It is also interesting to note that in recent years the term “dream” has been frequently used to denote not the phenomenon that occurs at night but instead the interest of people in fulfilling a wish. We listen to a song about how dreams (wishes) can come true and watch Jimmie Cricket sing about having one’s heart in a dream—and then the dream will come true. Even on Broadway, we hear Don Quixote sing of the “impossible dream.”
These dreams do not occur at night. They are engaged when we are fully awake and aspiring to something important (and difficult to achieve). This being the case, one might anticipate that our nighttime dreams are infused with wish-fulfilling content: we can dream about achieving something during our dreams. Are there dreams about dreams? Did Peter dream about making love to Elizabeth Taylor during his dream? Perhaps. If nothing else, we can speculate that an emphasis on the dream as a desire to fulfill a wish might influence the content of our nighttime dreams.
While there might be some wish-fulfilment in Peter’s dream, I would suggest that his dream is compelling for him because of elements in the dream other than the portrayal and fulfillment of wishes. I turn from Sigmund Freud to more contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives and to the perspective of Carl Jung when offering alternative interpretations of Peter’s dream.
Problem-Solving
A second interpretation comes from the perspective of contemporary psychoanalysis. It concerns the operations of the Ego rather than the Id and Superego (as is the case with traditional psychoanalysis). In my previous essay concerning a nightmare (“The Pelican”) I introduced a model of dream interpretation offered by Thomas French and Erika Fromm (1964). They considered dreams to be a means by which fundamental focal conflicts in our life are being addressed. Another approach is taken by Deirdre Barrett (2001) who compares dreams to the convening of a committee where several (often creative) perspectives on a particular challenging issue are being offered.
Could it be that dreams in contemporary life are aided by the concrete “reality” of problems being solved in movies and on T.V.? Are the dreams we have more likely than in the past to be oriented toward finding solutions because T.V. and movies are saturated with successful (or unsuccessful) problem solving that is being played out “before our eyes”? If this is the case, then it is particularly disturbing to suggest that the solution of problems on television and in movies through the use of violence might be particularly influential in our “choice” of content for dreams. Violence and aggression are saturated mid-21st Century media—are they also saturating our dreams?
What about Peter’s dream? Does a problem-solving perspective apply? His dream might have served a problem-solving function as he considers the type of woman with whom he would like to spend the rest of his life – or at least look for as a friend. The dream might also be teaching Peter something about what can lead him astray in his life (the temptation offered by Elizabeth Taylor).
At another level, Peter might gain insights regarding how the real world of interpersonal relationships in which he lives relates to a more mythic world. It is in this comparison between reality and myth that we find the pathway of dream interpretation is moving toward a third school (to which I will devote considerable attention). This school was founded by and lead by Carl Jung and his students.
