Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
writers based their thinking on the notion that the brain is a neural network that
stores information during the day but nighttime stochastic noise is needed to
problem of how such systems can overcome noise.iii Crick and Michelson pressed
their idea so far as to assert that people should not recall their dreams because
such attempts may retain patterns of thought that are better forgotten.
suppose the conclusion that dream narratives are not random and unpatterned but,
in Alfred Adlers terms, reflect a basic continuity with daily life.iv This point of
view was developed later by Calvin Hallv among others. This continuity between
dream reports and dreamers everyday life has been demonstrated not only for
male Nigerian students, finding that their dream content differed in relation to
their tribal backgrounds. The Ibo culture has a value system favoring upward
social mobility. Hausa culture does not support social mobility and individual
1
students dream reports contained more achievement themes than those of Hausa
students, but less than those of Ibo students. This is exactly what one would
all of his mathematical proofs and Mahatma Gandhi said that his non-violent
protest of British rule in India originated in a dream.xi The Arab world consists of
Events
foretell the future. Sometimes the prediction is assumed to be literal and obvious,
severity or even connotation often changed with the dreams interpretation. For
example:
4
If he dreams that a front tooth fell out, the closer of his kin will
die... (p. 108)
If he dreams that his fingernails were pulled out, the misfortune
will be even more severe, and this points to a short life... (p. 113)
divinely inspired dream. Muhammad ordered the practice of adhan, the daily
call to prayer from the minarets and a central ritual of Islam to this day after one
of his followers dreamed of it. The split of Islam into the conflicting factions of
Sunni and Shiite was based partly on a dream of Mohammed, which the Sunnis
diaries and examples of decisions ostensibly based on dreams. When the Shah of
Iran was deciding whether to seek a loan from Russia, he dreamed that a famous
theological figure dressed in primitive Muslim garb approached the Shah and
threw at his feet a sack containing gold and silver. The interpretation of this
dream was that the Shah shouldn't make any new loans with unbelievers but
should trust that fellow servants of the faith would restore his finances. Saddam
Hussein reported dreaming that Allah told him to enter and take back Kuwait just
before the first Gulf War.xiii Before the second Gulf War, he reported a dream that
a snake came upon his path but he chopped off its head with a sword which he
Atta, Reid etc.) routinely legitimate their calling through reference to dreams, and
1
appear to interpret night dreams as being both inspirational and even strategic in
arising from the past, many Arabs who are having PTSD nightmares of an event
occurring each night experience even more anxiety over whether this will indeed
Kuwaiti survivors of the Iraqi invasion, the dreamers were extremely likely to
view dreams about horrific encounters with the Iraqi army as meaning that the
Iraqis were going to return rather than simply as being about the past.xvii
The positive side to this emphasis on dreams foretelling the future happens
when people in the midst of turmoil dream of positive outcomes. These can be a
protests that toppled the government of Tunesia (where Bouazizi lived) and
spread across parts of North Africa and the Middle East. In her essay, Is there an
The air is still thick with heat. Its the kind that sends you,
exhausted, to bed midday to submit to naps so deep you are sure
your cells are regenerating at accelerated speed. Your lungs ache a
bit with breathing. The dreams of these naps are excessively sharp
with color; the subconscious deepest tresses excavated, as if by
divine pitchfork. The kind of dreams that give a strong cup of
coffee upon awaking a feeling of a lifeline. Being forced into these
dreams by nature, I wonder if they can be made of use.
4
If Adlers continuity hypothesis is valid, one would expect to see aspects
of the so-called Arab Spring in dream reports of people in those regions. And,
given dream beliefs in the region, one might expect them to be made use of for
requested our contacts in that part of the world to collect dream reports that
several years. Akbar (a pseudonym, as are all dreamers names in this essay
2002, one that he claimed reflected the spread of revolution fervor some 8 or 9
years later.
I see a mountain. It is very high and wide, and it rises from the
middle of a desert. I entered one of the caves in this mountain and
found a medium-sized rock incursion in the earth. Then I moved
that rock aside. Once I did this, huge amounts of oil came out of
the slit. It poured onto the desert and spread wide until it became a
river.
One could make the case that the spreading oil is a metaphor for the way
this is a post-hoc interpretation; more likely the flowing oil mirrored the way that
Egyptian, before Mohamed Morsi, the legitimately elected president, had been
1
Fawzia recalled another dream a few nights later.
