This is part six from a forthcoming book called Collected Essays: Volume Two.
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A Very
Brief History of Dream Interpretation
Dreams are not such a central part
of our culture anymore, but they were a lot more central to previous cultures
and to aboriginal cultures. Although they are not as central, dreams do not
fail to baffle us with their bizarre, non-linear and jarring imagery. This
essay will offer a very brief history of dream interpretation by looking at
ancient Greece, medieval Europe, Sigmund Freud and contemporary neuroscience.
It is a predominantly Eurocentric history and does not look at aboriginal
cultures or the orient.
This essay will start
by looking at ancient Greece. The Greeks made a distinction between significant
and insignificant dreams, the former being caused by hopes, fears and
digestion. On the other hand, significant dreams were symbolic interpretations
and visitations by gods, ghosts and friends. Indeed, people often thought that
dreams were divine interventions. The Greeks were often visited by Asclepius, a
divinity with healing powers. People talked to mystical gurus who interpreted
dreams and gave medical advice, diagnoses and cures. Religious devotees would
have a significant dream and then practice incubation or ritual sleep in a
sanctuary. Certain objects might encourage the communication, such as ritual
bathing, animal sacrifice or sleeping on animal skin. The Greek religious
culture allowed people to believe in the apparent truth of these dreams (Kamil
2014).
The
main book that dealt with dream interpretation was The Interpretation of
Dreams by Artemidorus, otherwise known as Oneirocrtitica, and it is
the only book on dream interpretation that has survived antiquity. Dreams from
antiquity contain numerous references to horrible punishments such as
crucifixion, castration, having sex with Artemis and turning into a river god.
Indeed, the book by Artemidorus contains numerous references to these things.
Artemidorus’ book also contains references to having sex with mothers, which
influenced Sigmund Freud centuries later (Hall 2020). Artemidorus was a
resident of Ephesus and set out to write a theoretical guide to dreams, which
were important in antiquity, as people thought that they prophesised the
future. Artemidorous classified dreams as ‘enhypnia’ and ‘oneiroi,’ the former
being non-predictive dreams which recycle what has happened during the day and
the latter being predictive dreams which require interpretation. Dealing with
predictive dreams required skill, experience and a well-developed set of
interpretive tools. Artemidorus made wide historical research, extensive travel
and classified and arranged his material. However, he emphasised the importance
of direct experience rather than text-book learning. Dreams that occurred after
incubation in a temple were classed as God-sent. Otherwise, if they occurred
elsewhere, they were products of the mind and did not come from the external
source. Artemidorus used numerology, puns, wordplay and analogies, but he
thought that it was important to recollect dreams as much as possible. He
thought that it was important for the dream-interpreter to have as much
information about the dreamer’s background, status, present circumstances and
his medical and psychological condition. Dreams can have different
significances and different outcomes depending on whether the dreamer is a man
or a woman, slave or free, rich or poor or healthy or sick. Artemidorus
discusses about 1,400 dreams in his book (Hammond 2020).
Artemidorus
was an example of ancient dream theory, but this essay will now look at representations
of dreams in ancient fiction. One of the most striking representations of
dreams in antiquity occurs in The Odyssey by Homer. It would be classed
as a ‘significant’ dream, as it is predictive of the future. Penelope waits for
Odysseus to turn up and she is attended by fifty suitors. She dreams that an
eagle kills fifty geese. Later on, Odysseus kills the fifty suitors, so the
dream turns out to be prophetic and a wish-fulfilment. The bird tells the
following to Penelope in the dream: ‘This is not a dream but a happy reality
which you shall see fulfilled. Then geese were your suitors and I was the
eagle. I am your husband, home again and ready to inflict a gruesome fate on
every man among them’ (Homer 1991, p. 304). Odysseus later says: ‘Odysseus
himself […] will make it come true […] there is not one will escape his
destined death’ (p. 305). It is a prophetic dream and it is representative and
metaphorical. However, the eagle spells out what will happen in a very direct
way.
