The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams (14 page)

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Authors: Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras

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BOOK: The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams
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of our dreams." These theories move beyond the notion of analytical interpretation after the fact, instead regarding dreams as meaningful experiences in and of themselves.
Despite occasionally divergent theories, the contemporary thinkers all share the belief that dreamers themselves are capable of interpreting their dreams, through various techniques that include conversation with others. Psychoanalyst Montague Ullman, who sees the dream as "the world of our inner being . . . expressed in a sensory mode," has developed an effective group technique in which people work together on dreams. Using this technique, the group members comment on the dream as if it were their own, prefacing all their remarks with the phrase "If it were my dream" so as to acknowledge that their ideas are subjective, and may or may not resonate with the dreamer of the dream. He maintains that it is merely a syndrome called
dreamism
that keeps us from giving and receiving more social support from an early age to work with our dreams. He also blames "the cult of the expert," the belief that only some specially trained person can interpret the dreamer's dream, for our lack of attention to working on dreams together. No one can be an expert on someone else's dream, according to Ullman: "We can become experts only about our own dreams. But we can help others to become experts about their dreams. . . . The skills involved can be identified, learned, and applied by anyone interested enough to do so."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves, which is why later chapters offer a variety of techniques for dream interpretation and exploration, both individually and with others. No matter what their school of thoughtwhether experience based or analytically orientedcontemporary dream theorists share one belief: Dreams are worth looking at.
 
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Modern Physiological Theories
It is fascinating to try to reconstruct the jigsaw puzzles of images our dreams present us in our waking memories, and most people would be hard-pressed to believe that not even one of their dreams has ever had any significant content. Still, what goes around, comes around, so they say. And indeed, after almost a century of examining dreams from a purely psychological standpoint, dream researchers are looking once again at the physiological nature of dreams, just as eighteenth-century theorists in the Age of Reason did. And they are asking some interesting questions. Are dreams merely bodily sensations or impulses? Do they serve some elemental physical purpose, as researchers suggest sleep does? Are they a physical function of the brain? Are they a survival mechanism?
Harvard psychiatrist and neuroscientist J. Allan Hobson suggests that there is, in fact, no unconscious at work. Instead, he says, dreams are the result of electrochemical signals in the brain, which break free at night and cause random images and "experiences" to float through our sleeping minds. Because these images are random, he says, it is of no use to try to analyze their meaning or significance for hidden content. "Trying to interpret the bizarre, incongruous elements in dreams is like attributing symbolic content to the utterings of a person with Alzheimer's disease!" he said in an interview with
Discover
magazine. "You're trying to account psychodynamically for a process that is organic."
Obviously, the idea that dreams are not psychologically significantthat they do not in and of themselves reveal our inner conflicts or desires or other aspects of our personality makeuputterly goes against what Freud and most later dream theorists have argued. But in his book
The Dreaming Brain,
Hobson concedes that dream interpretation can be useful. "[My] theory does
 
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not entail giving up examination of dreams as revelatory of the dreamer's drives, fears, and associations. On the contrary, activation-synthesis acknowledges these processes as highly relevant but finds them, as Jung did, transparently and directly evident in the dream." In other words, like Jung, Hobson believes dreams reveal rather than conceal our thoughts and wishes.
But Freud did begin his career as a neuroscientist, and he was interested in establishing a connection between the activities of our neurological systems and the content of our dreams. Almost a century after Freud abandoned this aspect of his inquiry, researcher Jonathan Winson chose to continue it, theorizing that dreams bear some connection with the memory function of the brain. Through extensive experiments on rats, Winson has found some neurological evidence to suggest that the events of our days are assimilated into our minds while we sleep. The process that takes place during nightly sleep intervals is one of cross-referencing our new experiences and observations with those we've already had.
Earlier research had established a link between survival behavior such as confronting a predator or stalking prey and dreaming, because during both of these activities the brains of animals generate theta rhythms, the slow irregular brain waves that precede sleep. Drawing on these theories, Winson tracked the neuron responses of rats in their waking state, then monitored those same neurons as they slept to see whether they are reprocessing their daily experiences during sleep. Remarkably, the same neurons that responded to a particular activity (locating a point in a maze) during the day fired off again and again during sleep, strongly suggesting to Winson that indeed he was right: Dreams play a physiological role in etching our daily experiences into our memory.
 
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Does this conclusion mean that, as Hobson says, the content and apparent symbolism in our dreams is irrelevant to our waking life? Far from it, says Winson. Unlike Hobson, Winson maintains that the things our brains choose to remember and cross-reference are of particular significance to us, and worthy of attention.
What to Believe
We can't tell you who is right. But we will suggest this: Even if our dreams are entirely random, they still have value. The connections you make as you examine your dreams for images that have some symbolic meaning are valid, as points of curiosity, as jumping-off points for further self-exploration, and perhaps as insights into the inner workings of your own unique personality.
Western culture seems to have come full circle, moving from previous centuries' beliefs in bodily causes and alternate realities to a newly informed outlook that is divided into three camps: the psychoanalytic, the physiological, and the experiential. The pendulum makes its inevitable swing: What is called modern science finds its roots in the Age of Reason. What is called New Age is really just recycled. We look back to tradition in order to move ahead toward the future. Jayne Gackenbach and Jane Bosveld, authors of
Control Your Dreams
, offer these thoughts on the advent of the growing dreamwork movement in this country: "To some degree, the resurgence of interest in dreams was an outgrowth of the post-World War II baby boom generation. In the 1960s this generation rebelled against what they saw as the rampant materialism of twentieth-century America. They cast off the shackles of organized Christianity and turned to Eastern religions in their search for spiritual meaning. . . .
 
