The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams (7 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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As for prescription medications, their effects, too, can vary. ''Some mood stabilizing drugs, such as lithium, reduce REM sleep, as do some antidepressants," writes Sifton. "Antipsychotic drugs have mixed effects on sleep. Stelazine, Haldol, and Tegretol are said to reduce dream recall, but effects vary with dosage, and during drug withdrawal REM time decreases."
Dream Deprivation
It was Dement, by then a researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, who first examined what happens when subjects are prevented from dreaming. In 1960, Dement set up studies to explore whether people who were allowed all stages of sleep except for the REM period of dreaming would suffer any effects. Sleeping in the laboratory, the subjects were awakened the moment REM began to occur; a control group was awakened several times a night during non-REM sleep. They were then allowed to go back to sleep. This experiment went on for the better part of a week, with the laboratory subjects sleeping about six hours a night, without being permitted to dream. During the time, most subjects became increasingly irritable, exhibiting symptoms of anxiety and eating more than usual. These symptoms were not apparent in the control group.
"Existence Would Be Intolerable If We Were Never To Dream."
Anatole France, French author
Interestingly, Dement and Fisher observed that the subjects tended to begin REM sleep more frequently on subsequent nights, as though to catch up on missed dream time. In a 1965 study, Dement found that one man, deprived of REM sleep for fifteen nights, exhibited marked personality changes that disappeared once he was allowed to dream again, which he did 120 percent
 
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more than usual. So there is something to making up for missed hours of sleep by sleeping in on a weekend or holiday! People deprived of REM sleep for several days eventually exhibit rapid eye movement almost as soon as they fall asleep, foregoing the usual stages leading up to it. Does this evidence mean REM sleep is more important than non-REM sleep? Maybe so. Is the need psychological? Perhaps animals, too, try to make up REM sleep after deprivation periods. Is it physiological? Perhaps. Indeed, there are theorists in each camp, with the beliefs of countless others falling somewhere in between. Chapter 3 offers an overview of contemporary theories about why we dream and what our dreams mean. But first, let's examine what different cultures have believed about dreams over the centuries.
 
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Chapter Two
Dreams Through Time A History of Dreams in Various Cultures
Although interest in dreamwork continues to increase, there are still many people who downplay the significance of our nightly imaginings, dismissing dreams as the result of indigestion, unrest, or anxiety. But in other cultures, in other centuries, dreams were highly esteemed, and considered to be of primary significance. Throughout the world, dreams have been seen as an integral part of life, and their contents were akin to the sacred. Whether sent from a god, a demon, or an ancestor, or merely an expression of a wish or a fear, dreams were believed to contain a mystery worth deciphering.
What were these nocturnal adventures, and what might early humans have thought about them? We can only imagine. But one thing is clear: At least from the dawn of recorded history, people were compelled to interpret the meaning of the stories and images in their dreams. In fact, in centuries past, societies invested dreams with even more power and importance than the experiences of their waking lives. In ancient Greece and Rome,
 
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for example, dream interpreters actually accompanied military leaders into battle, so essential was the understanding of dream content. Over time, the Christian belief that dreams were the work of the devil influenced Western culture to such an extent that dream interpretation was discouraged, perhaps out of a fear that the content of dreams could undermine the moral teachings of the Church. But dream interpretation continues today, and while the focus has largely shifted from decoding a divine message sent by a deity to uncovering a meaning anchored in the dreamer's own psyche, the tendency to look for meaning remains, as it has for thousands and thousands of years, possibly from the beginning of time. Delving into the past to learn the history of dreamwork allows us to derive a cultural context for our own dream lives today. Just as tracing our family history builds stronger bonds with our relatives, tracing the history of dreamwork can enrich our lives as dreamers, making a connection with the past and forging a bond with our world community.
Ancient Cultures
From the earliest days of written language, dreams and dream theories have been documented extensively. Sumerian texts, inscribed with sticks on clay tablets in 3000 to 4000 B.C., describe this Mesopotamian people's practice of dream interpretation, and indicate that dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Dream reports in these now-fragmented texts seem to follow a particular format, experts report, that is not unlike the common guidelines for a dream journal today. Not only is the dream recounted, but background details about the dreamer are included as well, including where and when the dream took place, how the dreamer felt about the dream, and what message he or she derived from it.
 
