Decoding Dreams pt. 2 - Dreaming of the Past
Introduction
In part one, we discussed the different types of dreams. This post will discuss dreams in culture and humanity’s relationship with dreams throughout history. It’s important to remember that this is a random blog post on the internet, and it’s impossible to cover the entirety of such a complex subject. We’ll narrow our focus and be brief. If you find it lacking in sources, certain periods, or specific cultures, keep this in mind. While it’s hard to say how much dreams have changed throughout our existence as a species what we can tell is how people have written about it. Therefore our look at dreams through a historical lens will be limited to recorded history.
There is a lot of writing about dreams because it is a fascinating topic and something so seemingly fundamental to our lives that we still engage with it today regularly. We’re of course not the only ones to dream, many of our animal companions are also known to dream and anyone who has spent any time around sleeping cats, dogs, horses and many more knows they can be as immersed in their dreams as us. We can only guess what our furry friends dream of as we can only guess what our hunter-gatherer forebears dreamt of. What we can decipher though is that at the beginning of civilisation and writing with the Sumerians is the importance dreams had to them.
This post will be divided into three sections spanning large periods of time. As mentioned previously it’s difficult and almost impossible to fit all of history into a single post. With broad strokes we’re going to generalise the recorded history of humanity into these three periods:
Ancient times - spanning from about 3000 BC to about 500 years AD. This covers the Sumerian civilisation, the ancient Egyptians as well as the classical antiquity with the Greco-Roman world.
Middle Ages - From the end of the ancient times covering the Middle Ages in Europe and ending around the fall of Constantinople around the middle of the 15th century.
Modern Ages - Finally after the Middle Ages, spanning across several important periods we have what we’ll collectively call the Modern Ages. This ranges from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, past the Age of Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, into the two world wars and finally into the post-war and early modern era. We will stop short of our contemporary times and instead save that for the future.
Bring out your stone tablets and copper hats because we’re starting with the Sumerians.
Ancient Times
The ancient Greeks never referred to having a dream but rather seeing a dream. They as well as many others believed dreams to be imposed on us by a force outside of ourselves. Often relating them to the divine. To explore this a little bit further we need to talk a bit about the origin of consciousness and how this relationship to dreams and the world at large would inspire one hypothesis to the development of human consciousness.
There are many theories as to the nature of human consciousness and its development, one hypothesis that remains controversial today is Julian Jayne’s bicameralism. Jaynes argued that people of antiquity did not consider emotions and desires to stem from themselves but rather as consequences of external forces to themselves - typically referred to as supernatural entities like gods, demons and more. The thesis considers the mind to be of a bicameral (two chambers) state with two distinct sections - one of communication akin to speech and the other to listening. While the two “halves” of our brains are always communicating the metaphor proposed by Jaynes is not meant to imply that the two halves were “cut off” from each other but rather that the bicameral mind was experienced as a different, nonconscious mental scheme that was experienced as auditory verbal hallucinations often being imperative and giving “commands” to the individual. Jaynes argued that schizophrenia is a leftover of this bicameral mentality and he often referred to ancient literature as his main argument for this.
Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from data from many different fields including writings on dreams. Jaynes proposed that until roughly the time Homer’s Iliad was written, there was little evidence in writing for the self-awareness characteristic of consciousness as we experience it today. Looking at the Iliad and sections of the Old Testament, there is a lack of introspection and no apparent indication of the author’s self-awareness according to Jaynes. Whether this was the literary style at the time or whether Jaynes was really onto something is for you to decide. The hypothesis remains discussed widely today, and while some dismiss it others are not as quick to do it. But looking at the writing of the Sumerians and ancient Egyptians we find this same pattern.
To both civilisations, dreams were of great importance and were often viewed as signs from the divine. Nightmares signalled omens and warnings of things to come and dreams were generally viewed to be prophetic. One of the surviving cunei tablets we have from Sumerian civilisation is a long list of instructions on deciphering dreams. Like many tablets we have found they are written directly and simply with clear instructions for interpretation. It follows already-established symbolism and historic conventions like the right side being lucky and the left being misfortune. This tablet referred to as the “Dream Tablet” belongs to the Asurbanipal Library, excavated at Nineveh and now resides in the British Museum. It’s a total of 86 lines and is believed to have been used to decipher the things the dreamer would see and do in the dream. Lines 27-29 read:
“If he gaze toward the right his adversary will die.
