The life we live when we are dreaming is just as valid and is to be taken just as seriously as the life we live when we are awake. In some instances, members of one’s community are even selected to serve as the leaders or guides of this alternative life. Other members of a community are identified and revered as those who help us pass safely from one reality to another. Yet other members of the community are to help us translate the insights we have gained and lessons we have learned from our dream life to our waking life.
Natural
At the other end of the spectrum, there is an approach to dreams that is deeply embedded in our natural world. Dreams are fascinating, elusive, and difficult to study; however, they are nothing more (nor less) than the manifestation of normal biological processes. At this naturalistic side, we also find those researchers who are avoiding the content of dreams altogether. They focus on the way dreams appear to be created biologically. Attention is given to the aforementioned correlation between REM sleep and the report of dreams when research subjects are awakened during REM sleep. Having participated in a dream study during the early 1960s, I have personally witnessed the distinct patterns of REM sleep with EEG spikes, eye movements, and even muscular contractions in the throat (as if the sleeper is about to speak). I also witnessed the usual stillness of other parts of the sleeper’s body during REM sleep, as if they were blocking all movement while envisioning action in a dream.
Furthermore, I tended to see more active eye movement just before a sleep lab participant reported particularly active dreams, and noticed (as have many other sleep lab researchers) that sleepers tend to have fewer dreams during the second and (in particular) third night in the laboratory—as if the “manager” of these dreams is not accustom to having the sleeper report and sometimes remember dreams during the evening. It is time to close down the dream-making operations if all of these dreams are going to become public record!! While my informal observations may be nothing more than manifestations of my own drowsy condition, staying up all night, or merely trying to make something meaningful out of the flicking of a pen on an EEG machine.
And then came the dreams that our lab participants shared when we woke them up. We asked, “What’s been going through your mind?” The answer being delivered was often the vivid description of a dream. It became quite clear that the processes of dream production are quite remarkable. From a naturalistic perspective, we might even find that dreams are essential for human existence (and probably the existence of all sentient beings). Furthermore, dreams require the participation of multiple neural systems in the brain, including the activating functions of the brain stem and synthesizing functions of our forebrain (Hobson, 1992). When these quite diverse neural systems are engaged, our dreams can serve many vital functions. Among other things, dreams may help process, select, and store memories. Dreams might also be critical to the processing of emotions, navigating stress conditions, and solving problems. This is much more than just a biological process.
If nothing else, dreams demonstrate that biological processes can be quite complex and multi-dimensional. However, the same can be said about the way our brain operates when we are awake. We enter similar REM-like realms during what’s called an altered state of consciousness. This state is achieved when we are daydreaming, dwelling briefly in the transitional conditions of hypnogogic and hypnopompic states, or when we induce this state through hypnosis, sensory deprivation, or some form of mindfulness, such as meditation or guided imagery. In many traditional cultures, this altered state is highly valued and sometimes assigned to a specific person in a community (often designated as a shaman).
