AMOK DISPATCH

Neuropolitics

Dreams have a psychic structure which is unlike that of other contents of consciousness because, so far as we can judge from their form and meaning, they do not show the continuity of development typical of conscious contents. They do not appear, as a rule, to be integral components of our conscious psychic life, but seem rather to be extraneous, apparently accidental occurrences. The reason for this exceptional position of dreams lies in their peculiar mode of origin; they do not arise, like other conscious contents, from any clearly discernible, logical and emotional continuity of experience, but are remnants of a peculiar psychic activity taking place during sleep. Their mode of origin is sufficient in itself to isolate dreams from the other contents of consciousness, and this is still further increased by the content of dreams themselves, which contrasts strikingly with our conscious thinking.

An attentive observer, however, will have no difficulty in discovering that dreams are not entirely cut off from the continuity of consciousness, for in almost every dream certain details can be found which have their origins in the impressions, thoughts, and moods of the preceding day or days. To that extent a certain continuity does exist, though at first sight it points backwards. But anyone sufficiently interested in the dream problem cannot have failed to observe that dreams also have a continuity forwards—if such an expression be permitted—since dreams occasionally exert a remarkable influence on the conscious mental life even of persons who cannot be considered superstitious or particularly abnormal. These after-effects consist mostly in more or less distinct alterations of mood.

It is probably in consequence of this loose connection with the other contents of consciousness that the recollected dream is so extremely unstable. Many dreams baffle all attempts at reproduction, even immediately after waking; others can be remembered only with a doubtful accuracy, and comparatively few can be called really distinct and clearly reproducible. This peculiar behavior may be explained by considering the characteristics of the various elements combined in a dream. The combination of ideas in dreams is essentially fantastic; they are linked together in a sequence which is as a rule quite foreign to our “reality thinking,” and in striking contrast to the logical sequence of ideas which we consider to be a special characteristic of conscious mental processes.

It is to this characteristic that dreams owe the vulgar epithet “meaningless.” But before pronouncing this verdict we should remember that the dream and its context is something that we do not understand. With such a verdict, therefore, we would merely be projecting our own lack of understanding upon the objects. But that would not prevent dreams from having an inherent meaning of their own.

From Dreams by C. G. Jung

Reviews

Dictionary for Dreamers

Tom Chetwynd

“Never before have so many images and symbols been collected in one book, all taken from genuine dreams to which a satifying and valid interpretation was found. It is when these many isolated insights are juxtaposed that the patterns of dream-thoughts (the way dreams work in practice) begin to emerge more clearly than ever before.” Interpretations for over 500 archetypal symbols from Abyss and Alligators to Wounds and Youth.

Publisher: Aquarian
Paperback: 208 pages

The Dream Encyclopedia

James R. Lewis

Exploring 250 dream-related topics in alphabetical order (the A’s start with Abraham, the B’s with Bed-Wetting, the C’s with Joseph Campbell), this heavily illustrated tome skates across the globe and the centuries. It provides snatches of information about an improbably diverse range of subjects from the spheres of art, ethnography, history, literature, science, philosophy and religion, providing bibliographical notes after each entry for further study. MH

