Discretion: I only got about 30% into the book.
My expectations going into this book were relatively high seeing how it is a classic, and I expected it to stand the test of time. Unfortunately, it did notā¦
A friend of mine recommended it after saying that it changed her perspective to life, and how it impacted the decisions she makes on a day-to-day basis by analyzing her dreams. While there is some merit to the fact that dreams can be used to analyze oneās subconscious, I believe the idea is overdone and unnecessary for those who have a high degree of self-awareness.
The idea of dream interoperation was probably novel in 1899, when the book first came out, but the concept that dreams are a partial representation of an individualās unconscious mind is has become such a major part of social mode and pop culture, that itās nothing new. Prior to this book, some religious organizations or tribes might have seen dreams as messages from religious deities, but this was the first āscientificā approach to dream analysis. I used the term āscientificā very loosely, because it is a collection of anecdotal cases rather than large scale studies.
There were a few interesting points made throughout the first third of the book, but I didnāt find it interesting enough to stick with it.
=== Cool notes/facts I took away from the book ===
History
People used to think that dreams were a way of supernatural beings trying to communicate with us
Dream analysis dates back to Aristotle, who wrote to pieces of work on the human psyche related to dreams
There was an interesting quote that said āNature is demonic, not divineā
Physical sense while sleeping
Dreams are affected by both physiological and psychological factors
Physiological effects are exhilarated while one is sleeping
A sound, a light, a touch are over-intensified
A drop of water makes you think you drowned
Slight heating of the body while the person is sleeping results in burning during dream
There was a case where something fell on someoneās neck while sleeping, which resulted in decapitation in the dream
The most interesting point here is the time dilation. A whole universe had to be created that led to the decapitation in that instant.
Time dilation in dreams is very interesting!
Dream meaning
It is not uncommon for dreams to be representative of events from the previous day or from years ago
Dreams where everyone else is a giant are most likely related to a memory from childhoof
Falling Asleep
Sleep happens as a result of a lack of stimuli. However, it depends what one is accustomed to.
For example, light is okay for those who don’t like darkness
Dreams are forgotten quickly and wonāt be remembered unless we write things down immediately
Knowledge in dreams
- There was a dream where some knew the name of a plant, but he didn’t know how (the lizard dream). This happens because we subconsciously interact with content around us, and somehow process it even if we werenāt aware of it