research essay

Argumentative Assignment

yifei wang

160 Convent Ave, 

New York, NY 10031
29 October 2019

The staff member of FDA Consumer

27500, Drake Road
Farmington Hills,
Michigan

Dear recipient:

I’m Yifei Wang, a student of the City College of New York. I’m interested in the dieting topic and I have seen your article, “More People Trying Vegetarian Diets”, which was published in the book of “Medicine, Health, and Bioethics: Essential Primary Sources.” As a person who was born in the twenty-first century, we care about issues such as overweight, fat, nutrition this concern shows a different focus shift from the last hundred years. I agree with the article in the book about vegetarian diets that are effective ways to accomplish the goal of being healthy. However, I have different thoughts on vegetarian diets. The well balanced meal is healthier for our body than vegetarian diets.

The reason I write this letter to you is I want to provide other facts to your article. A lot of people are trying to diet but do not know what should they eats. Your article provides great knowledge to vegetarian diets, but the article is missing the part of the disadvantage of vegetarian diets. Diet is not just about how much calorie should be limited but also is about using diet as a tool to provides the healthier nutrient. And a comprehensive with information about vegetarian diets is more persuasive than the article which is only showing the good side.

Dieting is a big subject, but first question pop in my mind is do we really need to diet? In this society that each of us is under our own stress. The stress from others’ expectation, the stress of others’ judgements, the stress of being a good person in all different aspects. These tiring emotions push us into an unfamiliar area that we typically do not wish to try it. I’m pretty sure that we are all heard about someone loose ten pounds weight but that person gains more than ten pounds after dieting. This situation is caused by the confusion of the concept of being skinny and being on diet. Behind the good-looking body is a healthy life style that a person maintain their whole life. Once the person reaches his/her goal, the person gives up the diet and for a short period of time, that person’s weight would bounce back to the weight lost. This kind of model is called yo-yo dieting. According to a study in South Korea, “All told, people whose weight fluctuated most dramatically between appointments (and who experienced related swings in blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar) were 127 percent more likely to die during the study period, as well as 43 percent more likely to have a heart attack and 41 percent more likely to have a stroke” (New York Post, p. 051). Thus, I believe diet is a tool to reach our health goal instead of being the health goal.

Human are animals, we can’t resist the biological factor. Vegetarian diets can be considered as a diet which is an effectively way to reduce weight and also build in metabolism (Taylor & Francis). The fiber of vegetable can reduce the risk of cancer, “A diet high in fiber and yogurt is associated with a reduced risk for lung cancer, according to a study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers published in JAMA Oncology” (Vanderbilt University Medical Center). But all these studies relate vegetarian diets with low calorie. In biological aspect, the low-calorie diets can cause the hypothalamus of our brain release hunger signals which would made us hungrier. When we get the food, eat become a reward which encourage us to eat more. (Guisinger, Shan). In short term vegetarian diets would made us loose more weight than other method of diets but it would gains the desire of eating in long term. In Taylor and Francis’ study, they claimed vegetarian diets can improve metabolism. But when we only eat vegetables, our digest system would slow down. The reason caused this slowly digest system is when we were starving the digest system would remain the food in our stomach longer for extracts the nutrients from food and for fat storage (Guisinger, Shan). Even we conquer the unpleasant flavor of vegetables but our body’s reaction to diet is opposite to our health goal. In some extreme case, someone would restricts the amount of calorie in diets for loose weight in a short period of time. The disadvantage of this extreme case is greater than its advantage. “All the human eating disorders can be triggered in rats by restricting calories. If starved or if food is limited to one hour a day rats spontaneously develop anorexia behaviors where they ignore their food to run on a wheel. … … Gorging, which is part of bulimia and binge eating disorder is a normal response to starvation” (Guisinger, Shan). Cause by the biological factor, vegetarian diets is a more challenging way for loose weight.

