Alex Arguelles DREAM THEORY There is no proven fact on why we dream which is why there are so many theories
on the topic! There is "reud#s theory that dreams carry our hidden desires and there is $ung#s theory that dreams carry meaning although not always of desire and that these dreams can %e interpreted %y the dreamer! After these theories others continued such as the &ayce '(the sleeping prophet)*"amous psychic+ theory in that dreams are our %odies means of %uilding up of the mental spiritual and physical well,%eing! "inally came the argument %etween Evans# theory '&omputer scientist*experimental psychologist+ and the &ric- and Mitchinson 'molecular %iologists+ theory! Evans states that dreaming is our %odies way of storing the vast array of information gained during the day whereas &ricand Mitchinson say that this information is %eing dumped rather than stored! .hichever theory is true we may never -now %ut from these following theories we can decide for ourselves what we %elieve to %e true and further help us into understanding our dreams!
"reud#s Theory Out of all theories %efore his and all of those today this is the one that stands out the most! He %elieved that a dream represented an ongoing wish along with the previous days activities! They may even portray wishes that have %een inside us since early childhood! /n fact he %elieved every dream is partially motivated %y a childhood wish! Another interesting idea was that nothing is made up during a dream and that they are %iologically determined coming from needs and personal experiences! 0ro%a%ly one of the most interesting ideas among these theories is his theory of dream occurrence! Dreams occur in a state of 1ego collapse1 when the demands of the /d 'imperative %odily needs+ and 2uperego 'conscience ego ideals+ converge upon the Ego 'personal desires and mediator %etween the /d and 2uperego+! /n easier terms a dream will occur when the unconscious wish is %ound to the preconscious instead of 3ust %eing discharged!
Many of "reud#s theories still stand true today %ut most of all in the area of defense mechanisms our %ody uses while we dream! /f our minds have %een dealing with too much denial regression or repression it causes a dream to ta-e place! This prevents us from %uilding up high states of psychological tension in wa-ing life! This is why if you %ecome too emotional it actually wor-s to 1sleep it off!1
According to $ung $ung disagreeing with "reud#s theory 4uic-ly developed his own which contradicted "reud#s! $ung %elieved the most effective method for dream interpretation was the use of series correlation! "reud didn#t even %elieve interpretation was possi%le %y the dreamer and that dreams could only %e interpreted %y a trained psychologist! $ung was the one who gave hope to all dreamers who were loo-ing for the meaning in our dreams without having to hire a 1professional!1 Series correlation is a process involving the analysis of dreams over time. $ung suggested ta-ing similar dreams from you dream 3ournal and merging the dream images together forming a larger dream! Try and gather these images into your head he says and from these images determined if there are any wa-ing situations that might %e related! "rom this information write out a physical action that could %e ta-en %ased off of the information learned through using this techni4ue! 5i-e "reud $ung categori6ed the mind into three parts7 the collective unconscious, the personal unconscious, and the conscious. (The collective unconscious in there words are descri%ed li-e im%edded deposits of world processes! /t does not depend on personal experience only the images which are prefigured %y evolution! The personal unconscious is a receptacle or storage mechanism for that which is not contained within the consciousness! /t holds forgotten association unnoticed experiences o%servations moral 4uestioning repressed and discarded thoughts half, thoughts seemingly irrelevant details and incongruities! "inally comes the consciousness witch develops through sensing thin-ing and intuition)! '.ARD 89:+
.hen $ung interpreted dreams he found that the most important thing to do was as- yourself 4uestions a%out the images in your dreams and from these 4uestions write down all of the associations you can thin- of! Here are the 4uestions he would as- himself7 .hat is the shape of the image; .hat is the function of the image; .hat alterations does the image go through; .hat does the image do; .hat do you li-e and disli-e a%out the image; .hat does the image remind you of;
Edgar &ayce#s Experience .hen it came to the idea of dreams having purpose &ayce#s theory was a %it different then the others! He %elieved dreaming to %e the %odies way of 1self edification 1 which is the %uilding up of the mental spiritual and physical well,%eing! /t was a way of 4uic-ening the dreamer to his*her own human potential! <y getting a good nights sleep any person could develop more mature values stretch their thin-ing and right one#s self! According to &ayce there are five different levels that dream#s stem from! These different levels are the %ody level su%conscious level level of consciousness level of superconscious and the level of the soul! .hat they can do for you is anything from presenting messages of your %ody calling for aid during sic-ness to stating pro%lems which must %e solved within the conscious! &ayce %elieved that if you were to interpret your dreams correctly you must thoroughly study yourself! Once you -now how you feel a%out dreams and what they can do for you can you %egin to study your dreams! /f you have a dream according to &ayce it#s primary focus is to either solve pro%lems and adapt to external affairs or awa-ening and alerting the dreamer to new potential within the self! The first step to &ayce#s method of interpretation is to determine which of the two ma3or functions of dreams is the primary focus of the dream!
