I

3

Anthropological Theories of Dreaming

69-93

p. 69

"it was said by traditional Eastern Cree {viz., Naskapi} hunters of Labrador that, "If a man could no longer remember his dreams upon awakening, he could no longer hunt" (Flannery and Chambers 1985:4). Cree hunters, beginning in their teens,

sought to have special spirit visitors appear to them in their dreams and establish a relationship with them.

{This sort of dreaming-process is the rationale for this book's title, Communing With the Gods.}

These visitors would then mediate between the hunter and the animals being hunted. So attention to dreaming

{Such "visitors" [N.B. space-aliens aboard flying saucers are often likewise designated "visitors".] would compell the animals to go to a specific location; and would shew that location to human hunters in their dreaming.}

p. 70

was very important to the Cree, and they considered the loss of dream recall as aberrant."

"The self is the repository of all the archetypes ..., and archeypal imagery such as that found in dreams may be considered ... parts of the self ... ."

{Wrong! The deities are the repositories of their own archetypes, and the scenery found in dreams may be considered as sub-planar correlatives of the those deities.}

"Jeannette Marie Mageo (2003b, 2004, 2006) has brought these versions of the self together in her account of dreaming cross-culturally.

She notes that for many ethnologists, the notion of the self as a unitary whole is fiction (ibid:9; see also Ewing 1990)."

{According to the Bauddha dars`ana (Buddhist philosophy), it is denied that there is an unitary "a-tman" ('self'), and it is affirmed that the supposed evidences usually taken to indicate the existence of a unitary a-tman are actually evidence of, instead, the existence of separate skandha-s ('faculties' of sensing and of thinking) : that we are aware of sensing and of thinking, but are merely conjecturing (and wrongly so) any unity.}

"For Jung, the self is an archetype -- often the archetype of the holistic ..., and may appear in dreams as man[.]d[.]ala[-]s, which symbolize all possible unity ... ." {This is misleading. A man.d.ala is a castle/fortress occupied of a set of deities, who themselves are (FGuLD, p. 162) "Independent beings, ... intelligent, autonomous individuals".}

{As can be appretiated from his then-secret Red Book, the function of the so-called "archetype" is a diluted version of various dream-entities who in his dreams each employed a reflexive designation of "deity" (or aequivalent). This is not practicably "holistic", except in the sharply-limited sense of 'mutual inter-co-operation amongst dream-entities'.}

"the dream-world -- an inner theater of mind (Laughlin, McMannus and d'Aquili 1990:Chap. 8)".

{Not quite! Although theatrical-like behaviour may occur in dreams, the dream-architcture is itself constructed by divine builders (through their planning out such architecture in their own minds); so as to provide, for use by divine dream-actors and by divine dream-actresses, a staged theatrical set-up.}

"Mageo suggests : "The images in dreams ... are projections of patterns left by life ... mediated schemas, which are aptly rendered as ... figures" ([2004]:153)."

{In order to evoke a respectful/reverential attitude on the part of a mortal dreamer, the divine architects designing the dream-scenery imitate its details from whatever the mortal may hold in highest esteem in the waking world.}

"Mageo's approach to dream analysis is analogous to the relations that may exist between myth and ritual drama in some societies (see Turner 1982; Schechner and Turner 1985)."

{Myths (which may repraesent dreams repeatedly experienced by reputable shamans) may be theatrically acted out, with the intent of favorably impressing the actual deities (who may be invisibly viewing the mortals' performance) whose guises are being played by the human actors and actresses.}

"Current neuropsychological research addresses ... mental processes attributed to the brain regarded as a wet computer ... . Research attention is deflected from ... social interaction ... ."

{According to Bodish religious litterature dozens of deities occupy each mortal's brain; and according to Taoist religious litterature vast multitudes of deities occupy each mortal's brain. Such deities control every mortal as if the mortal were the deities' personal robot. Thus, the "social interaction" required in the human brain is among congeries of deiies.}

"it is dreaming that enables the intense conjoint relationships of group living."

{The deities who assemble the dream-scenery do so as a conjoint effort of their divine group.}

"Heijnen (2010) offers the simple example of pregnant women in Iceland who dreamt that an ancestor was passing their {his or her} name on to an unborn child, and this was acted upon."

"Physical reality -- indeed, all thigs in the perceptual world, including people -- are motivated by ... one, vast, cosmic Holy Wind that flows in and out of all things (bii>asti, the "animating energy within"), that underlies and vitalizes the normally hidden totality of the universe. Wind underlies the vitality, dynamics and movement of nature, from the contemplation of which people may attain their intuitions about the purpose of existence. ...

Dreams are the experience of the "wind that stands with" one ... . In dreams one may seek guidance, uncover one's spiritual path, diagnose problems, and communicate with the spirits of other beings and things ... ."

[According to author Ch. D. L., there is ample] "evidence that everyday reality too is but a construct of our brain."

{If the specific "our brain" meant by the author is the material-world one, then the author is claiming that the entire material universe is an artificial construct of a tiny fragment of the same material universe. This is a very gross fallacy in logic, the sort of fallacy rejected by every logician, by every metaphysicist, etc. etc.}

"Might not the distortion of understanding of traditional polyphasic peoples by modern ethnologists derive from their inability to enter the domain of dream life so commonplace among many other peoples?

{In actuality, far from being hampered or hindred from entring the dream-life, ethnologists (alike to everyone else) indeed do entre, every night, that dream-life; but would automatically lose their professorships if they were to acknowledge its non-illusory nature. The author is a retired (emeritus) professor, not susceptible of losing that status.}

And might not dream reality constitute a special experiential domain in which the principle of entelechy {This is the Hellenic term aequivalent to the Latin \actualitat-\ 'actuality' (as distinguished from potentiality).} operates to make

the normally invisible forces in the world

{Such "normally invisible forces" are, of course, the deities-and-divinities controlling the material universe and its events. To label them "forces" is to evade the facts.}

visible, alive and interactive ...?"

