A Universal Thread

The traffic light turns red.  A jockey riding an ostrich occupies the right lane.  A cell phone rings at the precise moment the traffic light turns green, casting mysterious implications that the phone itself controls the light.  While at a fast gallop, the jockey tips his hat and navigates the ostrich through traffic. Relax.  It is only a dream.

What is a dream?  Aboriginal cultures dating back over 40,000 years as well as today’s techno-neurological community continue to assign meanings and answers to that question (O’Merara).  Simply defined, a dream is a variation in consciousness.  Dreaming is as integral to our physiology as breathing or dying, but what is its purpose?  This paper offers further insight into the physiology and societal themes of the dream state; additionally, it is important to discuss the reasons why we dream at all.

Recently, the concepts of dreaming have undergone substantial revision.  The conventional view was that dreams occur during times of sleep known as REM  – a stage of sleep marked by close, tightly clustered (beta) brain waves, lack of muscle tone, and rapid eye movements; however, additional research and recent advances in technology confirm that dreaming occurs at virtually all sleep phases (Cartwright 8-17) (Hobson).  Modern scientific study reveals that forebrain mechanisms control dreaming, differing from the brain mechanisms engaged during REM sleep stages (Solms).  The steadfast view of the1950s that REM sleep somehow controls and manifests dreaming has fallen out of scientific fashion.

All humans dream.  Study of the significance of dreams has not only traveled through science, but religion, philosophy, mythology, and psychology as well.  Many non-Western cultures accept dreams as an external force that could contain messages from gods and spirits (Robbins).  When Aristotle proposed that “dreams reflected a person’s bodily health”, the mythological twin brothers Hypnos and Thanatos guided society through their respective domains of sleep and death (O’Merara).  Later, as Freud proclaimed, “[…] dreams are the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious mind”, scientific society began to classify dreams as an internal force (qtd. in Cartwright 2).  Speculation on the functions of dreaming varies as time itself. 

Scientists have proposed many theories to explain the purposes of dreaming.  Freud’s model of dreaming suggests that they serve to satisfy repressed desires by fulfilling instinctual wishes of the subconscious mind (Cartwright 2, 80).  In dreams, we can fly, enjoy sex with anyone, or commit murder.  Other psychologists embrace Rosalind Cartwright’s theory that dreaming allows the mind to engage in creative thinking to solve problems because dreams have absolutely no restrictions (18-61).  Both Freud and Cartwright believe that dreams are a product of the mind, serving a function to restore an individual’s sense of balance or competence.

  However, the explosion of technology and dream research that soon followed had the potential to prove even the greatest thinkers wrong.  Neuroscience provides an “activation-information mode” theory (Hobson)(Solms).  This means that dreams are simply side effects from blips and storms of errant electrical brain activity occurring while sleeping; hence, dreams are a by-product of the physical brain – not the mind.  In this model, dreams occur when the brain attempts to make sense of the neural activity by constructing imagery and emotion (Hobson)(Solms).  This premise does not entirely defeat established psychological theories of dreaming since the imagery assigned after stray neural activity (a dream) is likely to be rooted in psychological determinants. 

Despite their origins, dreams are reflections of life experiences.  The human mind attempts to grant them purpose and meaning based on personal and cultural surroundings.  American college students participating in a survey about the meaning of dreams provided an interesting mirror for study.  Of 123 participants, 98% believed “dreams are related to one’s fears and anxieties”, while 88% believed “dreams attempt to work through or solve unresolved problems” (Robbins).  Messages of fear, anxiety, and unresolved problems certainly reflected Freud’s views of the conflicts within the conscious and subconscious mind.  Dreams as problem-solvers undoubtedly correlate with Cartwright’s theory.  Interestingly, 23% of the student participants thought dreams were outside of natural science and could “predict the future”, or “act as conveyors of messages from other people” (Robbins).  In the face of a technical and advanced society, beliefs about dreams continue to share ancient meanings. 

Researchers attempting to uncover the meaning and purpose of dreaming strive to unravel the mystery.  Although technology continues at incredible speeds, dreams are self-reported distant targets in the ether that continuously move by the second.  Dreams are subjective beyond measure.  Most dreams are beyond individual memory, extinguishing before examination.  Perhaps the unidentified substance and purpose of dreams will remain unknown.

 

Works Cited

Cartwright, Rosalind Dymond.  A Primer on Sleep and Dreaming.  Menlo Park: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1975.

Hobson, Allan J., et al.  “Dreaming and the Brain: Toward a Cognitive

 Neuroscience of Conscious States.”  Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.  26 Oct. 1996.  4 Jun. 2003.  <http://home.earthlink.net/~sleeplab/bbs/BBS.html>.

O’ Merara, Stephen James.  “A Brief History of Dreaming.”  Odyssey  11.1 (2002): MasterFILE Premier.  EBSCOhost.  MCC at Red Mountain Library, Mesa, AZ.  3 Jun. 2003.

Robbins, Paul R., et al.  “Theories of Dreams Held by College Students.”  Journal of Social Psychology  131:1 (1991): MasterFILE Premier.  EBSCOhost.  MCC at Red Mountain Library, Mesa, AZ.  3 Jun. 2003.

Solms, Mark.  “Dreaming and REM Sleep are Controlled by Different Brain Mechanisms.”   Academic Dept. Neurosurgery, St. Bartholomew’s & Royal London School of Medicine.  2000.  4 Jun. 2003.  <http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.solms.html>.