The second step is the process of ta-ing inventory! You need to -now your conscious and su%conscious mind inside out! =now future plans goals interests stances and decisions! =now your hidden fears longings dependencies and defenses! =now the cycles needs ha%its and stresses of the %ody! Once you finish with these two steps you can %egin to interpret your dreams and decide how they can help you %etter yourself mentally physically and spiritually!
&hristopher Evans# Organi6ation According to Evans every time we go to sleep our %rain disengages from the external world and uses this time to sort through and organi6e all the information that was ta-en in throughout the day! 2leep especially during REM sleep is when the %rain %ecomes isolated for the sensory and motor neural pathways! During this time our data %an-s and program files are opened and %ecome availa%le for modification on re,organi6ation %ased on what happened during the day'>epelin ?@:+! /n this theory we are not aware of all the processing that occurs during REM sleep! .hile we dream the %rain comes %ac- on,line for a short period of time and the conscious mind is allowed to o%serve a small sample of the programs that are %eing run! The %rain attempts to interpret this information in the same way it would during the wa-eful state! /n a nutshell dreams are nothing more than a minute amount of the information that is %eing scanned and sorted during REM sleep!
"rancis &ric- and Araeme Mitchinson#s &leanup They %elieve the %rain#s neural memory systems are easily overloaded and that humans experience REM to eliminate cognitive de%ris! /n other words dreams are nothing more than a mechanism for the nervous system to clear the %rain of unnecessary even harmful memories! &ric- and Mitchison called their theory 1reverse learning1! They descri%ed dreams as gar%age to %e discarded from memory! 2uppose for example that you had to remem%er every detail of your life! Your %rain,mind would soon %e stuc- in an endless loop of trivial memory! The psychological fact that dreams are so difficult to
remem%er suggests to &ric- and Mitchison that the process might have %een designed to erase rather than strengthen certain memories! (.e dream in order to forget)! They %elieve that people remem%ering their dreams could help retain patterns of thought which are %etter forgotten the same patterns that your system has attempted to clean out! This is why they say if you don#t write down your dreams they will %e forgotten %ecause your %rain is still wor-ing to clear these memories out! My own personal theory on why we dream is that the su%conscious mind is always wor-ing! This results in dreams! The su%conscious mind in an attempt to file away all of the information from the previous day results in dreams! A dream in my opinion is nothing more than a chemical reaction in the %rain! 2o why do we dream; Are they instructions from the spiritual world or 3ust deep hidden wishes that can %e used to unloc- the secrets of the unconscious mind; Bo%ody -nows for sure! There is no proven fact on why we dream which is why there are so many theories on the topic!
References7
2chneider A! C Domhoff A! .! '?DDE updated F999+! The Guantitative 2tudy of Dreams H.e% siteI! Availa%le7 http7**www!dreamresearch!net*! .ard &! <ec- A! C Rascoe E! '?D8?+! Typical dreams7 /ncidence among psychiatric patients! Archives of Aeneral 0sychiatry E 898,8?E 2nyder "! '?D@9+! The phenomenology of dreaming! /n 5! Madow C 5! 2now 'Eds!+ The psychodynamic implications of the physiological studies on dreams 'pp! ?FJ,?E?+! 2pringfield /57 &!&! Thomas! >epelin H! '?D:9+! Age differences in dreams7 /! Men#s dreams and thematic apperceptive fantasy! /nternational $ournal of Aging and Human Development ?F ?@?, ?:8!
