Night Terrors
Night terrors are also known as sleep terrors. The Mayo Clinic indicates that many people experience “episodes of screaming, intense fear and flailing while still asleep … and sleep terrors are often paired with sleepwalking.” They’re more common in children but usually stop in adolescence, although some adults have them, too. While some episodes last mere seconds, others can be a few minutes or longer.
These night terrors tend to be short-bursting, fast-burning, and noncomplex terrors. We are the victims of these Flash-Bulb dreams. They are more like the monster pouncing on us when we open that forbidden door than an alien figure (dressed as a human being) who is slowly changing our genetics.
Progressive Dreams
These are a sequence of dreams with a seemingly continuous narrative unfolding nightly or sporadically. It’s like reading a book (that is not an epic) or watching a series on Cable TV. A routine is established that can be quite repetitive and annoying: “I got the message already. Please leave me alone!” Or: “Not more of that. How long is this story going to last!” I am an “expert” on this type of dream and often find them both frustrating and interesting. They tend to be rather mundane, making use of “regular” daily obligations (such as writing) and characters (such as myself as author). They are just a set of dreams that move me relentlessly through a set of activities or encounters with other people.
On the other hand, these dreams can be quite long and slow-burning—as is the case with my opening dream. Perhaps, for me, they are long and drawn-out because they are trying to teach me something, and I am a slow learner! This might also be the case with other dreamers. Our dream-maker decides to fashion the dream as something similar to what is happening when we are awake. And then the dream-maker pushes the lesson again and again, hoping that we will pay attention and learn something! This is where the negative reactions often come in.
This type of dream relates directly to the matter of memories in dreams that I will address later in this essay. A series of dreams can only progress with continuity if there is some recall of the previous dreams in this progressive sequence.
Prophetic Dreams
The fascination with dreaming began with cultures all over the world divining a sense of purpose from predictions of the future. From the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks to untold religious leaders throughout the world, to Freud and Jung, the idea of dream precognition is woven through human history. Again, anecdotally, this ability is real to some people. The shattered glass mobile featured in my essay on Dreamer Beware (Bergquist, 2023b) exemplifies the apparent capacity of some people to portray the future in their dreams or at least come to a remarkably accurate understanding of their relationship with other people (Fromm, 1951).
