Dreams and Violence

Lately, I have become increasingly aware of a disturbing trend. Movies, which I have enjoyed dating back to my childhood, are becoming increasingly violent. There has always been some degree of violence in films as they attempted to provide realistic renditions of life, but this is far different. The wholesale slaughter depicted in horrific ways has taken violence to sickening extremes, and is often unnecessary to the film plot and narrative.

During my years in elementary school, my brother and I spent every Saturday at the matinee while my mother, as a struggling widow, worked at her second job. The movies we saw provided entertainment and escape from the often-harsh reality of our lives. There was some violence in the movies, but it was a comic-book kind separate from real life. And there were real heroes, not modern day film versions who are often darker than the villains are. The good people won because they were good people, not because they could kill better than their enemies could. 

We have become a society that can accept extreme violence for entertainment, but wonder why there are shootings in schools. A swear word is not permitted on network TV, and a display of even partial human nudity comes with severe warnings. However, murder and rape are permitted. 

I was watching Kiefer Sutherland on a “The Tonight Show” last year. His character on “24” is well known for his sadistic steak in dealing with the bad people. He was asked about something that he apparently said many times during an episode of “24,” which is “Dammit," often to conclude a scene. I recall that Kiefer said he could kill as many people as he wanted, but he couldn’t swear on network TV. Apparently dammit was OK. 

A number of years ago I was in Paris on business when I decided to turn on the TV in my hotel room one night. There was a movie playing that I recognized as an old Arnold Schwarzenegger film. There were a couple of violent scenes almost completely edited out, which was not easy to do. 

I found in my trips to Europe that there is an abhorrence of violence compared to the United States. However, nudity in a film would not be a problem in France or other parts of Europe. The situation is the exact opposite of that in the US. Here we crave the violence and are horrified by nudity. 

I wonder if there is a parallel here with the Roman games and their horrific spectacles of slaughter. The games in the coliseum became increasing violent for the masses with more deaths and greater varieties of killing. The politicians offered the people more deaths in increasingly bizarre ways to keep them pacified. 

There is a connection here with dreams. A comparison of dreams across cultures that included the United States and other certain highly industrialized European countries indicated that the dreams of the participants in the U.S. compared with the European counterparts studied had a much higher degree of physical violence (http://www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/fmid6.html). This site references Chapter 6 of a book titled Finding Meaning in Dreams: A Quantitative Approach (Emotions, Personality, and Psychotherapy) by G. William Domhoff (May 31, 1996). 

The author provides several caveats concerning the results. However, I believe we cannot feed ourselves daily with violence in the streets and the gratuitous violence found in many movies and TV programs without an effect, and that effect is on our subconscious minds. In most of my posts, I have focused on the communications from the subconscious to the conscious mind through dreams, not in the other direction.

As I pointed out in the previous post, advertisers long ago discovered they could reach the subconscious by feeding the conscious mind with repetition using images and words. They know that if they present a message often enough, people would begin to believe it. It doesn’t matter if it is true or false.

I do not consider myself squeamish, and I can tell the difference between reality and theater. But I know the effects of the so-called entertainment that is being presented today. And I must confess there are a number of TV programs and movies, including news, I have turned off after a brief viewing. If you surround yourself with negativity, you are building that into your subconscious. The results will become apparent in your mood and in your dreams.

We don’t need to ignore the horrible outcomes that many people are experiencing in their lives, but we also don’t need to wallow in it. We create what we believe in and focus on. If you seek peace, you can’t find it by focusing on violence. You have to believe in peace and fill your thoughts with those that reflect that belief. And you will sleep better at night with fewer disturbing dreams.

How We Are Conditioned and Dreams

In 1957, a market researcher named James Vicary claimed he conducted a test in a movie theater whereby he increased sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn by using subliminal messages flashed on the movie screen. These are messages that appear for such a brief time they do enter conscious awareness, but do enter the subconscious. The test never occurred, later admitted by Vicary. 

The media frenzy over Vicary’s claim resulted in actual tests being conducted by researchers to determine the potential effect of subliminal advertising. It was found that there is a small measurable effect for a short period, but dramatic results of the type claimed by Vicary could not be demonstrated.

We do not need to focus on subliminal messages to find extreme amounts of conditioning taking place in our lives, much do to our own thoughts. A good example of how professional influencers want to affect our decisions can be found in the last presidential election. We were bombarded on TV with commercials from both major parties that often contained misleading or false claims. The “spin doctors” did not care because they knew one simple fact: If you say something often enough, people begin to believe it. 

