Lessons

Imagine that you are very sick, it's the year 300 B.C., and you're living in ancient Greece. You travel to a healing center where you make an offering to the demi-god Asclepius, and then bed down for the night in the temple, praying for a healing dream. In the morning, you tell the priests your dream, and they prescribe a treatment. Welcome to the Cult of Asclepius, whose practitioners believed that a dream could be creative of cure.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Reading:

Miller, Dreams in Late Antiquity: Ch. 4

Questions:

1. How does the literature on Hippocrates represent dreams? How is this different from the Asclepian view?

2. Describe the process of dream therapy at an Asclepian healing center.

3. What meaning could the snake emblem have had in a healing context?

4. What happened to the Cult of Asclepius as Christianity became the dominant religion?

Activities:

Documentary--"Apollo and Asclepius": view this clip, excerpted from a History Channel documentary (In Search of History--The Greek Gods, 2005) and think about the following: what are some ways we can interpret or account for the recorded Asclepian healings?

Welcome to Unit II, where we consider the ways in which cultural values and religious beliefs shape a group's understanding and experience of sleep and dream. First stop: classical antiquity. Although there is no single coherent conception of dream in antiquity, we can identify several trends, starting with two major writers on dream: Aristotle, who wrote in the 4th century B.C., and Artemidorus, who wrote in the 2nd century A.D.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Artemidorus, The Interpretation of Dream: Oneirocritica: Selections

Bulkeley, An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming: Ch. 1

Questions:

1. What is the origin of dreams, according to Aristotle?

2. Does Aristotle believe that dreams can foretell the future?

3. What distinctions does Artemidorus make between dreams?

4. Where do dreams come from, according to Artemidorus?

5. What does Artemidorus's interpreter need to do when faced with a dream?

Activities:

Look it Up: As Bulkeley mentions, modern dream theorists dismiss Artemidorus's dictionary, as it seems to offer "one size fits all" definitions and interpretations of common dream symbols, without taking into account the life of the individual dreamer. Using a dream from your dream journal, see if Artemidorus has catalogued any of the symbols in your dream. Do his interpretations give you any insight into your dream? If you cannot locate any common symbols, take note of what the people Artemidorus interviewed were dreaming about. What does the dream dictionary tell you about common concerns and desires of this period of antiquity?

And now, a departure. In this final lesson of Unit I, we take the models that science gives us and apply them to literature. Dream theory in particular gives us interesting tools with which to read literary dreams-- not as "real" dreams, but as fictions which implicitly or explicitly comment on the dream experience. Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) is the author of a number of dream-tales. In "The Coffee Pot" (1831) a young man meets a beautiful and tragic young woman in his sleep. But is she a figment of a dream or a ghost?

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Reading:

Gautier, "The Coffee Pot"

Questions:

1. How does the epigraph (from Joseph's vision) comment on the story?

2. What are the chief characteristics of the bedroom where the narrator is to spend the night?

3. What is wrong with the music during the dancing scene? What purpose does this detail serve?

4. How does the narrative disturb the usual distinctions between dream and wakefulness?

5. Explain the relationship between Angela and the coffee pot?

6. In what ways does this tale remind you of a dream? What dream-like characteristics does it try to emphasize?

Activities:

Analytical Paper-- Narrative on the Couch: Literary analysis often makes use of psychoanalytic techniques to interpret a narrative. How would you read "The Coffee Pot" as a Freudian or a Jungian? Analyze the story using the principles and ideas from either method: Freud would look for distortion, examples of condensation, displacement, and wish fulfillment, whereas Jung would focus on the archetypes present in the literary dream and what they may be trying to tell the dreamer. Do you find that these methods yield interesting analyses of the story? Remember to treat the text not as an actual dream, but as a piece of literary fiction.

Is there dreaming after Freud and Jung? And how. A number of clinical theories of dreaming grow out of the two giants' work, each one with its own set of assumptions about the psyche and the function of dreaming. Kelly Bulkeley names and explains four important successors to Freud and Jung: Alfred Adler, Medard Boss, Thomas French and Erich Fromm, and Frederick Perls.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Reading:

Bulkeley, An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming: Ch. 4

Questions:

1. What is the function of a dream according to each of these theorists? What method of dream interpretation does each one use in a clinical setting?

2. In what one fundamental way do Adler, Boss, French, Fromm, and Perls all depart from Freud and Jung's notion of the origin of dreams?

Activities:

The Chase: Read the sample dream here, and then create a chart in which you 1) sketch out how each of the four clinical dream theories would approach the dream; 2) identify questions that each theorist would ask the dreamer; and 3) brainstorm what interpretations each theory might yield.

