Calma, Celine Paula Y.

Eng 10 WFU2
The Truth Behind Dreaming

What happens during sleep has puzzled humans for centuries. Curiosity has led
philosophers, scientists, and non-experts alike to ponder on this phenomenon. A lot of research
has already been made, each with the goal of shedding light on the matter. What we do know is
that everyone has his own share of nightly visions some dreary, some entertaining, some
horrifying. Some border on absurdity, while some are too close to reality that one questions if he
was even asleep. The sleep experience varies from person to person.

Everybody dreams. But what do our dreams mean? Or do they have any meaning at all?

To start off, dream could stand for a variety of things. In this context, a dream refers to a
series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep (Merriam-Webster). The word
came from Proto-Germanic draumaz meaning hallucination, delusion, and deception; it
also takes its roots from Proto-Germanic draugaz meaning delusion, mirage, and illusion
(Wiktionary). Other names for dream include fantasy and vision. (Thesaurus.com) Judging
from its origin, dream generally has a negative connotation that which means to deceive.

Ironically, early civilizations did not think of dreams as such. Both Greeks and Romans
regarded dreams in a religious context and perceived them as messages from the gods. People
looked up to dream interpreters and believed them to be divinely gifted (Dream Moods).

It is a different case for Filipinos. Our culture is rich with folktales about almost every
human experience, not excluding dreams. According to Philippine myth, dreams are actually soul
and spirit travels. It is believed that during sleep, the soul and spirit separate from the body. The
body stays in bed but the soul and spirit drift off to a distant dreamland where it roams around
(Philippines Insider).

Aside from the abovementioned, dreams are also the subject of many Filipino
superstitions (Demetrio, 1978). Some of them are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Losing a tooth in a dream is an omen of a death in the family.

To dream of a dead relative means fortune or luck for the dreamer.
If you dream wearing black clothes, it is a warning that you will become sick.
A dream of fruits and flowers foretells good news, letters, joys and happiness.

Filipinos are known to be a very superstitious people, so its no surprise that we have our
own interpretation of dreams. However, these beliefs are much too old and go way back to
ancestors we have never known. We are now living in a period of scientific breakthroughs and
technological advancements. It might be worth asking: what does modern science say about
dreams?

Many studies have been made to explain the nature of dreams but surprisingly, no final
answers have yet been found. So far, scientists have only established theories about the function
of dreams. Two of the most widely-known theories were formulated by psychiatrists Sigmund
Freud and Carl Jung.
Freud proposed that dreams are based on the idea of repressed longing. He considered
dreams to be the royal road to the unconscious, allowing the unconscious mind to act out

desires that a person isnt able to express in a social setting. In other words, he saw dreams as
bottled-up wishes. On the other hand, Jung theorized that dreams are the portal to an individuals
symbolic self. He acknowledged that dreams contained essential information for understanding
individuals and their personalities.

Aside from Freuds and Jungs, there are a number of other dream theories. One is Calvin
Halls Cognitive Theory of Dreams, which says that a dream represents a dreamers conceptions
that fall into one of the following categories: (a) self-conceptions, (b) conceptions of other
people, (c) conceptions of the world, (d) conceptions of impulses, prohibitions, and penalties,
and (e) conceptions of conflicts. Another is Ernest Hartmanns The Contemporary Theory of
Dreaming, which considers dreaming not as a random process but as one guided by the
dreamers emotions. In contrast, Allan Hobson and Robert McCarleys activation-synthesis
hypothesis claims that dreams are products of random electrical brain impulses that pulled
imagery from traces of experience stored in the memory (Obringer, 2005).

Science can provide no conclusive answers yet, but one thing is for sure: dreaming is
personal. As Hall puts it, The final objective of dream interpretation is not to understand the
dream but rather to understand the dreamer. Who knows? Dreams might just be the key to
understanding oneself. And in understanding oneself, a person is able to make decisions suited to
his character which could be the ultimate purpose of dreams.

Works Cited

Demetrio, Francisco. Myths and Symbols Philippines. Quezon City: National Book Store, 1978.
Print.
Dream. Merriam-Webster. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Dream. Thesaurus.com. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Dream. Wiktionary. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Dream Moods: History and Background of Dreams. Dream Moods. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Freud, Sigmund, and Joyce Crick. The Interpretation of Dreams. Oxford: Oxford Worlds
Classics, 2008. Print.
Hall, Calvin. A Cognitive Theory of Dreams. The Journal of General Psychology 49 (1953):
273-82. DreamResearch.net. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
<http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/hall_1953b.html>.
Hartmann, Ernest. Why Do We Dream? Scientific American. 10 July 2006. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Obringer, Lee Ann. How Dreams Work. HowStuffWorks. 27 Jan. 2005. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Philippine Myths on Dreams. Philippines Insider. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.philippinesinsider.com/myths-folklore-superstition/philippine-myths-ondreams/>.