The Study of Dreams And Dream Interpretation

Since time immemorial dreams must be regarded as an interest which goes beyond a mere superstition. The theme and the importance of the study of dreams has been made and learned from human beings through the ages.

From looking at the many references to records of dreams, one cannot doubt that the study of dreams and their meanings is an important part of our heritage.

But What Are Dreams?dream interpretations, from ancient to modern times.

In the previous century, the dream was defined as a “state of consciousness during sleep.”

However, this definition was rather vague at best and based upon the growth of interest in the study of physics.

Nevertheless, since the mid-nineteenth century a great deal of research has been done to try to define more clearly the nature of our dreams.

Dreaming is undoubtedly one of the most intimate of experiences. As a general rule, the dream is seen as an emotional reaction of our unconscious to things we have experienced whilst awake and as dreams are usually uncontrolled, our experiences are sensed as extremes of emotion.

Furthermore, in our dreams there is no concept of space and time; past, present and future. Time is irrelevant as the powerful emotions we feel in our dreams negate any rational relationship between time and space.

When writing about experiments in time, Professor Dunne has suggested the theory that all the time is like a river. You can navigate the river, forward, backward, aside and, presumably this is one way of looking at our acceptance of time travel in our dreams.

However, there is more to look at in dreams than their relationship to time.

F. W. HILDEBRANDT wrote in 1875:

“Dreams help us determine those things hidden in the depths of our existence. They help us to understand things our unconscious mind has known for years.”

Dreams help us discover a deeper understanding of ourselves. To understand our dreams gives us power and more focused attention.

A dream can warn us of the danger of steps we have already taken or are about to take.

Jung developed part of his theory of psychoanalysis with the study of dreams. Along with his interpretations of the collective unconscious and archetypes, Jung defined dreams as:

“visual images [which] are of the quality of the human soul”

The concept being that mental images are but tiny microns compared to the richness of a dream image.

And it is the richness and vitality of these images which has produced man’s interest in dreams since the dawn of human existence.

We all bring our own thoughts, feelings and life experiences to our dreams. And when you think about the variety of all these in relation to the number of humans in existence, past and present, you can see that the dream images which can be produced are endless.

Our dreams can be happy or sad, joyful or tragic, horrific or reassuring, full of love, or bristling with hostility. Our dreams can be religious or sacrilegious, exciting or depressing, funnyor sad. Words alone cannot describe the richness of emotional experiences dreams can bring.

Archeologists have discovered evidence of dream interpretations in drawings, paintings and sculptors ranging from those made by cave men, ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, to rich works of art up to the current day.

And dream depictions and interpretations have become an integral part of art, literature, culture, religion and science.

Interpretations of dreams have also provided many texts and books in a wide number of languages.

However, no one person has been able to come up with exactly the same interpretation of dreams, because dreaming is such a unique experience to each and every one of us.

Interpretations have been made by theologians, artists, mystics and even scientists (Freud in particular)

The concept of actual travelling through time in our dreams has been used within many pagan religions and is a key aspect of Astral travel or OBE (outer body experience).

Cicero, Roman statesman and writer (106-43 BC) in a letter written nearly two thousand years ago stated:

“nothing can be so stupid, so impossible, or so unnatural that cannot happen in a dream.”

But taking the impossible further, when you consider that the dream of a parallel universe can be very specific, according to the dreamer, can you really say that anything we experience in dreams does not exist?

And this is why the mystery of dreams is still such a tantalizing study for many of us.

And everyone dreams when they sleep. It is just that most of us do not remember our dreams upon waking.
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From a spiritual awareness point of view, it could be argued that, either we are not ready to accept the messages in our dreams or we have yet to develop our understanding of our dreams and how they relate to our spiritual and psychic development.

You may be among the small minority who have vivid memories of their dreams and can recall them in great detail, or be like the vast majority who have only vague memories of your dreams at best. Or perhaps you are one of those who insist they do not dream at all? (Despite scientific evidence to the contrary)

But dreaming is a natural process, like breathing, and the only time your ability to dream may be affected is if you are taking a certaincombination of drugs or drinking too much alcohol, which can sometimes block the dream state from occurring.

And dreams can be extremely powerful when understood and harnessed correctly. We can use our dreams to help us during the day, sometimes to extraordnary effect.

One of the most famous cases of using dreams this way is of the late nineteenth century German chemist. Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz who dreamed he saw the snake eating its own tail, which gave the appearance of a large ring. The dream inspired him in his research on atoms and to the discovery that the atoms in the molecule of benzene are in fact six carbon atoms - the ring reprsenting them rather than the straight line von Stradonitz had envisaged up until that point. Von Stradonitz’s discovery is regarded as one of the greatest flashes of creative genius in the entire field of organic chemistry.

Interpretations of dreams has also been used in the scientific field of Astrology and prediction.

Astrologer Hugh MacCraig had been trying to create a table showing the position of the moon since 1800 to the year 2000 in three simple steps. But neither MacCraig, nor the association of Astrology in England, or the mathematicians of the NAS, who were also working on the problem, could come up with a solution.

Then one night, MacCraig, woke up with a start at 3.00 am to find that he had dreamed of the solution. The mathematical table math he produced as a result of his dream has since been proved to be correct.

Of course, rationalists may say that this was simply MacCraig’s unconscious mind working on the problem whilst he slept, but this dose not negate the power of our dreams to help us delve deep and discover knowledge from our unconscious.

Many modern day psychotherapists believe we can learn to interpret and make use of dreams to help ourselves live a happier life. Dr. Stanley Krippner, from the Maimonides Medical Center Laboratory of Psychology, suggest that by interpreting our dreams we can solve problems which seem insurmountable. Tapping into our dreams provides us with the knowledge of how to deal with the problem which is hidden away in our uncosncous. And this theory is the basis of much dream therapy work today.

All scientific authorities agree, however, that dreams are a mental activity, which occurs when the conscious control has been removed. Some go further in their studies and relate this to studies of DNA, arguing that certain dreams which may be classified as classified as “visionary”, “precognitive ‘,’ or ‘retrocognitive” are actually part of an emotional code transferred to us through genetic coding passed on to us by our ancestors.

Nevertheless, it could be argued that predictive dreams do not fall under this category. Neither can this scientific definition negate the fact that working on and with our dreams can very much help us along our path to spiritual and psychic awareness.

In any case, regardless of what the current state of scientific thinking may be (and scientific thinking is, after all, only as strong as the latest scientific discoveries themselves), there are many who are still interested in the ancient traditions, interpretations, signs, symbols and superstitions surronding dreams. Therefore, the next part of this section on Dreams covers a list of Dream Interpretations, taken from studies from ancient to modern times.

This has been an Introduction to Dreams.  Please see below for the follow on pages:

Dream Interpretations - Distinguishing Our Dreams

Dream Interpretation - Prophetic Dreams

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