Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1920 — Last Night’s Dreams —What They Mean [ARTICLE]

Last Night’s Dreams —What They Mean

DID YOU DREAM OF LACK OF CLOTHING? TY7HAT 1* called one of the “standW ard” dreams, one which is most annoying and one which everybody almost, has experienced at least once In his life, some people many times, is the dream of finding oneself in a thronged street or in a room filled with people and suddenly realizing that one Is only partially clothed or not clothed at all. In these dreams the people with whom we find ourself do not appear to take any notice of our unconventional condition, but the dreamer is much disturbed and endeavors to escape. This dream has received particular attention from those scientists who for wore than half a century have been Investigating the phenomena of dreams regarded as purely mental (or more accurately psychic), or as physical manifestations. The dream In question Is said to be the basis of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and has been done into poetry by the German author,; Fulda, In “The Talisman.” It is called by the scientists a “standard” or “typical” dream because it is one which is experienced by all persons In an identical or almost Identical manner; whereas most of our dreams are peculiar to ourselves. The empirics, those who Interpret dreams in the old, superstitious, traditional mystic and unscientific manner —declare the dream under consideration to be a bad omen, though they do not all agree just how bad. They say it signifies that people are conspiring against you; that you are soon to receive an Insult; you will be disappointed in your friends and relatl ves and it is a warning to you to mend your ways. Those scientists who strive to account for dreams by referring them to a physical source say that this dream is simply the result of sensations caused by the bedclothes slipping off. But that does not hold for we fre-

quently have the dream when covered up warm. _/ Professor Freud, the latest and the most celebrated of investigators of dream sources, says in his book, “The Interpretation of Dreams,” that the dream is based upon a recollection of our earliest childhood. When we were babies we were seen with indifference by relatives, strangers and servants scantily dressed and' were not ashamed. These recollections of babyhood, imprisoned dormant and unrecallable in our waking hours, are liberated to us in the dream state. dOur feeling of uneasiness and desire t, escape though no one notices

our nudity, is a reflex from the “repression” of our later lives during which the habit of being properly clothed In public has become part of our normal existence. (Copyright)