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The field of dream study originated in a religious context. In ancient Egypt, the dream interpreters were priests known as "masters of the secret things," who documented their findings in hieroglyphics, their picture alphabet. One such volume exists as part of an archeological discovery known as the Chester Beatty papyrus, an early dream interpretation book that is more than two thousand years old.
In many ancient cultures, priests and seers who had a talent for interpreting dreams were considered to be divinely gifted. A person who had a particularly significant dream was also believed to be blessed, and only certain people were considered worthy of such dreams. Artemidorus, author of the
Oneirocritica
, a five-volume book on the dream interpretation practiced by his Greco-Roman contemporaries, wrote in the second century A.D. that "Dreams are proportioned according to the party dreaming. Thus those of eminent persons will be great . . . if poor, their dreams will be very inconsiderable." (The
Oneirocritica
takes its name from Oneiros, a Greek dream messenger sent by the gods.)
In the
Oneirocritica
, Artemidorus refers to an already extensive body of literature on the subject of dreams. In the days of the Greek epic poet Homer (eighth century A.D.), "The dream was not conceived of as an internal experience, a state of mind, or a message from the irrational unconscious to the conscious ego," Susan Parman writes in
Dreams and Culture
. "Rather, it was an objectified messenger, a supernatural agent sent by a deity (Zeus in
The Iliad
, Athena in
The Odyssey
), or in some cases by the dead." Later, she explains, ancient Greek authors such as Plato, Horace, Virgil, Statius, and Lucian embraced the concept of "true and false dreams,'' some prophetic, and some red herrings.
In ancient times, dreams were oftenbut not alwaysbelieved to be prophetic, and people of all cultures shared what they had dreamed in hopes of catching a glimpse of the future or
 
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receiving a message of advice or warning. The Egyptians, for instance, relied on an elaborately constructed list of interpretations, a kind of early dream dictionary. Author Raymond de Becker cites a few of these in his book
The Understanding of Dreams:
"If a woman kisses her husband, she will have trouble; if she gives birth to a cat, she will have many children; if she gives birth to an ass, she will have an idiot child." The ancient Carthaginian philosopher Tertullian said, "Nearly everyone knows that God reveals himself to people most often in dreams." For this reason, dreams figured prominently in ancient cultures' religious rituals intended to evoke the dream spirits or gods who would send these vivid messages. Even the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates considered dreams to be prophetic, emanating from the gods.
In Buddhist culture, as in Taoism, Hinduism, and Sufism, the specifics of dreamwork were kept secret, considered to be sacred. In fact, there is a particular type of dream called
Milam Ter
, or "dream treasure," which, according to Michael Katz, editor of
Dream Yoga
, are "teachings that are considered to be the creations of enlightened beings. The training for dream awareness or lucidity, apparently thousands of years old, was purposefully hidden or stored in order to benefit future generations." Again, there was a decidedly prophetic overtone to this class of dreams. For instance, the mother of Buddha, Queen Maya, supposedly dreamed that a white elephant with six tusks entered her womb and foretold that she would give birth to a child who would become a universal monarch. Buddha's father is also reported to have had a dream about his son and the sadness of their future separation. In the sixth century, the mother of Prince Shotokutaishi, who established Buddhism in Japan, dreamed just before she became pregnant that a god came to her asking to take shelter in her womb.
 
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The Old Testament, written between about 750 and 100 B.C. according to the
Dictionary of the Bible
, contains about fifteen references to dreams, which the Hebrew people considered to be gifts from God, just like the waking visions that occur frequently in Scripture. The folk art toy called Jacob's Ladder is, in fact, named for an element in a dream recounted in the Bible: Jacob dreamed that a ladder connected earth to heaven, and that God stood at the top, instructing him and his family to spread God's word. This dream illustrates the phenomenon of
theophany
, the direct and powerful experience of God through a dream, vision, or other spiritual event. Ancient Jews turned frequently to their dreams for such messages. In fact, Joseph, Jacob's son, achieved notoriety by interpreting the dreams of the Egyptian pharaoh. Apart from a belief in dreams as gifts from God, there was also an element of belief in soul travel. The idea of recent waking experience and even the sleeping environment having an influence on dream content was another part of the framework. Remarkably, even these ancient people made a practice of expunging or changing dreams that were upsetting to them.
The Talmud, the collected commentary on biblical text that, along with the Old Testament, is part of the foundation of the Jewish religion, also mentions the use of dreams to predict the future, citing the potential of dreams to influence the decisions of kings and governments. Compiled between 200 B.C. and 300 A.D., the Talmud discusses the purpose of dreams extensively, containing 217 references to dreams. The Talmud purports that dreams have meaning subject to interpretation and serving as a notable precursor to some contemporary theories. Its two thousand authors were primarily Phoenician (Hebrew) and Babylonian, and it is assumed they were influenced greatly by the nearby cultures of Greece and Rome, which in turn would be influenced by the Talmud. There were

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