If he gaze toward the left his adversary will overcome him.
If he look backward he will not attain his desire.”
In all mythology and religious practices found around ancient times and antiquity, we see the motif of dreams guiding people. In the Myth of Gilgamesh, dreams guide the hero on his journey. The story of Enki and Ninhursag includes dreams that reveal divine intentions. Because of this, it’s believed people were more inclined to follow their dreams in a more literal sense than we think of today. Gudea, the king of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash rebuilt a temple of Ningirsu after having a dream tell him to do it.
According to the book of Genesis, Joseph the son of the Jewish Patriarch Jacob could divine the future based on dreams and used this ability to interpret Pharao’s dream which foretold a 7-year famine. His interpretation and reading allowed Egypt to avoid this disaster and allowed Joseph to prosper in the Egyptian hierarchy. In the Bible, there are many more examples of dreams coming from God and guiding his people.
For the pagans of Sumeria and Egypt along with the Greeks, their polytheistic pantheons all had a god or goddess ruling over dreams. The Mesopotamian deity Mamu was the Goddess of dreams, but Nanshe was associated with diviniation and the interpretation of dreams. For the Greeks: Morpheus, Nyx and Hypnos were all gods associated with sleep and dreams playing different roles. In Hesiod’s theogony, the oneiroi (entities and metaphysical personifications of dreams) are the sons of Nyx and brothers of Hypnos. Dreams naturally were associated with night and in the pantheons of ancient people they were often intertwined. Symbolically the night is representative of the subconscious, the underworld, secrets, desires and many more. It’s no wonder then that dream interpretation contrary to other revelation and divination fell under the patronage of the Gods and Goddesses of the night. For the ancient Greeks, all other divination fell under the Patronage of Apollo, god of light, who sees the secrets of all things. In Egyptian mythology, the god Tutu was the protector of tombs and guarded the sleeping from danger and bad dreams. Offerings were made to Tutu and rituals were performed to protect from demons and bad dreams. He also protected people from the Netherworld. Early on here we start to see this dichotomy of dreams: namely that they can have a good influence or a bad one. That the forces that guide our souls through sleep are not all benevolent and good. This is something we will continue to see in later periods as well. Nonetheless, dreams were very important to our ancestors and they would continue to inspire and guide people for many years. Since the beginning of recorded history we can see that people have had dreams of the same kind as we do today, whether they are prophetic, a monologue from our souls or terrible nightmares people have shared the same kind of dreams, and it has continued to fascinate laymen and professionals alike. It’s also in antiquity we see mentions of lucid dreaming.
In the treaty “On Dreams” by Aristotle he lays out the hypothesis that dreams are caused by the residual movement of the sensory organs. He talks about how the sensory organs operate and tries to determine if dreams belong to the faculty of thought or that of sense perception. In this short treaty, he describes the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, where the dreamer becomes aware that he is dreaming. Sigmund Freud would cite Aristotle’s writing in his own work The Interpretation of Dreams as the first to recognise that dreams “do not arise from supernatural manifestations but follow the laws of the human spirit”.
Earlier than Aristotle but around classical antiquity there is a change in how dreams are perceived and this remains the main argument of Julian Jaynes’ bicameralism. Dreams slowly shift towards not being a command or vision imposed by an external force on the sleeper, but rather an introspection and self-reflection. Instead of being an imperative dreams now become a communication from the subconscious, a faint whisper in the back of our heads that is not in control but that still tries to guide us.
Middle Ages
After ancient times most of the old religions and cultures would fade away and be replaced by others - there would however be some remnants left that we can still trace. Because of the wide period to cover, we’re going to narrow our focus for this section and look back at the ancient times a little bit more. This is because a lot of beliefs around dreams would remain largely the same and so we’re going to look at some other cultures here and try to find some other and more unique perspectives on dreams. So before we delve deeper into the Abrahamic beliefs surrounding dreams let’s turn towards the East.
