Sigmund Freud pioneered modern psychology in the midst of the turn of the century Victorian Era. Considered to be one of the most astute observers in scientific history, Freud postulated much of his therapy based upon sexual repression, the idea that sex was a sinful act, and should be suppressed. Based upon this form of sexual tension, Freud believed that the main source of anxiety was the shame and unnatural restraint of sexual expression and sensation, even the overall Victorian attitude that enjoyment of sex was forbidden! Even in marriage many men and women during this era had been made to feel guilty over it and as a result Sigmund Freud thought that all underlying fears, phobias, guilt could be attributed to suppressed sexual feelings.

In the dream state, Sigmund, on his psycho analytical couch would query people over their psychological problems and then attribute much of their symptoms to repressed sexual desires, but with a twist, symbolism in the dream state was also an integral part of identifying the underlying psychosis. What are we talking about here? Water came to symbolize sex! Although there were other things involved with water, lakes, rivers, images in dreams, these could also represent change, personal growth, or expansion of consciousness.

The fear of falling in dreams came to be a symptom of the fear of failure in men even causing muscular reactions as flinching as if losing balance over a stair step, falling off a cliff, or any related loss of balance! It was these types of associations that helped many people get to the root of their symptoms. Once these fears were confronted many people did achieve relief.

Universal symbols are well known since the beginning of human civilization. That lizards and snakes often represent the phallus or Satan. While caves, crevices, tunnels, often supposedly initiate a sense of the womb as an underlying form of unconscious recognition. In the dream state this imagery can play significant role has an underlying meaning for the experiencer.

We’re not going to get into the “ID” the “Super ID” the “Mother Complex” or the “Unconscious desire to kill the father” here. All these are unconscious awakened state manifestations that Sigmund Freud thought tugged at the hidden forms of compulsion and anxiety that influenced human behavior.

However, the interpretation of dreams and their significant role in predicting the future of a civilization or outcome of battles this has been an undeniable part of human consciousness! From dreams described in the Bible by the prophets who felt God had summoned them to the dreams of great leaders who were poised to lead their soldiers into battle, Dreams often spurred on warriors to achieve victories. From Roman emperors to General George Patton who dreamed of his incarnation through several lifetimes as a commander of armies to Crazy Horse of the American Indians who dreamed of a great Native American victory over the US Cavalry under the command of General George Armstrong Custer, dreams have played a significant role in human history!

One example of a Freudian interpretation would be of a woman I knew who had dreams of being chased by people who were striking her over the head with sticks. She dreamed of giant trees falling on people! She associated water in her dreams as symbolizing sex! In reality, she had come from a background of sexual abuse from her father. Her own mother had blamed her of this in her refusal to accept the reality of what her husband had done, this led to her living a promiscuous life in college and having many short lived sexual encounters as her personal boundaries had been violated and her values had been distorted as a result. The anger she had toward her mother led to sexual rebellion. Her dreams were the perfect mirror of guilt over her sexual conduct, the destructive emotions of self-recrimination, which led to being chased in her drams and struck by people with sticks. Feelings of anger, acting out rebellion, and fearing punishment for her acts were all driving the imagery in her tormented dreams!

Over recent decades Freud’s theories and constructed causes of anxiety and emotional suffering in patients, and how this was reflected in the dream state were all attributed to brain neurological activity. These dreams, the new psychology reasoned, were merely the human mind trying to work out the problems of the waking world so that symbolisms were an individual reaction to personal experience and not necessarily universal as stimulus! However, psycho analysis became a very important step in determining how a person’s past, trauma, family history, and how hidden anxiety could be a product of these factors!

We all have vivid dreams that take us to places we would never experience in the waking state. They lead us to cope with the pressures of daily life. They help us to reduce pressure and escape from the stress that often makes life difficult to deal with. Magical visions, dreams about pets we once loved, memories of parents and family now gone often haunt our somnambulant state. It has been determined if the human mind does not have dreams that a person could possibly go crazy! There have been emperors and kings who remembered their dreams and had an interpreter specifically holding an advisory position in the court! I personally pay attention to my dreams to see how they reflect my state of mind as well.