Presenter: Darolyn D. Mangum

Recorder: Melissa Woodward

14 June 2001

Dreams: Do they really predict the future?

Text: 10,000 Dreams Interpreted by Gustavus Hindman Miller

Objectives: 1A (Apocalyptic) Narratives about the future- 3 Is the future written or being written? - 5 Interpret literature of the future as reflections of the past, present, and future.

Summary: Gustavus Hindman Miller uses an illustrated guide to allow individuals to unlock the secrets of their dreamlife. The book has 10,000 categorized interpretations and a dream dictionary.

Sources: Miller, Gustavus Hindman, 10,000 Dreams Interpreted, Element Books Limited, New York, 1996

Discussion Questions:

1. Do dreams really have a significant meaning?

2. When a dream comes true, is it a coincidence?

3. Are dreams a direct route connecting the human mind to the spiritual realm?

I read the handout, discussed the objectives and read the summary that was attached to the handout. I discussed Revelations and stated how many books of the Bible are related to dreams or visions. I opened the discussion by asking, do dreams really predict the future?

I read the questions from the handout. I stated that in different cultures symbols in dreams have different meanings. For instance, in the dream book Gustavus interpreted muddy water as a sign of something tragic unfolding in your life. In the African American culture, seeing or dreaming of a fish in muddy water means that someone in the dream is pregnant. Val responded to this by saying in the Bible punishment for a woman is labor and that pregnancy could be a tragedy because of the pain that a woman goes through. Many of the students felt that pregnancy may be hard, but it isn’t considered traumatic. Another student said that symbols are interpreted differently because the book doesn’t take culture into consideration.

Next, I mentioned that some people dream and never think twice about their dreams while some people focus on finding the meaning of their dreams. Dr. White mentioned that dreams are sort of like a prophecy, because we have a lot of dreams in general and prophets have a lot of misses when it comes to interpreting a dream and people often remember the hits. Jay stated that in a past psychology class he learned that dreams were problems being solved as you slept and that your brain stores your problems. He also said that if you get put under to have your wisdom teeth extracted you don’t dream because that lobe of your brain is asleep.

One student mentioned that most of the time we don’t understand our dreams and that sometimes she will have a dream then wonder what the dream meant. She also asked, why do we forget our dreams so easily?

I was unable to give her an answer, but I did mention that sometimes we dream and don’t think of our dreams at all until 2:00pm

Dr. White talked about the Freudian interpretation of dreams. Another student mentioned that when she was little she would have the exact same dream up until she reached the age of twelve and that she didn’t understand why she kept having the same dream over and over. Eventually, she said she stopped thinking of the dream. Val said that she read somewhere that if you take short naps between studying you retain more and that sometimes she will study and go to bed, during the night she will actually solve equations in her sleep.

The discussion ended with Dr. White stating that the Book of Revelations may have been written from a dream-like or trance-like vision and that, like a dream, the Book of Revelations has many signs and symbols to be interpreted.