Publisher: Visible Ink
Paperback: 416 pages
Illustrated

Dreams

Jim Shaw

Artist and curator of the “Thrift Store Paintings” exhibition and accompanying book (and owner of the Teeth Lady painting which appeared on the cover of the Amok Fourth Dispatch), Shaw ambitiously illustrates his personal dream diary in the form of 145 brilliant black-and-white pencil sketches accompanied by his twistedly free-associative text captions. Sample captions:
“I WAS AT AMOK SHOWING MIKE GLASS A BOOK I'D MADE OF THE DREAM DRAWINGS, BUT THEY WEREN'T FULL DRAWINGS, JUST DETAILS OF THE MOST LURID AND EMBARRASSING DREAMS AND THE TEXT DESCRIBING IN RAMBLING RUN-ONS BETWEEN DREAMS.”
“JAMES BOND WAS ONE OF MY SHRINK'S PATIENTS AND I WAS ENCOURAGED TO TALK ABOUT BOND. WHEN I WAS DONE, I REMOVED ONE OF MY EARS, WHICH WAS A SPY TAPE RECORDER AND I WAS WORKING FOR THE OTHER SIDE.”
“I'M AT A LAKE THAT HAS BRINE WELLS AND TREES GROWING ACROSS IT. ROB'T. WILLIAMS LEADS ME TO A SANDBAR. I NOTICE A MAN WALKING UNDERWATER. WE SIT ON SOME BLEACHERS FROM WHICH A MUSCULAR NUDE MAN DIVES INTO THE WATER AND TO MY SIDE I SEE A BLACK JANITOR CLEANING UP SOME PARTIALLY SUBMERGED OFFICES WHICH SEEM TO BE QUITE EXTENSIVE.”

Publisher: Smart Art
Paperback: 288 pages
Illustrated

The H.P. Lovecraft Dream Book

H.P. Lovecraft

Contains 23 letters from Lovecraft to various people in which he describes his dreams. In some ways this might seem to be a purer form of Lovecraft as his writing is less labored (although, even his letters are drenched in stylization). Lovecraft lead a pretty tortured inner life and through these dreams the reader can see many of his stories in their embryonic stages. If one is unfamiliar with his work but has an interest in the nature of dreams, this book might prove even more interesting. If one is not busy guessing which dream became a particular story, one can be struck by the machinations of a very twisted imagination. SA

Publisher: Necronomicon
Paperback: 42 pages

Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep

Celia Green and Charles McCreery

You know, when you know you know it's a dream? “Lucid dreams are those in which a person becomes aware that they are dreaming. They are different from ordinary dreams because they are often strikingly realistic and may be emotionally charged to the point of elation.” You can induce them with training, and you can control them once you're there. They're often erotic, mystical puzzle/paradoxes, and loads of fun. A great hobby for narcoleptics. GR

Publisher: Routledge
Paperback: 192 pages

The Mystique of Dreams: A Search for Utopia through Senoi Dream Therapy

G. William Domhoff

It seems that everyone knows about the Senoi, a Malaysian tribe who have been celebrated for their use of dreams as a means of bringing peace to their culture. It is claimed that, at breakfast, Senoi families discuss dreams of the previous night and the parents make suggestions and give advice to their dreaming children based on the content of their dreams, and that because of this, these people have an unprecedented lack of violence and mental illness in their society. Here the author traces the origins of this myth and its influence on the “dreamwork” of late ’60s and ’70s America. He specifically looks into the character of one Kilton Stewart, a psychologist/anthropologist/beachcomber and follower of Otto Rank, who visited Malaysia in the 1930s and was the main source for the dissemination of these notions about Senoi dream theory. Dissecting Stewart's history and looking more closely into his message and motives, Domhoff concludes that it was Stewart, not the Senoi, who developed the idea that societies can benefit from sharing their dreams, and that they can shape them through principals of mind control. The Senoi do not practice dream theory, he states, nor is their society so free of conflict. As Domhoff shows in a later chapter, it took the dramatic social changes of the ’60s, which spawned the Human Potential movement, to bring Stewart's theories to a large and receptive audience which eagerly absorbed his utopian claims about the Senoi. AS

Publisher: University of California
Paperback: 156 pages

On Dreams

Sigmund Freud

“I have attempted in this volume to give an account of the interpretation of dreams; and in doing so I have not, I believe, trespassed beyond the sphere of interests covered by neuropathology.”—Freud.
Includes “The Relation of Dreams to Waking Life,” “The Method of Interpreting Dreams”, “Distortion and Dreams”, “The Somatic Sources of Dreams”, “Embarrassing Dreams of Being Naked” and more.

Publisher: Norton
Paperback: 736 pages