The Dream Cafe: Lessons in the Art of Radical Innovation

DDREAMING

Formal education tends to teach us that our dreams are merely a distraction from the priorities of learning how to comprehend and apply logical methods of deduction. Dreams were exorcised from our curriculums, and anyone who continued to do so was given the none-too-desirable label of ‘Day Dreamer’. Fortunately, a few individuals discovered that their inability to succeed in the narrow rut that continues to define educational norms allowed them to see their dreams as a source of inspiration, rather than distraction. Indeed, many of the artists and scientists whose work and ideas have reshaped the world are proud and grateful for their ability to trust their dreams. The list of lucid dreamers includes Andy and Lana Wachowski, the brothers who created the hugely profitably and mould breaking Matrix film franchise. They informed the basic premise of the Matrix from their own experience of dreaming: ‘How do I know that my reality is not an illusion?’ American physicist Richard Feynman – perhaps drawing on Einstein's use of dreams – has explained how his ability to pose and resolve complex mathematical problems is informed by his capacity to dream:

I also noticed that as you go to sleep the ideas continue, but they become less and less logically interconnected. You don't notice that they're not logically connected until you ask yourself, ‘What made me think of that?’