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[Now,] the desire for meaning on a very personal level has reinstated itself."
Whatever your motivationamusement, curiosity, self-growth, spirituality, or something elseas dreamers, you can pick and choose, using your dreams to guide and shape your own theory. You have nothing to lose in developing your own theory or body of recurring symbols with which to interpret your dreams. And there is so much to gain. The next chapter explores some of the possible symbolic interpretations you might wish to incorporate into your own dream scheme.
Same Dream, Different Interpretations
A male dreamer had the following dream:
"Climbing the Ladder"
Dressed all in black, I climb up a ladder slowly and laboriously. As I get close to the top, the light becomes darker and the space narrower. I am afraid to go on. I then hear a faint female voice from above encouraging me to proceed. I stop, unsure of what to do . . .
Based on popular schools of thought, these are a few of the various interpretations this dream might evoke:
 
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Freudian: The dreamer is dreaming of having sex. The ladder is a phallic symbol for his penis. The dark opening is symbolic of the vagina he fears to enter. The faint voice suggests an unresolved Oedipal conflict (sexual attraction to his mother) that he feels guilty about, as indicated by his ambivalent feelings of attraction/revulsion and by his black clothing.
Jungian: The dreamer is on a spiritual journey that requires hard work and perseverance. The ladder may represent the universal quest for enlightenment. The low light and dark clothing may represent the shadow part of the dreamer, and also the mystery of the quest. The faint voice likely reflects the archetypal Wise Teacher or Great Mother who is giving him courage. This female, or anima, part of the dreamer represents the nurturing aspects of the self, with which he may be out of touch.
Gestalt: The dreamer is probably facing the fear of his own climb to success. The ladder part of him may represent the steps on the way to his goal. The black clothes and the darkness (suggesting fear and guilt) are in conflict with the encouraging voice. The man needs to face his ambivalence and complete his journey.
Body-Centered: The dreamer is stuck in his feelings of fear and confusion regarding his future. The dream could be telling him to focus on these feelings to avoid being stuck in ambivalence. The physical sensations associated with climbing are an important key to the correct interpretation, which only the dreamer can know.
Hobsonian: The dreamer probably saw or talked about a man climbing a ladder that day, or was climbing one himself. It may have happened near dusk, when it was growing darker. He may have been concerned about getting home before dark.
 
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Chapter Four
A Symbol is Worth a Thousand Words What Your Dreams May be Telling You
I am in some kind of prison, aware that my fellow prisoners are being flogged with a large rubber spider. The guards all look like mummies, with their faces and bodies covered by layers of tattered cloth. I know they can see, yet they have no eyes.
Is this a ''good" dream or a "bad" one? Prison, spiders, mummiesthese dream images do not suggest a very restful sleep. But as we've said, there are no bad dreams. So what can be good about a scary dream? Does it contain a message? Is there a hidden meaning? How can you understand what your dreams are trying to tell you?
The dreamer of this dream was curious about what it meant. After thinking about the circumstances of her life at the time, she began to construct an interpretationan explanation of the meaning of the dream storythat made sense to her. Because the
 
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dream occurred during a time when she was working day and night to complete a writing project, she interpreted the dream as a comment on the creative process and how it was working, or not working, for her. How did she come to understand the dream? By breaking down the various elements or symbols of the dreamthe prison, the spider, the mummy-jailersand considering the meaning of each one individually. A symbol is defined as an image that stands for something to which it has some distant resemblance; often, it unites several ideas together, adding layers of meaning.
For this dreamer, in this dream, the spider was not a menacing presence, but rather a symbol of creativity, related to the intricate webs spiders spin. The mummies in the dream, unable to speak, restricting the comings and goings of their captives, symbolized the dreamer's own obsession with her work in recent weeks, work that kept her "jailed" as she pursued the difficult task of putting ideas to paper. Would spiders mean the same thing to every dreamer? Not always. To understand a symbol's meaning, you have to consider the dream in contextin relation to your own life, the culture in which you live, and even the universal experiences we all share. Only then can you accurately interpret the meaning of the symbols in your dreams. In doing so, you will no doubt find many different meanings even for a single symbol over time: A spider may represent creativity in one dream, restlessness (on eight legs!) in another, mystery and hidden danger in still another dream. Only you, as the director of your personal dream movie, can determine what a dream really means for you.
A lot of people enjoy reading dream dictionaries, those thick-volumed books that list hundreds of symbols, from automobile to zoo, in alphabetical order, with a few specific interpretations down in black-and-white. These dictionaries can offer useful

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