The_Relevance_Of_Dreams_To_Waking_Consciousness

The Relevance Of Dreams To Waking Consciousness The Relevance of Dreams to Waking Consciousness Waking consciousness and the state of dreaming have always existed harmoniously in people, although the exact purpose for dreaming has always been unknown. Throughout history, philosophers have pondered the purpose of dreams while scientists sought the physiological mechanisms behind them. One of the more intriguing mysteries about dreams is their relevance to the conscious life of the dreamer. The way in which a culture views the boundaries between dreams and reality determines the importance they put on the dream and the way in which they see it relate to the waking life of the individual. One of the most well known Western psychologists is Freud. Freud sees dreams as a "wish fulfillment," (Freud, 1911). Dreams fall into two categories that Freud has encountered, those "which were plainly wish-fulfillment," and others "in which the wish-fulfillment was unrecognizable and was often concealed by every available means," (Freud, 1911). The origin of the wish that could cause a dream has four possibilities. The first being located in the preconscious life of the individual, in which the wish "may have been excited during the day, and owing to external circumstances may have remained unsatisfied; dreams, dream, wish, hartmann, freud, waking, life, connections, 1911, way, dreaming, dreamer, 1999, wishes, unconscious, one, individual, because, reality, made, however, thought, function, during, consciousness, believes, world, texts, sense, purpose, o’flaherty, been, about, while, western