role of
dreams in Biblical tradition:
"The history of Israel as recorded in the Historical Books and
the Pentateuch of the Old Testament is the biography of Yahveh, and the
duty of the Jews was to follow the will of God as it was expressed in the
divinely inspired laws, supplemented by the visions and dreams of the prophets:
'If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to
him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.' When God spoke to the
Jews as to Jacob, who 'dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth...and
behold the Lord stood above it, and said: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham
your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give
to you and your descendants' (Gen. 28.12), or His message appeared in dreams
so thinly veiled that its meaning was immediately apparent, as in the case
of Joseph: 'Hear this dream that I have dreamed: behold, we were binding
sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf. His brothers said
to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us?"' (Gen.37.5). Indeed,
the validating criterion of theophany was that there was no ambiguity about
meaning, and for this reason only Jews--usually kings or prophets--received
this sort of dream. The dreams of Gentiles recorded in the Old Testament
are always symbolic and must be interpreted with God's help by a Jew, as,
for instance, when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream." (Coxhead &
Hiller, 1976)
There is a good chance that, at some point in one's life, they will
hear at least one of these popular Biblical tales. I've had the "good
fortune" to hear most all of them. Observing the close link between
dreams and God then, it may come as no surprise that many Christians believe
that spiritual growth is more active in dreams than in the waking state,
because we are withdrawn from our own wills. (Coxhead & Hiller, 1976)
Searching For the Truth
I've gone through dozens of explanations for the meaning of dreams
during the course of my life. One of the earliest, which I'd read in one
of my science textbooks, had its roots in the scientific research which
had begun in the 1950s:
"This 'new biology of dreaming' linked dreams to a particular stage
of sleep and to numerous behavioral and physiological changes, including
eye movement pattems, that suggested dreams are often 'watched' by the
dreamer even as they unfold. This dream stage of sleep was found to occur
in a regular pattem throughout the night, and some studies suggested that
people become nervous or upset if deprived of it. These studies gave a
material reality to what hitherto had appeared to be an ephemeral and irregular
phenomenon and reinforced the inclination to believe that dreams are somehow
of deep and fundamental importance." (Kleitman,- 1963)
This seemed reasonable enough to believe without getting religious or
philosophical. Besides, at that point in my life (during the 1980s) I didn't
want to waste time searching for truths which would not directly affect
my appearance or reputation--"I'm young," I thought, "Let
the adults figure out the meaning of life." I had far too much living
to do!
Moreover, I didn't want to know the "why" of things. I didn't
care about why humans had dreams or how they were generated. To simply
know they existed and that they contained mostly personal matter was all
I cared to retain on the subject. This thinking was quickly dismantled
as soon as I entered college and enrolled in such courses as history, religion,
and, of course, psychology.
Freud & His Interpretation of Dreams
Admittedly, I was one of those who would follow whatever the popular
theory might happen to be at any given moment. Therefore, my beliefs span
a multitude of theories, notions, and hypotheses; also as a consequence,
I do not recall quite the exact order in which they fell-- however, I do
remember those which had the greatest impact on my life.
With a certain amount of modesty I do admit that Freudian concepts
of dreaming have influenced myself to some degree. Freud's The Interpretation
of Dreams opened my eyes to a new perspective--a different way of seeing
that which had been there from the day I was born. Indeed, even the great
psychologist felt that it was one of his most significant accomplishments:
"This book, with the new contribution to psychology which surprised
the world when it was published (1900), remains essentially unaltered.
It contains, even according to my present-day judgment, the most valuable
of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such
as this falls to one's lot but once in a lifetime." (Freud, 1900/1953)
It is easy to see, therefore, how I could so quickly become adhered
to this theory, given the emphasis Freud had put forth in his preface.
But it was not only his opinion which persuaded me. Others felt his work
was historically significant as well: "By general consensus (The Interpretation
of Dreams) was Freud's major work, the one by which his name will probably
be longest remembered." (Freud, 1900/1953) These words were spoken
by Freud's biographer, Ernest Jones, soon after reading the work.
Freud's dream interpretation theory held international prominence for
a long time because the explanation of the theory suggested so many of
Freud's key concepts. Freud proposed a unique type of dream interpretation:
His theory required that any coherence of the manifest dream, the dream
itself, be disregarded and rejected in order to discover the latent meaning.
(McCaffrey, 1984) It was, in effect, sacrificing the meaning of the dream
to discover the meaning behind the dream. This was the aspect of Freud's
theory which fascinated me the most (and seemed to capture my attention
at a time where I was beginning to search my own mind for answers)--the
idea that here, at last, was someone who attempted to give meaning
to dreams, instead of just acknowledging they were there. Thus, I had entered
into the stage of "how" and "why," and Freud was the
one I latched onto first.
Freud's first and most basic principle of interpretation requires the
interpreter to separate the elements of the manifest dream, to fragment
the surface that he finds, and to treat each of those elements as a distinct
clue. At no point should the interpreter take the apparent integrity of
a dream into account; those few dreams that seem obviously coherent on
the surface are merely examples of a particular kind of disguise, and should
be fragmented with a determination proportionate to their misleading appearance.
(Freud, 1900/1953) Also, only the latent meaning of the dream is important--the
manifest content can be disregarded once the underlying meaning has been
extracted.
Freud also surmised that every dream contained a wish fulfillment--a
symbolic expression of a wish that the derams could not express or satisfy
directly without experiencing anxiety. (Hergenhahn, 1992) In this principle,
he parallels his ideas of dreams arising as "symbolic manifestations
of repressed traumatic thoughts." (Hergenhahn, 1992)
When I first encountered this theory of dream analysis I was, to say
the least, very skeptical. However, the more I dwelled on the subject,
the more I thought that perhaps there was some truth to what Freud was
saying. After all, there were many times when I would go to sleep in a
satisfied state of mind, only to dream of some incident or event which
had occurred either recently, or that very day. This event would be something
which I'd have thought was meaningless or simply too painful to deal with
at the time; sort of the extremes at both ends of the spectrum. Manifesting
itself in my dreams, therefore, lets me know that this event is indeed
pertinent, and that by repressing it I have only served to force my unconscious
to deal with the matter. Further evidence of this repression are the frequent
headaches I encounter when the stress levels are high. I'd always attributed
migranes to things such as overexposure to light, too much noise, etc.
However, at certain times I would get headaches which would last for over
24 hours, even coming off 12 solid hours of sleep! Upon waking with a headache,
I would always try to think about what I had been dreaming about the night
before--it usually was something which I had severe anxiety of, and had
repressed trying not to worry.
Although I do agree with many of Freud's concepts, I have to disagree
with a few as well. His Oedipus complex is simply too farfetched for me
to grasp, and he overemphasizes sexual desires. However, at this point
in my life, I feel I must side with Freud, due to all the stress I am encountering
(and consequently, all the nightmares and headaches).
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