Nick Thomas

Gregg

English 101

December 2, 2003

To Sleep, Perchance, to Dream

            The act of dreaming is a universal concept which unites all of humankind.  Everybody dreams of things that make their hearts beat fast in their chests, the fulfillment of desires and the culmination of fantasies.  We also all have horrible nightmares, surreal depictions of the monsters that dwell within our own minds.  Some people say that our dreams have no meaning, but some believe that there is a very real, very powerful message being sent to us by our nighttime incursions into the fantastic world of dreaming.

            Dreaming has played an important part in the history of humanity.  Ancient shamans went on “dream quests” so that they may learn how to lead their people.  Important events were foretold by dreams.  The Archangel Gabriel announced the pending birth of the Christ child to Mary in a dream.  The poet Dante traveled through the Inferno, up the mountain of Purgatory, and into Paradise in a dream sequence.  Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a story of what happens in the realm of the fairies in the dream of a child.  Aesculapius, a Greek god of healing, healed supplicants in their dreams.  Humanity has always placed a great deal of importance in what happens in dreams.

            Modern psychological thought is split into two distinct polar factions.  The school of Behaviorism, founded by John Watson, takes things literally.  They believe that the human thought processes are the result of chemicals and the firing of neurons.  Psychoanalysis, founded by the acclaimed Dr. Sigmund Freud and advanced by such personages as Carl Gustav Jung, advances the theory of the mind, and intangible entity responsible for human thought.  The differences between these two schools extend into the world of dreams.

            The behaviorists take a matter-of-fact approach to all things psychological.  The behaviorist approach to dreaming is that a dream is the condensation of what has been going through one’s mind.  This “day residue” is sifted by the mind during sleep.  The process of sifting is seen in our mind’s eye as a dream.

            Freud, the father of dream analysis, believed differently.  He believed that “the purpose of dreams is to allow us to satisfy in fantasies the instinctual urges that society judges unacceptable.”(Lewis 95)  He taught that dreams are an outlet for sexual and aggressive desires and recognized that “this low estimate of the psychic activities of the dream has not been allowed to pass without contradiction from various quarters” (Freud).  Those psychic activities deemed taboo by society and the individual dreamer are transformed by a psychic “censor” into something else.  Because of this censor, dreams consist mostly of symbols that can be interpreted.  The dream, according to Freud, consists of five different processes.  The first, displacement, involves shifting the blame for some action onto someone or something else to avoid excessive emotion n the dream.  The second, condensation, disguises a particular urge by changing it into a short event or image.  The third, symbolization, acts out the urge in a symbolic manner.  The fourth, projection, gives our tendencies and desires to other people, so that by having them act out our urges we may escape the guilt of acting them out ourselves.  Finally, secondary revision is the process of encoding our dreams into a manner that leaves us with the “manifest content” of the dream (that which is readily visible), and the “latent content” of the dream (the hidden meaning of the dream) (Lewis, 95). 

Carl Jung took Freud’s theories a step further.  He theorized that there are some universal symbols, which he called “archetypes,” always meant the same thing in

everybody’s dreams.  These archetypes, part of the collective unconsciousness, are applicable to all instances in which they are present.  Jung believed that dreams serve two functions.  The first function of the dream is to compensate for internal imbalances.  This is why overly analytical people often have emotionally charged dreams.  The second function of the dream is to serve in the development of individuality (Lewis 142,143).

According to psychoanalysts, dreams can be interpreted to discover hidden facets of one’s psyche.  There are many dream encyclopedias on the market which give examples of what a particular image or event in a dream might mean.  These classic symbologies are used in interpretation of literature and mythologies as well.  One need only look at a deck of Tarot cards to see that this symbology predates modern psychological thought.  Some symbols never appear, though.  The symbols associated with wishing someone dead would never appear in a moral person’s dreams because “our behavior in dreams is also generally consistent with our waking behavior… A person who leads a moral life tends to dream moral dreams.” (Rathus, 186)

Dreams continue to be a mystery to scientists.  Whether combinations of stray thoughts from your day or the symbolic representation of your most secret desires, dreams provide a nightly entertainment for most people.  The important thing to remember is that it is only a dream.
Bibliography

Lewis, James R.  The Dream Encyclopedia.  Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 1995

 

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. A. A. Brill. http://psychology.about.com/library/classics/blfreud_dream.htm. Accessed November 27, 2003.

 

Rathus, Spencer A.  Psychology: Concepts and Connections. Seventh Edition.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2004.

Outline

 

Introduction:   The act of dreaming is a universal concept which unites all of humankind.  Everybody dreams of things that make their hearts beat fast in their chests, the fulfillment of desires and the culmination of fantasies.  We also all have horrible nightmares, surreal depictions of the monsters that dwell within our own minds.  Some people say that our dreams have no meaning, but some believe that there is a very real, very powerful message being sent to us by our nighttime incursions into the fantastic world of dreaming.

 

I.  Dreaming has played an important part in human history.

            A.  Important events have been foretold by dreams.

            B.  Dreams have become an important part of folklore.

II.  Modern psychology is split between two factions.

            A.  Behaviorism is more matter-of-fact in it's approach to psychology.

            B.  Psychoanalysis takes a more abstract approach to the study of the mind.

III.  Behaviorism treats dreaming as a biological byproduct.

            A.  Dreams come from the mind sifting through the events of the day.

            B.  Day residue can influence the nightly dreaming cycle.

IV.  Freud was the father of dream analysis.

            A.  The dream satisfies urges that are taboo.

            B.  Dreams consist of symbols that can be interpreted.

            C.  There are five processes that take place when a dream occurrs.

V.  Jung further explained what happens in a dreamer's mind.

            A.  Jung put forth his theory of archetypes, or universal symbols.

            B.  There are two functions of a dream.

VI.  The symbolism in dreams is a reflection of one's own mind.

            A.  There are many symbols used in literature and found in mythology that are consistent with the meaning of dream symbols.

            B.  Moral people tend to have moral dreams.

 

Conclusion:  Dreams continue to be a mystery to scientists.  Whether combinations of stray thoughts from your day or the symbolic representation of your most secret desires, dreams provide a nightly entertainment for most people.  The important thing to remember is that it is only a dream.