We explain what something dreamlike is and how it has been interpreted by religions and psychoanalysis. Also, what is dreaming?
What is something dreamlike?
The dreamlike It is something that seems to be taken from a dream, or directly something linked to the dream world night. It is an adjective from the Greek word oneiros“dreams”, and which is usually used in different areas of knowledge, such as art and psychology, interested in the dream experience.
That is why it is possible to find the term dream as part of various expressions, since the phenomenon of dreams has intrigued and disturbed human beings since their most remote times. In ancient traditions, which sometimes survive to this day, What is experienced in dreams is interpreted as a sign, an announcement or a message coming from different origins: God, the beyond or the most secret corners of one's own mind.
So, for example, is called oneiromancy to the divinatory art of reading dreams seeing in them premonitions or previews of what will happen in real life. There are multiple cases of this in traditional stories, and even in the Bible: in the Old Testament, Joseph must use his wisdom to predict the Pharaoh's disturbing dreams.
Similarly, although modern, Psychoanalysis and psychology try to decipher the so-called dream language that is, translating dreams into some form of coherent meaning that allows us to recognize the deep and unspeakable drives of the human being: that which only when the consciousness sleeps is it capable of expressing, although it does not do so in a logical and grammatical way, but rather chaotically and symbolic.
The famous German psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) devoted much of his attention to this issue, as evidenced by his book The interpretation of dreams (1899).
On the other hand, Dream art is art that attempts to reproduce the illogical and fantastic atmosphere of dreams using whatever techniques, with all its wonderful, terrible or liberating content. The dreamlike can be identified both in the plastic arts and in literature, and even in music it is possible to find its own way of expressing the sensations of the dream.
Finally, we must mention dreaming: a mental syndrome that manifests itself in constant confusion, visual hallucinations and disconnection partial or complete of the real world, typical of certain forms of psychosis or psychiatric illness. These types of episodes can manifest themselves in patients with epilepsy, drug addiction, poisoning and different neurological or brain disorders.
Continue with: Symbolism
References
- “Onírico, ca” in the Dictionary of the language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Oneirism” on Wikipedia.
- “Dream art” (video) on Televisora Nacional del Uruguay.
- “The dream language” by Miranda Fëz in Epsys, a psychology and humanities magazine.
