Dream Power

THE phrases ‘Black Power’, ‘Yellow Power’, ‘Green Power’, ‘Power To The People’—the whole variety of powers that are frequently referred to in the newspapers and in other mass media, have seeped into my unconscious and caused me to think of the dream in terms of dream power. I must say that the book by Ann Faraday, the title of which is ‘DREAM POWER’, made me think of using the phrase ‘Dream Power’ as a subject for a paper on dreams.

Dream Power can refer to many different aspects of the dream. The ability to interpret one's own dreams with or without professional assistance is one of the major points of Dr. Faraday's book. I think all of us can attest to the veracity of this statement. The dream, however, has many other capacities to enlighten the perceptive and observing dreamer, as to the state of his inner being. The dream can reflect and crystallize the dreamer's inner conflicts in relation to the world about him and to himself in a most concise manner. The dream can indicate the relative balance of the constructive and destructive forces that are impinging on the life of the dreamer. The dream can also serve as an accurate prognosticator of the outcome of some of these emotional conflicts. The dream reflects the dreamer's existential position in the world about him, and reveals his basic feelings, values, philosophy and methods of coping with his emotional problems.

What unique attributes of the dream give it this unusual power? Are they mystic or supernatural qualities that enable it to do this? I do not think so. The unusual attributes of the dream are a result of cortical activity in a state of self-consciousness during which time the dreamer is alone in a world of his own and where the need to pretend, inflate or deflate, and maintain the facades that we all employ in varying degrees in order to survive in our society, can be dispelled. The dreamer can dream in a manner that is closer to his true being and true feelings.

Because the dreamer has withdrawn from