The job of these professionals, like the ones employed by big tobacco in a similar capacity, was to create doubt or obfuscate the truth. One of the ways they do this is to hammer home a message that is what they want you to believe, which might be far from or the opposite of the truth. They don’t care about the truth; they only care about getting you to believe their message. Many people had already decided how they were going to vote, but the undecided voters who often determine the outcome in a close election could potentially be swayed.

Of course, conditioning is not limited to political ads and endorsements. We see it all the time in commercials for products. Repetition and association is used to embed images in your subconscious mind.

As an example, if you are a man, then you too can have that beautiful woman if you buy the car (being promoted). If you are a woman, that fragrance (being promoted) is sure to attract that handsome man.

The simple fact that repetition can be a powerful way to reach the subconscious is used by many. In fact, we use it ourselves in various ways, both positive and negative. If we are learning a new skill, we find that repetition helps make it automatic. 

Unfortunately, repetition can also be used with dire negative effects. If you constantly tell yourself that you are inadequate in some way, you are building that belief into your subconscious. And your subconscious tries to make it true in your life. 

Consider a teenage girl who is afraid she is overweight. If she constantly dwells on that thought, she will make it come true. She has told her subconscious that it needs to act upon this as truth.

We condition ourselves all the time. Do you believe you will be successful in some new venture, or do you think about all the things that can go wrong? Do you dwell on a negative outcome? Do you constantly tell yourself you will succeed? Or do you tell yourself you will probably fail? 

Athletes understand the importance of actually seeing themselves performing successfully. They don’t think I might be able to; they see that I am doing it or have done it. There cannot be the slightest doubt about achieving success.

If you are negatively conditioning yourself, your subconscious will see that something is wrong and you will probably have dreams that try to provide balance by countering the negative programming. If you feel that you always fail in some area of your life, you might well be in dream situations where you succeed, as I was in my early days of dream work. You might also get direct advice on what you need to do to accomplish your goals.

There is another positive side to this that I touched upon in the post How to Seek Guidance from Dreams (Changed from Seeking Guidance from Dreams). Take an aspect of your life that you would like to change. If you are having a problem with excessive weight, for example, decide upon the image you would like to display to the world. Select the weight that is both healthy and gives you a sense of confidence. In that pre-sleep stage I discussed, focus on that image of yourself.

Tell yourself that you are that person. Use both repetition and visual imagery. Continue the exercise as you fall asleep. By doing this, you are sending a new message to your subconscious; you are undoing the negative conditioning that may have occurred over a long period. 

During the day, periodically reinforce in your mind that picture of the new you. You might have to repeat the process for several weeks. Also, be sure to examine your dreams to see if the message is getting through.

During pre-sleep, you can also ask for specific advice on subjects like diet and exercise. I would not try to mix this with the programming described above. Seek this advice on different nights. You might find that you need to make adjustments in your life in several areas. But the importance of how you see yourself cannot be overstated.

A Dreamer's Apology

Because of my work with dreams over the past forty years, I believe I have successfully integrated my subconscious life with my conscious waking life. This was not always the case. 

The first third of my life I ignored my dreams. The dreams were always there, sometimes frightening and dramatic, but I didn’t understand them and saw no reason to try to relate them to my daily life.

My awareness of dreams started as a very young child and continued through my teenage and young adult years. However, I didn’t know anyone who thoughts dreams were meaningful, so I ignored them. 

During my mid-twenties, I was introduced to the Edgar Cayce readings, which stressed the importance of dreams. I decided to test some of his claims, and began to record and study my dreams. It required considerable effort to interpret them and apply what I learned in my daily life, but a dimension opened up that I previously did not know existed.

In the beginning of my work with dreams, it still appeared to be a separate activity somewhat divorced from the rest of my life. But this soon changed as I began to understand how my dreams were interwoven with my conscious waking life. 

The two aspects of my life were not separate; they were connected in a unique and intimate way. I could no longer ignore my dreams and just focus on my daily thoughts and actions. Both aspects were real and made up my integrated whole identity.

I soon felt as comfortable in the dream world as I did awake. In fact, I was often more awake in the dream than in my conscious awake state. I could evaluate my current life situation, become more aware of issues concerning family and friends, see impending disasters, uncover hidden talents and opportunities, and sense the true state of my identity.

