Dream and Prophecy

Lee, Byung Wook

Abstract

Dreams and prophecy were the main motivating forces in primitive society. Many primitive tribes believed that dreams were prophetic and held supernatural powers. The longstanding belief in the magical nature of sleep and dreams was dispelled through Freud's interpretation of dreams. Although primitive people were fearful of dreams, those in modern society are not scared of them. Nevertheless, traces of these primitive fears and beliefs persist in the modern age. These modern beliefs are commonly related to religious and pseudo-religious messages. It seems as though most people would prefer not to achieve self-enlightenment as most are rather fearful of looking inward. The variety of popular approaches to dreams and prophecy have captivated people's imaginations and have serve to distort the true reality. Because of this, many people throughout the ages, have been misguided through their dreams. The more that people regress, the less they rely on truth. It is clear that psychoanalysis encourages us to bemore insightful and to develop an honest and truthful mind.