These processes of Allostasis and Polystasis make sense in describing the way we operate each moment of our waking life. What then happens when we fall asleep? Our day residue might be filled with the remnant of our daytime anticipations and adjustments; however, at night, there are ghosts, goblins and angels that come out of hiding to impact what we anticipate. This is where the Jungians can provide the most guidance. They write about mythic archetypes that bring new content and perspectives to our dreams (Jung, 1978). It is the introduction of themes and personifications from our deep (and potentially collective) unconscious that adds complexity and richness to the imagery of dreams that is associated with the day residue. Important insights can be gained from this new, expanded set of anticipations portrayed in our dreams. These insights might be concerned with our focal conflicts (French and Fromm, 1964) our interpersonal relationships (Fromm, 1951) or our competencies (White, 1959; Bergquist, 2024).
From Dreams to Reality
This is the interchange that is ultimately of greatest interest. In what ways, if any, does the content of our dreams influence our behavior when we are awake? There are multiple answers being offered to this question, ranging from dreams being unrelated to daily life to the content of dreams lingering in the “back of our minds” throughout the following day and influencing our behavior in profound, but often unacknowledged ways.
Before moving to this matter of daytime influence, I want to reflect briefly on a much more extreme version of the impact of dreams on daily life. This version is contained in a novel written by the noted Science Fiction writer, Ursula LeGuin. In The Lathe of Heaven, LeGuin (1971) describes the impact which one man’s dreams had on the entire world. As an homage to Philip K. Dick, another noted Science Fiction writer, LeGuin (1971) identified a reality that was constantly changing, though this change was not noticed by people living in this reality. For LeGuin reality shifted to match the content of one man’s dreams – this man being “George.” Hooked up to equipment like we used in Eugene and at the Portland hospital, George was being treated by Dr. Haber, a psychiatrist, and in having his dreams linked to the electronic equipment, George’s dreams became “effective”—having an impact on the real world. Soon, the world was changing radically as George wrestled in his dreams with nightmarish images. It is poignant to note that all of this took place in Portland, Oregon and was written at about the same time as our studies were done in Portland. Several people visited our temporary dream lab on the hill in Portland. One of these people might have been Ursula LeGuin . . .
On to the more mundane link of dreams to real reality . . . though nightmares aren’t very mundane.
Nightmares
These are among the most compelling manifestations of dreams having an impact on waking life. We are aroused in the middle of the night by a nightmare that leaves us sweating and hesitant to fall back asleep. We worry that the monster, massive wave or lurking murderer will return to our sleep and dreams. While we might not often remember our dreams in the morning, this nightmare is well-remembered. Or we at least knew that we were “frightened to death” by something that occurred during the night.
John Mack (1992) has written extensively about nightmares. He (1970, p. 16) declares that:
“Nightmares are concerned with life-and-death matters. . . [T]he analysis of nightmares regularly leads us to the earliest, most profound, and inescapable anxieties and conflict to which human beings are subject: those involving destructive aggression, castration, separation and abandonment, devouring and being devoured, and fear regarding loss of identity and fusion with the mother.”
