Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-03-01
MYSTERY OF DREAMS.
Many Theories in Explanation o
ODD Experiences i'm Sleep.

Hereward Darlington in New
York World: In that mysterious
borderland between life and death
which we call sleep we experience
many of the most remarkable
thoughts of our lives. Many of us
would be incapable of imagining
such wild fancies as we involuntar-
lily do in sleep. Some authorities.
indeed, contend that we are virtually
mad each night; that the similarity
between dreams and insanity is very
close. When we remember the in
conference. the wildness. the absurd
ity Of some dreams. we are tempted
to agree with this: they resemble
the rawlings of the madman.
Yet we must remember. too, that
many dreams. have imDarted infor-
nation which we could not have OBJ
tanned or known in the walking
state. The bible is full of incidents
of messages and visions occurring
during sleep; and cases are often
heard of today in which telepathic
or clarivoyant visions have been re-
ceived during sleep and woven into
q dream. But, of course, such cases
are the exception, not the rule.
Nearly everyone who dreams at
alive all do, only We don't re-
member our dreams-has experience
ed one or more of the following
seven dreams:
/. The falling dream; dream Of
falling.
2. The flying dream; dream OF
flying.
8. The dream of inadequate cloth
ing.
4. The dream of not being able to
get away from some beast or injur-
ious person or thing that is pursu-
ing.
5. The dream of being drawn ir-
resistibly to some dangerous place.
6. The dream that some darling
wish has been gratified.
z. The dream of being about to
go on a journey, and being unable
to get your things in your trunk,
etc.
Here, then, are seven dreams
which nearly everyone has expert
enced at one time or another. Since
everyone dreams these dreams,
there must be some reason for it
some common law which acts upon
all alike. What may this be?
There are many causes for
dreams One of the commonest is
this: The sensations of the body
send messages to the brain, and
these are woven into dreams. Thus,
if the bedclothes have fallen off and
the body is exposed, this will give
the feeling of cold. Then we prob
ably dream that we are exploring
the north pole with Cook and Peary.
Or, if we are clothed too warmly,
we dream we are being baked alive
by the inquisition, etc. The inn
imagination seiZes hold of such fun
damental sensations, dramatizes
them, and weaves them into a beau
tiful romance. In our dreams we
are all actors: "All the worlds a
stage, and all the men and women
simply players
How about the terrible falling
dream?" Many theories have been
advanced to explain these dreams.
The most rational is probably the
following: By lying too long in one
position, the blood supply gets shut
eff on the lower side of the body.
+ GLOWING this, all sensations in
these parts would be lost; we would
no longer feel the bed is holding us
up. Consequent upon this, there
would be the sensation that nothing
was holding us-that We were in
space; that we were falling. In this
way most of those dreams are to be
accounted for.
There Is common belief that we
should die If we ever struck the
ground-ever endeth such a fall.
That is superstition. l have a case
before me, as l write, of man who
reached the bottom of his fall, saw
himself smashed all to pieces, then
picked up and glued them together
again! He seemed to himself to be
a sort of onlooker to the scene.