Have you ever been curious about what dreams are or where they come from? It has been said that people who have studied both myths and dreams have become aware of the similarities between them. For example, both situations involve narratives about a hero. In the myth of the creation stories God is seen as the “creator” who creates the world and life as we know it. This can relate to our everyday dreams where we are seen as the creator. As the creator of our own dreams we are allowed to create anything that we want, even those things that go against the law of physics. So with this said, what really is a dream?
So I ask you: Do you believe that dreams are similar to myths? If so, why? Do you ever feel like the hero in your dream? Do you ever feel like you create an alternate life in your dreams because they may not be appropriate?
I think that McNamara has a point in that dreams can be like myths since it is something we are imagining or perhaps how we like to imagine our life. From personal experience, I feel like dreams have more to do with what's going on in your life, for example if I am worried about something I find that my dreams relate to that somehow. I don't remember all of my dreams but I am sure that at some point in my life I've dreamed that I was a hero of some sort. We don't really chose what we dream, and again I don't remember all my dreams, but I am sure I have dreamed about something I did not feel was appropriate in my real life. I think that dreams just reflect what you're thinking so naturally people may dream about something they don't think is appropriate to say or act on in their real life.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago when I was having issues falling asleep and sleeping throughout the night it was suggested to me to essentially "plan out" my own dreams. As crazy as it sounds, I literally feel like i've gotten to the point where I basically choose what I want to dream about and that usually helps me to fall asleep faster. Anyway, I feel that because my dreams are usually of my own making that they are mostly true to life and not "myth like". Also because I set up my dreams I usually remember them in the morning and from what I can remember they never center around anything extraordinary but instead the ordinary and things that are realistic and meaningful to me like getting into college and surviving IHA.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read this article I wouldn't have compared dreams and myths together. Only because I never thought they could be similar. However, the author makes a good point when she talked about how similar they are. I have not personally had a dream that I remember being a hero, my dreams are usually just about ordinary scenarios that could or could not happen in the future. I dream extensively and in extreme detail when I read before bed but besides that I don't have out of the ordinary dreams. Like Dylan said we don't get to pick what we dream about it just happens, it's like our subconscious is trying to tell us something about what is going on around us so our dreams may reveal something inappropriate
ReplyDeleteI personally disagree with the idea that dreams and myths are closely related. I've always viewed myths as a way to explain certain situations - like how the story of Adam and Eve is simply a story used to explain how humans came to exist. The way I view dreams is extremely different from this: I view dreams as an expression of our innermost hopes and expectations for the future. Dreams combine all of the thoughts that occupy our minds the most that we rarely express. Myths are neither as personal nor as in depth as our dreams.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the fact that dreams are like myths. Like Meg I believe that myths are created to explain something. I think myths have a much more logical reasoning and explanation than dreams. There is the fact that each have a deeper meaning that needs to be searched for but I don't think there is enough comparable aspects. I think the major issue is the fact that myths are stories created to explain something. Your dreams, although created by yourself are explained after you have the dream. So instead of explanation to story it goes story to explanation. Also your dreams are much more personal. Myths are a universal story and your dreams are for just yourself.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that dreams are very similar to myths. They have those far fetched qualities that would never occur in reality, which reminds me of Inception and how he points out the unusual aspects that otherwise would have been overlooked. However I don't exactly agree with the statement that myths and dreams have heroes. In many myths, there is no hero, rather there is a moral to be learned. I believe that in my dreams, my self-conscious is trying to tell me something, rather than take me on an adventure. I'm a firm believer in the statement that our dreams are thoughts we wouldn't want to say out loud. Of course we always have those dreams that seem inappropriate however I believe that it's my mind's way of organizing and processing my daily sights and thoughts while trying to communicate a moral that will help me cope with life.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that dreams are very similar to myths. However, I know that when I dream I will sometimes dream about things that have happened throughout my day. People I might I have seen or situations I had been in are in there, and often times these types of dreams don't make sense to me, and in that way I don't agree with the author when he says that dreams tell stories. I agree with Stefanie when she says that myths and dreams don't have heroes, and that my sub-conscious is trying to tell me something. The author states that it could be possible that dreams influence social behaviors, and therefore the creation of myths. Sometimes my dreams seem so much like reality, or give me a sense of deja-vu. In this way I do feel like dreams can bring about the creation of myth, just as myths can influence dreams.
