The Dreamer's Boon

I cannot say with any certainty how it came to be that humans dream. Whether dreams provide some benefit which has caused dreamers to be selected for in the evolutionary process, or whether they are an unintended and neutral side effect of some other physiological system is still an open question for the few scientists who deign to study the phenomenon of dreaming. It is an interesting question, to be sure, but not one whose answer is either necessary or sufficient to bestow value on the experience of dreaming. I speak, of course, merely with the authority of the experiences of a single individual out of an entire species; I have never experienced the dreams of another, nor read a very great number of recounted dreams. That being said, I have no reason to believe that my experiences while dreaming are not representative of the experiences of humanity as a whole, save perhaps that I have invested a small amount of time and energy in studying, contemplating, and practicing dreaming.

Dreams are an opportunity to experience things which are impossible or impractical in the waking reality, and with the cultivation of certain skills, dreams can become a venue for creating, destroying, and delighting in literally anything you can imagine. But even without taking control of your dreams, the "natural" dreams which we experience are fascinating, thrilling, incredibly bizarre, and occasionally even inspiring. All sorts of creative work and innovation have been attributed to inspiration encountered during dreams. It is my opinion that an enjoyable dream is far more desirable than even the best-made movies. Dreams also happen to cost nothing, and as far as the time investment is concerned there is a double payoff. You’re going to be sleeping anyway, so taking full advantage of your dreams does not result in any loss of "refreshing" sleep. It is quite literally found time. Furthermore, the experience of the passage of time in a dream is subject to a certain distortion: a dream seeming to last hours may have occurred in mere minutes according to waking reality. As a result, in my opinion, not taking advantage of these opportunities for recreation and fulfillment is the greatest form of wastefulness. Unless of course you are racing to get to your natural death with the fewest possible enjoyable experiences along the way, in which case you are a social anomaly.

Many Americans spend hours a day watching television programs, which are diluted to some extent by advertising. If one is willing to spend one’s leisure time in this way, then what possible excuse could one find for not putting tremendous value on dreaming? I think the real cause of a lack of avid dreamers is simply the lack of cultural acknowledgement that dreams can be a source of enrichment in our lives. Another contributing factor is the rather baffling and frustrating default of most human brains of completely erasing all memory of a past night’s dreams within moments of awakening. This can be overcome with practice and discipline, but most people probably never even consider this as a possibility. Indeed, many people sincerely believe that most nights they have no dreams at all, but sleep laboratory studies have shown this to be false. These subjects merely forget their dreams immediately upon awakening.

I don’t often attach supernatural or religious meaning to the measurable phenomena of daily life, but I must admit that the more I consider the personal value that is available to every human in the form of their dreams, the more plausible it seems that dreams are a sort of gift to us- you may be mistreated, oppressed, and marginalized during your waking hours, but every person has an opportunity to become a King, a cosmic explorer, a rock star, or a superhero, or whatever else they fancy on a nightly basis. I find this very nearly parallel to the questionable promises made by certain religions whereby the most downtrodden are promised just rewards in the afterlife, so it is not necessary to resist the status quo while alive. The greatest difference is that while this promise is made for the unknowable afterlife, and taken on faith, the rewards of dreaming may be collected as frequently as one may find the conditions necessary for sleep. If this is a gift, what a gift! And if not, what a happy stroke of circumstance.

One of the simplest and most effective feedback mechanisms that we can use to improve our dream control and dream recall is to talk about this phenomenon with other people who are equally excited and motivated to tap into this resource. To this end, I invite you to leave me a comment or a message if this possibility intrigues you, or if you are an accomplished lucid dreamer looking for someone to share ideas or experiences with. Happy dreaming!

EDIT---------------------------------------------------------------

I happened to listen to a podcast yesterday which discussed, in part, the human body's need for ample sleep.  It was a very interesting topic, and it led me to a thought that hadn't occurred to me before.  It follows:

Biologists and psychologists tell us that getting sufficient sleep is critical to functioning at our peak levels of efficiency, yet it is fairly easy to merely get by with insufficient sleep.  It should be obvious that the pressures and demands of society tempt us to reduce the number of hours that we sleep at night in order to free up time for other activities.  Perhaps dreams have evolved with us in order to incentivize us to get enough sleep?  In other words, the enjoyable dreams we experience during sleep can transform our view of sleeping from an impediment to a reward, and thereby increase our prioritization of the act.  This in turn would make us healthier, mentally sharper, and more efficient throughout the day.