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Albert Einstein dealt with the universal forces of nature. Now, with Einstein's three surviving dreams we are witness to his lifetime struggles with the universal conflicts of all people — the fears, guilts, and punishments stemming from “primal sin” and the highly ambivalent relationships with parents.
Einstein reported at least some of the key dreams in his life to those who were closest and dearest to him. Just as we have learned so much from Einstein scientifically and morally, we can also learn from his dream life and the constructive manner to which he handled his problems.
The first dream was noted in a comprehensive scientific biography of Einstein (Pais, 1982, p. 300). This dream was reported by Einstein at age 39. The second and third dreams are being presented for the first time in this paper. These dreams came to my attention in the following manner.
In 1974, long after the death of Einstein in 1955, I asked a personal friend of mine who was also a close friend of Einstein's, Otto Nathan (former Professor of Economics at Princeton University and literary executor of the Einstein estate), if he knew of any dreams that Einstein had ever reported. I was at that time gathering material for a book on dreams in which a chapter was devoted to the