Dreams: The Royal Road to the Unconscious
Although ardently unpredictable, dreams are the most inexpensive form of escapism
conceivable. Dreams are the mind's way of reorganizing itself. They can invoke fear,
happiness, sexual arousal, and can directly affect one's conscious behavior. Many believe that
one's dreams are a direct reflection of his or her true conscious or waking life (DeAngelis,
2003). That is to say, if someone is happy in his or her dream or unconscious life, he or she will
be happy in his or her true conscious life. Whatever the myths and legends of dreams, there are
definite effects and causes. This paper will attempt to discover and reveal those causes and the
Throughout history, dreams have played important roles. They have swayed rulers'
minds, saved lives and taken lives. Some believed that dreams could tell the future, and the
people who could supposedly interpret these dreams were in high demand. A prime example of
this takes place in the book of Genesis, when the Egyptian Pharaoh called upon the Israelite
Joseph to interpret a dream of the seven lean and fat cattle. Joseph, a prisoner of Egypt at the
time, interpreted the dream to mean that there would be seven years of good harvest followed
by seven years of drought. Upon hearing this, the Pharaoh immediately promoted Joseph to
second in command of the kingdom. The seven years of harvest did happen and the Egyptians
saved their food in order to sustain themselves through the seven years of drought. This whole
sequence of events happened and a nation was saved because of one simple dream. There are
other examples of a deity communicating with people through dreams. The entire Muslim
religion was essentially started from a dream when Muhammad was visited by "God" through
meditation and dreams. The Mormon religion was also started by "God" visiting Joseph Smith
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