Joseph and Sigmund Freud
“The ancient belief that dreams reveal the future is not indeed entirely devoid of the truth. By representing a wish as fulfilled the dream certainly leads us into the future…” “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Sigmund Freud (1900)
“And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it…” Genesis 41.15
The great majority of us have had dreams while we were asleep only to awaken and be puzzled by the meaning of the dreams or frightened by the emotions that they kindled. The interpretation of dreams is an ancient art that dates back well before Joseph. The ancient Greek author, Artemidorus, wrote several volumes of dream interpretations. Both Aristotle and Plato were of the opinion that dreams might come from the gods.
By the early 20th Century, Sigmund Freud, his disciples and rivals had created an entire science around the interpretation of dreams and fantasy, and that movement, psychoanalysis, is still very much with us today. Freud would never have argued that dreams come from God, but he did believe that dreams might have some bearing on our future, just as Pharaoh’s dreams did, once Joseph had explained their meaning to him. As Joseph made clear, it was not he who would provide the interpretation, it was God. God was showing Pharaoh what He was about to do. According to Freud, dreams were a manifestation of our unconscious wishes. Even more modern views of dreams draw from the Freudian base. "If you're going to understand human behavior," says Rosalind Cartwright, a chairman of psychology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, "here's a big piece of it. Dreaming is our own storytelling time—to help us know who we are, where we're going and how we're going to get there."
Are our dreams God talking to us, or are they simply unconscious wishes made manifest while we sleep? Why would God tell Pharaoh about the future of Egypt? Pharaoh was not a believer. In Genesis, he does not appear to have found any special favor with God as Joseph had. Or, perhaps, God wanted Joseph to help Pharaoh so he could become the de facto ruler of Egypt and store up grain to save multitudes of people, including his own family.
In his short story “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” which first appeared in 1937, the character that author Delmore Schwartz creates tries to influence the course of his parent’s courtship as he watches it in a grainy movie. He awakens at the end of the story. It is human nature to look back at things that may not have turned out well and wish that we could change them. It is, at least in part, the basis of Freud’s notion that dreams are unfulfilled wishes. But, are they our wishes alone?
God’s revelation of the future of Egypt was through an unbeliever. It was left to Joseph, one of God’s favorites to provide an explanation, which he said came from God. We are left to decide whether the dream came from God as well. The answer is almost certainly yes. “God has showed Pharaoh what he is about to do”—Genesis 41.25. The dream and the interpretation are inextricably linked. One has no meaning without the other. This is equally true of other dreams in the Old Testament. Does Nebuchadnezzar’s dream have any meaning without Daniel’s interpretation? The king searched everywhere, but only Daniel could answer him. “There is a God in heaven that revealth secrets…”-Daniel 2.28.
And Daniel is the king’s conduit to God.
As we reach the New Testament, the role of dreams is still intact as a message from God. Joseph is told to wed Mary when he is addressed by an angel in a dream (Matthew 1.20) and then again, he is told to flee to Egypt in another dream with an angelic messenger (Matthew 2.13) In these dreams God is addressing the future once again, and not, it would appear, any unresolved wishes from the past.
So, we dream our dreams, but where do they come from?
Jesus does not dream in the Bible. Perhaps it is because he does not have to. He is one with God. In the Old Testament, dreams have a message, a messenger and someone who interprets the message. In Jesus, they are all one.
But, according to scientists and psychologists, the rest of us do dream, whether we remember our dreams or not, whether they are nightmares or pleasant interludes during our sleep. Dreaming is part of living, part of being human. And, whatever schools of psychology or psychiatry we think are most compelling, almost all agree that our dreams contain messages, and some might accept that these messages could be divine. “So the believer should not boggle at the fact that there are somnia a Deo missa (dreams sent by God)”.—
Carl Jung, “Psychology and Alchemy”. As Jung looked into man’s soul and his dreams, he was compelled to admit that there was a basis for the religious man to believe that his dreams do come from God.
Most of what we write and say about theology is based on our waking hours. Faith is a waking and watchful act. We think of receiving grace or being in a state of grace when we are conscious. But, when we sleep and dream, we have not entirely changed. We are the same people who are, for a time, in a different state. We cannot expect that God will be restricted in his revelation. Dreams, the messengers of God in times past, may speak to us still, if we are willing to listen.
“…there is a God in heaven that revealth secrets…” Daniel 2.27-2.28 As He was with us in days of old, He is still with us today. And, his secrets are the treasures of our faith.
