The second perspective is based on an assumption I articulated in one of my earlier essays (Bergquist, 2023b) that dreams primarily serve the function of entertaining us. In our past, we sat around a fire and told stories to entertain one another; today, we sit around a TV set or look at our mobile device to be entertained. Our dreams might also have been of evolutionary benefit to us precisely because they offer us new experiences that can’t be found when we are awake. Much as we grow tired of the same old movies playing late at night or the same old sitcom premise acted out earlier in the evening on our cable channel, we might grow tired of always portraying the same home where we dwelled twenty years ago.
It is time for a change in our dream content—just as it was time to move on when we decided to leave this home many years ago. We are entertained by something new and surprising in our life and in our dreams. So, let’s bring into our dreams that home we lived in five years ago. While this home resides in our past and therefore can be the source of many lingering memories that are interesting and entertaining, this home can also be new enough to offer a refreshing, new set of images and insights.
The third perspective is based on the assumption that dreams are no more than the random portrayal of memories or fragments of memories. Much as we are (not wisely) inclined to pick out the more recently purchased asparagus when preparing dinner rather than the asparagus located at the back of our vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, so we might be inclined to sample more recent and more readily accessible memories when generating our dreams.
Lingering Concerns and Insights
Where then is the energy and movement in dreams that contain representations of my former homes? How is this energy and movement related to content of my dreams regarding homes and hometowns in which I have lived? How does the Freudian apparatus work when there is a push backwards in the energy and movement of this apparatus as related to my memories of and feelings about past homes?
In response to these questions, I would once again note that many of the traditional interpretations of the occurrences of homes in dreams apply to my dreams. There is a large chunk of nostalgia, safety, and aspiration in my dreams. These chunks have certainly provided both energy and movement at certain points in my life. Ironically, I think these chunks often enter my dreams not when my life is challenging and I am in need of some escape; rather, they seem to occur most often when I am feeling good about myself and my life prospects. The nostalgia, safety and aspirations in my dreams tend to reinforce the momenta that is already found in my waking life.
At this point, I come to the realization that much of the energy in my dreams comes from and resides in the more negative portrayals of my former homes. The predominant movement is away from the positive and optimistic to the negative and pessimistic. Furthermore, it is during times when I am challenged that these more negative portrayals of my former homes are prevalent. In bringing forward his 1900 psychic apparatus, Freud is likely to indicate, first, that the barriers are firmly established at the threshold between the preconscious state and the state of action, given that my former homes are evoking some threatening feelings. Second, there is a strong incentive for me to move backward from the preconscious state to an earlier state when I am dreaming. The negative portrayals of my home might be dramatized. Storms are impacting on the former home or this home is deteriorating. These portrayals are distracting and defensive because I have not been the source of the storm or deterioration. The cause is externalized. I am “not to blame.”