Vegetarian diets are a burden to us or a highway toward the goal of being healthy? Dieting is a big challenge, I have asking the people around me, vegetarian diets is not the first choice as their response. The bitter taste of vegetables is the nightmare of my childhood, I would rather take the risk of getting heart disease than only eat vegetables every day. Your article has mention that “with a plant-based daily diet, eating a variety of foods and sufficient calories for energy needs will help ensure adequate intakes of calcium, iron and zinc” (K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, pp. 416-420). Because vegetarian diets only consider vegetables as the main source of daily nutrition, people need to spend more attention on build the knowledge of the nutrition of vegetables for have a balanced meal. People spending time on family, friends, personal relationship, job, school, so on. And now we need to split a little more time or money for learning the nutrition knowledge. I suppose only few of us can done these tasks perfectly. So, why do we give a harder task to ourself and let the “skinny looking” goal even further from us. 

Eating moderate amount of red meat is good for health. In your article, “‘Some may choose to eliminate red meat but continue to eat fish and poultry occasionally, and such a diet is also to be encouraged,’ said Jack Zeev Yetiv, M.D., Ph.D” (K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, pp. 416-420). However, according to a recent study by University of Nottingham that having a little amount of red meat would reduce the amount of LDL cholesterol in the blood which is the one of the reasons that can cause heart disease (University of Nottingham). When people are talking the pros and cons of vegetables and meat, the stereotype would come up first, meat is harmful to people’s health and vegetables improve people’s body condition. But the article on Medical New Today would break the stereotype. Red meat is contains the nutrition of vitamin and iron which can be used for synthesize red blood cell. Usually only taking vegetables are lack of vitamin B-12 and meat is the main source of vitamin B-12. Taking moderate unprocessed meat would prevent B-12 deficiency anemia (Berry, Jennifer, Medical News Today). These facts remind us that both diet menu which is only eat meat or only eat vegetable are not helping people become more health or loose weight.

The health diets include vegetarian diets are released more green gas than we thought. The opinion of eating vegetable has small effect to the earth of your article, “Some believe it’s a better use of the earth’s resources to eat low on the food chain—that is, to eat plant foods, rather than the animals that eat the plant foods. ” (K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, pp. 416-420, pp. 416-420). Nowadays, the green gas is reaches to the highest record compare with history record—412 in parts per million, according to NASA. Another study indicates “‘Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon,’ said Paul Fischbeck, professor of social and decisions sciences and engineering and public policy” (Carnegie Mellon University). Does this study means we should eat meat instead of vegetables? However, the carbon dioxide was emitted by cattle is another main source of green gas. Consider the efficiency in terms of land use, “The reason is that fruits, vegetables and grains must be grown on high-quality cropland, he explained. Meat and dairy products from ruminant animals are supported by lower quality, but more widely available, land that can support pasture and hay” (Cornell University). Combine these facts, the using proportion of land is the key point. My opinion to environment issue is as long as the modern civilization exist, the environment issue can never be solved. But all we can do is minimized the effect of human activity.

Diets involving many factors and our diet not just affects ourself but also others. Sometimes people confused their main purpose of being health and be on diet, the vegetarian diets are stressful to us because we need to consider taking balanced nutrition from vegetables. Even we overcomes these stressful situations, our body would slow down digest system for “survival”. Red meat is not bad as we thought. In the environment protection aspect, produced red meat is efficiency than vegetables in term use of land. And eat a little meat is good for people’s body. Thanks for reading this letter, I wish these facts can be mention in your article for knowledge the public.

Sincerely,

Yifei Wang

Reference

Berry, Jennifer. “Is Red Meat Bad for You? Benefits, Risks, Research, and Guidelines.” Medical   News Today, MediLexicon International,                            https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326156.php.

Carnegie Mellon University. “Vegetarian and ‘healthy’ diets could be more harmful to the environment, researchers say: Eating lettuce is ‘over three times worse’ in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 December 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151214130727.htm>.

Cornell University. “Diet With A Little Meat Uses Less Land Than Many Vegetarian Diets.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 October 2007. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071008130203.htm>.