“The ancient belief that dreams reveal the future is not indeed entirely devoid of the truth. By representing a wish as fulfilled the dream certainly leads us into the future…” “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Sigmund Freud (1900)
“And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it…” Genesis 41.15
The great majority of us have had dreams while we were asleep only to awaken and be puzzled by the meaning of the dreams or frightened by the emotions that they kindled. The interpretation of dreams is an ancient art that dates back well before Joseph. The ancient Greek author, Artemidorus, wrote several volumes of dream interpretations. Both Aristotle and Plato were of the opinion that dreams might come from the gods.
By the early 20th Century, Sigmund Freud, his disciples and rivals had created an entire science around the interpretation of dreams and fantasy, and that movement, psychoanalysis, is still very much with us today. Freud would never have argued that dreams come from God, but he did believe that dreams might have some bearing on our future, just as Pharaoh’s dreams did, once Joseph had explained their meaning to him. As Joseph made clear, it was not he who would provide the interpretation, it was God. God was showing Pharaoh what He was about to do. According to Freud, dreams were a manifestation of our unconscious wishes. Even more modern views of dreams draw from the Freudian base. "If you're going to understand human behavior," says Rosalind Cartwright, a chairman of psychology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, "here's a big piece of it. Dreaming is our own storytelling time—to help us know who we are, where we're going and how we're going to get there."
Are our dreams God talking to us, or are they simply unconscious wishes made manifest while we sleep? Why would God tell Pharaoh about the future of Egypt? Pharaoh was not a believer. In Genesis, he does not appear to have found any special favor with God as Joseph had. Or, perhaps, God wanted Joseph to help Pharaoh so he could become the de facto ruler of Egypt and store up grain to save multitudes of people, including his own family.
In his short story “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” which first appeared in 1937, the character that author Delmore Schwartz creates tries to influence the course of his parent’s courtship as he watches it in a grainy movie. He awakens at the end of the story. It is human nature to look back at things that may not have turned out well and wish that we could change them. It is, at least in part, the basis of Freud’s notion that dreams are unfulfilled wishes. But, are they our wishes alone?
God’s revelation of the future of Egypt was through an unbeliever. It was left to Joseph, one of God’s favorites to provide an explanation, which he said came from God. We are left to decide whether the dream came from God as well. The answer is almost certainly yes. “God has showed Pharaoh what he is about to do”—Genesis 41.25. The dream and the interpretation are inextricably linked. One has no meaning without the other. This is equally true of other dreams in the Old Testament. Does Nebuchadnezzar’s dream have any meaning without Daniel’s interpretation? The king searched everywhere, but only Daniel could answer him. “There is a God in heaven that revealth secrets…”-Daniel 2.28.
And Daniel is the king’s conduit to God.
As we reach the New Testament, the role of dreams is still intact as a message from God. Joseph is told to wed Mary when he is addressed by an angel in a dream (Matthew 1.20) and then again, he is told to flee to Egypt in another dream with an angelic messenger (Matthew 2.13) In these dreams God is addressing the future once again, and not, it would appear, any unresolved wishes from the past.
So, we dream our dreams, but where do they come from?
Jesus does not dream in the Bible. Perhaps it is because he does not have to. He is one with God. In the Old Testament, dreams have a message, a messenger and someone who interprets the message. In Jesus, they are all one.
But, according to scientists and psychologists, the rest of us do dream, whether we remember our dreams or not, whether they are nightmares or pleasant interludes during our sleep. Dreaming is part of living, part of being human. And, whatever schools of psychology or psychiatry we think are most compelling, almost all agree that our dreams contain messages, and some might accept that these messages could be divine. “So the believer should not boggle at the fact that there are somnia a Deo missa (dreams sent by God)”.—
Carl Jung, “Psychology and Alchemy”. As Jung looked into man’s soul and his dreams, he was compelled to admit that there was a basis for the religious man to believe that his dreams do come from God.
Most of what we write and say about theology is based on our waking hours. Faith is a waking and watchful act. We think of receiving grace or being in a state of grace when we are conscious. But, when we sleep and dream, we have not entirely changed. We are the same people who are, for a time, in a different state. We cannot expect that God will be restricted in his revelation. Dreams, the messengers of God in times past, may speak to us still, if we are willing to listen.
“…there is a God in heaven that revealth secrets…” Daniel 2.27-2.28 As He was with us in days of old, He is still with us today. And, his secrets are the treasures of our faith.
posted by douglas mcintyre at 6:13 AM
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