José Luis Morales Crispin
July, 13, 2010
English 3231
Prof. La Torre-Lagares

The Study of Dreams: A Source of Inner Truth

While we sleep, our bodies rest from the events of the day and recharge in order to face the next round of challenges it will face during its waking life. During sleep, our brains produce a fractured, often nonsensical combination of random events and people, otherwise known as dreams. These dreams often provoke powerful reactions of fear or pleasure, as, for all their improbability, they follow reality in such a way as to trick the dreamer into reacting to this fantasy world as if it actually existed. So have you ever wondered why you dream at all? This question has fascinated people since the beginning …ver más…

The book of Genesis contains the story of Joseph, who was sold into Egyptian slavery by his eleven brothers when he told them of his dream of 'the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowing down' to him. He gained his freedom by interpreting a dream that the pharaoh’s own council could not decipher. Later, when Joseph's parents and eleven brothers came to Egypt to buy grain, the dream that got him sold into slavery came true since he now had higher status than any of them. Ancient Hebrews believed dreams were connections with God. The biblical figures Solomon, Jacob, Nebuchadnezzar and Joseph were all visited in their dreams by God or prophets, who helped guide their decisions. It was recognized and accepted that the dreams of kings could influence whole nations and the futures of their peoples. The Talmud, which was written between 200 and 500 AD, includes over two hundred references to dreams. It states that "dreams which are not understood are like letters which are not opened." Chinese thinkers also raised profound ideas about dream interpretation, such as the question of how we know we are dreaming and how we know we are awake. It is written in the Chuang-tzu: “Once Chuang Chou dreamed that he was a butterfly. He fluttered about happily, quite pleased with the state he was in, and knew nothing about Chuang Chou. Presently he awoke and found that he was very much Chuang Chou again. Now, did Chou dream that he was a butterfly or