Considering my interest in art, I decided to research the influence that psychology has had on advances and movements in the history of art. One of the most prominent aspects of psychology that appears in art is dreams. The book I chose to read is Our Dreaming Mind by Robert L. Van de Castle. The book dives into history’s interpretations of dreams, and explores the role that dreams have played in politics, art, and religion. This book is a collection of information about dreams, ranging from folklore and ancient beliefs to current scientific research. The thoughts of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of philosophers, researchers, and other dreamers are briefly summarized in chronological order, from Plato to Artemidorus, from Erik Erikson to Calvin …show more content…
As an aspiring artist, I see the way that dreams have encouraged other artists to create wonderful works of art, and I’m inspired to the the same myself. In fact, the title of the second chapter, Dreams That Have Changed The World, has alone encouraged me to analyze my dreams. Another interesting point in Van de Castle’s book was the account of the professional golfer Jack Nicklaus’ dream in which he saw himself using a different swing, which in turn helped pull him out of a slump of poor performance. Nicklaus stated “...I feel kind of foolish for admitting it, but it really happened in a dream.” (15) This prompts my curiosity, and leads me to think that perhaps our bodies are able to sense poor performance and subconsciously provide us with solutions, in this case in the form of a dream. What I found most baffling from the book was Van de Castle’s interpretation of “falling dreams.” He explains the connection between falling down to the connotation that downward motion has with Hell, and that falling dreams are hints that the dreamer feels they are “in danger of losing status, respect, security, or emotional stability.” (337) I feel as though this may be far fetched, since I’ve experienced falling dreams and never would associate them with feelings of unfulfillment. This is but one of the book’s observations that I find myself to be skeptical …show more content…
Not only did it provide a huge collection of informative cases and interpretations of dreams, it was inspiring to go out and learn more about the subject. The book was well worth the read, and I would recommend it to anyone curious about the connection between dreams and reality. Van de Castle’s knowledge of the subject is very evident, and provides the reader with brief yet comprehensive pathways into learning more about dreams. What makes this book so interesting to read is how well it is written, giving good examples and analysis without boring the reader with statistics that are too difficult to understand. One place where I think the author fell short was defending his own his own findings, by reporting disagreements from other researchers then justifying his own conclusions. However, Van de Castle makes up for it with great content and an enjoyable exploration through the concept of dreams. In full, Our Dreaming Mind is a well-balanced discussion of the physiology and spirituality of an interesting topic that I would highly recommend for research or
For years, psychologists have been wondering over the mysterious field of dreams. Dreams have always been mysterious. The content of the dreams can shift instantly, featuring unexplained events or sudden terrifying images (Whitman, Ornstein & Baldridge, 1964). The fact that the content of dreams can be enthralling is what causes many psychologists to believe that there has to be some implication to dreams (Webb & Cartwright, 1978). While many theories are formed to explain the functions and meanings of dreams, there is a lack of evidence on their purpose. In fact, recent researchers such as G. William Domhoff suggested that dreams most likely serve no real purpose (Domhoff, 2001). This research essay considers the whether there are a significant functions and meanings of dreams by responding to the following questions.
But to me, dreams are a way of guidance to what is next after this life. Ultimately, we also may never know the true meaning behind dreams. However, I believe it is important that every human being has their own logical interpretations of dreams in order to understand themselves in a deeper and more enhanced way. Stephen King’s belief that our conscious goes deeper than we have been thought to think hints that our personalities, emotions, desires and overall-selves can be understood to a greater degree with the help of dreams. Not only do I agree with King, but I also believe that it is a great achievement to be able to understand ourselves in ways other people
...heory, reverse learning theory, and activation synthesis model, others focus on the mental exercise and simulations that dreams bring to us in the evolutionary theory of sleep. While many of the theories agree that dreams are a representation of ideas and thoughts from the unconscious mind, no single theory has been formed as the single primary authority on the matter of dreams despite more support for some of the theories. The fact of the matter is that despite the rampant research and discourse on the concept behind dreaming, these theories are merely speculations. But these speculations feed the curiosity on dreams and will hopefully lead to the expansion of dream analysis to not only better develop the current understanding of dreams, but also to help people around the world by possibly expanding dream analysis to become an early identifier of mental illness.
