Seeing Sheep at Canios
Dr. Jill Morris talks about the deeper meaning of dreams
By Gloria Jablonski

Have you ever woken up from a dream but have no idea what it was that you dreaming about? Or have you ever remembered just the tail end or a simple part of the dream? Or even better: have you ever had a nightís sleep where you feel you didnít dream at all?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you are like those who assembled for a dream workshop led by Dr. Jill Morris, a psychoanalyst at the Romany Kramoris Gallery on Main Street in Sag Harbor. Dr. Morris, author of The Dream Workshop, Creative Breakthroughs and Transformational Dreaming, works as a psychotherapist in New York City as well as a lecturer at Cooper Union.

The group has joined Dr. Morris in the working studio below the Gallery, coined in the "Underground Garden," gathered to gain some insight into the mysterious workings of their unconscious minds. And to their surprise, the group found that not only does everyone dream, but that dreams can give directions to their lives.

A few of the attendees found this notion rather puzzling, since so many of their dreams seemed to be random inconsequential pieces thrown together in a jumble. But Dr. Morris reassured them that even though the language in dreams may not be the easiest to decipher, it may contain vital information about hopes, fears and other unconscious elements of the mind.

For example, if a person is faced with an issue in their life that is bothering them, even if they are not aware of it, that subject may be found in their dreams. And if a person has a recurring dream or element in a dream, like some of the participants had, it means that there is still a prior issue that has yet to resolved.

Moreover, the complex language in dreams is multi-layered and can be understood on many levels, having multiple interpretations. But what the workshop group didnít realize was that since the person dreaming is creating everything in the dream, even other people in the dream may be fragments of the dreamer, or the dreamerís unconscious.

In addition, there is a strong connection between dreaming and memory, and creativity may be directly linked to dreams. As Dr. Morris said, "Creative people find their dreams provide the answers." This can be seen in Albert Einstein, who had a dream about sledding down a steep mountainside, going faster and faster until he was moving at the speed of light. After awakening, he mediated and realized that that dream would assist in his Theory of Relativity.

Alias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine was also given an answer from his unconscious through a nightmare. He had created the entire machine, but couldnít figure out where to put the eye in the needle. He went to sleep and dreamt that savages with spears were threatening him, ordering to him to finish his invention. Interestingly enough, in the tips of their spears were eye-shaped holes.

These tales, along with others, can be explained through a theory that says that if a person is working with extreme dedication on a project, their neurological processes continue even when they are sleeping. Itís almost as if their unconscious minds take that sleep time to analyze and reorganize the information that they had been stewing over their waking moments.

The group continued to listen Dr. Morrisís insightful information, asking questions left and right, hoping to find the answers to their own unconscious puzzles. They were told that back in the 1950s, Azarinsky discovered that we all dream four to five times a night (approximately every 90 minutes) by studying eye movements in sleeping babies and REM sleep in adults. Recent follow-up studies have proven that even twenty-week-old fetuses experience REM sleep. And while babies dream about 50 percent of time that they sleep, the older people get, the less time they spend dreaming. An adult dreams about 20 to 25 percent of the time and by the time he or she is 60, itís down to 15 percent. By 70, every person will have spent the equivalent of about six years worth of time dreaming.

The question in the air in the underground garden at the moment quickly became why doesnít everyone find the answers to lifeís problems in dreams? Well, as Dr. Morris explained, some people donít care to remember their dreams. But the more people pay attention, the more they are able to remember. Also, dream diaries can be helpful, even if the writings are simple fragments written in the middle of the night or right after the person wakes up in the morning. Any element can be insightful, no matter how small. Also, there are techniques that you can use that Dr. Morris has included in her book, "The Dream Workshop," that can assist you on your voyage though your unconscious.