While Freud theorized a personal unconscious that is the repository of the individual's repressed, unacceptable desires, Jung postulated a deeper layer that informs the personal unconscious and also feeds into dreams: the collective unconscious. This would be a shared wellspring for all of humanity, and the source of another Jungian concept: the archetypes. Archetypes are common symbols and motifs that appear in various forms in human myths, stories, and religions. The Mother, the Father, the Hero, the Bad Guy. Underlying the personal symbols in our dreams, Jung argues, are these older, universal symbols, connecting the individual to all of humanity.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Bulkeley, An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming: Ch. 3

Reread, if necessary, Jung's essay: "Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams"

Questions:

1. What frequent criticisms are made against Jung's idea of the archetypes, and how does he respond to them?

2. What is the difference between a "natural" and a "cultural" symbol?

3. What are some of the common archetypes that Jung writes about? What characterizes them?

Activities:

A Junger You: Remember the dream you interpreted using Freud's method? Take a look at that dream again, and start over, using Jung's method of amplification of the symbols and themes in your dream. If you assume, as Jung does, that the dream is not hiding anything, but is simply transmitting a message, what interpretation do you now yield? Do you detect the presence of archetypes? Which interpretation, Freudian or Jungian, seems to be the best "fit" for your dream?

Carl Jung was once Freud's most devoted disciple. Their falling out stems from fundamental disagreements over the nature of the self. In the realm of dream study, this means that Jung rejects the idea that the dream is a coded message, hiding an unacceptable wish from the dreamer's conscious mind. Rather, Jung asserts, the dream provides a helpful message to the self, often serving to balance the conscious and unconscious minds.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Jung. "Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams."

Questions:

1. What does Jung think about free association, as it is practiced in the Freudian method of dream interpretation?

2. How does Jung define the unconscious?

3. How does Jung explain dreams of future events?

4. What is Jung's interpretation of his "dream of the house" (section 3) and how does it differ from Freud's?

Activities:

1. The Oprah Dream Redux: Reread the sample dream here. How would Jung approach this dream? What might a Jungian interpretation say about the meaning of this dream? How would this differ from what a Freudian interpretation would say?

2. Documentary: "The Power of Dream: Sacred Sleep" is part of a Discovery Channel documentary on dreams, produced in 1997. It's very good, but very hard to come by. If you can get a copy, I recommend the segment on Native American dream practices (the Sweat) and their links to Jungian dream theory.

How can an anxiety dream contain the fulfillment of a wish? What about a nightmare? Why are dreams so bizarre? Freud's answer: the Censor. This would be a psychical process that seeks to keep our most dangerous wishes hidden from the conscious self. Understanding the Dream-Work-- the processes through which a dream becomes distorted-- can help unravel the real meaning that the dream itself is designed to hide.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Bulkeley, An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming: Ch. 2

Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams: Ch. 3-4

Questions:

1. How do "dreams of convenience" fit in with Freud's theory that all dreams contain the fulfillment of a wish?

2. What are the dreams of children like, according to Freud?

3. How does Freud support his claim that even anxiety dreams contain the fulfillment of a wish?

4. What are "manifest and latent content?"

5. How does Freud use the metaphor of the Censor to explain dream distortion?

Activities:

The Oprah Dream: Read Bulkeley's chapter on Freud and note his clear explanations of the mechanisms of the Dream-Work: condensation, displacement, considerations of representability, and secondary revision. Then read this sample Freudian dream analysis and see if you can locate examples of the 4 Dream-Work mechanisms.

A patient with the code-name Irma... a diseased throat... a dirty syringe. Is this medical pulp fiction? No, these are details from the sample dream that Freud uses to demonstrate his method of dream interpretation. From this one dream of the doctor springs his entire theory about the general meaning underlying every human dream: a dream is the fulfillment of a wish.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Reading:

Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams: Ch. 2

Questions:

1. How is Freud's theory of dream radical, in his view?

2. Which two popular methods of dream interpretation does he discredit? Why are they unscientific in his view?

3. What are the particulars of Freud's method of dream interpretation? What is the role of the analyst? What is the ideal condition of the individual reporting the dream?

4. How does Freud interpret his dream of Irma?

5. What general rule about dreams does Freud derive from his sample dream analysis?

Activities:

Freud and You: This is an activity that you can start now, and revise as you continue to read Freud and deepen your understanding of his dream theory. Take one of the dreams that you've recorded in your dream journal, and analyze it using the method that Freud demonstrates with the Irma dream. (Remember to break it down into small parts and to free associate on each detail.) Then evaluate the process. Does the analysis uncover, as Freud says it must, the fulfillment of a wish?