Guisinger, Shan. “Low-Calorie Diets Create Health Problems.” Can Diets Be Harmful?, edited by Amy Francis, Greenhaven Press, 2016. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/EJ3010463237/OVIC?                   u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=19dd30b6. Accessed 27 Oct. 2019. Originally published as        “Dangers of Dieting a Body Adapted to Famine,”, Mar. 2012.

Health & Fitness The dangers of yo-yo dieting.” New York Post [New York, NY], 9 Oct. 2018,  p. 051. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-com.ccny-      proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A557433409/OVIC     u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=88080868. Accessed 26 Oct. 2019.

“More People Trying Vegetarian Diets.” Medicine, Health, and Bioethics: Essential Primary Sources, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, pp. 416-420, Gale, 2006, pp. 416-420. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3456500157/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=0b6591f0. Accessed 27 Oct. 2019.

Taylor & Francis. “Vegetarian diets almost twice as effective in reducing body weight, study       finds.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 June 2017.     <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170612094458.htm>.

University of Nottingham. “You do not have to go cold turkey on red meat to see health benefits.”   ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 September 2019.            <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190930101521.htm>.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “High fiber, yogurt diet associated with lower lung cancer     risk.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 October 2019.     <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191025113010.htm>.

The Education Complex

yifei wang

Through the twenty first century, education has been a hot topic. Everyone has their own understanding of education. The concept of education is affected by their culture. In my opinion, education is a process which combines learning behavior and logical thinking. If education is missing any of these conditions then it is not complete for a person.

     Back in the sixteenth century, the meaning of education was different from now, the Etymology Dictionary gives the definition of education as, “1530s, ‘child-rearing,’ also ‘the training of animals,’ from Middle French education (14c.) and directly from Latin educationem (nominative educatio) ‘a rearing, training,’ noun of action from past-participle stem of educare (see educate). Originally of instruction in social codes and manners; meaning ‘systematic schooling and training for work’ is from 1610s” (Online Etymology Dictionary). Eventually the definition on the Dictionary Website of Education became the well-known definition of today, “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life” (Dictionary). However, society is only focusing on the first half of the sentence. This is an inevitable result. Because a person’s intelligence can be presents as number through test. A person’s idea, moral view, and world view are hard to be measured. When people ate exchanging their opinions to each other, there is no absolute right or wrong. We have different opinions with each other instead of having an “A plus” opinion or “F” opinion. The meaning of education to society is similar with the meaning in the Sixteenth century. Society does not pay attention on “generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life” (Dictionary). 

     The understanding of education at different societal roles causes conflicts between nation and individuals. Our former president Obama’s, opinion on education was, “What you make your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you … … don’t ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country” (Barack Obama). The development of a nation needs education but the attention on each subject are uneven. The nation needs elites of math for space exploration, the elites of biology for the cure to cancer, the elites of architecture to improve city planning, and so on. The expectation of the government towards education is having as many people educated as possible. Thus, they are care about the quantity. Ken Robinson, an educationalist from Britain, has given a speech on Ted Talk, “One effect of ‘no child left behind’ has been narrow the focus onto the so-called STEM disciplines … … A real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, and to physical education” (Ken Robinson). To a country, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) disciplines are necessary for the development of a society. But for individuals, the importance of STEM disciplines’ is less than the country considers. Because not everyone is good at math, science, chemistry, etc. The focus on STEM disciplines would limit personal growth. Robinson said, “and one of the roles of education is to awaken and develop these powers of creativity” (Ken Robinson). For individuals, the education is about the quality. My thoughts about education are similar with Robison, a nation is constructed by people; the improvement of a nation also must be made by people. So, a government should leave the space on education for the creativity of people.

     In society, education is more focused on intelligence tests than the “inner part” education. This situation would make people confused that moral education and the way of thinking is less important than the test result. Education is important to a society in general, but what is the meaning of education for individual? I question myself, what is the meaning of being a college student? The answer is get a nice job when I graduate. A nice job relates to a high salary. High salary relates to a well-being of life. Eventually, education relates with material life. As the result, the education is done when people get a job. A person would most likely not be willing to read a book after graduating from school, so that his/her “data base” is not updated. This is why some people of the previous generation have outdated thoughts. People are trying so hard to get rid of the burden of education, because the “education” will not fulfill the hollowness of their heart. They cannot see the importance of education to them.

