Table Of ContentDreams in Myth,
Medicine, and
Movies
Dreams in Myth,
Medicine, and
Movies
Sharon Packer
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Packer, Sharon.
Dreams in myth, medicine, and movies / Sharon Packer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-275-97243-7 (alk. paper)
1. Dreams. I. Title.
BF1078 .P28 2002
154.6′3—dc21 2002019625
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2002 by Sharon Packer
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002019625
ISBN: 0-275-97243-7
First published in 2002
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984.)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To L.B.B. and P.C.
Contents
CPontentsreface ix
1. Before We Begin 1
2. Dreams and Definitions 7
3. Myth and Meaning 17
4. Film and Photography 29
5. Cinema and Cyberspace 47
6. Sleep and Social Control 61
7. Science Fiction and Sleep 75
8. Deities and Demons 85
9. Shamans and Sorcerers 105
10. Reason and Romance 125
11. Symbolism and Surrealism 151
12. Psyche and Soul 169
13. Body and Brain 199
14. Foretelling the Future 219
Bibliography 225
Index 231
Preface
PTreface he actual writing of this book began on the Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King’s birthday and was completed the Sunday before the World
Trade Center tragedy. Each of those events has an indelible connection
to dreams and is reflected in the text. However, the lectures this book
is based upon were delivered over several years, in a series of courses
called Different Approaches to Dreams; Dreams, Drugs, and Drawings; and
Dream and Film. Even those courses on dreams started out as spinoffs of
a single lecture included in earlier courses: Insanity and Psychiatry and
Psychology of Religion.
In one of those courses, a student noticed how much dreams were
intertwined with the history of psychiatry and the history of religion
and suggested that I offer a complete course on the history of dreams.
At the time, this request seemed like an impossible task that would
involve unending research. But the idea lingered. As I perused the
existing literature on dreams, it became apparent just how many con-
nections exist among dreams, art, film, religion, culture, and psychiatry.
Dreams were a wonderful way to combine my favorite fields! It was
worth a try, and, besides, my lectures on dreams had grown too long to
squeeze into a single course.
I was surprised by how well received this arcane and out-of-date
topic turned out to be. Each course on Different Approaches to Dreams
filled beyond capacity and ran for five years longer than expected. The
lectures again expanded into two additional courses. Each semester,
new students appeared, and added new insights, and inspired me
further.
It was odd that courses on dreams were so welcomed in a university
at a time when psychiatry had shifted its focus away from dreams and
onto the biology of the brain. But that was fine by me, because I was a
x Preface
psychiatrist who had once researched the connections between
Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams and Biblical, Talmudic, and Cab-
alistic references to dreams. Perhaps I was waiting for the opportu-
nity to rekindle this never-ending interest, although I admittedly
stopped expecting to find this opportunity. But my surprise melted
away again when I reflected back on my own clinical experience and
recalled how eager my patients were to disclose their dreams, regard-
less of what they sought treatment for and regardless of how rational
they were in “real life.” Perhaps there was something timeless about
this topic.
While teaching these courses, it became clear that certain people were
more attracted than others to the study of dream. Predictably, creative
types gravitated to these courses, and sometimes used them to enhance
their own creativity, and always added their special knowledge about
their special pursuits. What was more striking was that many people
who were seriously ill or who were recently bereaved also wanted to
study dream. This also made sense, because dreams show that an
alternative world exists somewhere, if only in the human psyche, but
perhaps also someplace else. For those who recently lost a loved one,
dreams provided assurance that this person lives on, if only in the
memories that are embedded in the unconscious and released during
such sleep visions.
Dreams will have special meaning in the wake of the World Trade
Center tragedy. This unforeseen event has left many of us with haunting
but temporary nightmares. Hopefully, those recurring dreams will soon
turn into dreams of consolation, where only the best and most blissful
memories are replayed.
Until that time comes, I want to thank those who made this book
possible, including my ever patient and encouraging editor, Debbie
Carvalko, the New School University, Mesorah Society for Traditional
Judaism and Psychiatry, History of Psychiatry Section of Weill-Cornell
Medical College, Jewish Book Council, Israel Journal of Psychiatry,
Greek Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Hellenic Medical Society, New York
Academy of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, International
Arts Medicine Association, Hebrew Union College Library, George
Higham, Jack Green, Paul Bunten, Caroline Duroselle-Melish, Ed Mor-
man, Mark Banschick, Elliot Gershon, Paul Applebaum, Karen Barton,
Rick Lippen, Phil Miller, Elissa Tenny, Gina Luria Walker, Nicole
Koschmann, Erinn Kelly, Carolyn Lloyd, Barbara Price, Steven Berman,
Joel Steinberg, Len Hausman, Joan Root, Stephanie Spanos, Doris Gold,
Fred Rosner, Mel Thrash, Mort Ostow, Arthur Tomases, Nate Kravis,
Tim Quigley, Tisha Bender, Gunther Engel, David Greenberg, Robert
Rubin, Warren Dotz, Bernard Ackerman, and Joan Kessler.