The study of dreams and myths has fascinated thinkers for millennia, with interpretations ranging from purely psychological to deeply cultural or spiritual. But what if we could explore dreams and myths through the lens of semiotics and neuroscience? In this post, we’ll delve into how dreams and myths function as semiotic systems — systems that communicate meaning through symbols and representations — with an emphasis on how these systems align with the brain's self-organising processes and Edelman's value systems.
The Semiotics of Dreams: A Self-Organising Meaning System
In the traditional view of dreams, they are often seen as the random firing of neurons during sleep or as a subconscious processing of emotions and experiences. But through the lens of semiotics, dreams take on a deeper, more complex role in meaning-making.
If we view the brain as a self-organising system, as proposed by Gerald Edelman in his theory of Neuronal Group Selection (TNGS), then dreams are not mere randomness or noise; they are the brain’s attempt to organise and make sense of the sensory information it has gathered during waking hours. Edelman’s theory asserts that the brain is in a constant state of interaction with its environment, selecting, adapting, and organising sensory inputs to create meaningful experiences. Dreams can be seen as the brain's self-organising process in action, operating outside the constraints of external reality.
Just as the brain continuously adapts its perception of reality in response to internal and external stimuli, dreams represent a more fluid and unstructured form of that adaptation. In dreams, the usual boundaries of logic, time, and space are relaxed, allowing for a creative exploration of possibilities. The images and symbols in dreams are not random but are the product of the brain's ongoing search for coherence, meaning, and adaptation to the world. The value system — a key concept in Edelman’s theory — is reflected in the way dreams select, process, and organise these symbols, presenting them in forms that may not be easily understood but still hold meaning within the context of the brain's neural organisation.
Myths as Collective Meaning Systems: The Neurocultural Connection
Just as dreams are personal, self-organising meaning systems within the brain, myths function as collective meaning systems within a culture or society. They are semiotic systems that encode the values, symbols, and narratives of a community, guiding its behaviour and understanding of the world.
Edelman’s concept of value systems in the brain offers a fascinating parallel to myths. A culture’s mythological framework can be seen as an analogue to the brain's value system — a collective set of adaptive strategies and beliefs that inform how a society makes sense of its world. Myths are not fixed or rigid; like the brain’s value system, they evolve over time, adapting to new challenges and needs. As the brain processes and selects meanings through its neuronal group selection, so does society adapt its myths to address new social, cultural, or existential dilemmas.
Just as the brain uses its value system to make sense of the sensory inputs it receives, myths allow a community to make sense of its environment, its origins, its purpose, and its destiny. Myths encode shared cultural wisdom, creating a collective meaning system that is constantly in flux, adapting to the changing values, beliefs, and needs of the society it serves.
Dreams and Myths as Neurocultural Processes
When we explore dreams and myths together, we begin to see them as parts of a broader neurocultural process of meaning-making. The brain’s self-organising, value-driven processes are mirrored in the cultural processes that generate myths. Both systems — individual and collective — rely on a dynamic, adaptive, and self-organising approach to creating meaning. Dreams allow individuals to process, integrate, and make sense of their internal and external experiences, while myths allow cultures to navigate their collective experiences and evolve.
Both systems rely on the same basic principles: selection, adaptation, and organisation. Just as the brain's value system organises sensory inputs to create meaning, so too do myths organise cultural values, guiding collective behaviour and understanding. In both cases, these meanings are dynamic and evolving, adapting to the changing needs of the individual or the culture.
Semiotics of Dreams and Myths: Symbolic Systems of Adaptation
From a semiotic perspective, both dreams and myths function as symbolic systems that allow for the exploration and communication of meaning. The brain creates meaning from sensory inputs, selecting and organising information into forms that can be understood and acted upon. Similarly, myths encode collective meanings that provide a framework for societal action and interpretation.
The symbols in both dreams and myths are not arbitrary. They are the product of an ongoing process of selection and adaptation. In dreams, the brain selects symbols from its own internal ‘storehouse’ of experiences and processes them in creative ways. In myths, symbols are selected from the cultural repository of shared meanings and organised into stories that can guide the behaviour and understanding of a group.
Both dreams and myths, then, are adaptive systems that reflect the brain’s ability to organise and make sense of complex, often chaotic, stimuli. Dreams do this on an individual level, while myths operate on a cultural level. In both cases, the meaning is constructed through a process of selection, organisation, and adaptation, guided by the brain’s internal value system or the cultural group’s shared values.
Conclusion: Dreams, Myths, and the Emergent Nature of Meaning
In conclusion, by viewing dreams and myths through the lens of semiotics and Edelman’s value systems, we can see that both are processes of self-organisation and adaptation. Dreams are the brain’s individual attempt to process and adapt to the information it receives, while myths serve as the collective adaptation of a society’s values, beliefs, and understanding of the world. Both are dynamic, evolving systems that guide meaning-making, providing us with the tools to navigate both our personal and collective realities.
By examining dreams and myths in this way, we begin to see the deep connections between individual cognition and collective culture, and we gain new insights into the ways in which meaning is constructed — both within the brain and within the culture.
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