Monday, March 28, 2011

1st Post: Spring 2011

Hello All, In his section "The Logic of Symbols," Anthony Stevens describes a study Calvin Hall and Vernon Nordby conducted in which they collected and categorized over 50,000 dreams: "The typical dreams reported involved predatory animals, flying, falling, being pursued by hostile strangers, landscapes, sex, getting married and having children, taking examinations or undergoing some similar ordeal, travelling (whether on foot, horseback, car, aeroplane, or ship), swimming or being in the water, watching fires, and being confined in an underground space. They concluded: 'These typical dreams express the shared concerns, preoccupations and interests of all dreamers. They may be said to constitute the universal constants of the human psyche'" (as cited on p. 20).

For your first blog, describe one of these universal dreams you have experienced recently.

For example, I recently had the dream where I was swimming in the ocean on a starless night; the water was pitch black, and it felt like I was going to be swallowed by the sea, as if the water itself were some sort of monster. I kept anticipating something pulling me down, but nothing happened: I just kept swimming . . .

32 comments:

  1. I constantly have this dream in where I am rock climbing and reach the top successfully. All of a sudden I get the idea and urge to want to look over at the view and I do, but when I do that a strong wind happens to push me hard enough into where I fall over the cliff. Every time I dream this I get so anxious and have a hard time falling back to sleep. I do not think I will EVER go rock climbing... :)

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  2. I constantly dream about people I know dying. The details are always sketchy, and the people who die change with each dream. I usually can see this person crying while surrounded by other people almost as if they are saying good-bye. I feel an overwhelming sadness and a heavy heart. My husband recently told me I was crying in my sleep which only confirms this sadness. I have been told that when someone dies in your dreams that means they are getting a fresh start in life or some kind of positive transformation is taking place...hope that is true!

    Christine Hadwar

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  3. Whenever I have an exam coming up I always dream about taking the test. I do not remember the dreams very well, but the dreams usually have to do with what types of questions will be on the test. Sadly in the dream I do not know any of the answers to these questions, but I should since the questions are usually on the material that I studied right before going to bed. I wake up in the middle of the night trying to figure out the answers to the test in the dream and then fall back asleep only to have another dream about the same test.

    Felicia Contreras

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  4. I usually don't have any dreams. And if I do I don't remember any of them, but there is one in particular that I do remember which was a brief one. In the dream I was falling into a bottomless pit. I just kept on falling and everything around me would be pitch black. I would call out to my family members, but no one would ever answer...

    JORGE DE JULIAN

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  5. I dream a lot about tidal waves. I see a huge tidal wave coming towards me. I have no time to escape it so I have no choice but to face it. I take a deep breath and fight my way to make it to the top of the wave. People may find this silly but I look up what my dreams mean at www.dreammoods.com. According the website, if a person is carried away by the tidal wave, then it means that the person is ready to make a brand new start in a new place.

    Amelia Gonzalez

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  6. I coach a basketball team and the night before games I sometimes have a dream where Im the one playing the game. In the dream Im usually having a really bad game where I cant make any shots and the whole team is counting on me or I have a really good game where I cant miss.

    Adam Eaton

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  7. I've dreamed of myself entering into a church, but it was no ordinary Sunday. The atmosphere was of sorrow and what seemed to be despair. As I began to approach the front of the church, I noticed many people seated in the pews and they were all dressed in black. Many were crying and I could not understand why. As I looked at all of their faces I began to notice many people I've encountered in my short-lived life; some who knew each other and others who did not. As I made it to the front of the church, I saw myself lying lifeless in a pearl colored casket. I've had this same reoccurring dream since I was about twelve years old and I'm twenty one now.

    Danielle Mabon

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  8. Most nights I don’t remember my dreams, but not too long ago I had one about falling. In this dream, I was running, not sure what from, but I was going pretty fast. All of the sudden, I was falling and the falling sensation is what woke me from my sleep.

    Jen Scarbrough

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  9. I always had dreams and think constantly about if my kids will hate me or dislike, disrespect me as a mother, who is barely in their lives due to being a full time student of 2o units and mainting two on campus jobs. My life is busy and sometimes just flys by day after day. Sometimes I feel like I am in a dream where I just keep repeating the same day over and over again, but I wasn't dreaming its was reality. My everyday life of not seeing my kids like i should, not being a mother like i should. All i am able to do is to feed them, bathe them, and tuck them into bed. I really never saw them in the daytime:( or get a chance to play with them. This dream/ reality felt like a trance that never ended. I knew the next quarter had to change, due to my two year son began to cry and tell me not to go to school, because he was afraid he will not get to see me until its time to go to bed. Plus my 7 mth old daughter is growing up infront of my eyes rapidly, but its like i am not there to see her achievements a mother should see.

