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001 - "Wilkerson, Richard" <rcw - CONFRONTATION
002 - "Wilkerson, Richard" <rcw - Please Help with Dream Survey
Electric Dreams: Dream Flow
A fountain of dreams in Cyberspace
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From: "Wilkerson, Richard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: CONFRONTATION
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1999 08:49:20 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Dream Title CONFRONTATION/DENISE0708
Date of Dream 8-9-99@400AM
Dream HI I AM ENGAGED AND HAD A DREAM OF MY FUTURE?
DINING ROOM WITH MY NEVER USED CHINA LAID OUT BY A WOMAN NAMED KATHARINE
(STRANGER) WHO WAS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH MY FIANCE AND THERE WAS A RED ROSE
ON BOTH PLATES. I THREW UP THE TABLECLOTH AND EVERYTHING FELL ON THE
FLOOR..END OF DREAM
Comments by Dreamer
Permission to Comment yes_share_comments
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From: "Wilkerson, Richard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Please Help with Dream Survey
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1999 12:58:36 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>From Patricia Garfield, Ph. D. to the Dream Flow:
Request to fill out survey on common dream themes:
http://www.patriciagarfield.com/idx_udreams.htm
What Are the Universal Dreams?
We've all had them--those alarming dreams of being chased by something
grisly, a loved one
getting hurt or dying, driving a car without brakes, not knowing the
answers to a test, falling fearfully
through the air, appearing naked or half-dressed in public, or racing for
the train that has just
departed. These and other bad dreams that everyone experiences at some
point in their lives are too
familiar.
What most of us don't realize is that these very same dreams are universal.
They have existed from
before the beginning of recorded literature, and will occur tonight in
every country of our planet. They
cross different cultures and classes. They endure over time.
I have labeled this set of dreams that transcend time and cultures "the
Universal Dreams." Like a
hearty stew that is rich with local produce, the universal dreams differ
among different peoples, but
they are all nourishing variants of the same wholesome meal. They are as
old as humanity and as
widespread as our globe. Possibly further.
In my presidential address to the Association for the Study of Dreams, in
Oahu, Hawaii in 1998, I
asked the audience of more than 200 professional dreamworkers to
participate in a brief test to
demonstrate the universality of these dreams. Six dreams were read. The
audience was asked to
guess in which century the dream took place, and the dreamer's nationality,
gender and age.
Despite knowing a great deal about dreams, very few people recognized
Gilgamesh's earthquake
dream as being 4000 years old! Fewer still identified the dreamer of the
lost gloves as living in China.
I propose that there are 12 basic dreams, each of which have positive as
well as negative versions.
By understanding more about these 12 bad dreams, and their mirror
opposites, how these basic
themes vary, and what the motifs they contain usually mean, we'll be able
to share our knowledge
about dreams in a clearer, more specific, theory-free form.
Classifying Dreams
Although we have learned a lot about the mechanics of dreams this
century--the pattern of
dreaming during the night and its physiological components--we have made
little progress in
understanding the meaning of our dreams. As a science, even as an art,
dream interpretation has
remained on a plateau. I think this has occured because we have not yet
organized our knowledge
about dreams for maximum use.
Science has always progressed by the observation and naming of specimens.
Whether a
researcher is examining the animal kingdom or the plant kingdom, thousands
of samples are gathered
and then organized according to some obvious differences and similarites.
Names or numbers are
assigned to make it possible for other scientists to communicate in
specific rather than in general
terms. When a large body of material is gathered and spread out,
be it butterflies, fossils or folktales, the researcher is able to generate
theories to account for the great
diversity he or she witnesses.
In dream study, we have progressed only to the level of specimen
collection. Each theorist has his
or her own view, and pushes that method of dreamwork as the best or only
approach.
This paper provides the start of a universal language. It must, of
necessity, be provisional. Other
dreamworkers have attempted to classify dreams. But I feel that none have
taken firm and satisfying
international hold. The nearest to a generally accepted system is the one
that Calvin Hall
and Robert Van de Castle evolved in 1966. Like other research-based dream
scoring systems
(Folkes, Kramer & Winget, Piotrowski, Hunt) , this system is helpful for
research but leaves the
individual dreamer with the question, "What does my dream mean?"
Popular books, in contrast, offer answers to that question, but without
much scientific foundation
or little agreement from book to book. The Universal Dreams concept may
bridge research and
popular needs.
The Dream Key
The word taxonomy refers to the science of classification. It derives from
the Greek words
"nomos" meaning "the law," and "taxis", meaning "arrangement." Taxonomy,
the law of arrangement,
provides a system for comprehending a great range of material, making it
easier to retrieve
information and simplify comparisons.
This is accomplished by reference to a "key" (the technical term) in which
the general (genus) and
the specific (species) aspects of a specimen are defined and described in
detail.
Once we have such an instrument, dreamers can easily locate one or more of
the universal dreams
they are certain to experience. By comparing their individual dream to the
variations of a worldwide
dream theme, people will be able to grasp the most probable meaning of
their dreams.
Yet, regardless of how much we share with other humans, we are unique
beings. We have
acquired "accents" in our culture, and subculture, so, we still need
dreamworkers to adjust the fit of
the probable dream meaning to each dreamer's exact size.
My analysis of the universal dreams is based upon a worldwide collection of
thousands of dreams,
a synthesis of the professional literature on dream content, and my own
50-year-long dream diary. I
have also drawn upon the system to classify folktales devised by folklorist
Kaarle Krone, and
developed by his follower Antti Aarne, both in Finland, as well as the
catalogues compiled by
folklorist Stith Thompson in the United States. This method, that has been
used to classify all the
folktales in the world, can be adjusted to classify dreams because of the
strong resemblance between
dreams and folktales.
Each dreamer has something valuable to contribute to the international
project. Like diagraming the
human DNA (human genome project), or mapping the starry skies, many keen
observers are needed
to chart the vastness of our dreams.
Further in this site is an bare-bones version of the twelve universal
dreams. Since the negative, or
nightmare form, of the dream is more frequent, it appears first (e.g.,
1.0-1.49); then the positive, or
uplifting, form follows (e.g., 1.50-1.99). The numbers in front of each
definition refer to the
classification of that universal dream.
Please stop by and take the survey!
Thanks,
Patricia
Patricia Garfield, Ph.D.
Author of _Creative Dreaming_
Founding Parent and Past President of the Association for the Study of Dreams
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