Dreams. They are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur usually involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Dreams don’t just leave the individual once they wake up, rather this is when the have the most impact. Dreams have fascinated artists from early civilizations and still to this day. Salvador Dali’s artwork was influenced significantly by the concept of dreams and the utilization of these concepts and ideas are what made him such an influential artist. The images that fill one’s head while they are asleep have the ability to greatly impact ones’ perception of the physical world. These images fascinated Dali and brought him to create some of the most iconic surrealist
Dreams have long been a topic of intrigue for artists of all forms. In the literary sense, authors have explored the world of dreams in a plethora of manners, ranging from depicting nonsensical, imaginary worlds to crafting scenes that depict the inner workings of the subconscious mind. In both Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Artist of the Beautiful, the world of dreams is explored through the eyes and thoughts of two curious characters. While Carroll exposes the illogical, absurd elements present in dreams, Hawthorne focuses on the personal, meaningful aspects existing in subconscious thoughts.
Exploringn a Neurobiological Theory of Dreaming Neurobiological theory of dreaming focuses on the brain and the nervous system. The activation synthesis theory which is one of the theories put forward by Hobson and Mcarley (1998) said sleep is controlled by mechanism in the brainstem. When activated this inhibits activity in the skeletal muscles and increases activity in the forebrain. This theory seems dreaming as an automatic part of the sleep process that may have no significance beyond the need to organize the material into coherent forms. Hobson points out that injection of a drug that increases the action of acetylcholine both increases REM sleep and dreaming.
...n and development throughout history. After the research, I learned that while most dreams are fairly coherent, patterned, which include everyday settings, people, activities, and events, they may involve relatively unusual and perhaps bizarre aspects. Altogether, these images would allow people to have the most revealing and distinctive view of who they are and what they know in daily life by telling stories in the brain. However, while I still feel that no theory can exactly interpret what dreams’ meanings really are, it is interesting to know more how human brain’s activity (dreaming) function when people sleep. Moreover, I have decided to see my dreams as a television show with different episodes at night. That way, I will be able to enjoy the dream without ruining the fun that my brain offers because I would love to see what and how my brain wants me to see.
Based on On Dreams, written by Sigmund Freud, and Spellbound, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, provide the most psychological significant aspect of dreams through the theory of dreams made by Freud. I partially agree with Freud’s theory on dreams and the dreaming process. Dreams have the ability to form a bridge from reality to transfer over to the unconscious mindset. Throughout his article, On Dreams, he gives explanations behind his theory. The human psyche has a vital role in psychology, including the way humans interpret dreams and their sequence.
In this paper I hope to open a window to the vast and mysterious world of dreaming. To most people, information about dreams isn’t common knowledge. In researching this subject though, I found that everybody has and reacts to dreams, which are vital to your mental health. You will also find how you can affect your dreams and how they affect you.
During the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, a psychologist named Sigmund Freud welcomed the new age with his socially unacceptable yet undoubtedly intriguing ideologies; one of many was his Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams. Freud believed that dreams are the gateway into a person’s unconscious mind and repressed desires. He was also determined to prove his theory and the structure, mechanism, and symbolism behind it through a study of his patients’ as well as his own dreams. He contended that all dreams had meaning and were the representation of a person’s repressed wish. While the weaknesses of his theory allowed many people to deem it as merely wishful thinking, he was a brilliant man, and his theory on dreams also had many strengths. Freud’s theories of the unconscious mind enabled him to go down in history as the prominent creator of Psychoanalysis.
IV. (Preview Main Points) Although we have experienced countless dreams in our lifetime, do we ever stop to think: how dreams occur? How dreams affect our lives? Do dreams even mean anything? Today in my informative speech about dreams, I hope to enlighten you about dreams forming in our minds, the importance of dreams, and lastly the interpretations of dreams.
In the novel, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the magistrate’s progressive, non-linear dreams are a parallel to his growing involvement with the barbarians and his growing distaste for the empire. The great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud said, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” In every dream there is a hidden meaning and when the reader starts analyzing the magistrate’s dreams he reveals that he is oddly attracted to the barbarians and knows he should not get involved and it will be a trial to get close to them.
The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
In 2004–2005, the Penn Humanities Forum will focus on the topic of “Sleep and Dreams.” Proposals are invited from researchers in all humanistic fields concerned with representations of sleep, metaphors used to describe sleep, and sleep as a metaphor in itself. In addition, we solicit applications from those who study dreams, visions, and nightmares in art or in life, and the approaches taken to their interpretation. We also welcome proposals about the effects of dreaming on the dreamer, and the resulting emotions, behaviors, and actions taken or foregone in response to dreams. In this Forum on Sleep and Dreams, we will see how the diversity of academic disciplines can help answer important questions about sleep and dreaming—questions that may touch the basis of human intellect.