According to early Veda scriptures of Indian Hinduism around 300 BC dreams are one of the three states that the soul experiences during its lifetime. The other two states are the waking and sleeping states. In the earliest Upanishads there are two meanings of dreams: the first states that dreams are merely expressions of inner desires. The second is the belief that the soul is leaving the body and being guided until awakened. Like the West - Asia also has a long tradition of dream interpretation and several religious scriptures would offer guidance on symbolism in dreams. Along with this, it would be common to seek the help of an elder to navigate the sometimes confusing dreamscape. In Buddhism, dreams hold a very special place and serve as concrete proof of the Buddha-to-be and as a direct link to previous Buddhas. The Buddha-to-be is believed to experience these time-transcending dreams as the previous Buddhas did. An important scene to the Buddhists is that of Queen Maya’s Dream - a prophetic dream where she finds out she’s pregnant. After telling a learned priest about the dream she’s told that the dream means she will birth a son who will either rule the world or renounce it and live a religious life. It’s believed by some that the same dream that visited Queen Maya will reoccur to signal the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. While the Greeks, Egyptians and many more thought dreams to be sent by either gods or demons some Indigenous tribes and South American populations believed dreams to be visitations from ancestors and passed loved ones. For the indigenous Australians, dreams were a vital part of their creation myth. The Dreaming according to them is to be understood as a timeless time a perpetual creation and formation of the eternal. Dreaming existed before the life of the individual and continues to exist after the individual. For many of these smaller communities we often label animist or shamanistic dreams were a way to connect to the spirit world. Some Native American tribes have used vision quests as a rite of passage. Some of these so-called vision quests anticipated a guiding dream, which when received was shared with the rest of the community. While a lot of the writing we have from these communities isn’t from their own authors but rather from western anthropologists, it’s hard to find their takes on nightmares and more ominous dreams. Where it’s much easier however is in the Abrahamic religions.
As stated previously the Bible is full of dreams, and the story of Joseph and his unique ability to interpret dreams appear in all three Abrahamic religions. The ancient Hebrews while monotheistic believed that dreams were the voice of one God alone, they also differentiated between good dreams which came from God, and bad ones which came from evil spirits. This tradition survives in both Christianity and Islam as well. Islam typically identifies three types of dreams: the true dream which comes from God, the false dream which comes from the devil and the meaningless everyday dream. Though dream interpretation isn’t a big thing in Islam as most dreams are assumed to be either works of the devil or meaningless. True dreams are believed to be rare but not occult, being from God directly they assume symbolism that the devil can’t mimic like God’s name in Arabic or similar overt symbolism. Therefore according to some - differentiating between the types of dreams is easier than most believe as dreams generally should not be trusted. In both Islam and Christianity dreams feature conversion stories.
Constantine the Great is said to have had a dream which told him he’d win an upcoming battle if he adopted Christianity and the Chi-Rho as his battle standard. From this tale comes the Latin phrase “in hoc signo vinces” roughly translated as “in this sign conquer”. A motto which would later be adopted by the Kingdom of Portugal in 1139 when the first Portuguese king D. Afonso Henriques saw Jesus on the Cross before the battle of Ouriques against the Moorish king Ali ibn Yusuf. Christ gave him the motto and the quinas - which is still to this day on the Portuguese flag.
In the Middle Ages, the fascination for dreams was blooming along with the development of literature and writing. A famous glossary called the Somniale Danielis, named after the biblical character Daniel attempted to teach Christian populations to interpret their dreams. While the book was likely written in the 5th century and one of its main sources was the Oneirocritica - an ancient Greek treatsy on dream interpretation the Somniale Danielis became very important and prolific during the Middle Ages for explaining dreams, specifically for interpreting meaning and transfer knowledge. Although during this time the Church attempted various bans on divination these dream books were very popular and would continue to rise in popularity. Dream visions or visio became common literary devices and visionary literature as a genre began to flourish and is especially characteristic in early medieval Europe. It would later reemerge with the era of Romanticism when dreams began to be regarded as imaginative ways to realise creative possibilities beyond rational reality. This genre which overlaps with the categories of allegory and philosophical works was one of the most distinctive literary forms of the Middle Ages. In a way, it’s a continuation of dreams’ legacy as messengers. However now man began to become the author, and dreams slowly began to become something that man both received and made. No longer just the receiver, dreams were no longer communication with the divine and entities beyond but rather a dialogue with the depths of himself. Dream manuals are one of the few pieces of literature of the Middle Ages which transcends class and were available to and read by all levels of society. The dream vision convention was widely used in many different cultural and religious contexts including Gnostic, Muslim, European, Old Russian, Christian, Hebrew and many more.
