The November/December issue of Psychology Today offers a story on a new theory of the function of dreams: to help us learn reactions to danger that are only helpful if executed instinctively. For example, back in our cavepeople days, there was a split second between being eaten by the saber-toothed tiger and getting away, so stopping to think about it was, well, problematic. As we, and the dangers we face, have evolved, our dreams have tried to keep pace, the theory goes. When monsters enter our dreams, it's because our brains are confusing the real dangers and those we cull from film and television.
I thought the theory was interesting when I read it, but this past week it became even more personally relevant... I'm not sure why, but for years, I've had a pattern of remembering dreams intensely for a week or two out of the year; the other 351 nights, it's blissful nothingness.
Oddly, this has been a week of car-based bad dreams: two involved being stuck in cars with people I am either uncomfortable with or have had spectacular fallings-out with and at least two involved the threat of being pulled by the cops, though the blue lights flashed in neither. Now that I think about it, it's not so odd that they've all been set in cars. Though I haven't had a particularly bad auto-based experience (except a couple of speeding tickets) in years, cars were once little cages - my dad's favorite spot for "heart-to-hearts" during the 20 minute drive to the house where he lived when I was a kid - and the spot where two of the less nice people in my past acted on their less nice impulses.
The theory didn't offer an explanation for the function of pleasant dreams - perhaps they're considered less relevant or even flukes since research suggests two-thirds of dreams are of the scary sort. Or maybe they have the same function, but preparing us for spur-of-the-moment positive experiences - after all, what 15-year-old boy wouldn't want to know exactly what to say to Niki Taylor should she unexpectedly appeared in their room craving teen flesh?
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5 comments:
last nite i had a dream that a hamburger was eating me
Oh my - how very Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! Perhaps vegetarianism is in your future?
tell you what, if Torah Study is in your future, then what the hey, veg is in mine.
thats a better deal for you! you'll live longer than a vegger!
" For those of you
who didn’t see the Temple’s emailed announcement
a couple of weeks ago, my
wife gave birth to our first child on
January 16. The
outpouring of joy for our little family has been humbling, and it
speaks volumes about the heart and soul of Temple Emanuel.
Now, like every Jewish child before him, he must
start to relearn Torah. Why relearn? Because the rabbis teach
that while he was in the womb, an angel taught him the entire
Torah, all its lessons and commandments. At birth, the angel
touched him on that little dent between his mouth and nose,
causing him to forget all he’d learned. As it happens, that little
dent has a name: the philtrum. The word comes from the
Greek, meaning “to love” or “to kiss.” I don’t know what the
rabbis have to say about this, but I have a feeling that every time
we kiss him, he’ll come one word closer to remembering the
Torah he learned while in his mother’s belly. "
Are you quoting someone? Did you want to add some sort of commentary?
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