Whether or not modern civilization as a whole gives a flying flip about dreams or their possible role in human development, it is evident that dreams have held a high place in the cultures of our ancient past. Let’s take a look at some of these early people groups and their attitude toward dreams.
Sumer (3000 BCE)
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The Epic of Gilgamesh, the greatest extant literature of ancient Mesopotamia, is laden with several dream sequences of a prophetic nature. In the first tablet, for instance, Gilgamesh tells his mother of a dream:
“Stars of the sky appeared,
and some kind of meteorite …fell next to me…
I loved it and embraced it as a wife.”
His wise mother gave an interpretation:
“There will come to you a mighty man, a comrade who saves his friend…
You loved him and embraced him as a wife;
and it is he who will repeatedly save you.
Your dream is good and propitious!”
Other dreams in this great poem reveal that, at the least, dreams were vehicles to see future events and should be carefully considered when planning to take action.
Egypt (1500 BCE)
The ancient Egyptians were perhaps the first lucid dreamers in recorded history, nay, soul travelers. They used dreams as vehicles to jettison the physical body and seek the deeper wisdom, advice, and solutions of the spirit world. They even built temples solely dedicated to “dream incubation”. Having marital woes? Sleep in a temple and consult the priest in the morning. This “Master of the Secret Things” would interpret your dreams.
Their word for “dream” is “rswt” and translates to “awakening” and is symbolized by an open eye. Working with dream recall, they believed one would sharpen their memory. Dreams helped them tap into ancient knowledge and to bring guidance and healing.
Although difficult for our modern Western minds to conceive, the ancient Egyptians were said to have had developed advanced conscious dream travel. Even military strategies would be influenced by these master telepaths and remote viewers.
For non-lucid and practical purposes, the Egyptians had published dream books. In one hieratic papyrus, we read the following: “If a man sees himself in a dream…” Below this are several examples separated in a “good column” and a “bad column”. For instance, if a man sees himself in a dream looking out a window, his voice is being heard (good). If a man sees himself in a dream with his bed on fire, he is driving away his wife (bad). This papyrus dates between 1300 and 1200.
Greece
Enter Hypnos and Morpheus. For the ancient Greeks, dream were a way to connect to the gods. Hypnos was the god of sleep, and Morpheus, the god of dreams. They built hundreds of shrines for them, and used them as dream temples, essentially hospitals, like the Egyptians. Here, physical, emotional, and spiritual healing would take place.
Socrates studied music and art because of instruction from a dream.
Plato suggested that in dreams the hideous beast in even the most respectable persons is revealed.
Heraclitus disturbed the status quo, which stated that dreams came from the gods. He, on the other hand, suggested that they came from the dreamer’s mind.
Aristotle, who is the first person to mention lucid dreams was also one to conclude that dreams hold no real purpose. For him, dreams were simply a recollection of the days events.
Similar to the dream books of Egypt, Artemidorus wrote his five-volume Oneircritica, an exploration and interpretation of certain dream symbols.
Hippocrates supported Aristotle’s notion that a person’s dream could be instrumental in knowing the bodily health.
The Iroquois, among other indeginous peoples, believed that anyone not in touch with their dreams were not in touch with their soul. I am fascinated with the idea that dreams are a window into this “soul world”, or subconscious plane. (I use soul and subconscious interchangeably).
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