Dreams

Dreams and the perspectives they have on individuals in society has led to debate, and even controversy, over that past few centuries. It’s the analysis and interpretation of dreams and how it relates to individual experience that is a central element surrounding this topic. The impact of a dream on an individual along with the influence of dream interpretation can be viewed as having a direct impact on the types of dreams people have. I will address the topic of dream anomalies and what impact dreams have on individuals as I cite literary scholars to affirm my position. There have been many great philosophers with differing opinions on the influence of dreams and whether or not there is a direct correlation between the dream process and the human’s individual thought processing and daily-life experiences. First, I considered the views of a great philosopher named William James as a foundation behind the study of dreams and its effects on individuals. William James has published numerous manuscripts backed by volumes of other philosophical material, research, and documentation. William James is considered one of the most influential people who studied the workings of the human mind, interrelationships among thought, and the consciousness of an individual. James was a naturalist, physician, professor, writer, and psychologist. His studies played a role in other philosophical studies of dream interpretation. One of his published pieces, The Principles of Psychology, had revolutionary impact on society. It was a breakthrough for the sciences of thought. Some of his well-known material was published in the latter part of the 19th century, which will be discussed in detail. The Principles of Psychology was an immense undertaking by James. My focus will look at The Stream of Thought and The Consciousness of Self segments of this work where I will state why I was convinced by his arguments surrounding consciousness and thought-processing. The reason for incorporating William James’s interpretations on streams of thought and consciousness of self is because there is a direct correlation between thought processing and the dream phase of an individual. He begins The Stream of Thought by keying into the essence of human thought. His provocative conclusions surrounding what makes us think is done in very concrete terms. He states that previous psychological texts attempting to dissect human thought are deeply flawed. Consciousness, from our natal day, is of a teeming multiplicity of objects and relations . He relates the thought processes and earlier fallacies surrounding its study with these analogies: We cannot, according to James, simply say, â€Å"it thinks† with the same conclusive logic as â€Å"it rains† or â€Å"it blows. † What we can say, however is that â€Å"thought goes on. † He goes on to discuss why every ‘thought’ or ‘state’ is part of our personal consciousness. This sets the scaffold for why and how William James came to such conclusions regarding consciousness. Prior to this, theories on consciousness lacked sufficient evidence; for previous scholars attempted to state theories without the empowering reality that James was able to express in this chapter. To add further credibility to his presumption, he states that every thought is a part of our personal consciousness and can be altered from individual to individual. Thought, he goes on to say, is in constant change. He provides examples along the way to create reasoning and proof that his methodology is credible. His description of Mr. Shadworth Hodgeson (p. 149) creates very clear evidence that individual consciousness has the ability to change and alter what it thinks and why, almost on a whim. From thought-processing, we segue into the dream experience and how they are directly related to one another in forming, sometimes jarring experiences. First, we must look at the characteristic differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams. A lucid dream, simply stated, is the state of REM sleep when a person is almost awake. The dream continues to evolve but the dreamer is aware—if only for a few seconds—that they are dreaming. Non-lucid dreaming, on the other hand, occurs when an individual is not aware of being in a dream state. The non-lucid dream is the most common form of dream. It is difficult to ascertain when and where the division between lucid dreaming and non-lucid dreaming occurs. In other words, when the dream consciousness ends and where a person is consciously aware of the dream cannot be defined. It’s purely subjective, or set aside for individual interpretation. However, the true experience of the dream can best be interpreted with the following model. The dream model links the waking-self and the dreamer. With this connection, the model also looks at what psychological levels alter self-awareness in the act of dreaming. Research, according to Laberge, has shown that over 80% of lucid dreams are transformations of a non-lucid dream. When we look at many lucid dreamers, the act of coherence or stirring from the dream is, many times, likely to occur during a nightmare or a dream that instills anxiety. The notion of anxiety can be viewed differently from one person to the next. What one person views as uncomfortable will not hold the same gravity on another person’s interpretation. It’s all a matter of personal experience. To state it simply, what brings about fear in one person may not instill that same fear in another person. This, in turn, can lead us back to individual experience. The experience and thought processing is the framework for determining lucid dreams and non-lucid dreams, which can be referenced back to our discussion on the philosopher William James. It’s important that I include a few dream examples to express the anxiety that can be instilled upon the dreamer. One dream environment occurred in a classroom. It was a riot, according to the dreamer. Again, the notion of what institutes a riot can vary from person to person. It’s also important to detail the dream, in order to give merit to the person’s anxiety. This riotous dream had a large barbarian with a heavily scarred face. He was the Goliath in the dream and locked up the dreamer in its steely grip. The dreamer could not free himself. It was at this point that the dreamer realized he was amid a dream; for he recalled other situations in his life. He gave up the struggle and instead offered feelings of love and consolation to this beastly barbarian. Yet, the beast was too ugly to love. He tried to look beyond the physical appearance and scarred features and soon beautiful words of loving acceptance flowed freely and the creature melted into him. The riot soon disappeared and the dreamer woke feeling relieved and calm. There are many other human emotions—embarrassment or delight for instance—that can institute a person into wakefulness. The number of methods used by individuals varies. What’s important to reinforce—although it may seem obvious—is the fact that individuals learn these methods in a conscious, wakeful state. Again, I go back to incorporating some of the philosopher William James’s theories to reinforce my interpretation. James gives us clear real-life scenarios to help define his theory on human conscious thought. For consideration, suppose three people instantaneously say to you: â€Å"Wait! † â€Å"Look! † â€Å"Over here! † Our consciousness is torn to decide which of the three will gain our attention first. He doesn’t deny our consciousness being able to juggle thoughts