With the spread of the natural sciences and the beginning of modern philosophy, the sentiment that dreams are not supernatural but rational phenomena became widespread and for a while it seemed people lost interest in dreams. But with the birth of modern psychology and neurology, a newfound interest in dream and dream interpretation would surface.
Modern Ages
After the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance dreams became a common theme in art - inspired by classical antiquity and philosophy dreams again popped up as a tantalising subject - something intangible and difficult to catch. The visual artists of the time perhaps inspired by the books of the previous time period decided to start painting dreams. With plenty of commissions from the Church painters of the time often found themselves drawn to the motifs of sleep and the endless creativity expressed in the dreams of these characters. Especially common were Jacob’s dream and the dreams of the Pharao in the Old Testament. However, inspired by the philosophers of antiquity painters and thinkers alike would often pay little to no heed to nightmares - instead focusing on Plato’s ideas on the ideal and beauty. Some however would depict the nightmarish landscape that our minds can also produce: the likes of Hieronymus Bosch would start depicting an early predecessor to surrealism. Henry Fuseli’s famous painting titled “Nightmare” (1781) shows a scene of a little gremlinous dark figure sitting on a woman stretched out over a bed. So society began to align itself again with the ideals of romanticism rather than the “Age of Reason” that had led the Renaissance and art, as well as literature began to place value on emotion and spirituality over rationality and moral logic. The above-mentioned painting by Fuseli is viewed by some as the prefiguration of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theories; Freud reportedly hung a reproduction of the painting in his home.
Freud would go on to write a very influential book about dream interpretation, and it would become an important component of psychoanalysis. Initially, Freud argued that dream content was hidden or unconscious “wish-fulfilment”, or sorting of events from the day prior which he called “day residue”. He famously called psychoanalytic dream interpretation “the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind”. Freud would be criticised by peers at the time and thinkers today for his heavy-handed focus on sexuality something which would contribute to a split with the pioneering psychologist Carl Gustav Jung.
Jung started a correspondence with Freud after having read his book on dream-interpretation and the two would form a friendship with lengthy correspondence. However, eventually, they would part ways as Jung disagreed with much of Freud’s work especially his atheistic views and his focus on sexuality. Jung also found Freud’s dream interpretation to be a good basis but to be too limited ultimately. Arguing for more than the expression of unfulfilled wishes Jung saw dreams as a gateway into the dreamer’s mental complex. He saw dreams to be expressions not only of the unconscious but also both personal and collective. He called dreams “a dialogue between the ego and the self” where the self seeks to communicate to the ego what it should know but does not. Carl Jung would lay the foundation for what is now modern and contemporary dream interpretation. Its theory is too expansive to describe here, and we’ll take a closer look later. During the same time art and literature would also be fascinated by dreams and inspired by the rise of new thought and surrealism and more abstract works would rise to the front.
Plagued by the great depression America would popularise the idea of the “American Dream” - meaning liberty, equality and democracy for all people. A new ideal for the continent. Plagued by world wars and collapsing economies the cultural zeitgeist at the time turned to dreams for idealism and hope. The religious and occult pretexts of the ancient past were now replaced by modern man’s existential philosophy. He was the maker of dreams, in control of his own destiny. Dreams were not only a unique individual experience but a collective ideal for the masses to strive and work towards. The dreams would change hower, and history would soon find out that dreams to some are nightmares to others.
Dreams continued to puzzle thinkers and scholars and still does today. After Jung, there would be some more notable people drawing inspiration from him, Freud and even older works. According to some studies, most people appear to interpret dream content according to Freudian psychoanalysis rather than Jungian analytical psychology today. We tend to view dreams as more meaningful than similar waking thoughts: and reportedly Americans are more likely to cancel a flight if they have a bad dream about the plane crashing before their trip than if the Department of Homeland Security issued a federal warning. We still attribute some value to our dreams today, you know this since you’re here reading - and we’ll take a closer look at some contemporary views and look a little deeper into Jungian interpretation of dreams.