     Education taught people how we can find the solution to solve the problems. Education links to thinking. Determining what is right and what is wrong are important, but how do we judge the right and wrong? The hollowness which stays in people’s heart is one of the results of the lack of thinking. Doing things without thinking why, leads us into the maze of life. The people in the maze often say “I cannot find the purpose of life.” The book, Analects of Confucius has wrote about, “The Master said: ‘To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.’” (Confucius). Learning without thinking would lead to confusion and misunderstanding eventually. People cannot determine the right and wrong by their own logic to other’s opinions. We would follow whatever the book said. This situation is still happening now. It is like solving a math problem. The formula is given but the student still cannot correctly use the formula on the test. Thinking without learning would lead to the end of nothing. A person is thoughtful but has no knowledge to support his/her idea, the thinking would tire out the person and that person would be stuck on the problem that is too hard to solve. For example, a three years old kid question himself why is the sky is blue, he may give the answer like an elfin painted the sky in blue or cannot give an answer. Without learning the concept of scattering and the wave length of light, the kid would stuck at this question for a long time.

     Education is not just about learning knowledge but also about moral education. Plato, the famous philosopher of ancient Greece, talks about education in a different angle, “And all knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom” (Plato, Menexenus, p. 196). How does a person get his wisdom? The wisdom comes from two parts; one is what are people born with, another one is through what they gain from education. But the education without a clear moral view, is failed. At the same time, moral education is also hard to control. The moral view of a person is affected by the accumulation of the person’s culture, family, friends’ effects. Morals are hard to be explained, moral education requires that the teacher and the parents have good explanation skills and knowledge. How could we answer the question of why should we be nice to each other? Why should we not cheat on test? Why should we not do whatever we want? Unfortunately, the failure of moral education may lead to serious issues. An example of recent event represents that issue. On June ninth, 2017, Yingying Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar student was kidnapped and murdered by Brendt Allen Christensen, who is a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The University of Illinois is one of the Public Ivies. How should we blame for a graduate student who is from a top college of America to commit this crime? The education of the United States is not totally failing but the moral education of the murderer, Brendt Allen Christensen, has totally failed. 

     Education is needed even if it does not work on everybody. I have heard people said “college degree is useless.” Because the most supportive evidence of them is some famous people drop at of college and they have a successful career. However, society is improving quickly. More and more jobs needs college degree. I want to emphasis that, without a college degree, it does not mean you cannot have a nice job, but instead, you need to work even harder for a higher position in the firm, than those who have college degree. Mark Zuckerberg dropped out the college for his Facebook business. The key point is he drop out from Harvard, and then after starting his business. He has learned the knowledge and personal discipline from the education and also has the ability to solve the challenge and keep the discipline for his Facebook career. When Mark Zuckerberg answered the question about “Is Bachelor’s degree necessary for success?” He answered, “I did not choose to leave, I just happen to build Facebook and it kind of made me leave … … I wish I could stayed in college.” The experience from others became the excuse for someone to escape the stress from school. Steve Jobs had the same situation, “The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and being dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting” (Steve Jobs). He did not totally drop out from the education, rather he dropped out from the building that was called college.

     The meaning of education to me is not just being in school but also about personal growth. The book, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails inspires me a lot. I was struggling with my life but the opinion from the book said do not find the excuses for yourself. Human have the potential to make change even if the culture, race, or language are obstacles. Education is a window for you to see the outside world and also is a brick which not only breaks the wall that is builds inaccurate of the castle of your mind but also builds up the base of your mind castle. Even though the education of America does not fit the situation of everyone, we do need the education for solving the problems of our life and providing as a chance to be successful.

                            works cited page 

Confucius. “Analects of Confucius.” Translated by A. Charles Muller, Analects of Confucius, http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html#div-3.

