We have reached the end of our Inception Series: and what a journey it has been! At a minimum, I hope these last four piece gave you a better understanding of the complex nature of dreams.
Unlike many things in life, we can’t explain dream content in a linear, logical manner. Yet, it’s not the actions, characters, or the settings which makes them difficult to interpret, but the perplexing connections between these elements.
Recapping the Inception Series
We set out at the beginning of this series to answer an important question – can we leverage our dreams to accelerate the journey of being more? Before I provide an answer to this question, let’s briefly recap the content of the previous four parts:
Part #1 identified and explained the neurological processes which occur during REM sleep that allows dreams to occur.
Part #2 compared and contrasted the two original psychoanalytical theories of dream interpretation by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
Part #3 examined three modern dream theories following the medical advancements after Freud and Jung.
Part #4 provided three concrete examples of dreams bringing world-changing ideas to film, science, technology, and other industries.
So then, the answer to our overarching question…
Can we leverage our dreams to accelerate the journey of being more?
After significant research and tracking my own dreams, I believe dreams can be leveraged to accelerate the journey of being more. However, it is not the content of dreams which provides this acceleration, but the circumstances set while awake.
Allow me to elaborate. As mentioned, in addition to my normal research, I also journaled my dreams on a nightly basis for 28 days. I first recapped what activities took place in the morning and afternoon. Next, I wrote what I wanted to dream about that night. Sometimes the objective was a solution to a problem, sometimes it was to see into the future, and sometimes the objective was simply to have a dream.
Dream Journaling
I made three important discoveries during this 28-day journaling period. The first discovery was dream journaling, like any skill, takes a lot of practice to master. I struggled capture important details the first few nights I had dreams worth journaling. However, ten days into journaling, I was not only able to remember more details about my dreams, but able to chunk details together and remember other fragments whilst journaling.
Lucid Dreaming is Useless
The second important discovery was setting a goal for what I wanted to dream about was a waste of time. Dreaming allows your brain to explore all information it took in throughout the day and decide what’s important to retain. This discovery is also why I chose not to include lucid dreaming as part of this series.
Lucid dreaming occurs when you become consciously aware you are in a dream state while you are dreaming. When this realization occurs, you are then able to control what happens in the dream. This brief definition alone should provide a clue as to why I didn’t pursue it.
If the goal of dreaming is to allow free association, why would you want to interfere with that process? Logically, it doesn’t make sense. Additionally, lucid dreamers often report after a night of lucid dreaming they do not feel as restored as when they have a regular dreams or no dreams at all. So biologically, it also doesn’t make sense.
Circumstances Necessary to Dream
My third and final discovery surrounds the circumstances necessary to dream. This discovery came while researching Part #4 – Historically Significant Dreams. In each instance I studied, the dreamer was already immersed in the subject matter prior to having the breakthrough realization. Larry Page was already studying the internet, James Cameron was already on set of a major film production.
Therefore, for significant dreams to occur, you already need to be immersed in the subject matter. To be more illustrative, there needs to be an ocean of idea fragments concerning the subject floating around your psyche. Don’t concern yourself with having a breakthrough dream, but rather with setting the conditions for one to occur.
My Theory on Dreams
That last discovery does the best job of answering the question of leveraging our dreams. In addition to answering this question, I also came to understand my own dream theory aligns more with Jung’s. I believe the beauty of dreams is not knowing what they will contain, but knowing it will be unique to your experiences. Furthermore, as Jung did, I believe dreams are the birthplace of original thought which, in today’s world of copycat ideology and divisiveness, is paramount to value.
If there is one takeaway from this series, it is dreams exist for a reason. Furthermore, journaling them will make you better at recalling memories and, potentially, give you insight into what’s happening deep inside your psyche. Try it, you may like what you find…
P.S. My theory of dreams came to me on a walk, another place where your mind goes to wander.
Be More.
Become Polymathic.