My “being chased” dreams are usually pretty fun. They play more like action movies than real-life anxiety. There was ONE time, though, where my pursuers caught up with me, and shot me (twice; once in the shoulder and once in the chest). Then the ambulance came, and they loaded me in the back; they pulled the sheet over my head, and they TOLD me it was to keep me warm, but I knew they were just saving time. Then I died. It was one of two times I can recall when I’ve actually died in a dream (the other was at the end of a “falling” dream; it wasn’t the fall that killed me, I landed in the sea, but then my head was crushed between an iceberg and a cliff-face).
More disturbing are my periodic “attacked by sharks” dreams. Fortunately, none of THEM has ever caught me.
Seven or eight basic themes? Let’s see…1) Falling2) Flying3) Being unprepared for a test4) Being lost5) Being chased6) Driving badly7) Inappropriately naked8) Pushing a hot dog through the hole in a bagel
I’m totally amazed, Clyde, that we all, rich or poor, from every continent, have, generally, only seven or eight, different dreams. Recently (I’m 75) most of my dreams have been of entering a freeway and inexplicably being without a car. Or visiting one ex and the other ex appearing… Last night (for your enjoyment) I was with the younger ex and the van quit running .. the ex went for help and after a time a police officer drove up and told me she had been arrested – and I was without help.. Hmmmm…
To be fair, Clyde’s saying (or the researchers are saying) that there are only seven or eight “general themes”; it’s like literary theorists saying there are only seven (or three, or nine, or twenty) plots in fiction: A stranger arrives, a journey is taken, lovers meet, some new thing is discovered, some old thing is lost, and so on. That finite number of basic plots can be elaborated into an infinite number of distinctive stories.
With the dreams, I might well believe that researchers have legitimately made the claim, but that Clyde is not accurately representing the categories. For instance, while “flying” or “falling” would seem to be pretty straightforward and specific, “being unprepared for a test” seems to be a single decription of a broader category of “anxiety dreams” that would include “the actor’s/musician’s nightmare”, that of being made to go onstage to perform a role (or play musical piece) that’s completely unfamiliar and unrehearsed. Or 25 people show up at your house for a dinner party that you’ve forgotten about, and you have nothing to feed them. The details are tailored to your individual circumstances or history, but on a psychological level they’re all the same dream. And considering that Clyde’s source is “sleep researchers”, for them there maybe similarities on brainwave readings which are apparent to them which would not be immediately evident from the dreamers’ reconstruction of the dreams the next morning.
Personally, I’m pretty sure my conscious mind tries to force dream images into the narrative structure that my unconscious mind didn’t provide, so I doubt that my “memories” of dreams bear more than a passing resemblance at best to the dreams I actually had.
Hillbillyman about 12 years ago
I feel bored.
fritzoid Premium Member about 12 years ago
Funny, I’ve never had a “driving badly” dream. Maybe that’s because I drive badly when I’m awake, so there’s no need.
trekky about 12 years ago
That’s not true, my dreams almost never have anything to do with any of those themes.
fritzoid Premium Member about 12 years ago
My “being chased” dreams are usually pretty fun. They play more like action movies than real-life anxiety. There was ONE time, though, where my pursuers caught up with me, and shot me (twice; once in the shoulder and once in the chest). Then the ambulance came, and they loaded me in the back; they pulled the sheet over my head, and they TOLD me it was to keep me warm, but I knew they were just saving time. Then I died. It was one of two times I can recall when I’ve actually died in a dream (the other was at the end of a “falling” dream; it wasn’t the fall that killed me, I landed in the sea, but then my head was crushed between an iceberg and a cliff-face).
More disturbing are my periodic “attacked by sharks” dreams. Fortunately, none of THEM has ever caught me.
fritzoid Premium Member about 12 years ago
Seven or eight basic themes? Let’s see…1) Falling2) Flying3) Being unprepared for a test4) Being lost5) Being chased6) Driving badly7) Inappropriately naked8) Pushing a hot dog through the hole in a bagel
Yeah, I think that about covers everything.
redeanm about 12 years ago
I’m totally amazed, Clyde, that we all, rich or poor, from every continent, have, generally, only seven or eight, different dreams. Recently (I’m 75) most of my dreams have been of entering a freeway and inexplicably being without a car. Or visiting one ex and the other ex appearing… Last night (for your enjoyment) I was with the younger ex and the van quit running .. the ex went for help and after a time a police officer drove up and told me she had been arrested – and I was without help.. Hmmmm…
fritzoid Premium Member about 12 years ago
To be fair, Clyde’s saying (or the researchers are saying) that there are only seven or eight “general themes”; it’s like literary theorists saying there are only seven (or three, or nine, or twenty) plots in fiction: A stranger arrives, a journey is taken, lovers meet, some new thing is discovered, some old thing is lost, and so on. That finite number of basic plots can be elaborated into an infinite number of distinctive stories.
With the dreams, I might well believe that researchers have legitimately made the claim, but that Clyde is not accurately representing the categories. For instance, while “flying” or “falling” would seem to be pretty straightforward and specific, “being unprepared for a test” seems to be a single decription of a broader category of “anxiety dreams” that would include “the actor’s/musician’s nightmare”, that of being made to go onstage to perform a role (or play musical piece) that’s completely unfamiliar and unrehearsed. Or 25 people show up at your house for a dinner party that you’ve forgotten about, and you have nothing to feed them. The details are tailored to your individual circumstances or history, but on a psychological level they’re all the same dream. And considering that Clyde’s source is “sleep researchers”, for them there maybe similarities on brainwave readings which are apparent to them which would not be immediately evident from the dreamers’ reconstruction of the dreams the next morning.
Personally, I’m pretty sure my conscious mind tries to force dream images into the narrative structure that my unconscious mind didn’t provide, so I doubt that my “memories” of dreams bear more than a passing resemblance at best to the dreams I actually had.
fritzoid Premium Member about 12 years ago
Yeah, I’ll buy that. :-)
bergamot about 12 years ago
I very rarely have dreams that follow those themes, and I have dreams that I remember almost every night.