    Shyanna Atkinson

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  10. Last night I had a dream I was surrounded by pitch-black darkness. As I was looking around searching for something, all I could see was bright burst of golden twinkling lights. The light resembled the most beautiful fireworks you would see high in the night sky on the Fourth of July. Like the fireworks, I could see the trail of a dull light with a sudden burst of the most amazing burnt amber color. The burst of color was as if someone has suddenly lit a metal sparkler. Time seemed to stand still and once one burst went out you could see another. I remember feeling mesmerized and fortunate to be able to view the beautiful display. It seemed as if this was a handcrafted gift designed especially for me. My dream ended when I was startled by a burst that seemed to go off to close to my face, and I woke up.

    By: Stacy Johnson

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  11. Most recently, I have had this dream where my teeth fall out. The situation leading up to the point when my teeth fall out varies. Typically at the end of the dream I am in the bathroom standing in front of the sink and mirror and a few of my teeth will fall out. Then the rest appeared to be quite wiggly and as soon as I wiggle them they all come out. Sometimes I am left with nothing but gums or other times there are little numbs of teeth that are spaced widely apart and discolored. Every time I wake up from this dream I think that I don't brush or floss my teeth enough. I have had this reoccurring dream for about two years now.

    By: Alessandra Hoyte

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  12. I have had strange dreams were I am running away from a particular person because they are trying to attack me. I could never see the face of the person, all I ever see is a shadow. Every time I have a dream like this it takes place in the woods and I have no idea where I am going. As the dreams proceeds I always end up falling or tripping in some sort of branch or rock. When the person is about to reach me and catch me I always end up waking up. I never understand why I dream things like this.

    By: Denise Sanchez

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  13. I have a hard time remembering my dreams; however, I do remember an odd dream that I had a couple years ago. In that dream I was being chased by someone, and I had a hard time figuring out where I was at. Out of a sudden it got dark, so I ran towards a light. As I ran, I felt as if I was running on top of a mountain. I remember myself trying to get to the top of the mountain. As the light became brighter I realized that it was actually fire, and that everything on the other side of the mountain was on fire. However, I couldn’t run away. My whole body froze, and I couldn’t move. Finally, I looked around and noticed that I was trapped and surrounded by flames. I woke up scared, and for some reason it actually felt real. I told one of my close friends. She said that I was too concern about the California fires, and to stop watching the news. Now, I find if humorous that she responded to my dream that way.


    -Yoselin Ventura

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  14. I have really odd dreams in which I am constantly in hostile environments defending myself. One that I can not seem to shake myself of the other night was when my wife, daughter and I were in Brazil (for my work). I got off work one night and came home to find my house broken into. The first thing I did was go to the kitchen and grab a knife. I walked into the Master Bedroom to find my wife and 3 year old daughter tied up. My wife signaled with her eyes into the closet. Inside the closet was our safe with enough cash and valuables to get us out of the country in case something should happen. I walked into the closet and came upon 2 guys. Neither noticed me at first so as I snuck up behind him I was able to slice his jugular vein on the right side of his neck. I grabbed his gun and shot the other intruder. After walking out my wife said there were three more inside the house somewhere. I grabbed my daughter and we ran for the window. We jumped off the second story and started running. The others were in pursuit of us yelling. We ran towards the neighbor's house who was a Brazilian National who spoke fluent English. I remember that it was so dark trecking across the open land and all we could see was the faint light of our neighbor's house in the distance and the headlights of a truck starting behind us. We made it into our neighbor's house. He grabbed his shotgun and we walked upstairs as our wives called the police. I walked onto his upstairs deck overlooking his property with the shotgun. The next thing I knew my alarm went off.