Watch "Young Dr. Freud" (PBS 2002): This is an excellent documentary on Freud's life leading up to the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams. It explains in detail how Freud came to study dreams as part of his work on the rampant female disease of the fin de siecle: hysteria.

Now we head into less scientific waters, though Freud would not have seen it that way: modern theories of dream interpretation. And we begin with Freud, the father of modern psychology, because in 1899 when he published The Interpretation of Dreams, he initiated a shock wave that would change the western world's understanding not just of dreams, but also of the human psyche.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams: Ch. 1, focus on sections A-D

Questions:

1. What does Freud declare that his study of dreams will do?

2. What distinction does Freud draw between sleep and dream?

3. How does Hildebrant characterize the relationship between dream and waking life?

4. What are the four kinds of dream sources? Which source does Freud privilege?

Activities:

Film Study--the Dali Dream Sequence in "Spellbound": Obtain a copy of Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound" (1945) and watch the Salvador-Dali-designed dream sequence. You don't need to have watched the whole film to grasp what is going on here, but I recommend the film in its entirety. At the very least start with the scene where Dr. Brulov wakes up John Ballantine on the couch and then watch through the narration of the dream. Then think about these questions:

-- How does the film sequence try to approximate the experience of a dream?

-- What popular notions of Freud are referenced in the clip?

Some of dreams' mysteries are explanable: such as why you sometimes wake up from a dream and can't move, or why your husband appears to be "happy to see you" when he wakes up. Other questions are not so clear. Do dreams occur only during REM sleep? How are dreams produced? And of course there's the big one: do dreams mean anything?

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Bulkeley, An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming: Ch. 5

Dement, The Promise of Sleep: Ch. 13

Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep: Ch. 7

Questions:

1. What are some of the physiological characteristics of REM sleep?

2. What is Hobson's Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis? How does it explain the character of dreams?

3. What is the purpose of REM sleep according to Hobson?

4. Explain Crick and Mitchison's Reverse Learning Theory.

5. What happened when Dement substituted food for REM sleep in one of his test subjects?

6. Do scientists believe that dream and REM sleep are identical? What happened when David Foulkes reworded the question his dreaming test subjects were asked when awakened in the middle of different sleep stages?

Activities:

Dream Journal: Take stock of the dream journal you started in lesson one. Has your dream recall changed at all? Do you notice common themes or characters in your dreams?

Dream Experiment: If you can, enlist a helper for this activity. Ask a friend to wake you up in the middle of a nap or nighttime sleep, and pose the question: "Did anything cross your mind?" Be sure to note what time you went to sleep and have the friend note what time she or he wakes you, as well as your response. Repeat a couple of times, and compare your results, being sure to note how long you had been asleep roughly before you were awakened. Can you estimate which sleep stage you were in? What are your responses like?

Just as you can run up debt on your credit cards, you can borrow too much wakefulness from your brain. Learn how and when it gets "paid back," and also why, even after pulling an "all-nighter," you may find yourself unable to fall asleep at certain times of the day.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy, Episode 4

Readings:

Dement, The Promise of Sleep: Ch. 3-4

Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep: Ch. 5

Questions:

1. What are some of the consequences of sleep debt?

2. Why can sleep-deprived individuals still feel alert during the day?

3. What were the results of the Naval sleep deprivation study and the Thomas Wehr study?

4. Explain jet lag in terms of the biological clock and the sleep drive.

Activities:

Home Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT): How much sleep debt do you have? You can approximate the MSLT that Dement describes in chapter 3. He describes this home method on p. 338-339. Lie down in a darkened room. Place one arm over the edge of the bed or couch. In that hand you should hold a metal spoon over a plate on the floor. You want it to be something that will make a noise loud enough to wake you up. Write down the time, and then close your eyes. Set an alarm for 20 minutes. If you do fall asleep, your hand will relax and release the spoon. Write down the time that this wakes you up. That's how long it took you to fall asleep. Repeat the test at different times of the day, over a couple of days. Are your numbers consistent? When are you most alert? Most drowsy? Check your results against the sleep latency chart on p. 340 of Dement.

