In much of human history, dreams have been seen as
portents, signs, omens conveying trustworthy information about what was and what was to
come. As an example of this, there is a famous incident told in Genesis 41 of the Torah,
also called the Bible, in which Joseph interprets two dreams for Pharaoh while Joseph is
imprisoned in Egypt. Because Pharaoh dreamed and as a result of Joseph's dream
interpretations, Pharaoh prepared his land for seven years of famine following seven
years of plenty--because he believed them to be a true portent of what was to come.
In Gilgamesh, the same attitude is revealed when
Gilgamesh has three dreams and his wise mother interprets them for him. When he dreams,
he immediately seeks an interpretation as he believes his dreams are sources of
information about his life and the world round about
him.
Gilgamesh got up and revealed the dream, saying
to his mother:
"Mother, I had a dream last night.
Stars of the sky
appeared,
You loved him and embraced him as a wife;
and it
is he who will repeatedly save you.
Your dream is good and
propitious!"
There are many
in contemporary society who still believe in the portent of dreams, in fact, Freud wrote
a great deal about dreams. What is different, though, is that this contemporary belief
in dreams and desire for interpretations is no longer a central cultural practice as in
Gilgamesh's time; it is now a subcultural interest and activity. In addition, those who
know how to interpret dreams are not as plentiful as they once
were.
No comments:
Post a Comment