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The function of dreams may well be described as an effort on the
part of our life process, to support, augment and help mature waking
consciousness. A study of dreams suggests that the creative forces
which are behind the growth of our body, are also inextricably
connected with psychological development. In fact, when the process of
physical growth stops, the psychological growth continues. If this is
thwarted in any way, it leads to frustration, physical tension, and
psychosomatic, and eventually, physical illness. The integration of
experience which dreams are always attempting, if successful, cannot
help but lead to personal growth. But it is often frozen by the
individual avoiding the 'growing pains', or the discomfort of breaking
through old concepts and beliefs.
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Where there is any attempt on the part of our conscious
personality to cooperate with this, the creative aspect of
dreaming emerges. In fact, anything we are deeply involved in,
challenged by, or attempting, we will dream about in a creative
way. Not only have communities like the American Indians used
dreams in this manner - to find better hunting; solve community
problems; find a sense of personal life direction - but
scientists, writers, designers, and thousands of lay people have
found very real information in dreams. After all, through dreams
we have personal use of the greatest computer ever produced in the
history of the world - the human brain. |
1. In Genesis 41, the story of Pharaoh's dream is told - the seven
fat cows and the seven thin cows. This dream was creative in that with
Joseph's interpretation it resolved a national situation where famine
followed years of plenty. It may very well
be an example of gathered information on the history of Egypt being
in the mind of Pharaoh, and the dream putting it together in a problem
solving way. See: the dream process as computer.
In the June 27, 1964, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, golfer
Jack Nicklaus described how he had fallen into a bad slump. Despite
intensive analysis of what could be wrong, he continued to do poorly.
He then experienced a dream in which he was holding his golf club
differently and swinging perfectly. He told the newspaper reporter,
'When I came to the course yesterday morning, I tried it the way I did
in my dream and it worked. ... I feel kind of foolish admitting it,
but it really happened in a dream.' After the dream, his scores
improved rapidly.
Dana Cushing, an acquaintance of mine from Boston, has made a hobby
of riding old-fashioned, high-wheeled bicycles. After he bought his
first one, he spent about three months repairing it. During this
interval, Dana had several dreams in which he joyously rode this
velocipede. He was surprised by this because he had never actually
ridden one in his waking life. When the repairs were finished, Dana
discovered that he was able to successfully ride his velocipede on his
very first attempt. It seemed as if the 'practice' sessions in his
dreams had enabled him to achieve waking mastery of the complicated
balancing skills necessary for such a performance.
The visual imagery of dreams, particularly of nightmares, has also
been captured in word pictures. Many authors have tried to describe
the - From The Dreaming Mind.
From Oxford Book Of Dreams -
Before the Coronation [of King Edward VII] I had a remarkable
dream. The State coach had to pass through the Arch at the Horse
Guards on the way to Westminster Abbey. I dreamed that it stuck in
the Arch, and that some of the Life Guards on duty were compelled to
hew off the Crown upon the coach before it could be freed. When I
told the Crown Equerry, Colonel Ewart, he laughed and said, 'What do
dreams matter'? 'At all events,' I replied, 'let us have the coach
and Arch measured.' So this was done, and, to my astonishment, we
found that the Arch was nearly two feet too low to allow the coach
to pass through. I returned to Colonel Ewart in triumph, and said,
'What do you think of dreams now?' 'I think it's damned fortunate
you had one,' he replied. It appears that the State coach had not
been driven through the Arch for some time, and that the level of
the road had since been raised during repairs. So I am not sorry
that my dinner disagreed with me that night; and I only wish all
nightmares were as useful.
WILLIAM CAVENDISH-BENTINCK, DUKE OF PORTLAND, Men, Women and
Things, 1937
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2. William Blake dreamt his brother showed him a new way of
engraving copper. Blake used the method successfully.
3. Otto Loewi dreamt of how to prove that nervous impulses were
chemical rather than electrical. This led to his Nobel Prize.
4. Frederich Kekule tried for years to define the structure of
benzene. He dreamt of a snake with its tail in its mouth, and woke
to realise this explained the molecular formation of the Benzene
ring. He was so impressed he urged colleagues, 'Gentlemen, learn
to dream.'
5. Hilprecht had an amazing dream of the connection between two
pieces of agate which enabled him to translate an ancient
Babylonian inscription.
6. Elias Howe faced the problem of how to produce an effective
sewing machine. The major difficulty was the needle. He dreamt of
natives shaking spears with holes in their points. This led to the
invention of the Singer Sewing machine.
7. Robert Louis Stevenson claims to have dreamt the plot of many
of his stories. |
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William Blake's amazing imagination arose from his ability to be
aware of dreamlike images. |
8. Albert Einstein said that during adolescence he dreamt he was
riding a sledge. It went faster and faster until it reached the speed
of light. The stars began to change into amazing patterns and colours,
dazzling and beautiful. His meditation on that dream throughout the
years led to the Theory of Relativity.
9. A Bell Laboratory engineer by the name of Parkinson, in 1940 was
attempting to an automatic device to improve the accuracy of
measurements in telephone transmission. He dreamt he was with an
antiaircraft crew in a gun pit, and he noticed that one of the guns
brought down an airplane every time. One of the gunners asked
Parkinson to look at the exposed end of the gun. To his surprise, he
saw that his automatic device mounted there. Later research with
Parkinson's device produced the first all-electric gun director. It
became known as the M-9 electrical analogue computer.
To approach your dreams in order to discover their creativity, first
decide what problematical or creative aspect of your life needs 'dream
power'. Define what you have already learned or know about the
problem. Write it down, and from this clarify what it is you want more
insight into. If this breaks down into several issues, choose one at a
time. Think about the issue and pursue it as much as you can while
awake. Read about it, ask people's opinions, gather information. This
is all data for the dream process. If the question still needs further
insight, before going to sleep, imagine you are putting the question
to your internal store of wisdom, computer, power centre, or whatever
image feels right. For some people an old being who is neither
exclusively man or woman is a working image.
In the morning note down whatever dream you remember. It does not
matter if the dream does not appear to deal with the question. Elias
Howe's native spears were an outlandish image, but nevertheless
contained the information he needed. Investigate the dream using the
techniques given in the entry processing dreams. Some problems take
time to define, so use the process until there is a resolution. If it
is a major life problem, it may take a year or so. After all, some
resolutions need restructuring of the personality, because the problem
cannot disappear while we still have the same attitudes and fears.
See: processing dreams; secret of the universe dreams. |
