Topic: Dreams about Death
Organization: Topically
Specific Purpose: To have the audience understand reasons behind dreams of dying and death.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Attention getter: Can you remember a dream you had where you died? What about a loved one? A child? A complete stranger? These dreams can be terrifying, but what if I told you that these dreams were actually the key to life and not death?
B. Relevance: Everyone dreams, whether we remember the dream or not. Our everyday lives can affect the way our minds think while we are asleep.
C. Credibility: *Dream I had about killing myself.* When I became informed, I realized that it didn’t symbolize me wanting to kill myself but represented a positive aspect that was happening in my life.
I remember having dreams and when I have had them they were very interesting, and I wander why. 1 Reading the text book, it says most people dream four to five times a night, but not all people remember their dreams upon awakening in the morning. Non-dreamers are often surprised by their dreams when they first awake. (Dennis Coon, 2016). 1 How meaningful are dreams? Some theorist believe that dreams have deeply hidden meanings. Others regard dreams as nearly meaningless. 2 Yet others hold that dreams reflect our waking thoughts, fantasies and emotions(hartmann,2011). I also looked up on the Dream Bible which I never knew that these sites exist, so it was very interesting reading the different sites. 3 The dream Bible says
Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death by Irvin D. Yalcom is a raw and unfiltered look at one of the most difficult challenges everyone faces, death. He takes you through the real-life experiences of his patients, past and present, and shares his thoughts about death. The real-life examples have a way of grasping your attention and pulling you in. He assists his patients in recognizing the reality of death, but not fearing it. Yalcom suggests that people have varying degrees of death anxiety. For some, death is not even a thought, while for others it may consume their thoughts. He also suggests that our everyday anxieties may ultimately originate from our fear of death. He includes observations of approaches used by famous philosophers. While reading, you cannot help but to contemplate your own life and envision your death.
- When you think of a doctor, what comes to mind? Someone who does everything in their power to save lives might be one of the thoughts. But what if the patients’ of these doctors death is incurable, and no medical involvement can change that fact, than what becomes the role of a doctor?
When starting my journey in the beginning of the semester, I never thought of the important connections of reading and writing. I never knew how authors use different techniques and strategies in their writing and how they use it to connect to their readers. I also never considered how helpful reading an author’s writing can be to improving my own personal writing. During my journey, I have learned the importance of reading like a writer. I have learned to include the best attributes of what I have been reading into my own writing. I learned to become an existentialist and intrapersonal learner who builds their self-esteem and who looks for more opportunities to improve themselves. I have also learned how the text in writing can affect the reader’s opinions and thoughts and
Death is one of the most avoided topics because of the finality that comes with it and the fear of the unknown after death. However, there are quite a number of authors such as AtulGawande, Elisabeth Kubler-ross and Ira Byock who have attempted to go ahead and deal with death as a topic and other connected topics.Each of these authors have delved into one of the most revered topics that is death including related topics that come with it such as the dying process itself. Ira Byock’s Dying well: Peace and possibilities at the end of life is a book that looks at the moment prior to death when an individual is terminally sick and is at the point of death. A
Humans typically want to avoid the subject of death so when they read horror or other scenarios about people dying they face their fears of death. In “Strawberry Spring”, by Stephen King, there was a college student who had “her throat cut from ear to ear”(1). While reading this humans our facing their fears on the subject of death. Having fears is part of the Human Condition and is completely normal. Even though these fears are normal, most people still try to face them and horror is a way to do that.
1. If I am dreaming, most of my beliefs about the things around me are false.
Dreams have long fascinated the human race. This alternate reality, separate from the conscious world we see around us, has captured the interest of many people throughout history. In fact, mankind has been studying dreams since the invention of the written word. Perhaps the lure of dreams is that there seems to be some significance behind them. Most reject the idea that dreams are just random meaningless fragments of data. The vivid sensations that dreams create are just too powerful to ignore. The world of dreams is filled with peculiar phenomenon and unexpected events that beg our attention. Consider the following example of a dream:
Keeping a person alive by excessive treatment might devastate the family and make the dying suffer tremendously in the end. “Advance medical technology that seems to one person a godsend, extending life, may seem to another a curse that only prolong dying. Dignity can be devalued amid technology focused solely on the biological organism.”
In Module 9 on the topic of Sleep and Dreams, was an interesting topic that was discussed in class as many people normally question why and how we dream. There isn’t a specific reason in how dreams are functioned but there are different interpretations and stereotypes that people think have meanings and others that don’t.
Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people don’t think much about the dreams they have, unless they are recurring. Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank heaven that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we think.
The suicidal signs are easy to identify, and if you identify them early enough you could save a person’s live that could be in danger.
Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.
Credibility: Everyone has had many dreams throughout their life. Sometimes it is hard to understand why we have dreams and what they mean.
Death is inevitable part of human experience, which is often associated with fear of unknown, separation, and spiritual connection. Death is an individual experience, which is based on unique perceptions and beliefs. Fear of death and dying seems to be a universal phenomenon, which is closely associated with apprehension and uneasiness. Death is allied with permanent loss, thus personal experiences of grief are similar in many different cultures. There are different mourning ceremonies, traditions, and behaviors to express grief, but the concept of permanent loss remains unchanged in cross cultural setting. With this paper I will identify cross-cultural perspectives on death and dying, and will analyze