This
essay will now briefly look at what some of the ancient philosophers said about
dreams. A philosopher who occasionally mentioned dreams was Heraclitus. He
likened our normal waking life to sleep and urged ‘to wake up to a higher
understanding’ (Waterfield, p. 33). It is only a select elite that manage to
apprehend the underlying nature of things, which he calls ‘the logos.’ Although
Heraclitus might seem to be disparaging of dreams in that sentence, there are
some fragments where he says that dreams have great insight. These are some of
his fragments: ‘Even a soul submerged in sleep is hard at work and helps make
something of the world’ (Heraclitus 2003, p. 57). He also says: ‘The waking
have one world in common. Sleepers, meanwhile, turn aside, each into a darkness
of his own’ (p. 63). Waking life is something that we all share, but the dream
world is something that only makes sense to a particular individual.
This
brief history will now look at the medieval ages. Similarly, the medieval era
also has its own classic dream interpretation book, which was Somniale
Daniels. This was a dream manual that circulated during the medieval period
and the Renaissance and it was the most popular manual during this period. It
was structured through dream symbols and their concise explanations (Cappozzo
2020, p. 1). It consisted of a list of symbols arranged in alphabetical order
and interpreted as portending something good or evil for the dreamer (p. 1).
Key terms in the text corresponded to the subject of a dream (p. 1). It
transcended all classes in society, as everyone consulted the manual. Indeed,
Latin and vernacular versions existed (p. 3), but the vernacular version was
more secular and the Latin version was more ecclesiastical (p. 12). These were
some of the prophesies that the manual made: ‘To see a storm means profit’ (p.
28), ‘To see snakes means damaging the enemy’ (p. 28), ‘To see snakes means
damaging the enemy (p. 28), ‘To see blood means envy’ (p. 27), ‘To laugh in a
dream means sadness’ (p. 27), ‘To hear an organ playing means being aware of a
friend’ (p. 26), ‘To own a garden means happiness’ (p. 24). The medieval ages,
like antiquity, saw dreams as messages that portended the future. Also, like
the ancients, dreams were a lot more central to their culture than they are in
ours.
The medieval ages were dominated by
Christianity. As such, this essay will now explore religious interpretations of
dreams during this period. Indeed, dreams were seen as divine interventions
(Kunzel 2002, p. 215). Dreams were seen as an active communication between the
dreamer and another world. This is what Gregory the Great said about dreams:
‘The voice of God is indeed heard in dreams, when with a tranquil mind there is
quiet from the action of this world and in this silence of mind divine precepts
are perceived’ (Wellesley 2018). However, a small group of clergymen, mainly
monks, had a monopoly on recording dreams in writing (Kunzel, p. 216). For
medieval religious writers, dreams exhibit traces of Judeo-Christian traditions
(216). In addition to this, the medieval clergy believed that supernatural
powers could intervene through dreams (p. 216). They did this because according
to the clergy God would send angels to people through dreams, but the devil
also sent demons (p. 216). There was little notion that dreams came from people
themselves, but the ancients did entertain this notion (p. 216). However, like
the ancients, the medieval period did think that dreams contained predictions
(p. 216). Additionally, the medieval clergy stressed that dreams had to be
interpreted through Christian doctrine (Keskiaho 2015). For instance, Pope
Hadrian I interpreted Charlamagne’s dream, who was king of the Franks. However,
since his dream did not correspond to biblical imagery, it was interpreted as
being illusionary. Gregory the Great thought that dreams had to be interpreted
through spiritual judgement. Although dreams were not an integral part of
theology, it was used heavily in the imagery of the period (Keskiaho 2015).