“Education (n.).” Index, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/education#etymonline_v_29710.

“Education.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/education?s=t.

Plato, speech of Aspasia, recounted by Socrates, Menexenus 246e, Plato: The Collected Dialogues (1961), p. 196.

President Obama’s Message for America’s Students, YouTube, 8 Sept. 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZ6GrzWkw0.

Robinson, Sir Ken. “How to Escape Education’s Death Valley | Sir Ken Robinson.” YouTube, Ted, 10 May 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc&t=292s.

Student Ask Mark Zuckerberg “Is Bachelor’s Degree Necessary for Success ?”, YouTube, 13 Mar. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXF_yLYa8j8.

Why I Dropped Out of College | Steve Jobs, YouTube, 21 Nov. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjxhenAHyGk.

Reflection paper

yifei wang

During this semester, I have writing some essays. Writing the topic that I have interest in is an enjoyment even its need me put a lot of time on my paper. I research about how to write research paper, those website gives some points. Outline is important because it helps me to organized my paper, I have changed my outline a few times, each time the outline makes the central idea more clearly. For me the hardest part is how to connect the main idea with the research I did. Dream interpretation is an interesting topic, I can find a thousand of the resources but pick the article which is connect with my paper topic is difficult. Some resources are talking about dreams but not strongly connect with my topic and at some paragraphs which is not related with my topic. Thus, I got a short cut. Some articles have conclusion subtitle, take a look at the conclusion subtitle would save my time. At the same time, because most of the articles are academic paper, so they are not understand easily. Some paper I need to spend a day to read and understand the meaning. Especially the psychology paper, I was trying to conclude some idea which I know nothing about. I can’t conclude something that I don’t understand and my paper would lose logic. But luckily the paper gives some examples to highlight the ideas. Most of the information is compact as one article. What I’m doing is highlight the important ideas and examples from the articles. Next, put out the ideas that are relate with my topic. Because there has a large amount of ideas, thus I can’t conclude all the ideas into my paper. It is hard to select one or two ideas and demonstrate with details. The things that makes me enjoy is I have learnt about the dream during this assignment. Several days ago, I have used the method of interpretation dream to interpret my dream. I know why this idea is in my unconscious mind. The second thing that I concern about is grammar. I’m not good at grammar, so I go to the writing center which is helps me a lot. During the tutoring, my paper was correct and I have learnt some grammar. To improve my grammar needs a lot of practice and it’s a long term result. For solve this problem i need to visit writing center multiple times. Another thing that I learn from the writing center is the research paper needs a reference page not a foot note. The citation also has its own format. My tutor told me its better have more citation than less citation and I need to cite the idea which is not common sense, even the summarized needs the citation. Each paragraph’s subtitle is makes me suffer. Because I was trying to come up a sentence to conclude my points, it takes a while but I finished. 

Interpretation of dreams (research essay)

yifei wang

I. Introduction

           When I was a kid, someday I have told a dream to my grandma and her reaction about my dream is “oh, that is a bad sign. I need to put a scissors under your pillow.” At this semester, I’m taking psychology class and the professor said the dream are the wishes, memories of people. Thus, I’m wondering what is the difference and similarity of interpret a dream in different aspects. This essay will talk about how a culture interprets dreams though its specifies and how does a psychologist interpret a dream. The similarity and difference of how a culture relate message from the dream to spirits and in psychology area interpret a message in unconscious mind aspect.

II. Similarity

    2.1 Enlightenment from the god.

         Throughout the research I did, a lot of cultures believed dreams are connected with gods. In dream, they can communicate with their gods, some spirits, and their ancestors. They believed they can get the answer from the gods when they are confused or struggle with some problems. In an interesting aspect of Chinese theory, every individual has double soul which combines as one soul. First one is called “po” which controls the functions of life and is attached with body. It leaves and goes and back to the earth when the person dies. Second one is called “hun” which governs the functions of reason and goes to heaven after the person’s death and retains that person’s physical appearance. The dream happens when the connection between body and soul disconnects. People are alive because the soul stays inside the body, in other words, if the soul leaves the body, the person would dead. However, when the soul leaves the body in a short term, it wouldn’t cause death but cause theswoons, trances, and dreams. B. Laufer (1931) says, it said “The soul separates from the body and enters into communication with spirits; it may freely interview the souls of the departed or have speech with the gods. At the end of the dream the soul returns to the body.”

