Penelope and Odysseus: The Perils of Dream Interpretation
I’d like to illustrate some basic principles of dream interpretation by telling a story. It’s a very old story, one you may have heard before, but I’d like to tell it again because even though it’s “just a story” it highlights the real perils that come when... [Read more of this post]
The 7 Worst Things Ever Said About Dreams
1. The most evil type of man is the man who, in his waking hours, has the qualities we find in his dream state. (Plato, The Republic, IX.571-576) 2. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words….For when dreams increase, empty words grow many.” (Ecclesiastes 5:3,... [Read more of this post]
Who Sleeps Worst in the US? The Surprising Truth
An excellent guest post on Ryan Hurd’s Dream Studies website by A.L. Castonguay looks at sleep as a misunderstood public health issue. Specifically, who in America is sleeping relatively well, and who is sleeping poorly? The latter group is important to identify because inadequate sleep can... [Read more of this post]
Cosmo Romance Dreams
A couple of years ago a reporter from Cosmopolitan magazine sent me a list of dream types she had gathered from other women in her office. I can’t remember if an article ever appeared, but I thought the dreams were interesting as expressions of the concerns many women feel about their romantic... [Read more of this post]
Dystopian Dreaming
While sitting in the audience and taking notes during the recent IASD conference in Berkeley, I found myself marking several instances where something the presenter said triggered my dystopian imagination. I confess to being a long-time fan of science fiction and fantasy stories about frightening... [Read more of this post]
Word Searching as a Tool in the Study of Dreams, or, Dream Research in the Era of Big Data
I’m giving a presentation with that title on Saturday, June 23, at the annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, held in Berkeley, California. The presentation is part of a panel session, “What’s New in the Scientific Study of Dreams.” I’m... [Read more of this post]
Dreaming of Nature and the Nature of Dreams
The First Australian Regional Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams starts on April 19, and I have prepared a video talk for the conference titled “Dreaming of Nature and the Nature of Dreams.” The talk can be found on Youtube, and the statistical data I reference... [Read more of this post]
Mary Shelley’s Baby Comes Back to Life
In February of 1815 a baby girl was born two months prematurely to Mary Godwin, seventeen years old at the time, and the poet Percy B. Shelley. Twelve days later Mary went to the child during the night and found she had died in her sleep. On March 19, 1815 Mary recorded the following dream in her... [Read more of this post]
Nietzsche’s Prophetic Childhood Dreams of Death
In Ronald Hayman’s 1980 biography Nietzsche: A Critical Life, he mentions two dreams that came to Friedrich Nietzsche early in his life. 1. “I heard the church organ playing as at a funeral. When I looked to see what was going on, a grave opened suddenly, and my father arose out of it in a shroud.... [Read more of this post]
Abraham Lincoln’s Dreams
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, and in honor of his birthday I am reposting a brief essay about four dreams he reportedly experienced while President: a visitation dream, a dream of parental concern, a prophecy of his assassination, and a series of dreams relating to military battles.... [Read more of this post]