Why do we need to sleep anyway? Is sleep a vital function like food and water? Believe it or not, this may be the biggest mystery about sleep.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Dement, The Promise of Sleep, Ch. 10

Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep, Ch. 11-12

Questions:

1. How does Dement challenge the common notion that we sleep to rest the body and the brain?

2. What conclusions, if any, do Dement and Lavie draw from the Randy Gardner wakefulness marathon in 1965?

3. In what ways does mammalian sleep differ from human sleep? What is the likely purpose of sleep for animals?

4. What are some of the latest theories about the purpose of REM sleep?

5. What were the results of the Rechtshaffen rat sleep deprivation study?

6. What other functions has the body adapted sleep for?

Activities:

Sleep Log: Review the data you have gathered in your sleep log alongside of the results of your home MSLT. Do you see evidence of sleep debt? If so, how much sleep do you think you need to aim for daily? Continue the log for another week, and add in these two questions to answer daily:

--Comment on the quality of the night's sleep

--Comment on your overall alertness for the day

What does sleep look like to the people who study it? How does the sleep cycle change with age? Here you'll learn why your newborn sleeps only two hours at a time (if you're lucky!) and why your grandparents wake up before dawn.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy, Episode 3

Readings:

Dement, The Promise of Sleep: Ch. 1, 5

Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep: Ch. 2 (p. 11-17), Ch. 4

Questions:

1. According to Dement, what are the criteria for sleep?

2. Explain the typical sleep cycle. What are the characteristics of each stage?

3. When in life does sleep begin?

4. Describe the sleep of children. What happens to sleep at the onset of puberty?

5. How does the sleep of adults change after ages 65-70?

Activities:

Start a Sleep Log: For 1-2 weeks, note down what time you go to sleep and what time you wake up. Include naps, both planned and unplanned. How many hours of sleep do you average?

After a brief survey of historical theories about sleep and dream, you'll learn about the notable findings of the 20th-century, including the accidental discovery of REM sleep.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy, Episode 2

Readings:

Dement, The Promise of Sleep: Ch. 2

Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep: Ch. 1, 2 (p. 8-10); 3

Questions:

1. Summarize some of the most notable ancient and modern theories about sleep.

2. What is REM? How was it discovered? What are the characteristics of REM sleep and why is it also called "Paradoxical Sleep?"

3. Explain how some of the preconceived notions about sleep impacted sleep science in the 1950s.

4. How was sleep studied prior to the invention and use of the EEG?

Activities:

Start a Dream Journal: put a small notebook and pen near your bed. When you wake up, write down whatever was going through your mind as quickly as you can. Do not be concerned if you can't recall anything. Many people find that their dream recall increases significantly the more regularly they record their dreams.

Sleep and Dream as Personal Phenomena

Lesson 23: Madness and Somnambulism: Macbeth I

Lesson 24: Macbeth II

Lesson 25: Macbeth III

Lesson 26: Double Life: “The Dead in Love”

Lesson 27: Sleep and Dream as Escape: “Brazil”

Lesson 28: Nightmare: “The Horla”

Lesson 29: Insomnia: Fight Club

Lesson 30: Fight Club II

Lesson 31: Lucid Dreaming: “Open your Eyes”

Lesson 32: Sleep, Dream, and Creativity

Lesson 33: Writers Dreaming

Sleep and Dream as Cultural Phenomena

Lesson 13: Dreams of Antiquity: Aristotle and Artemidorus

Lesson 14: The Cult of Asclepius

Lesson 15: Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime

Lesson 16: The Dreamtime Stories

Lesson 17: Dreams in Buddhism

Lesson 18: Dream Yoga

Lesson 19: Reality and Illusion: Life is a Dream

Lesson 20: Life is a Dream II

Lesson 21: Life is a Dream III

Lesson 22: Reality and Illusion: “The Matrix”

The Science of Sleep and Dream

Lesson 1: The History of Sleep Science

Lesson 2: The Physiology of Sleep

Lesson 3: Sleep Debt & The Biological Clock

Lesson 4: Light & The Circadian Rhythm

Lesson 5: The Purpose of Sleep

Lesson 6: Dreams and REM Sleep

Lesson 7: Psychology of Dreams: Freud

Lesson 8: Freud II: The Irma Dream

Lesson 9: Freud III: The Dream-Work

Lesson 10: Freud v. Jung

Lesson 11: Jung: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Lesson 12: The Next Generation: Psychoanalytic Successors

Lesson 13: Analysis of a Literary Dream: “The Coffee Pot”

Imagining Sleep is organized into three units. From here you can access a detailed course of study for each unit, including readings, audio lectures, and activities.

Unit I: The Science of Sleep and Dream

Unit II: Sleep and Dream as Cultural Phenomena

Unit III: Sleep and Dream as Personal Phenomena