41. Sunday Seminar - Dreaming, its reason, meaning and timing in sleep
The usual Sunday seminarans sit at the long, oval brown-mahogany table in the Sociology office. Professor John Edwardes stands at end of table facing the far door. Additionally, the Roman Catholic nun, Sister Barbara in her bulky black nun's garb sits between Brenda and Joe to the Professor's left. He opens
"Today we discuss the phenomenon of dreaming. We are lucky to have an expert, Dr Stan Pelc from nearby Montefiore Hospital. He does original research on dreaming. We all experience and wonder over dreams. But no one really knows why we dream, what dreams mean or when during sleep they happen. Now, Dr Pelc." Stan sits at opposite end, his back to door, in his white hospital coat.
As the professor sits, Stan looks up from his papers. "In addition to studying the scientific and literary literature, I also study myself - my own dreaming. Right away I found I need a pad and pencil by bedside because memories of dreams are fleeting." He stops and asks "Can anyone here remember what he dreamed last night?"
A negative shaking of heads.
Eddie who is sitting at Stan's left taking notes for the Professor's secretary to type, thinks: Gee! This guy is for real! He ain't just a "If you say so" type. He asks our experiences to check on what he says. Wow! I like this guy!
Sam the super's helper asks "What about all those dreams we see in movies? I ain't got a good enough memory for all those colorful details."
Stan looks around. "Do any of you dream in color?" All shake head negative. "Does anyone recall having a dream like you see in movies - you know a big cast of characters, speaking together, and the action all connected like in real life?" Again a negative shake.
"Hollywood embellishes dreams for dramatic effect and, I think, we forgive them that and even congratulate the imagination of the writers. But that idea, that a dream has a clear line or plot or seeming reality, comes from Sigmund Freud. In his book The Interpretation of Dreams, he describes several dreams, he says, he dreamed, and the movie dreams are very like his."
"Are you implying Freud was lying?" Professor Edwardes asks, not seriously disturbed by the possibility.
"No. I am just being scientific in questioning the validity of the dream description we get from Freud and his - what some would call - renegade disciple Mr Jung. I see, from the initial negative shakes of heads, no one of you here ever dreamed dreams of such clarity and with such continuity and dialog as Freud describes. In my dream research, I have yet to come across one person who dreamed as Freud describes in his book."He pauses. Then glances down to his left at Eddie furiously speed writing. "Eddie can you tell us in a general way what your dreams are like in terms of color, story, and people speaking?"
Eddie is fascinated by the subject. He puts down his pencil & paper and says "I donno that. But I do know what my dreams don't have: No color. And talking? It's like I know what someone said but like in my head."
"Good observation, Eddie. In my research and in my own dreams the dream details are rather vague, color is not noticed, and no spoken dialog - one simply knows in one's head what has been said. Does anyone here have a different experience?"
Nicola the pasta-pizza chef, still in white uniform with spaghetti sauce stains raises right hand.
"Doc, I agree you say. And I gotta maybe interesting more to give-a you. You know, my lengua Italian and my English come late to me and sound like Chico in a Marx Brother movie" - he laughs and a general chuckle goes around the table, "But in alla my dream even since come America, I never hear a lengua. I mean I know in my head what someone say in my dream. And in my head, I t'ink in Italian. But I never hear it in my ear when I dream."
Stan responds." That is a really good observation because I have not had bilingual persons in research yet.
"Doc, I be you volunteer."
"Thank you, Mr. Nicola. He looks around. "Any more observations or questions?" He sees Sister Barbara with right hand up. Barbara is trying to clean up her Irish brogue in public but once in a while it breaks out.
"Doctorr, what about drreams predicting futurr - Like in Old Testament Joseph's of Pharraoh's drream?
"Yes, Sister, that is a famous one but it really is like Freud's idea that dreams can be rather exactly interpreted and the consequences of the interpretation acted on. First, to repeat, all the famous dream interpretations - Joseph's, Freud & his school's, Jung's - come from dreams that have too much detail and that no usual person here or in all my research has had. To me it suggests such dreams are made up for the purpose of promoting an idea. Certainly the one in the Old Testament is a good idea. But still it is not an accurate depiction of a real dream."
Seminar continues for 30 more minutes. The final question comes from Professor Edwardes.
"Dr Pelc, you have fairly well told us what dreams are not. But you have yet to answer my first comment that no one really knows Why we dream? What dreams mean? and When during sleep they happen? Has your research answered these 3 questions; and, if so, how so?"
Stan smiles at the Professor. Actually, the two of them had conspired before this seminar to be sure the Professor would ask these questions if no one else did. He starts, "Professor Edwardes and fellow Seminarans, I almost surprise myself by answering Yes. Surprise because so many more famous persons than I have offered wildly differing answers. But, I suspect, very few of them have studied dreams, including their own as systematically as I have for 5 years now. Taking your questions out of the order you gave; first What are dreams? Answer: Dreams are fragments of information - Ike blurred snapshots of the reality of your everyday life - like your encounterings, your readings, your radio listenings and, most importantly your emotional interactions. These are all floating about on the surface of each person's cerebral cortex, the seat of one's mind. During one's awake consciousness, one orders such information as logical thought bringing things to mind as attention gets drawn to them. And falling asleep is still a state of consciousness as dreaming and recalling one's dreams proves. So dreams are fragments of our daily thought to which varying degrees of emotion have gotten attached. But also I notice that dreams are always bizarre, illogical and unself-aware. One never is aware of one's dreaming state as it happens. This means that the memories in the cortex from which dreaming comes have been disconnected from the pre-frontal part of the brain that allows us to think logically, to tell time and to be aware we are conscious.
From this idea it follows that dreams can be influenced by what we are seeing, hearing and feeling, mostly in the several hours before sleeping. I won't go further into that; you may all figure it for your self. But it is very useful in controlling bad dreams and also understanding that there is nothing magical or weirdly predictive about dreams. Why we dream probably has many answers: It may be a way of draining excess, dangerous energy that will harm the brain if allowed to build up each day - a kind of steam valve so to speak. There is some suggestion that dreaming consolidates memorization so I think a student preparing for an exam ought to study hard in the hours before he or she sleeps and then sleep well in order to dream. As to When during sleep dreams happen, that is the easiest for me. My research shows without doubt that dreams are happening only in very light sleep - just after falling asleep or just before awakening; in fact I found that dreams often awaken a sleeper because of the expressed emotion involved. ...."
Stan is about to continue when Professor Edwardes interrupts: "Thank you, Dr Pelc, and I beg to interrupt because Edward here (He indicates Eddie) is telling me we are 10 minutes over our allotted time. So let us all head out to the anteroom where Mr Nicola has prepared the usual delicious pizza and pasta and Coca Cola and Ginger Ale from Luigi's and we may individually continue the conversation and questioning."
Stan nods in assent and everyone rises and heads for the food and drink.
Eddie has been the most affected. He volunteers for Dr Pelc's dream research. The seminars are proving another influence on his life's direction.
For next, click 13.42 Menage a Trois!
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