On the average, I spent more than two hours a night dreaming (a typical amount). This significant amount of time was crucial to understanding my conscious awake time. To ignore this aspect of my life would be to ignore the essence of my being. 

Without an understanding of my dreams, I would have remained fragmented and only partly aware of who and what I am. I would have been cut off from my greater identity and source of my being.

Some may say their life is fine, so why do they need to pay attention to their dreams. Maybe they have already discovered their talents and are pursuing their vocation with enthusiasm and joy. 

I believe that we all have strengths and weaknesses. While we have abilities to develop and apply, we also have lessons to learn. Sometimes that lesson is humility, and a dream that shows our flaws in vivid clarity can be very humbling. Often the dreams are reminders that success by the world’s standards is not necessarily success to the soul.

Dreams are not the complete picture any more than our conscious waking life is the complete picture. The two must be integrated to develop a complete picture of our lives.

My day starts with the recording of my dreams, even before meditation. I briefly reflect upon them for any warnings about situations that might develop during the day. Then I have a period of meditation for inspiration before starting my daily activities. 

Throughout the day, I remain alert to situations that seem related to one of more of my dreams from the previous night. The dreams often help me deal more effectively with the challenges of the day. This was particularly true during my years when I was employed in corporate America.

At the end of the day, I make brief notes about key conversations or events from the day. This allows me to see the relationships between my dreams from the previous night and current day’s activities.

The degree of precognition is astounding. This is because we live the day during our dreams on a psychic level before experiencing it in the physical world. I know that many people do not believe this, but I doubt that many of them have actually worked with their dreams as I have done.

In the final analysis, we all choose how we want to live. I chose to study dreams and worked to incorporate them into all aspects of my life. This has provided me with many benefits only experienced by the few others on a similar path. 

It is a path open to all. I believe the benefits far outweigh the effort required. And I believe those who ignore this aspect of life are cut off from much of their inner being.

Some Common Dream Themes

There are a number of common dream themes. These include being chased, being late or unprepared for work, school, or an exam, failing a test, taking the wrong road or turn, and appearing naked in public. Many people encounter one or more of these themes in their dreams, so there is no need for undue concern. 

However, if your dream is recurring, then you should make a concerted effort to get to the cause. Something is unresolved in your life, and your subconscious is concerned to the point that the message is sent repeatedly. You are failing to take the appropriate action to resolve the issue, so it continues to play out in your dreams.

Consider the following example of a man who constantly spends more than he earns and finds the financial situation worsening. In a dream, he might be failing a class in finance or find himself unprepared in accounting. The dream theme will continue until the problem is recognized and corrected.

In another case, in a dream a woman might be late for work or school. This might simply relate to her not getting something done in a timely manner. If this is habitual, this might be a recurring dream theme.

Numeric symbols often are prominent in such dreams. If, for example, you fail the first or tenth grade, the dream might relate to your spiritual life since the number one is associated with the universal or God.

Taking the wrong road or the wrong turn has an obvious connotation. If you have such a dream, this calls for an examination of your life and decisions you have recently made.

If in a dream you appear naked in public, don’t panic. You may have become exposed in some way, often emotionally. Or perhaps you wanted something about yourself to remain secret, but others became aware of it. The dream is unlikely to have anything to do with removing your clothes in public. 

As I have emphasized in my previous posts, most of your dreams are about issues in your current life. If you want to understand your dreams, you must begin to examine your life. The dreams are not separate from your life, but are cleverly interwoven with everything you think and do. 

You cannot hope to interpret your dreams if you refuse to take an honest look at your life, not as you would like it to be, but as it actually is. Perhaps we would all like to be more than we are. First, we must understand what we are in our daily lives; then we can become aware of the greater self that is beyond our self-imposed limitations.

Seeking Answers from Dreams

I have written much about my years of receiving guidance from dreams. So how does this work? How do I tell my subconscious that I would like to have a dream that provides a solution to a problem? What is the process? 

Before I answer the above question, I think some background is in order. When we fall asleep at night, we enter into a process that occurs in several stages— often considered as five. As we enter sleep, the brain waves that are an indicator of the electrical activity of the brain slow in frequency. The physiological processes of the body also slow down. 