This
essay will explore how dreams were classified by the medieval clergy. According
to Macobius, there are five types of dreams – the enigmatic dream, the
prophetic dream, the oracular dream, the nightmare and the apparition. The
enigmatic dream is difficult to interpret, the oracular dream is when the
priest or pious person clearly reveals what will transpire and what action to
take or to avoid. The prophetic dream shows event that will come true. Finally,
nightmares are unimportant apparitions that arise due to stress (Wellesley
2018). Additionally, dreams were also classed as a temporary state between
earthly life and judgement in heaven: ‘[A] temporary state of the disembodied
soul as it awaits resurrection of the body at the last judgement’. Writers in
the Old Testament spoke about death being a kind of sleep (Collins 2019).
Dreams were classified into these five categories, but they were also classed
as a transitory state between earthly and divine worlds.
Dreams
were largely seen as divine interventions in antiquity and the medieval period,
although this was especially the case in the medieval period. However, Sigmund
Freud constructed an atheistic belief system with psychoanalysis in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. Dreams were a crucial part of his system
and he devoted an entire book to the subject with The Interpretation of
Dreams (1900). For Freud, dreaming is the unconscious at work, as it
transforms the latent content into the manifest content. The dream circumvents
repression and censorship and reveals what we really think and wish. Dreams
also involve ‘condensation’; that is, they take a number of elements and
combine them into one whole. They also involve ‘displacement,’ as they
represent seemingly insignificant things. Dreams might be about something, but
the dream shows that it is about something else. Emotions are associated with
one idea and it detached from that idea and attached to another one. Dreams
also perform a ‘secondary revision,’ which are more logical (Freud Museum
London year).
This
essay will now look at segments from The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud
says in the book that, although dreams might seem incomprehensible, they lend
themselves to interpretation (1999, p. 79). For Freud, dreams do possess
meaning and that ‘a scientific method of dream interpretation is possible’ (p.
80). He interpreted thousands of dreams in an allegedly scientific manner (p.
80). Freud, echoing antiquity, thinks that dreams represent wish fulfilments
(p. 98). Everything said and spoken in dreams are reproductions of words and
allusions to events retained in the dream thoughts (p. 238). Crucially, for
Freud, he thinks that dreams come from the unconscious (p. 361), but that these
unconscious thoughts are repressed and manifest themselves in our dreams (p.
404). For Freud, the unconscious is ‘the question of psychology’ (p. 404), as
it is ‘the basis for the life of the psyche (p. 405). We are conscious during
our waking life, but the unconscious comes into being whilst we are asleep (p.
405). Dreams are the way they are because they are ‘unconscious thinking.’
However, the unconscious is also active during the day, but it is mediated by
the conscious mind (p. 405). Dreams seem to enact unconscious fantasies and
probably arise due to repressed sexual impulses (p. 405). Freud says the
following about this: ‘[Dreams are an] expression for impulses which are
hampered by resistance by day, but are able to draw reinforcement from deep
sources of excitation by night’ (p. 406). Dreams reproduce the ‘dream wish’ and
help us to ‘rediscover’ the unconscious (p. 406). These theories claim that
dreams occur due to psychological activity and, unlike earlier periods, Freud
attributes none of this to supernatural intervention. Whilst all this is very
interesting, it is not backed up by empirical investigation. Karl Popper claimed
that Freud’s theories were pseudo-science (Okasha 2002, p. 12), as he made
claims that could not be falsified, and his ideas are no longer influential in
psychology (Yeung 2021).
Indeed, there is no proof of Freud’s claims in
neuroscience. According to neuroscience, dreams occur due to brain plasticity
and REM sleep. Brain plasticity occurs when neurons interconnect and find new
partners. They constantly change and neurons pass on different information to
each other. Like plastic, the brain assumes new shapes and changes. The brain
includes eighty-six billion neurons and 0.2 quadrillion connections, which
rewire every moment of our lives. Neuroscience used to think that different
parts of the brain were predetermined to perform certain functions. However,
recent discoveries now show that the brain is assigned a task, which is passed
on to the back of the brain, the visual cortex. The visual cortex is active at
night, when neurons in the visual cortex overpower the senses. During sleep, we
experience REM sleep for ninety minutes, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement,
and this is when dreams usually occur. Some dreams can occur during non-REM
sleep, but these dreams are usually abstract and are less vivid. REM sleep is
triggered by a set of neurons that pump activity into the visual cortex. Circuitry in the brain paralyses the muscles
in the body during REM sleep, so that the brain can stimulate visual experience
without moving the body. Neuroscientists think that dreams occur so as to
prevent the other senses from taking over the visual cortex when it is unused
(Eagleton and Vaughn 2020).
