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What Are the Universal Dreams?
We've all had them--those
alarming dreams of being chased by something grisly, a loved one getting hurt or dying,
driving a car without brakes, not knowing the answers to a test, falling fearfully through
the air, appearing naked or half-dressed in public, or racing for the train that has just
departed. These and other bad dreams that everyone experiences at some point in their
lives are too familiar.
What most of us don't realize is that these very same dreams are
universal. They have existed from before the beginning of recorded literature, and will
occur tonight in every country of our planet. They cross different cultures and classes.
They endure over time.
I have labeled this set of dreams that transcend time and cultures
"the Universal Dreams." Like a hearty stew that is rich with local produce, the
universal dreams differ among different peoples, but they are all nourishing variants of
the same wholesome meal. They are as old as humanity and as widespread as our globe.
Possibly further.
In my presidential address to the Association for the Study of
Dreams, in Oahu, Hawaii in 1998, I asked the audience of more than 200 professional
dreamworkers to participate in a brief test to demonstrate the universality of these
dreams. Six dreams were read. The audience was asked to guess in which century the dream
took place, and the dreamer's nationality, gender and age.
Despite knowing a great deal about dreams, very few
people recognized Gilgamesh's earthquake dream as being 4000 years old! Fewer still
identified the dreamer of the lost gloves as living in China.
I propose that there are 12 basic dreams, each of which
have positive as well as negative versions. By understanding more about these 12 bad
dreams, and their mirror opposites, how these basic themes vary, and what the motifs they
contain usually mean, we'll be able to share our knowledge about dreams in a clearer, more
specific, theory-free form.
Classifying Dreams
Although we have learned a lot
about the mechanics of dreams this century--the pattern of dreaming during the night and
its physiological components--we have made little progress in understanding the meaning of
our dreams. As a science, even as an art, dream interpretation has remained on a plateau.
I think this has occurred because we have not yet organized our knowledge about dreams for
maximum use.
Science has always progressed by the observation and
naming of specimens. Whether a researcher is examining the animal kingdom or the plant
kingdom, thousands of samples are gathered and then organized according to some obvious
differences and similarities. Names or numbers are assigned to make it possible for other
scientists to communicate in specific rather than in general terms. When a large body of
material is gathered and spread out,
be it butterflies, fossils or folktales, the researcher is able to generate theories to
account for the great diversity he or she witnesses.
In dream study, we have progressed only to the level of
specimen collection. Each theorist has his or her own view, and pushes that method of
dreamwork as the best or only approach.
This paper provides the start of a
universal language. It must, of necessity, be provisional. Other dreamworkers have
attempted to classify dreams. But I feel that none have taken firm and satisfying
international hold. The nearest to a generally accepted system is the one that Calvin Hall
and Robert Van de Castle evolved in 1966. Like other research-based dream scoring systems
(Folkes, Kramer & Winget, Piotrowski, Hunt) , this system is helpful for research but
leaves the individual dreamer with the question, "What does my dream mean?"
Popular books, in contrast, offer answers to that
question, but without much scientific foundation or little agreement from book to book.
The Universal Dreams concept may bridge research and popular needs.
The Dream Key
The word
taxonomy refers to the science of classification. It derives from the Greek words
"nomos" meaning "the law," and "taxis", meaning
"arrangement." Taxonomy, the law of arrangement, provides a system for
comprehending a great range of material, making it easier to retrieve information and
simplify comparisons.
This is accomplished by reference to a "key"
(the technical term) in which the general (genus) and the specific (species) aspects of a
specimen are defined and described in detail.
Once we have such an instrument, dreamers can easily
locate one or more of the universal dreams they are certain to experience. By comparing
their individual dream to the variations of a worldwide dream theme, people will be able
to grasp the most probable meaning of their dreams.
Yet, regardless of how much we share with other humans, we are unique
beings. We have acquired "accents" in our culture, and subculture, so, we still
need dreamworkers to adjust the fit of the probable dream meaning to each dreamer's exact
size.
My analysis of the universal dreams is based upon a worldwide
collection of thousands of dreams, a synthesis of the professional literature on dream
content, and my own 50-year-long dream diary. I have also drawn upon the system to
classify folktales devised by folklorist Kaarle Krone, and developed by his follower Antti
Aarne, both in Finland, as well as the catalogues compiled by folklorist Stith Thompson in
the United States. This method, that has been used to classify all the folktales in the
world, can be adjusted to classify dreams because of the strong resemblance between dreams
and folktales.
Each dreamer has something valuable to contribute to the international
project. Like diagramming the human DNA (human genome project), or mapping the starry
skies, many keen observers are needed to chart the vastness of our dreams.
Further in this
site is a bare-bones version of the twelve universal dreams. Since the negative, or
nightmare form, of the dream is more frequent, it appears first (e.g., 1.0-1.49); then the
positive, or uplifting, form follows (e.g., 1.50-1.99). The numbers in front of each
definition refer to the classification of that universal dream.
(The logos, designed by Phyllis Clark Harvey and myself, are intended to make it
easy to instantly identify the basic theme.) |