Mayan culture talks about the god and dream as well. They believe dream can be interpreted by divinatory, calendrical, mythological, and other cultural codes. In Mayan dream theory, dreams contain the message from god. God will give the direction when the dreamers struggles. Tedlock ,B (1981) says,  “The interpreters of momostenango called ajk’ij “day [sun or time] keeper”, they practice as calendrical diviners”.  And those day keepers link the omen with specific day on which it appeares. Nawal is the part of self which would leave when people are dreaming and meet others nawal. As same as the Chinese theory of dream, Mayans think the soul is “lightning” which is a kind of soul which enables them to receive messages from the external world (both natural and supernatural) within their bodies of the people who are born in particular day. The “lightning” only moves inside the blood, tissue and muscles of a person and wouldn’t leave unless the person is dead, which has the same concept of dream (Tedlock ,B, 1981).

Greek culture also mentions about the message from the god. “Alexander saw in a dream Heracles offering him his right hand from the wall and calling.” (King, C. 2013).

2.2 The message from unconscious mind.

Freud proposed a theory about human psychological structure module which is 3 parts of human mental life, id, superego, and ego.  Id implements pleasure first principle. Superego is the “control center”, it controls what should we do or not. Ego is balanced the id and superego and depends on particular situation that we are involve. For example, right now I’m writing my research paper and at the same time, I want to watch some Youtube videos (that is id). But the research paper is important than Youtube (superego says no). Thus, I watch some vides when I’m finish a page of the research paper (ego make the balance between id and superego). The wishes which was repressed by superego are went to our unconscious mind.

According to Freud’s theory of dreams, a dream is a box which fulfillment of a repressed wish in disguised form. Those repressed wishes are stay in unconscious area. Thus, most of time people dreaming about something happened is what they wish to happen. Freud and Jung both agree that dreams are a façade for the preservation of sleep and represent the “guardian of sleep” (Jones, E. 1910). Dream are distorted and disguised expression, Freud concluded phenomenal which could distort the dream (Jones, E. 1910). (1) Condensation is a figure in a dream may be constituted by fusion of traits belonging to more than one actual person is then called a “collective person” (Sammelperson) (Jones, E. 1910). (2) Displacement is one idea or symbol was displaced by other idea or symbol. E.g. “I recently dreamt that I was travelling in Italy on my way to the next Freudian Congress (which is to be held in March). On looking at my railway ticket I found it was for  Lugaro. In reality I know of no place of that name, but I have pleasant memories of the charming Italian resort Lugano. In the dream I had replaced the n by the letter r.” (Jones, E. 1910).

Jung agrees with Freud’s idea of dreams. A dream is represents unconscious mind. Jung also gives a theory about dream, the compensatory theory (Zhu, C. 2013). The compensatory theory can be expressed in 3 different possibilities: (1) Opposites: the dream is reverse of what you think unconsciously. E.g. Jung dreaming about he had to look up at the woman which is Jung’s patient and is an intelligent woman. Jung interpret he probably been looking down on her both intellectually and morally. as according to Jung, “dreams are, after all, compensations for the conscious attitude” (Zhu, C. 2013). (2) Satisfaction with slight modifications is the solution of dream which balance the repress wish and reality (Zhu, C. 2013). (3) Parallels or coincidences is dream of coincides with what happens in conscious life (Zhu, C. 2013).

Those interpretations of dreams are based on personal experience and can be interpreted in a million ways.

