Ethan Persaud - Dreams as Personalize Myths

One of the concepts that we talked about that continued to evolve with me was the idea that a dream is a personalized myth. Out of all the discussions we had this semester, this one was one of the most fascinating to me because it connected something often deeply personal to the larger themes of human consciousness. Dreams often take our fears, memories, and desires and transform them into symbolic narratives, whether we understand them or not. In that sense, they function very similarly to how myths do. Myths help cultures and communities make sense of the world, while dreams help individuals make sense of themselves. I thought this also connected to our discussions of archetypes and the subconscious, specifically the idea of archetypical depths, or the way we experience ourselves on a primal level. Even though dreams are personal, they often still reflect universal human experiences such as fear and conflict. I found this especially interesting because it suggests that the same structures that shape stories may also shape the mind itself. Looking back on my own experiences, there have definitely been moments where dreams seemed to reflect things I was struggling with in life, even if I did not fully recognize it at the same time. For example, when I quit playing soccer a few years ago, I often dreamt about soccer and being a professional soccer player. This was something that I idolized greatly growing up and letting go of that dream was devastating at the time. That was reflecting in my dreams as a personal fear that I had at that time. I might’ve believed that this was random at the time, but it was something deeply rooted into how I felt subconsciously that I wasn’t expressing on the outside. Overall I would say that this class has helped me understand that dreams aren’t random, but can instead be viewed as reflections of our inner lives.