Both dreams occurred very shortly before the coup. The first dream may
have reflected the rumors about the armys plan to seize power, something that
Fawzia, a backer of Morsi, did not want to occur. Her second dream may have
reflected her wish that Morsi remain in power. This might be an example of
in this dream of a young woman in Egypt just before the Arab Spring:
In a way, this parallels the government overthrow and then the military
coup ousting the new regime. However, this womans dreamed revolution was
more the one she would have liked to see. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
was not known for their sympathy for women's rights, and the military coup was
in many ways.
4
Majda, a young woman of the United Arab Emirates had a sober
premonition of how events might go. As events were beginning to unfold in 2011,
she dreamed:
resulting sadness are much closer to how many of the participants might
consciously view the events now than they were at the time of this dream.
circulated after the June 30 coup. The alleged dreamer was Abd El Fatah El Sisi,
the Egyptian Minister of Defence who toppled Mohammed Morsi. These dreams
megalomaniac who thought that his dreams predicted the future. These dreams
came from an old audio interview with El Sisi broadcast by Qatari station al
Jazeera, hence they are probably authentically something El Sisi was trying to
promote in the initial interview but was asking after the coup. El Sisi observed, in
the interview:
I have had many dreams that came true, including these dreams
wearing a large watch decorated by a very big star. The watch was
the Omega brand and people kept asking me, Why are you, not
1
anybody else, wearing this magnificent watch? I say to them,
This watch was made to be mine, and its name is Omega means
precious, something that nobody else has ever had. And in the
Me too.
The first dream is quite general, and the word Omega is given a strange
meaning, even in translation, since Omega is the last letter of the Greek
alphabet and in the Western world is generally thought to connote finality. The
final two dreams are both more recent and more specific. If El Sisi was giving an
honest report, they do seem to presage actual events. However, the use of these
displays the Muslim belief that dreams can be premonitory. The newspaper article
was meant to expose El Sisi as a self-promoter who used these dreams to enhance
during the events of the Arab Spring to legitimate their positions. In a 2011
videotape produced in Syria, titled Dream (glad tidings) of the killing of the
Aljamal and Sheikh Hassan Al-Hussein describe dreams of others which presaged
Arab Spring events which had already happened such as the killing of Muammar
4
Qaddafi in Libya and the imprisonment of Hussnei Mubarak. They use the term
assumed to have waking visions. Then Aljamal and Al-Hussein describe dreams
which they imply predict the outcome of the Syrian Civil War which was in its
This dream came before the events in Tunis. One of the good
people. . . saw a group gather over a lion and they ate it. And this
dream was a prophecy of the falling of the regime and the
humiliation of its members.
Their interpretation hinges on the fact that the name Assad means lion in
Arabic. Indeed, in the pun-like manner of dreams which Freud dubbed visual
representation, this image could be a rather obvious metaphor for the fall or
death of Syrian President Bashar Assad. In an ironic aside, however, two years
after the video was made and just as this book was going to press, major
newspapers around the world flashed the headline: Starving rebels eat lion from
dream account. Al-Ghouta was one of the areas hit by chemical gas attacks, and
papers reported that Syrian imams had issued a fatwa that allows people living in
those areas to eat meats that are normally forbidden under Islamic law, including
Aljamal and Al-Husseins next three examples are safer from alternative
1
The second dream is that somebody saw the flag of Syria was
being placed in a coffin.
One of the imams in Lebanon narrated to me a dream that involved Syria with its
A man I consider from the good people, and hes from Syria,
narrated to me a dream that Bashar Al-Assad was killed by people
around him close to him--people he trusts.
Aljamal and Al-Hussein assure listeners that these dreams mean that
Bashar will be killed by the hands of his own associates as per Sheikh-ul-Islams
dream . The victory is near . . . be patient. The Prophet said . . . near the [end]
time, the dreams of true believers will not lie. So far, this seems to be wishful
picking of dreams. The only accurate prediction so far is the unfortunate lion; two
years after the video was made, Assad still hangs onto power.
student, Nakul, was in Cairo during the uprisings leading to the demise of the
4
they can go a long time without water so they will keep looking
indefinitely. One of the camels is unusually large and savage
looking. But it is very dark inside and outside, so I am able to
elude them. I wake up terrified.
This young man seems to be caught up in events beyond his control, with
hostile forces that are searching to destroy anyone not like themselves (in
ideology, perhaps) and so the hostility is not personal. Because there is so much
confusion, he is able to escape them, at least at the time he had the dream. He did
general who had been sacked by Morsi was chasing me into a building. Canisters
were being fired at him as well as at other protestors, with tear gas being emitted
from small windows. The dreamer was a supporter of Morsi who had been
deposed before he had this dream. This dream may have reflected his anxiety
about the military leaders who could well have tracked down and imprisoned all
Once Morsi had been deposed, the event was reflected in dreams of his
Egyptian supporters and opponents. One supporter, Areed, reported a dream that
I dreamed that Morsi, who had been ousted by the military in June,
was under detention. In this dream, I am sitting around a television
set with members of his family. One of his sons attacks me
verbally, even though I supported his father. Afterwards he tries to
console me and apologizes. The whole family apologizes.
