Dreams are trains of ideas which present themselves to the mind during sleep. The principal fixture of the state of dreaming is the alleged absence of voluntary control over the current of thought, so that the principle of suggestion has unlimited sway - however, it is possible for some individuals to alter the train of thought and even voluntarily awake from an unpleasant dream. There is usually an utter want of coherency in the images that appear before the mental eye, but this want excites no surprise in the dreamer.
Occasionally, however, intellectual efforts are made during sleep which would be difficult to surpass in the waking state. It is said that Condillac often brought to a conclusion in his dreams reasonings on which he had been employed during the day; and that Franklin believed that he had been often instructed in his dreams concerning the issue of events which at that time occupied his mind. Coleridge composed from 200 to 300 lines during a dream: the beautiful fragment of Kubia Khan, which was all he got committed to paper when he awoke, remains a specimen of that dream-poem.
Dreams are subjective phenomena dependent on natural causes. They generally take their rise and character from external bodily impressions, or from something in the preceding state of body or mind. They are, therefore, retrospective and resultant instead of being prospective or prophetic. The latter opinion has, however, prevailed in all ages and among all nations; and hence the common practice of divination or prophesying by dreams, that is, interpreting them as presages of coming events. Some earlier authorities declared that all our dreams take place when we are in process of going to sleep or becoming awake, and that during deep sleep the mind is totally inactive. This is denied by the majority of philosophers, and has subsequently been shown to be incorrect. Research Dreams
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Abbreviations
General Information
Research Dreams