of the â€Å"wait† â€Å"look† and â€Å"over here. William James reinforces his theory by stating that there is a different ‘feel’ within our conscious thought when we experience something for the first time, versus recognizing something familiar. It could be a tune, an odor, or a familiar photogra ph that resonated memories. Again, James uses specific examples. The new experiences—or unfamiliar experience—can shake our emotions, which can strengthen recall. Also, objects in our field of vision have what James called a â€Å"fringe. † If we try to recall a forgotten name, there will be a gap in our consciousness as we search the recesses of our mind for this name. If someone tries to help us remember and gives us incorrect names, our consciousness will remain ‘at the fringe’ until we hear the name or something stirs us emotionally to recall the name. In effect, it is the overtone, or the fringe of the word or thought that generates energy within the human mind. It gives way to ideas which create the verbal kernel—as James puts it—that keeps the stream of consciousness on the move, always flowing, and always changing. James offers clear, consistent evidence to warrant credibility surrounding the intangible concepts of the stream of thought. In the following chapter, James segues into The Consciousness of Self, and brings the ego and its relationship to consciousness to the table. James builds momentum by stating humankinds’ innate desire for recognition from loved ones, and society in general, plays a part in how human consciousness develops. To bring this point home, James adds impact with this: a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry as image of him in their mind. James also references a man’s honor in society by stating it has a sole purpose: to best serve our social-selves. This social grace, then, is tied to what James refers to as the self-regard. We weigh our own ‘Me’ as we perceive praise and blame. James speaks of an individual self-regard as vital; for the individual knows him or herself better than anyone else—regardless of how positive or depressing a person views themselves. It’s the emotion of self that James, in turn, speaks of as he builds on his consciousness of self. It’s the sense of personal identity that fosters the ego-thought which remains part of the individual’s stream of consciousness. From here, we look at anomaly recognition. Here, the dreamer trains themselves to understand bizarre dream events as a red-flag to bring oneself back to wakefulness. The dream interpreter uses previous dreams and/or previous life-experiences that they view as bizarre to work as a point where the conscious-self takes over and stirs the dreamer into an alert state. For, when an individual can jar oneself from a potentially nightmarish dream, their emotional consciousness, in turn, will not be affected by the dramatic negative effects of the dream. They, in effect, turn off the dream before it can be viewed in its entirety. Here’s another example of a dream with anomaly recognition: A person is stepping through a field that is colored with fairy-tale animation. There is life everywhere in this wilderness. The overwhelming image, however, are magic mushrooms (psilocybin variation). These mushrooms shoot out from the soil all over the field. Some grow to immense height and girth. The person, then, realizes that this fantasy is too dream-like to be real. Their rationalization offers the anomaly recognition to stir them from their slumber. They are able to insert lucid thoughts that say, â€Å"I must be dreaming. † The dream begins to fade as their conscious-self regains control of the person’s mind set. One more dream example that uses anomaly as a cue to clear oneself from an anxiety- driven dream can be seen in the following situation: A person stands on top of a hill that seems unfamiliar. He looks across the wide-open meadow and envisions the horizon stretching out before him. For some odd reason, the dreamer has no idea of time, or what year it is. He sees the positioning of the sun, which appears to be straight overhead. The sun is intense and bright, which is unusual. The dreamer suddenly realizes that it is autumn and the sun was much lower in the recent past. The dreamer correlates the angle of the sun in relation to the equator. His shadow, due to the angle of the sun in this season should create a shadow that is equal in height to his own. The shadow does not equal his height. So he realizes that this must be a dream. The reason I included this dream was to point out that individual interpretations on dreams can be directly related to human experience and one’s knowledge-base and educational background. Although this was not a frightful dream or one that might instill anxiety, the dreamer—due to his knowledge—ascertained that the lack of proportion in his shadow was enough to constitute an anomaly and thus free him from his dream-consciousness. There is heavy criticism surrounding the topic of lucid dreaming, which I will address in detail here. For one, even though, according to research, there is overwhelming positive feedback regarding lucid dreams, I have a difficult time taking this data seriously. Laberge and many other researchers in this field state that lucidity during a nightmare can create a fear-factor within an individual that may have dramatic effects on one’s courage and even self-esteem. I do not see any parallel significance in a person losing self-esteem due to a lucid dream. Other studies went so far as to state that mood can be altered as well. If people are affected, or say they are affected by a dream, then these results are too biased and subjective to be generalized. The attempts at generalizing lucid dreaming can be seen in the following example: One study reviewed moods in college students and the relationship to lucid dreaming. College students, it was reported, stated that if they realized they were dreaming in a nightmare that this lucidity helped them deal with the consequences of the nightmare and feel better in 60% of the cases (Lucid Dreaming Frequency p. 1). I find this rationalization too trite to even be considered in a literary study. Furthermore, they went on to state that those who experienced dying in a dream stated that the experience was insightful, and not regressive. All in all, these elements alone are too biased and opinionated to create any sound reasoning behind the notion of lucid dreaming and its effects on a person’s well-being. In conclusion, I must reiterate that the reasons for dreaming have bewildered philosophers and science enthusiasts for many years. When we look at a normal life span, a person spends close to 25 years of their life asleep. Dreams are an integral component of this. It only makes sense that there is a purpose to our dreaming that is related to personal experience. It can also be seen that dream control, in the sense of ‘turning off’ a dream so-to-speak is available to us in the form of anomalous dream situations. However, when literary criticism attempts to generalize the lucid dream with an individual’s mood, there is great concern for its validity. Dreams are in a genre that is still very blurred in its scientific evidence, and thus flawed when we try to use the dream as a developmental factor in a person’s conscious state of mind. While the discussions surrounding the purpose of dreams are far from over, at least philosophers and scientists have a captivating means into discussing how the brain creates these nightly tales of adventure.