Sometimes we can figure out in our dreams that they are dreams. This what’s called Lucid Dreaming. While lucid dreaming was once considered a shame, Mathew Walter (2017, p. 233) has offered evidence that this advanced form of dreaming really exists: “scientists . . . gained objective, brain-based proof that lucid dreamers can control when and what they dream while they are dreaming.” Walter (2017, p. 234) goes on to offer a remarkable speculation:
It is possible that lucid dreamers represent the next iteration in Homosapien’s evolution. Will these individuals be preferentially selected for in the future, in part on the basis of this unusual dreaming ability—one that may allow them to turn the creative problem-solving spotlight of dreaming on the waking challenges faced by themselves or the human race and advantageously harness the power more deliberately?
It would seem that Barrett’s committee of sleep might be readily convened to address a whole host of problems. Deirdre Barrett has already noted that some astute executives have taken to scheduling frequent early afternoon naps during which they can convene their dream-based committee to generate some novel ideas about current problems and plans.
Anther meta-cognitive process that might be engaged concerns dream-based reflection. We can pause in our dream to note that things aren’t making sense. This person has been dead for many years. These two images don’t belong together. We are transported from one setting to another setting but have no magic carpet or time-traveling device to make this happen.
Often at this point we recognize that this is a dream and we either wake up or take no action in the dream and wait for it to come to an end. We might even be able to engage lucidity by changing the direction of the dream or bringing more structure and rationality to the dream. Is this a good thing? When Walter declares that lucidity might be an advancement in dream “technology”, I have to ask if, instead, we are destroying a good thing: the wildness and weirdness of the dream. Are we taming a wild beast that should remain wild? Is our Ego becoming too arrogant and failing to do any bargaining and compromise with Id and Superego?
Conclusions
I propose that there are two elephants in the room that we must acknowledge and at least briefly address before closing this overview. First, we must ask: what does this dream mean? Second, we must ask: “what do we do with the insights gained from the dream after it is interpreted? I turn to each of these elephants.
Interpretation of the Dream Content
Dream interpretation guides sell many books and occupy many informal conversations in which a “dream expert” tells their colleague about what their colleague’s dream “really means.” I would suggest that this step of interpretation be bypassed. We might ask not what the dream means—but instead what function(s) it serves.
If we do insist on doing some interpretive work than the dream’s meaning might be based in the symbolic representation of all actors, events and setting in the dream. It is important to recognize that the symbolization can be used in several different ways. As Freud suggested, the symbol can be used to disguise the true meaning of a dream enactment (this enactment fulfilling an unacceptable wish). The symbol can also (or instead) be engaged to convey multiple meanings. The dream becomes “economical” in terms of the small number of symbols being used to convey many meanings. Third, the symbol can be used to enrich the meaning of a dream element—especially the emotional meaning of a dream element. I personally find it interesting (and often insightful) to engage one of the Jungian hypotheses that each character and setting in the dream represents some part of ourselves and that the dream is intended to not only provide insights but also lead us toward integration (Jungian “individuation”).