    Cody C

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  15. I recently haven’t had any dreams of any source, but I do remember that for a while I constantly had the same dream over and over. I never really found out what the meaning of my dream was, but I think it would have been nice knowing what my dream meant back then. In my dream I would find myself standing at the edge of a cliff. As I slept I would want to switch from one side of my bed to the other and I couldn’t. I would feel that if I made a slight movement in my bed I would see myself falling of the cliff. I would start panicking; my heart would starting beating faster by the second causing me to wake up. My dream felt so realistic that I would freak out every time it happened. I had hard time going back to sleep of how scared I would get. At first, I interpreted as I’m probably sleeping to close to the edge of my bed, but as I would continue to encounter the same dream over and over I eliminated that option. I sometimes felt that my dream could have been influence with what was going on in my surroundings during that period of my life (like my self-esteem, a possible problem, stress with family issues, my little boy, even school) can’t really remember specific details.

    By: Nancy Bejar

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  16. I haven't had any dreams lately. However, there was this one dream I have had numerous amounts of times. I had brain surgery in 2006 to cure epilepsy. After my surgery I started having dreams of having seizures. It scared me so much making me realize that the surgery didn't help. There was this time I was driving on the freeway and for some reason I ended driving on the wrong side of the freeway. I would have these dreams at least four times a week. It just came to a point where I didn't want to go to sleep. I believe the reason I was having these dreams was due to stress. I would worry that one day I would have a seizure. It has almost been five years without a seizure. So my belief is the dreams that I was having in the past was completely false of what was going to happen in the future.

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  17. Usually when someone asks me to remember my dream I can't. But honestly I usually dream about failure. When I am stressing about something I will dream about it. One of my biggest fears in live is failing. I am so afraid that I'll fail in school which I probably wont but it is a fear of mine.

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  18. When I was very young, I once had an awkward and scary dream about my mother. In my dream, I had just gotten out of bed and was making my way out to the living room. As I got to the living room I found my entire family sitting there with worried looks on their faces. I asked my sister what was going on and she told me my mother was very ill with cancer. My father told my sister and I to get in the car and as we made our way out the door there was a big thunderstorm. My father and mother got in and we started driving out into the woods. As my father drove, I saw many deer that were looking at me in a very strange way. We arrived to this strange trailer out in the middle of nowhere, my mother got off she said her goodbyes and went inside this gray trailer. My father said she would be staying there until she got better. As we drove away, the trailer was surrounded by red water and I could see my mother’s face staring in the window. The car turned into a boat that was sailing on this red and brown water and not long after my sister, father ,and I were flying up in the blue sky while my mother was somewhere in the red water. I interpreted this dream as a sign to never take my parents for granted, because unexpected things can happen that can take them away in a second.

    Maria Madera Herrera

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  19. The anonymous above is Shawnie Speer

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  20. Usually when someone asks me to remember my dream I can't. But honestly I usually dream about failure. When I am stressing about something I will dream about it. One of my biggest fears in live is failing. I am so afraid that I'll fail in school which I probably wont but it is a fear of mine.

    Shawnie Speer

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  21. I have had the same dream since I was a child, it involves a stranger trying to get in the house the whole night. The people in the dream never changes it is always my mom and I, and when i received my dog he started to become part of the dream. And the dream is not through my eyes I am actually watching myself in the dream. The whole time the stranger tries to get in the house for some reason, but i never see his face. When my dog was added to the dream he always got killed my the stranger since he was always trying to protect us. I some how could control the dream sometimes and try to find a solution to prevent my dog from being killed and try to bring him inside the house with my mom and me; but every time i see the stranger approaching me i wake up terrified with my heart racing and heavy breathing. Once I am a wake it becomes hard for me to fall back to sleep.

    - Jacqueline Perez

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  22. I had a dream that involved my home getting broken into. I dreamt that I was inside my home and could hear intruders trying to find their way into my home. In order to protect my home and myself I tried to figure out how they were intending to break in. I also tried very hard to avoid making any sounds. In my dream I frantically tiptoed from room to room trying to see if I can see any of the individuals through the windows. My house in the dream was true to the layout of my actual home. I, unfortunately, was never able to see who was trying to break into the house but I knew when they made it inside because I could hear them. In efforts to protect myself I took safety in the downstairs closet. Right before I woke up from my dream I was in the dark closet listening to the sound of my pounding heart and the intruders rummaging through my home. This is just one dream I had where my home was getting broken into but I actually have dreamt this same storyline on numerous occasions.

