DREAMS: DO THEY MEAN ANYTHING?

A Presentation by: Briana LentineNortheast High SchoolLiberal Arts Program

Why Did I Choose This Topic?

• Personal experiences with dreams.• Prior (but not a great amount of)

knowledge of dreams.• Fables and myths about dreams

definitely sparked my interest.

What is a dream?

• Sigmund Freud once said that dreams are senseful psychological structures.

• School psychology teacher Daniel Lynch claims that dreams are simply thoughts that occur while asleep.

• Aristotle believed that dreams were the brain’s perception of the reality that occurred while awake.

People Are Fascinated By Their Dreams

• The 2010 hit “Inception” made over $800,000,000.

• There are 172,000,000 results for the word “dreams” on google.com.

• There are thousands of books about interpreting dreams.

Freud Theory

• All dreams contain sexual meaning.• Childhood memories could be a source of

what happens in dreams.• With support from F.W. Hildebrant’s

observations, dreams could either have no connection to reality, or total connection to reality.

Other theories/interpretations

• Richard J. Corelli of Stanford believes that even the most nonsensical objects or characters in dreams have a deeper meaning.

• F.W. Hildebrant also believed that the most ridiculous object in a dream, even something like a rubber chicken, could have a more intimate meaning, and a connection to reality.

Other theories/interpretations cont’d.

• 19th century philosopher Delboeuf, believed that everything in dreams had connection to reality, and that dreams were subconscious messages from ourselves, to ourselves.

Symbolism in dreams

• William Walsh M.D. stated that it is pure fact that dreams use symbols, and dream life would be near impossible if they didn’t.

• According to Walsh, the dreamer almost never recognizes the symbolism in their dreams.

• Walsh also claims that even the silliest of dreams could mean anything but what is actually present in the dream.

Popular beliefs about dreams

• Most people believe that if you are falling in a dream and hit the ground before waking up, you die.

• Many of those same people believe teeth falling out in a dream means death or bad luck.

• These beliefs aren’t necessarily false, but have been proven wrong.

The meaning of your dreams will always be open to interpretation

• Dreams have biblical interpretations.• Some have cultural interpretations.• Some people choose to believe dreams

don’t mean anything at all.

Works Cited (Information)

• Freud, Prof. Dr. Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York. The MacMillan Company. 1913. Print.

• Nolan, Christopher, Prod. Inception. Dir. Christopher Nolan. “Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Warner Bros.:2010, film.

• Walsh, William S. The Psychology of Dreams. Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., 1920. Print.

• Corelli, Richard J. “Symbols and Dreams.” stanford.edu N.p., n.d. Web Nov 15 2010 Stanford.edu/~corelli/dreams

• Google.com “dream results” N.p, n.d. Wed Dec 1 2010• Interview with Daniel Lynch, Dec 13 2010• Dreammoods.com N.o., n.d. Web Dec 15 2010• Kosarin, Jenni. The Everything Dreams Book 2nd Ed. Avon, MA:

Adams Media, 2005. Print.• Bixler-Thomam, Gail, Understanding Dreams. MA, Nov 1998.

www.ondreaming.com

Works Cited (Information) cont’d

• Hamilton-Parker, Craig. The Hidden Meaning of Dreams. New York, N.Y.: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 1999. Print.

Works Cited (Photographs)

• You Decide John Hand, Feb 1 2009. Photo. www.engagecommunitychurch.com

• Teeth Falling Out N.a. N.p Dec 8 2010. Photo. www.thebecks.com• Falling Man N.a. N.p. Jan 23 2010. Photo. www.myvisiontest.com• Joseph Delboeuf N.a. N.p. 1970. Photo. Bms.brown.edu• Sigmund Freud N.a. N.p. Jan 2009. Photo. www.fanpop.com• Inception N.a. N.p. 2010. Photo. Entertainmentblur.wordpress.com• Dream P. Vaull Starr. 2008. Photo. www.truewhisper.com• Cartoon Moon N.a. N.p. Sep 18, 2008. Photo.

michaelhendarikbahlmann.blogspotcom.