We might add the dream-based experience of enjoying a beautiful scene with a friend. Or sitting by the sea with one’s departed parent. I often dream of walking on the shore of the ocean, feeling not only the glory of the pounding surf but also the “grace” of being alive to engage in this often care-free walk. While Allan Hobson (Hobson, 1992, pp. 469-470), as I have already mentioned, focuses mostly on the natural activation-synthesis operations of dreams, he can also share his own experience of beauty with his wife. He is in “awe” of what he discovers:
“My wife, Joan, and I are at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to attend a concert [where someone is] playing a Mozart piano (concerto) . . . As is usual on such “museum” occasions, I am restive, feeling like the third wheel on Joan’s business bicycle, and hence inattention. I decide to explore and go down to the smaller, older theater . . . I hear music and the faint bustle of excitement. Opening the door a crack, I am amazed to realize that Mozart himself is on stage, playing the same concerto . . . on an antique harpsichord from the museum collection . . . I close the door with a shhh!, and try to figure out how to tell Joan of my discovery. Then I wake up.”
I wonder if Mona’s dreams in Thomas Schlesser’s Mona’s Eyes (Schlesser,2025) reflect and expand on her cherished experiences of touring the Art Museums of Paris with her grandfather? Can we also find the Awe and Flow when we dream of participating in a musical or dramatic play? But only as long as we are not caught off guard in being asked to sing or remember the lines of the play or perform in the nude (as often is reported by dreamers). Flow requires that we are not overwhelmed by impossible challenges or profound anxiety, as occurs in dreams that perform the signaling function.
This is all well and good. Our passion (Id) can certainly be stirred by a great meal, walking on the beach, or singing our heart out in a Broadway musical. What about something more mundane, like falling in love with a machine or embracing a new technology? In our digital, technology-laden world, it is no surprise that a computer screen or mobile device shows up in our dreams. But can these dreams evoke Awe? And can we find Flow while dreaming of digital problems being solved? There is the very real possibility that we can dream about wonderful dreams being produced in our digital world. We can be in Awe of these dreams that are dreamt. We can become our own GameDev, finding Flow in the creation of a digitalized fantasy world involving heroes, journeys, and triumphs. Instead of trading in dreams for fantasy-producing artificial intelligence, we can confiscate the AI and bring it into our dreams. Such confiscation might lead us to a whole other dream function—this being the function of transformation.