{What are "visible, alive and interactive" are, of course, the deities witnessed in dreaming.}

"everyone knows the experience of looking into the clouds and seeing faces ... . ... The figure is called a simulacrum ... ." {The regular Hellenic term for such imagery is \par[a]-eidoleion\ : "The Man in the Moon, faces seen in clouds ... are all examples of pareidolia." (SEM&F, s.v. "Ghosts and Hauntings", p. 196a).}

{The usual Latin meanings of this Latin word \simulacrum\ are 'image, effigy; semblance (\eidolon\ in Hellenic) seen in a dream; phantom'.} {The Eddic name \SIMUL\ of the carrying-bar of Hjuki and Bil (waxing and waning of moon, respectively) is cognate.}

"According to Devereux, ... "the illusory image of a face ... or other shape or form seen in the ... configurations of clouds, ... the cracks, crevices and projections of a rock face, or other surface (2000, p. 157; see also Michell 1979 for a cross-cultural compendium ...)."

{These mental figures are likely to be derivatives of archetypes in the collective consciousness, somehow praeternaturally mediated : thus effectively proving the existence and praedominance of deities.}

"simulacra ... by way of ... producing dreams ... could accrue the power to actually evoke elements of the cosmology ..., normally invisible power grids and lines ... . ...

{The landscape's network of invisible ley-lines is a connectivity between material and subtle worlds. Just as the connection between material and subtle bodies is known as the aetheric body, so likewise the connection between material and subtle planes is to be known as the aitheric plane.}

Moreover, perception of the naturally occurring features could possibly index ... and have given rise to ... some significant (perhaps even causal) connection between multiple realities.

{This sort of perception might evoke causalities mediated through the aitheric plane.}

This might well have lead {read "led"} to the first pilgrimages in which natural features became associated with [praeternaturally] powerful entities and events that occurred in mythic times ... ."

"the projection of Freudian notions by Western analysts upon ... the dreams of traditional peoples (Mageo 2003a; see also Kilborne 1981:180, 1992; Foulkes 1985) ... fail ... to respect the native's own explanations and local theories of dreaming (Irwin 1994:11; Wax 2004; Harris 2009:9).

I am not saying that there may not be latent content to native dreams -- there almost certainly is ... ."

{The "latent content" praesumed in "the native's own explanations ... of dreaming" will typically be found in term of local mythology.}

"To remain empirically authentic, all dream research among traditional peoples should begin with the dream experience itself (see Tedlock 1981; Irwin 1994:5; Stephen 1995 ...), which after all is intrinsically coherent and meaningful (Irwin 1994:15), and then proceed to elicit the native ... dream sharing, local dream theories and uses ... ."

p. 88

"Ethnographer ... Waud Kracke has developed ... interviews with informants among the Kagwahiv people of Amazonia ([1979], 1992 ...). In these interviews ..., Kracke was able to elicit dreams within the context of a thorough background in the local cosmology and dream culture."

p. 89

"the Kagwahiv are organized patrilineally with totemic patrimoieties, and ... they ... take a great interest in their dreams, often sharing them, especially with their healers."

"As Heijnen and Edgar (2010:219) note, "... anthropologists are confronted with dream theories whereby dreams are interpreted as gateways to other temporal and spatial realms ... . ...""

{Not only are the gateways to other spatial realms witnessed in dreaming, but also those very gateways may be visibly and palpably entred in such veridical dreamings.}

So-called "postmodern anthropology" must be (according to the author) such that it "by its very nature, requires the eventual development of a science of universal structures {N.B. A "universal structure" suitable for one plane-of-existence may be useless for other planes and sub-planes.} and properties capable of explaining the apparent diversity of cultural forms. {N.B. This diversity is not merely "cultural", but is derived from incompatibilities among planes-of-existence.} ... anthropology ... continues on as a naturalistic enterprise analogous to biology ... and chemistry ... ."

{The anthropology of religion is able to research such a wide variety of systems simply because it is wary restricting itself to the limitations of any single system. The "biology" and "chemistry" whereto the author (Ch. D. L.) is alluding are restricted to a single plane-of-existence, to wit, the material plane; whereas the congeries of religious systems being explored in anthropology belong to various planes and sub-planes, so that no single scheme analogous to material-universe "biology" or "chemistry" could ever suffice to characterize the vast diversity of such religious systems.}

"see Barbara Tedlock's 1991 diatribe against the kind of dream research done by comparativists like Hall and Domhoff ... 1963b, 1964, Domhoff 1996 and Hall and Van de Castle 1996."

"as virtually all epistemologies among the world's cultures will attest, most causations is invisible -- hidden from direct perception."

"the influence of anti-scientific dogmas {the correct plural is \dogmata\} ("postmodernism")

{The highly artificial scientism advocated by the author (Ch. D. L) is a worthless delusion; whereas the "postmodernism" referred to by the author actually is renowned for (far from imposing any dogma!) eschewing all dogmata.}

has had a dampening effect upon theory-building and comparative research in ethnology generally,

{Irrelevant! The dampening effect was already produced by the rigid 19th-century schemes for interpretation of religion (such as, by James Frazer in his Golden Bough), which were afterwards demonstrated to be of scant applicability.}

and ethnographic dream research in particular."

{The only "ethnographic dream research" of any profound significance hath been into the dreaming by shamans (of tribes in Siberia and in North America), and sparsity of progress here is mainly due to the inhaerently recondite nature of the field.}