Although I feel satisfied and tell them so, they keep apologizing.
And then they stop.
This dream might reflect Areeds disappointment with the fate of Morsi.
He might have thought that some of Morsis actions were responsible for his loss
1
of power, and the dream indicates the dreamers hope that Morsi will recognize
the mistakes that he made. The family members are ambivalent about recognizing
the situation but finally take some responsibility by apologizing to the dreamer
and, quite likely, the other supporters who felt let down.
political science who wanted his real name included, also interjected himself into
In this dream, El Deen may fear that his political sentiments may put him
at risk. However, there are many people who agree with him and he gets out of
harms way. This dream could well reflect the political realities of Egypt in which
shifting power structures endanger people whose allegiances differ from the group
unpopular prime ministers and altering laws, a young woman, Aini, viewed the
Arab Spring much more positively. In August 2012, a month after the major
protests had replaced officials and a month before demonstrations over fuel prices
4
near the top, I struggled to the peak. But to my dismay, there was
nowhere to go, so I decided to do the same as him and jump down.
Then, as I was waking up, I had a half-dream, half-
daydream. I thought what if I hadn't jumped down the way I came
from, but had dived over the cliff on the other side? So I did. I
jumped from the cliff. Then all of a sudden I was swimming in a
clear lake, with fishes underwater, complete with corals reefs. I
was swimming peacefully when all of a sudden a huge shark came,
probably a great white. I was wondering if I should swim for the
shore, when it started to come for me. But it kept missing, and
really I wasn't afraid at all. I realized that someone, or something,
invisible was protecting me. A strong and reliable entity. The shark
darted for me one last time, and annoyed by its persistence (that
was the feeling I got), the entity took it and smashed it down, one
side then the other, like a pancake.
Ainis dream repeatedly introduced danger--the cliff, the shark. And
repeatedly there was some magic entity helping her, but she also gained in
efficacy herself. This seemed to reflect the nature of the protest process in Jordan:
demonstrations got too intense. But eventually, as with the shark, Aini learned she
didnt need to be too afraid and could assert herself. No doubt the dream contains
many other layers of personal meaning for a young woman struggling with
becoming an adult and being a woman in male-dominated world, but her role as
the story.
opinion, the Arab Spring had redefined the entire Arab culture. She continued,
Entire populations broke the silence and openly criticized the then-current state
protesters continue to call for an end to state mandated oppression. Madhia had a
dream in which a voice was signing about the Arab Spring. She recalled what she
1
could and recast the song, which she called Dream with Me. This translation
The hope expressed in Madhias song did not last. The expected
Egypt and Libya, but the governments that followed were not paragons of
protests in other countries were repressed or simply fizzled out. Syria has been
locked in a bitter civil war ever since. Some commentatorsxxi have complained
that the Arab Spring term was the invention of Western journalists. The term is
referred to as the "Springtime of the People", and to the Prague Spring of 1968.
Amir, a high school student living in the occupied West Bank who
experienced its turnmoil all of his life, now watches Syrias civil war just over
the border. He hears the news daily and encounters acquaintances whove been
over the border and directly involved, but Amir has played no role in Syria.
4
However, he finds his dream tumbling him into the battle without warning in the
the Middle East thats only gotten more exaggerated for anyone near the Syrian
border. The observation that the dream lacked gritty, real-life details as people
suddenly lay dead could result from the dreamers experiences playing video-
games, not military service; but it also could be dissociation developed through a
waking lifetime of witnessed violence. A couple weeks later, Amir had a dream--
the only one in our sample to overtly compare Arab Spring to European
I was a soldier in a militia, the black guardians, and our job was to
cover the Arab Syrian Army by shooting the Free Syrian Army
members... My fellow members were shooting bulls-eyes in the
Free army's heads....I, on the other hand missed all my shots. Then
I hit a fellow Arab Syrian Soldier...friendly fire. I saw the soldier
collapse with a small burst of blood, through the scope of my
sniper. I felt deep shame...not only am I failing in killing the
enemy, but I am killing our own men. A bullet hit me, in the leg. I
collapse.... The enemy comes....They raise me and place me in an
"ambulance." It was a donkey driven cart, with the cart being
fenced with wooden fence. Like a large baby's cradle... I lay
motionless...