ReplyDeleteI think that dreams and myths are very much alike. Both create environments that are different from one's everyday life and both can involve a hero, often times that hero is you in your dreams. I remember when i was younger i had a reoccurring dream that i was a ghost chaser and i ended up freeing the ghost i was chasing because she became my friend. In this dream, I was the hero, just as mythological heroes exist to help people or spirits in need. In most of my dreams however, I am no the hero. In fact, i am rarely in my dreams at all. My dreams are usually a string of images that appear in my head and in the morning, i have difficulty putting them all together. In this sense, my dreams are not like myths, because there is truly no end or moral to be learned or lessons about human nature, or if there is, I can't remember the lessons taught by my dreams.
ReplyDeleteI think dreams and myths are very similar, I think they both have creativity within them, and dreams could tell a story just like a myth. However, dreams don't always make sense, I mean, they don't follow a story line. I've had dreams where my thoughts and actions just kind of jump from place to place. In most dreams, I'm not the hero, I mean there is the rare action hero movie dream I'll have where I get to be the hero, but it doesn't happen often. My dreams don't reveal morals either. Like Mary Grace, my dreams tend to be more images than storylines.
ReplyDeleteWhile dreams and myths can be similar, I agree with Meghan that dreams are more personal and complex than myths are. Typically for me, dreams reflect either a situation or scenario I'm currently dealing with. My dreams aren't really extravagant like myths can be, so I wouldn't say that I'm really pictured as a hero in my dream except for that occasional dream that is more like a movie than anything else. In addition, my dreams rarely, if ever, reveal a moral or point so I wouldn't be able to agree with the fact that dreams are almost exactly like myths.
ReplyDeleteBefore and after reading the articles I disagreed with this idea. I do not think that dreams and myths can relate to each other. As Meg said I look at myths as a way to further explain something in an easier way to understand. In my dreams I have never been a hero; usually they are about things going on in my life just exaggerated. I often dream things that I want to happen or mix scenarios together. Dreams in my opinion are something you cannot directly control. Although Amber said that she tries to "plan out" her dreams, there is no guarantee that that is what she will dream about. A myth however, is a story that is made up while you are awake. Dreams are extremely personal in that sense that no one can share the same kind of dream and even if you do remember your dreams often times it is very difficult to explain. On the other hand myths are something that are told throughout the years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Meg and Maria that dreams are much more personal and complex than myths, but I think that overall the concept of the two are similar, while myths usually offer explanations or subjects for interpretation for a group of people and dreams can offer explanations or subjects for interpretation for one person. I think that it is important that dreams are experienced by only one person, and therefore so much of dreams are subjective as they are seen through the perspective of one person. Personally I hardly remember my dreams, and when I do they are usually narratives in which I am the hero of a situation that would probably never occur in my real life, so in that aspect I can certainly see the parallels with a myth.
ReplyDeleteI can see how dreams may be viewed as similar to myths. Myths are designed to tell stories that explain the unexplainable. Dreams, in my opinion, are a manifestation of our deepest feelings and thoughts. I think the two may be similar in that neither portray reality as it stands nor do they all follow the basic laws of physics. My dreams vary in that some of them, I will be the hero, but I think this has more to do with the fact that it is my dream and I would naturally be the center of focus. People often think of themselves more fondly than what they really are, so I believe that in dreams this idea may come out. I wouldn't say I design an alternate life in my dreams due to what is deem appropriate and what is not. Sometimes I do feel as if I create situations in my dreams of what I want to really happen in reality.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that dreams are like myths. Myths were created to explain something and dreams on the other hand just kind of happen. Yes they can be because you love someone so you may dream about being together with them but you already subconsciously knew that. I do not feel like a hero in my dreams. I think that in my dreams its more about living in my "dream" world. I like to create different senerios that I would enjoy. I do not think I create them because they are innapropriate at all. I create them because thats how I wish some situations would play out. Dreaming is a neccessity for humans. Its a way to leave reality and just be content.
ReplyDeleteIn a sense I do agree hat dreams are like myths. It is as if our subconscious has taken over, and created something that we wish would happen. Yet saying this it sounds like dreams are more like optimistic stories that don't explain anything. They explain things hidden in our mind, hopes dreams, wishes etc. I don't necessarily feel like the hero of my dreams, but simply very lucky for these wild things to come true. And lastly, I think that yes we create dreams because they are inappropriate, not in the "dirty" sense, but in expressing it at a certain time period. For example we may dream about the one we "love" because we are scared to admit this feeling especially at a young age.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though dreams are a way of explaining what were are truly feeling or desiring and myths are a way of teaching a lesson. I don't really think that our dreams teach us a lesson. I never feel like a hero in my dream. I mostly just feel like myself, a character in this story. I think my dreams are an alternate life, but they are appropriate. My dreams are they way I wish my life was, and the changes that I want to make or they are the fears that I have amplified.
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