2.3 Unconscious, the place that “god” living.

In culture aspect, dream can deliver the message from the god and in one of Freud’s theory of dreams, he mentions dreams are contain repress wishes. Thus, the dream demonstrates the message which is unacceptable for us. Also, one of the phenomenon of a dream is displacement. So, in my opinion, the god is the symbol which is in a distortion dream of the repress wish. In psychology study area, there are diverse angles can interpret a dream. A psychologist interprets a dream based on the patient’s circumstance, a diviner interprets a person’s dream based on their culture. Those facts show interpreting a dream is a subjective logic. Egyptians interpret a dream based on punning, or verbal connections between similar words “the words for “donkey” and “great” were homonyms, therefore a dream about eating donkey meat meant good luck.” (Stratos, A. n.d.).

III. Difference

    3.1 Dream books know you better

In many different cultures, people interpret dreams by using reference book. It’s fixed and unchanged, and each symbol are represents particular meaning. In Islamic-Iranian culture the books of dream interpretation Kamelo Tabiir (Teflisi 1992), written in Persian in 1164 AD by Abolfazl Kamaladdin Habishe Ebne Ebrahim Ben Mohhammad Teflisi (1105–1205 AD) is based on the spiritual and religious tradition of Islamic culture. There are some examples from the book. “diːg – dær xɑːb kædbɑːnuje xɑːne ʔæst (‘pot – pot in dream is the maid of the home’).” (Rahman Veisi Hasar. 2017). In this example, the pot represents the maid of the home. Because the book was written in 1164 AD, so in that period, the woman probably is a housewife or a female slave. They are responsible for washing clothes and work in the kitchen. “ʔesfenɑːdʒ – ʔægær dær xɑːb ʔesfenɑːdʒ binæd dælil bær ɣæmo ʔænduːh ʔæst (‘spinach – seeing spinach in a dream signifies grief and sadness’).” (Rahman Veisi Hasar. 2017)

Babylonia has the same form of reference that interprets dream as well, called the dream table. On the table “If he gaze toward the right his adversary will die. If he gaze toward the left his adversary will overcome him. If he look backward he will not attain his desire.” (Langdon,.Stephen, 2019). Babylonia interprets dreams by astrology and liver divination,

In Egyptian culture, they have a dream book papyrus. The book is focus on the culture of Egyptian. Here is the example, “if a man sees himself in a dream – dead good omen, meaning long life. Eating crocodile flesh good omen, meaning he will become a village official. Bringing in cattle good omen, dreamer will evangelize the spirit of the community.” (Stratos, A. n.d.)

In those examples, everyone can interpret dreams by dream books, even they are not knowledge about divination.

3.2 How does a psychologist interpret a dream?

Psychologist interprets a dream through the experiences of the person. Freud stands the dreams are related with the dreamer’s waking life. (Means, John R., Palmatier, Jay R., Wilson, Gregory L., Hickey, J. Scott, Hess-Homeier, M. Joan, Hickey, C. Sue, & Freedheim, Donald K. 1986). Some interesting facts was proposed in psychology area, dreams are select certain memories and use the memories constitute a dream. A psychologist interprets a dream through several steps. 

First, garnering/Examining All Dream Images. This step is require the therapist record the patients’ dream images and details. Second, Clarification of Affective and Kinesthetic Components. The patient needs to provide much more details of the dream and claim the feelings when the scenes of the dream changed. “The general goal of this second task is to identify and then organize the sequence of feelings, actions, and experiences in the dream. The organized pattern of emotional and behavioral sequences serves as a “road map” to be followed during the revivification process.” (Means, John R., Palmatier, Jay R., Wilson, Gregory L., Hickey, J. Scott, Hess-Homeier, M. Joan, Hickey, C. Sue, & Freedheim, Donald K. 1986) Third, Revivification. In this step the therapist needs to relax the patient. Once the patient is relaxed, the therapist leads the patient relive the dream. When the patient’s feeling is emerged, the therapist needs relate the experiences of the patient with the feeling of the dream scenes. “In addition, as central feelings/thoughts are highlighted, the therapist may “bridge” these experiences to other times or places by asking if the client has experienced similar sensations previously.” (Means, John R., Palmatier, Jay R., Wilson, Gregory L., Hickey, J. Scott, Hess-Homeier, M. Joan, Hickey, C. Sue, & Freedheim, Donald K. 1986) Fourth, Integration. The therapist asks the patient’s current life situation and question the patient about the feeling are connect with his/her current life.  “Once the dream has been revivified, the remaining task is to relate the dream to the client’s real-life experiences and to decide whether the dream points to a desirable change in behavior.” (Means, John R., Palmatier, Jay R., Wilson, Gregory L., Hickey, J. Scott, Hess-Homeier, M. Joan, Hickey, C. Sue, & Freedheim, Donald K. 1986)