1
again, and dragged away.... I only showed agony and despair once
we were negotiating the curb... as I was taken into the unknown....
Next thing I know, I am an Orc and loosing to a battle against the
centaur demigod as the last Orc Grunt. I try diplomacy, and slash
my head goes off...I hear a voice saying Our hero has been slain,
just like the video-game I was playing right before I fell asleep.
Conflict in his own country, war in Syria, ancient battles from history
Amir does view the FSA negatively, but hes not an admirer of the SAA. He
believes the current regime may be a slightly more stable force from the
perspective of the Palestinian refugee camps, but says no side is an angel and
you dont really support a side in that sort of a free for all. The dreams imagery
reflects that: though Amir is cast on a particular side in each scene, both sides
shooting. The general message seems to be all wars are hell. For Amir, the
battles around him have disrupted his ability to enjoy childhood play and teenage
dream:
This dream could well be a metaphor for the dashed hopes of the Arab
failures of the protests. As a result, she can distance herself from these events and
4
give a reaction that does not put her in the middle of the action, as was the case
Naval, a man viewing these events from India has an equally removed
perspective and his dreams perhaps incorporate more sense of the partial
Conclusion
continuity between dream life and waking life. Each of the dream reports we have
cited is a reflection of actual events before, during, or after that period of history
and/or the dreamer's reaction to those events. Our review also mirrors many
political movements, and their sequels, that they study. These occurrences would
critical world and region events is lacking layers of its psychological causation
and meaning.
1
i We would like to thank DreamsCloud.com and Dr. Iain Edgar for their help in locating relevant dreams.
ii Crick, Francis, and Graeme Mitchison. "The function of dream sleep." Nature 304, no. 5922 (1983): 111-114.
iii White, Olivia L., Daniel D. Lee, and Haim Sompolinsky. "Short-term memory in orthogonal neural networks." arXiv preprint cond-
mat/0402452 (2004).
v Hall, Calvin, S., and Robert Van de Castle (1966). The content analysis of dreams. East Norwalk, CT, US: Appleton-Century-
Crofts.
vi Domhoff, G. William. The scientific study of dreams: Neural networks, cognitive development, and content
analysis. American Psychological Association, 2003.
vii Prasad, B. "Content analysis of dreams of Indian and American college students: A cultural comparison." Journal of Indian
Psychology (1982).
viii Monroe, R.L., Nerlove, S., and R. Daniels. Effects of population density on food concerns in three East African societies. Journal of
Health and Social Behavior, 10, (1969): 161-171.
ix Barrett, D. (2001). The committee of sleep: How artists, scientists, and athletes use dreams for creative problem-
solvingand how you can too. Crown/Random House.
x Barrett, Deirdre. "The" committee of sleep": A study of dream incubation for problem solving." Dreaming, 3, no. 2 (1993): 115.
xiv Grove, Lloyd. The Reliable Source. The Washington Post, May 1 (2003)
xv Washington Post (2001). Text: Bin Laden Discusses Attacks on Tape, Dec. 13.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/binladentext_121301.html Retrieved 11/20/13.
xvi Edgar, Iain. R. The Dream Will Tell: Militant Muslim Dreaming in the Context of Traditional and Contemporary Islamic Dream Theory
and Practice. Dreaming, 1, no. 41 (2004): 21.
xvii Barrett, Deirdre and Behbehani, Jaffar (2003). Post-Traumatic Nightmares in Kuwait Following the Iraqi Invasion. In Krippner,
Stanley, and Teresa M. McIntyre, eds. The psychological impact of war trauma on civilians: An international
perspective. Greenwood Publishing Group, 135.
xviii Eltantawi, Sarah (2012). Is there an Arab Dream? Musings at a Difficult Time in the Arab Spring, Muftah: Free and Open Debate
from Morocco to Pakistan, Oct. 31 http://muftah.org/is-there-an-arab-dream-thoughts-from-a-difficult-moment-in-the-arab-spring/
Retrieved 11/20/13.
xix Bastawy, Mahmoud (2011). Dream (glad tidings) of the killing of the killer/criminal/illegal Bashar by the hands of his [own] associates.
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exgJAKIkaIk&feature=related Retrieved 11/20/13.
xxThe Times Starving rebels eat lion from a Damascus zoo Nov 29, 2013
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3935102.ece Retrieved Nov 30th, 2013.
xxi Alhassen Maytha (2012). Please Reconsider the Term "Arab Spring" Huffington Post, Feb. 10
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maytha-alhassen/please-reconsider-arab-sp_b_1268971.html Retrieved 11/20/13.
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The research reflected in this chapter was supported by the Saybrook University Chair for the Study of Consciousness.