Return to Sleep
Thoughts
The Collective
Unconscious or the Collective
Unknown?
No one really knows why we dream however,
in an attempt to understand the process, there have been
hundreds of theories over the centuries. One thing is for
sure: things do not happen in nature just for the heck of
it. There are very real and tangible reasons the human
species, as well as numerous other species, dream. We just
don't know what they are. Some theories suggest the brain is
using this time to file away permanent memories while
tossing out unneeded information. Other theories suggest we
must dream in order to fulfill primal desires. What science
does know is that if a human is kept from dreaming
then bad things happen. Hallucinations, psychotic behavior
and the like. So, we have to dream. The Swiss
psychiatrist Carl Jung had an interesting theory.
According to Carl Jung, our dreams are
pathways to the
Collective Unconscious . Specifically, he wrote "In
addition to our immediate consciousness there exists a
second psychic system of a collective, universal, and
impersonal nature which is
identical
in all individuals.' In other words, Jung believed
that we were all linked both genetically and spiritually.
Jung's theory has been interpreted in many ways over the
years. You can see one interpretation, currently playing at
your local movie house, in the film Inception. In the
film the collective unconscious is used as a pathway into
other people's dreams and, in the case of this work of
fiction, used to plant the inception of an idea in someone's
mind. Inception combines the theory of the collective
unconscious with the fact of lucid dreaming. I use the
word 'fact' as I have been blessed with the ability to lucid
dream and it is difficult to deny the existence of
something that 50% (a rough guesstimate) of all humans have
experienced. Being conscious in a dream world is an
exhilarating experience that every informed human needs to
put on their 'to-do' list.
I don't know why people dream. There
might very well be a collective unconsciousness but, to me,
it is the collective unknown. As a chronic insomniac I do
know that dreaming is an integral part of sleeping as it is
one of the first things your mind does when it finally
drifts off to sleep. Therefore, being able to enhance your
ability to fall asleep and dream can only have
positive effects. After all, if you really have to dream, why
not dream big?
Dream good
dreams!
Brad McBride
Comments?
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