Dream Interpretation - A History
The power of the subconscious mind is one that many scientists still cannot explain.
How we dream as we do has been the subject of many discussions, and several theories explain this phenomenon.
Since the beginning of man, people have used dreams as omens of important events to come.
Many people have been ostracized in their societies for having dreams that appeared to foretell a bleak future, while others have been elevated to a high status for being able to prevent disasters.
Regardless of the scientific explanation for our dreams, we have often thought about the meaning behind the images we see when we close our eyes at night.
Dream interpretation has long been used as a way of controlling the lives of both the self, and also the nation: The Ancient Greeks had healing temples were erected so that people can have the healing powers from the spirits as they dream their illnesses away; Romans controlled their armies depending on the images contained in the dreams, and Egyptians who could dream were highly revered as they believed that their power came direct from the gods.
Many of the Eastern and older cultures such as Aborigines and Native Americans believed that when a person sleeps, the soul enters a world of dreams, where it's possible to connect with their ancestors, and receive messages from those who govern that world about events in the waking world.
All of these cultures used dreams as a positive way of eliminating the stresses of the waking world, and the interpretation of such dreams enabled them to live fulfilling lives as their beliefs dictated.
However, during the witch hunts it was seen that dreaming came from the devil, or that people had troubled dreams as a result of angering a witch somehow, and a curse was placed upon them.
Dreams couldn't be spoken about for fear of imprisonment and torture, or they were used as a way of accusing others of practicing sorcery.
By the end of those bad times, people no longer believed that dreams were caused by the devil, but instead were an affliction of the mind.
There was said to be no need to interpret these dreams, as they meant nothing.
But that changed during the 19th century, when psychologists such as Freud and Jung commented about the nature of our dreams in relation to the way we see ourselves and world around us.
Since then, our dreams have been known to answer many questions we have about the self, as we interpret the images we see in our dreams in relation to events that have already occurred.
How often do we dream? How much can we see before the dream changes? Do we see anyone we recognise? These questions are asked upon waking, but sometimes the dream has faded in those moments, and we're left grasping for a memory we no longer have.
Sometimes it is possible to answer these questions, or discover whether you have a foretelling of the future, an explanation of the past, or simply a way of winding down, just by recording down the dreams we have, and interpreting the colours, images and signs we can pick out from our journals.
How we dream as we do has been the subject of many discussions, and several theories explain this phenomenon.
Since the beginning of man, people have used dreams as omens of important events to come.
Many people have been ostracized in their societies for having dreams that appeared to foretell a bleak future, while others have been elevated to a high status for being able to prevent disasters.
Regardless of the scientific explanation for our dreams, we have often thought about the meaning behind the images we see when we close our eyes at night.
Dream interpretation has long been used as a way of controlling the lives of both the self, and also the nation: The Ancient Greeks had healing temples were erected so that people can have the healing powers from the spirits as they dream their illnesses away; Romans controlled their armies depending on the images contained in the dreams, and Egyptians who could dream were highly revered as they believed that their power came direct from the gods.
Many of the Eastern and older cultures such as Aborigines and Native Americans believed that when a person sleeps, the soul enters a world of dreams, where it's possible to connect with their ancestors, and receive messages from those who govern that world about events in the waking world.
All of these cultures used dreams as a positive way of eliminating the stresses of the waking world, and the interpretation of such dreams enabled them to live fulfilling lives as their beliefs dictated.
However, during the witch hunts it was seen that dreaming came from the devil, or that people had troubled dreams as a result of angering a witch somehow, and a curse was placed upon them.
Dreams couldn't be spoken about for fear of imprisonment and torture, or they were used as a way of accusing others of practicing sorcery.
By the end of those bad times, people no longer believed that dreams were caused by the devil, but instead were an affliction of the mind.
There was said to be no need to interpret these dreams, as they meant nothing.
But that changed during the 19th century, when psychologists such as Freud and Jung commented about the nature of our dreams in relation to the way we see ourselves and world around us.
Since then, our dreams have been known to answer many questions we have about the self, as we interpret the images we see in our dreams in relation to events that have already occurred.
How often do we dream? How much can we see before the dream changes? Do we see anyone we recognise? These questions are asked upon waking, but sometimes the dream has faded in those moments, and we're left grasping for a memory we no longer have.
Sometimes it is possible to answer these questions, or discover whether you have a foretelling of the future, an explanation of the past, or simply a way of winding down, just by recording down the dreams we have, and interpreting the colours, images and signs we can pick out from our journals.