Computers and Dreams
Because of the ease with which computers can file, sort, cross reference and present information, a great deal of work has been done in analysing the content of thousands of dreams. See: The Content Analysis of Dreams; Biography of Calvin Hall; Hall, Calvin.
As computers are an everyday part of many homes, we can easily use them to gain insight into our own dreams. Two areas of helpfulness are:-
We can enter many dreams, then with a program such as dtSearch, can easily scan through them to see the frequency of dream themes. We can also easily find dreams in even a massive collection. The software Isys allows notes to be added to any part of an existing record. Also one can link one section of the dream record with another section. dtSearch address is – http://www.dtsearch.com – Isys is http://www.isys-search.com
Although not as powerful as Isys or dtSearch, most modern word processors have a word search facility which easily locates words or phrases. Thus one can easily look back over past dreams to find where a particular symbol occurred, and what you said about it at the time. This approach to dreams – self insight through a series of dreams – is explained by Hall in The Meaning of Dreams. Important issues in our life and development occur as frequent dream themes, and are easily seen using a computer. See: series of dreams.
The program Alchera (http://mythwell.com) is a specialised one for recording and gaining insight into you dreams. It has ready made comments on dream symbols, much as this book does. But it is possible, for instance, to dream of a tree, write one’s associations with the dream image. If you then dreamt of a tree six months later and entered this, the program instantly reminds you of the past reference to tree and can display it. Gradually a reference base of your own dreams and comments can be built up and quickly scanned. Such comparisons help us to form a personality profile of oneself or others.
One of the best ways to gain help from your dreams is to keep a journal. See: journal.