    -Kimberlina Guerra Rodriguez

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  23. Of all the dreams I've dreamed recently, the one that is most fresh in my mind occurs in what seems to be a shopping mall. There is a store I am in, and I assume it is a voodoo store, because that's what my head tells me. The scary-looking owner lady attempted to clone me, and was successful. This clone was my evil twin -- I felt inside that this copy of me was evil. I ran into my friend Devin (who is a very strong-willed person in reality) and I know this in my dream as well, so I confide in her my fears that this clone is going to do something bad, in the hopes that she could somehow help me, but she sort of just smiles and does nothing... and that's about all I can remember, but when I wake, I still have that uneasy, have-to-escape feeling that I was experiencing in my dream.

    - April Joy Garcera

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  24. I had a dream that my youngest daughter passed away and it was up to me to bury her. The painful task of lowering my daughters coffin into the grave was to much to bear. I heard a voice tell me if I truley loved God and believed in his love, I would have the strength to bury my own daughter.I remember saying "it is to painful; I can't do it".I immediatley awoke soaking wet from the tears. As I contemplated the events of the dream, I remember hearing a small still voice telling me this is a small taste of how God felt when He gave up his only son. The love and appreciation I have for God and my daughter has never been the same since.

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  25. the anonymous above is Tony A.

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  26. When I wake up, I usually do not remember my dreams. Most of the time, I remember my dreams throughout the day. There are other times that I do not remember any dreams; it is as if I did not dream that night. One dream that I remember the most is a dream that I had with my parents and siblings. I remember it because I dreamed it like three or four times in two or three months. I was dreaming that my mom had recently died. Her big, gray grave was by the side of the road, just outside of the city of Arvin. My dad, brother, and I passed by her grave. I told my dad to stop at her grave but he ignored me. My dad responded, “For what?” and kept laughing with my brother like if they did not care for my mother’s death. I told them that I went to her grave every time I could and that I would cry and tell her how much I missed her, but they kept ignoring me. Every time I dreamed this the crying in my dream woke me up. When I woke up I kept crying. I told my mom and she said that people from where she is from in Mexico said that if you dream that someone died it means that in reality someone is going to get married.

    -Janette Lopez

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  27. The dream I remember is a recurring one in which I am flying. It usually goes something like this...I will be in the middle of a dream walking or talking and then all of a sudden i start flying. Soaring ever so high over canyons, through canyons and tight spots. It is exhilerating. On the days I awake from a flying dream I usually have a great day!

    Lauri Slocumb

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  28. I constantly dream of people chasing me and death. Most recently I had a dream in which I was at an amusement park and out of nowhere a guy starts chasing me throughout the park and even though it was crowded with people no one seed to pay any attention to me. Then he finally catches me and I realize it's actually someone I know. I also have consistent dreams about death even though it not on the list I think this symbolizes a fear for me because in my dreams it's always about my daughter. I have that maternal fear of something bad happening to my daughter and those dreams are the worst for me and very emotional.
    -Nicole Lackey

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  29. The most recent dream I had involved my children. My biggest fear in life is to have one of my children drowning. I dreamed that we were at a family get together and i walked out by the pool and saw my 3 year old daughter at the bottom of the pool. I immediately dove in but I was too late. This fear is so bad that I refuse to have a pool no matter how big or small it is.
    Katrina Gregory

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  30. A dream I constantly have is relating to the end of the world. In my dream, I am on an Island with friends and family. We are talking, laughing and having a great time. I turn my head to look towards the ocean and I see a huge Tsunami coming towards us. Before I could alert anyone the Tsunami had already reach us. Everyone begins to panic and I am holding onto a relative toddler while running away in fear of our lifes. As we make haste towards the oposite side of the Island we're join by familiar and unfamiliar people, even clowns on unicycles. While all this is happening am worried about the toddlers safety as if it was my responsiblity to keep the toddler alive. With the toddler in my grasp I reach a cliff and I stare out in to a calm Ocean. Later, I find myself inside a glass dome that was build on the edge of the cliff and I say to the survivors "This is our new home". This is my recurring dream and I have never searched for a meaning to my dream.

    Jose Bolanos =]

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  31. I usually do not remember none of my dreams as hard as I try to remember them, I can't. However, there is one exception, I do remember the ones dealing with school. I do not know why, probably because these dreams don't let me sleep well. I aslo have noticed that these dreams only come when I'm really stressing out about one assigment or test. I just hope I don't dream about this class!

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  32. the above post is mine
    Lizeth Ramirez

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