Zhu, C. (2013) says, “The dynamics of the analyst and the analysand, rather than any preconceived theory, thus determine much of the process of dream interpretation.” The hardest part to therapist is prevent to put therapists’ opinion on patient’s dreams. That would affect the accuracy of interpretation. Jung insist on dream interpretation has a million ways possibilities, those possibilities are related with that person’s personality and current situation. “Its character is always closely bound with the whole nature of the individual. The possibilities of compensation are without number and inexhaustible, though with increasing experience certain basic features gradually crystallize out ([4], para. 490).” (Zhu, C. 2013)

 3.3 The difference between a psychologist and a diviner.

The most parts of psychology of interpret a dream is different with culture aspects. What I think is even in nowadays, people are living with their own culture for thousand years and psychology have shorter history than cultures. People didn’t realize the unconscious mind was governed their dreams. Divination is easier controlled and be aware than unconscious mind. Based on previous example, culturally interpret a dream are according to their dream books, this is unchanged and everyone can interpret their own dreams. However, a psychologist interprets a dream need a lot of factor to interpret a dream and avoid make prejudge to patients’ dream. The psychology needs be educated psychology knowledge.

3.4 Dream is a practice for dangerous situation.

In dream interpretation topic, a third opinion about the dreams were emerged. Biology field believe dreams are some random noise which produced at REM sleep stage. In cognitive neuroscience field, dreams has no meaning. (Revonsuo, A. 2000) Dream has functional meaning in process of memory.  “Hobson (1994) has suggested that REM- dreaming might have a function in memory processing, and he specifically regards the rehearsal of motor programs as a possible function of dreaming during REM sleep.” (Revonsuo, A. 2000) and deal with our emotional problems. (Revonsuo, A. 2000) Biology field believe dreams are focus on simulate dangerous situation and reduce survival cost. “Emotions are evolved adaptations that increase the ability to respond appropriately in adaptively important situations. Negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, and panic, can be seen as adaptive responses that increase fit- ness in dangerous situations threatening a loss of reproductive resources (Marks & Nesse 1994).” (Revonsuo, A. 2000) Dream can help the brain build neural connection especially in visual part. (Carey, Benedict. 2009)

IV. Conclusion

Dream is a fantastic experience that everyone has. Culture and psychology have the same points on interpretation of dream. They both trying to figure out the message from the dream and gives inspiration to our problems. The difference is in culture aspect, the interpretation of dream is based on dream book and changeless. Psychology interpret a dream is based on individual’s past experiences and has a thousand ways to interpret. I believe we should interpret dreams in psychology angle, because the culture interpretation is not accurate as psychology interpretation. Sometimes we should question ourselves. What I’m thinking? Why I’m thinking in this way? How does the ideas will help me when I’m a particular circumstance?

References

Zhu, C. (2013). Jung on the nature and interpretation of dreams: A developmental delineation with cognitive neuroscientific responses. Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 3(4), 662-675.

Means, John R., Palmatier, Jay R., Wilson, Gregory L., Hickey, J. Scott, Hess-Homeier, M. Joan, Hickey, C. Sue, & Freedheim, Donald K. (1986). DREAM INTERPRETATION. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 23(3), 448-452.

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Carey, Benedict. “A Dream Interpretation: Tuneups for the Brain.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Nov. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/health/10mind.html?searchResultPosition=1.

Revonsuo, A. (2000). The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23(6), 877-901.