Spare Change

Sung to the Tune of Little Dreamer

Posted by Bryan

An interesting report from Psychology Today suggests that your dreams are a night school of sorts which are busy equipping you for the perils of life.

I remember my dreams a few nights a week, and I never record them for posterity. My anecdotal evidence agrees with the hypothesis of dreams as a training ground for dealing with the challenges we all face. When I have faced an unexpected trial or trauma, I inevitably dream about it afterward.

I also concur with the notion that horror/frightening movies offer "false positives" for the dream-education data bank. Thanks to a questionable decision by my parents some 30 years ago, I watched the mid-70s remake of King Kong. The vivid nightmare that followed many times since had little to do with what I now recognize as poor script-writing and outdated special effects. The dream was in technicolor reality back then and is as vivid to me today as it was when I was a child. Suffice it to say, if I am ever pursued by a giant primate, I will be on the lookout for two indistinguishable people having tea under a yellow outdoor umbrella (ella ella ella eh eh eh). I will narrowly escape, and alas those two poor souls will not.

However, I'm not on board with the "running from the sabre-tooth tiger" hypothesis. I think we're all born with the same nature that is inclined to fight or flight, fear and fright. God has blessed us with a mechanism to cope, deal, and adapt with the tribulations we face throughout life.

I also suspect there exists within all of us a spiritual element of dreams that went unadressed in this study. The Bible records that God periodically spoke prophetically to people like Joseph, Daniel, and John (the apostle) in dreams. Acts 2:17 records the promise that in the last days, God's people will regularly dream dreams and have visions.

I personally happen to fit in the 1 Corinthians 13:12 classification. I have not dreamed of heaven, but I often find myself trying to comprehend that which I only apprehend. I read of the promises of heaven with great expectation and anticipation, quite sure my most creative imaginations can scarcely approach its indescribable reality.

I marvel at the amount of sleep necessary to propel us each through night. At least now when I have my increasingly regular pre-dinner power nap, I can explain it by "boning up with a cram session on crisis management." That aside, our rechargeable batteries run low so quickly and reliably, requiring an amazingly time-consuming commitment to replenish. In this, my imagination is even more overwhelmed, at the heavenly eventuality that the life that follows this one will be absent of sleep as well as of dreams.

For a REM-like tangent, following the jump, here's an I-tunes snapshot of my "dream" playlist:

• I Dreamed There Was No War The Eagles
• Dreaming With A Broken Heart John Mayer
• A Kiss to Build a Dream On Louis Armstrong
• Out Of My Dreams Ballet Rodgers & Hammerstein
• Out Of My Dreams Rodgers & Hammerstein
• Dreamboat Annie Heart
• The Impossible Dream Robert Goulet
• Sweet Dreams (Of You) Patsy Cline
• Sweet Dreams Roy Buchanan
• Dreaming My Dreams The Cranberries
• Dreams The Cranberries
• The Blue Dream Various Artists
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams Gregorian
• Dolphin's Dream Eden River
• Dream a Little Dream for Me Mama Cass
• Dreaming of Fiji Philip Glass
• These Dreams Heart
• Dreamin' Vanessa Williams
• Mary's Dream Garth Brooks
• Dream Dream Dream Soundtrack
• I Can Dream About You Dan Hartman
• Dream Myself Awake Taylor Hicks
• A Man Has Dreams (The LIfe I Lead/A Spoonful Of Sugar) Dick Van Dyke
• The Dream Mannheim Steamroller
• Dreamer Supertramp
• Dreamer John Michael Montgomery
• California Dreamin' The Mamas And The Papas
• Daydreaming Corinne Bailey Rae
• Fever Dream Soundtrack
• Dream Weaver Gary Wright
• The River of Dreams Billy Joel
• I'm Telling You Now Freddie & the Dreamers
• All I Have To Do Is Dream Everly Brothers
• I Dream of Jeannie Lava Lounge
• I'll Dream Of You Again Harry Connick, Jr.
• Daydream Believer Anne Murray
• Dreams Diana DeGarmo
• Dreams Fleetwood Mac
• Little Dreamer Van Halen
• I Have A Dream ABBA
• Fortress Around Your Heart Sting
• Dream Lover Bobby Darin
• Hold On Tight To Your Dreams Electric Light Orchestra
• A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes Disney
• You Make My Dreams Come True Hall & Oates
• These Dreams Jim Croce
• Dreams Van Halen
• Dreaming Beach
• Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day) Frank Sinatra
• Deep Enough To Dream Chris Rice
• Dream On Texas Ladies John Michael Montgomery
• Running Down a Dream Tom Petty
• The Sweetest Dream (Princess Theme) Disney
• Dream Lover Mariah Carey
• Sweet Dreams Air Supply
• Only In My Dreams Debbie Gibson
• Wildest Dreams Asia
• Don't Dream It's Over Crowded House
• The Dream Is Over Van Halen
• Dream On Aerosmith
• Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car Billy Ocean
• Dream Ferenc Nemeth, Gilfema, Lionel Loueke & Massimo Biolcati
• Sweet Dreams (are Made of This) The Eurythmics
• Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Green Day

Let's see what the psychologists can make of all this.

January 7, 2008 8:23 AM | TrackBack