We enter a stage where the dominant frequencies of the brain waves are called alpha. The dominant, higher frequency when we are fully conscious and the reasoning mind is active solving problems, or making decisions, is referred to as beta. From alpha, the brain waves slow further and we enter a stage more fully characterized by theta. 

Finally, we enter a stage of deep sleep characterized by very low frequency delta waves (sometimes considered as two stages). After the final delta stage, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep occurs as the person begins to cycle out of delta. 

This REM stage is characterized by dreams and relative paralysis of the body and is normally considered stage 5 of sleep. The waves that characterize this stage are theta, although during dreaming a person can pass from theta to alpha, and even beta. The process of cycling through the stages repeats many times during the night. 

My focus here is on pre-sleep and the first stage of sleep. As the brain waves slow before we actually fall asleep, the dominant frequency will be characterized by alpha. It is a state of relaxation where the mind is very open to suggestion. 

Many self-help programs such as Silva Mind Control utilize the suggestibility of the mind during alpha to help people reprogram their lives. This is the period when you should make your request known to the subconscious. During this period, ask for a dream that answers your question. See it as being accomplished. See yourself having a dream that provides an answer. 

Believe that it will happen and it will be so. If you express doubt during this period, that doubt will be fed directly to your subconscious and undo your attempt to get help from your dreams.

Some may break the stages of sleep into four instead of five, and the descriptions of low alpha might be considered theta, but the overall thrust of what happens is the same. The subconscious is more amenable to suggestion during certain times, such as in pre-sleep, and this fact can be exploited for positive re-enforcement.

Hypnotists have long taken advantage of this, and there are hypnotists who use the power of suggestion while a person is in a disassociated state to replace negative desires with positive ones. When instructions go directly into the subconscious, the results can be quite amazing.

Contrary to some popular depictions, extensive research on hypnosis has shown the following. A person in the hypnotic state cannot be programmed to do something that overrides his or her values. The moral beliefs of an individual are stronger than the suggestion from another person to take some immoral action contrary to his or her beliefs.

Nevertheless, do not place yourself in the hands of an unscrupulous person. One of the great benefits of dreams is the fact that you have complete control over your own life and are not dependent upon an outside agency.

More About Dream Symbols

Last week I recalled two dreams that I think are good examples of how dreams demonstrate the workings of the subconscious mind through associations. Symbols are not chosen at random by the subconscious, but are chosen based on associations present in the subconscious. First, I need to provide a little background.

I recently arranged with a maintenance person to terminate a drain that ran along the end of my villa with a metal grid cover, which would allow water to dump out into the street. The drain tubing was above ground at the termination point, and since it was next to a parking area, it was in danger of being crushed. Also, I had him do some work on a door leading into the rear of my garage. 

One night I dreamed that I was in a dentist chair. The dentist was looking at a molar in the back of my mouth. For some reason he needed to move it. After checking my mouth for a little while, he said, there is enough room on both sides. It shouldn’t be a problem.

The next day the maintenance person came over and checked the space where the drain cover needed to be placed. There wasn’t a lot of room because the pavement for the parking lot was on one side and a sprinkler on the other side. After checking it for dimensions, he said there was plenty of room.

A few nights later, I dreamed I was back in a dentist chair. This time the dentist was carefully checking a back molar. He said there was rot and he needed to dig it out. He further said I could arrange a time to get it done. I told him now was good.

The next day the maintenance person came back to work on the door. He said there was some rot in part of the wood frame, and he would have to dig it out before making a repair. He said he could come back and do it later. I told him to start the work now.

There are several things to note about these dreams. First, they were not literal. I recently had my teeth cleaned and checked and there was no decay or need to move teeth. The second thing to note is their relationship to events in my life. The third thing is their reflection of the next day’s events regarding the maintenance on my drain and door.

Dreams usually relate to the past day or provide a preview of key events for the next day. When interpreting your dreams, first look at the past day. And then look at your planned activities for the next day. Your dreams are about you and your life. You don’t need to search for esoteric meanings. The real meanings are usually there in plain sight.

Your subconscious mind is a vast reservoir of memories and associations. Play around with the symbols in your dreams. Let your conscious mind make associations freely, no matter how absurd. As you gain in your ability to make and recognize associations, your skill in interpreting your dreams will improve. I can’t emphasize often enough that your dreams are about you. You are the person best equipped to interpret them because only you know what a symbol might mean to you.