This essay will
now examine how REM and brain plasticity cause dreams. Dreaming is caused when
a small group of cells are switched on and they execrate a chemical called
‘acetylcholine.’ This chemical activates the higher parts of the brain and they
generate meaningless images. These meaningless images are made from ‘noisy’
signals that are sent up from the brain. This is later counteracted by another
group of cells which execrate two chemicals called noradrenaline and serotine,
which switch off the cholinergic activation. The frontal lobe of the brain,
which is above the eyes, contain a large fibre-pathway which transmit a
chemical called ‘dopamine.’ This is passed on from the middle part of the brain
to the higher parts. Damage to this pathway makes dreaming impossible, but it
leaves the REM cycle unaffected. Chemical stimulation of the dopamine pathway
leads to a massive increase in the frequency and vividness of dreams without
having an effect on the frequency and intensity of REM sleep (Solms 1999).
Dreams that occur during REM sleep are often bizarre and have something to do
with personal concerns. The dreams are often similar to psychotic experiences,
since they involve false beliefs and distorted sensory perceptions. Indeed,
dream reports are often similar to reports of people experiencing psychosis
(Munt 2017). All these discoveries debunked Freud’s speculations. Although
Freud saw dreams as profoundly meaningful, they are now seen as meaningless. For
Freud, dreams could explain all of our underlying problems and motivations. Now
they are largely seen as meaningless images that arise due to psychological
processes. Indeed, they are seen as no different from the beliefs of
psychotics.
Dreams were a central part of Greek culture. They distinguished between significant and insignificant dreams and they claimed that the former were prophetic. People often consulted gurus who interpreted significant dreams. Artemidorus wrote an entire book that interpreted dreams and it was very popular during antiquity. Dreams feature in ancient fiction, notably in The Odyssey by Homer. The story features a prophetic wish-fulfilment, which was a common feature of ancient dream interpretation. Heraclitus was an ancient Greek philosopher who included dreams in his writings. For him, people were constantly asleep and that a few enlightened individuals could access reason, ‘the logos.’ He also mentioned in one of his fragments that individuals enter their own private world whilst we all share the same world in our waking life. The most important book of dream interpretation in the medieval period was Somniale Daniels, which was a manual that contained symbols. Although dreams were not a central part of medieval theology, they were a central part of Medieval culture. Dreams were seen as divine interventions, as people thought that either God or the devil sent messengers that appeared in our dreams. Freud constructed an atheistic doctrine with psychoanalysis and dreams were a crucial part of it. For Freud, dreams reveal the unconscious mind that permeates all our thoughts and actions. Freud thought that dreams could be scientifically analysed and understood. Although he was an atheist, Freud echoed the ancients and the medieval period, as he did think that dreams were wish fulfilments. Freud was a major 20th century figure, but none of his speculations have been confirmed by empirical investigations in neuroscience. According the neuroscience, dreams are caused by brain plasticity and Rapid Eye Movement. Neurons overpower the visual cortex and this activity causes dreams. Transmission of the chemical ‘dopamine’ is also crucial to dreaming. Reports of dreams are highly similar to the behaviour of psychotics, as they are deluded, their senses are disorganised and they experience hallucinations. Although dreams were very meaningful to antiquity, the medieval period and to Freud, they are now seen as meaningless images which are caused by cerebral activity. Even so, they still never fail to bemuse us with their bizarre images. Although they are not as prevalent in our culture, they do often appear in cinema and literature and the arts continue to use them as a source of inspiration.
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