A General Theory of Dreams
by Bruce McKeithan
brucemckeithan@sbcglobal.net
As of March 27, 2026
For many years we have thought of dreams as providing direction for our waking activities. There are various psychological theories about dreams as well, one for dreams simply to consolidate our thinking about the previous day’s events.
Let us consider the following points. Consciousness is necessary to feed, protect, and otherwise take care of ourselves. But it turns out that this does not happen immediately when during sleep energy is produced at the base of the brain and flows into the middle of the brain. Energy must be accumulated until it is sufficient to wake us up.
The resulting internal energy is disturbing and even deleterious, posing a threat which we must handle in some way. We can try to dissipate energy through inner activities, or we may find ourselves away from home as energy automatically expands further into the middle of the brain. We may also organize something or fix something that has already been disturbed.
Mainly though, the mind has a special biological function which largely avoids this disturbance. This function provides for the containment or storage of energy. The storage takes the form of large or numerous images and structures which soon take precedence over and block our personal efforts. Once it reaches its maximum it releases a great deal of energy. To counter any resulting destructive effect, energy is then expanded into the upper and outer reaches of the brain, awakening us. The coincidence of the peak in storage and the necessary amount of energy to awaken one must be attributable to evolution.
The limbic system in the central part of the brain apparently has the capacity to handle this situation. It contains the amygdala, whose stimulation provides a defensive reaction; the hippocampus, which recalls people and objects from the past; and other essential parts. It must have some way of combining memories or chemical elements into a practically stationary image of a large object, a group of objects, or a group of people.
Sometimes, we see the effects of internal energy on old, nonfunctional memories. We may witness a deceased parent or friend, who in our dream is alive but ill, or an older, previously compatible couple getting a divorce. We may see an old car that needs repair, a coal-burning furnace that needs fixing, or an overgrown garden in an old spot.
We can also imagine fixing something. We may put out a fire, fix an overheated computer, or having a small dog take the place of a large dog that has died from heat. We may fix a problem that has caused us discomfort during sleep.
Physical activities such as sports are good representatives of a way of dissipating energy. We may be able to hit a golf ball up a steep hill and have it fall into the cup or throw three consecutive strikes while bowling. We may also become involved in some intellectual pursuit at a job, school, or bridge club, or we may succeed at associating one thing with another for a host of similar things.
The inflation within the limbic system lessens the amount of internal energy per unit of volume, and so the disturbance. For example, we may find ourselves at a beach, a resort in the mountains, or another region of the country. We want to return home, but we are unable to do so. We cannot gather our belongings, our route out of the mountains is unclear, or we are unable to get an airplane flight or to find our room in a hotel that has suddenly become much larger, with many hallways and elevators. The stored energy does not allow us to return home.
As a dream progresses, our inner efforts at reducing internal energy become increasingly frustrated. In golf, there may be too many trees, hills, or rocks to achieve success. In tennis, the court may be too large to hit the ball satisfactorily, or the indoor tennis club may have moved to a busy downtown location where a long line waits to gain entrance. A crowd of people may watch us lose a tennis match after winning a few points. We may fail a test at school or have trouble performing some other activity as well. Damage to our lawn or patio at home indicates the effects of internal energy over time, but the buildup of the energy being stored is again present.
Another example is that we may not know how to get to a certain destination while driving a car and get lost in heavy traffic and on several roads. Also, imagine one ship colliding with a larger one at sea, or two ships in a harbor, one smaller than the other. Thus, in the later stages of a dream, our personal efforts become inferior to the large images; conversely, the large images become ascendant or predominant.
Fulfilling our latent desires such as those for food and sex is important. Our desires perpetuate life, provide pleasure, and are a major influence on our lives. But in in respect to a dream, they seem to be good candidates for activity that represents the defense against internal energy and inner disturbance. As usual, something very large will ultimately frustrate them, and we will have to wake up.
When the mind utilizes currently evoked desires or concerns in determining a dream’s activities, we may be able to draw psychological inferences from these activities. The wishes in a dream may be real, but again, in the context of a dream, they still represent our efforts to reduce internal energy. Once awake, we can accomplish myriads of things, and we must be willing to do those things that help us survive and thrive.
Examples of the large images are a closely packed crowd of people in an auditorium, stadium, a bus, a diner, or classroom. There may appear a number of houses or buildings, such as those on a university campus, a single large structure under construction, a large number of tables or desks in some setting, or a natural phenomenon such as a forest or high hills, or many automobiles lined up in a parking lot. A long, tall wall, a train of container cars, or any number of things may appear.
Once the storage of energy has reached a peak or maximum, the large images must release their energy. It is like a large waterfall spilling over a dam, a stream rushing down a mountain toward a town, water flowing rapidly through a culvert, or a flood. To avoid the recurrence of a considerable disturbance, we must accept the alternative of expanding energy into the outer layers of the brain, the cortex. This wakes us up and stimulates the whole body. Another picture is of several people running toward the end a bridge, presumably the one between sleeping and waking.
We are in no position to withstand the great force of the newly released energy or to try to remedy the destruction that it can cause. The only thing that we can do is to allow this energy to expand.
For a while though, we may persist in our current efforts, but then we are going to encounter some hostile actions. Some police, military forces, or enemies may even threaten us or people in our group with execution or death. We can refer to them as disruptors of sleep. We may also note that an enemy’s very large army may destroy what a friend has built. The friend may have also created helpful devices of some sort to promote sleeping.
If we wake up and go back to sleep, several instances of very large images, from a long line of people to a long list of items, may occur. They continue to resist our efforts to offset internal energy. A displacement to a resort, avoiding the large images, may also temporarily occur.
Finally, we are persuaded to accept living with a small residual disturbance, allowing the expansion of energy into the outer layers of the brain. This energizes the whole brain, waking us up. It fulfills our inherent design and satisfies the requirements from within ourselves. Failing to offset the inner disturbance some way may have long-term consequences, but not allowing the expansion of energy in a timely fashion makes matters much worse. So, we can say that dreaming represents the rather complicated process of awakening from deep sleep.
With consciousness, useful energy is freed up, allowing and even challenging us to find external activities to undertake. Hopefully, during waking hours, we can commit ourselves to lines of action that are productive, may even be helpful to others. and do not infringe on other people’s rights. Consciousness also implies an admiration of others and an appreciation of things.
What does the future hold for this theory? Will psychologists accept this mechanistic and biological view of dreams? Will neuroscientists explain this theory in terms of the brain’s activating and restricting structures and functions? Will the implications for psychology and even medicine be recognized? Does this theory explain, at least in part, why the brain is constructed as it is?
Thanks to Dr. John P. Ralston, Professor of Physics at Kansas University, for helping me in various ways in the writing of this article. Thanks also to Associate Professor Nancy Hamilton at KU for challenging me at times to get the situation pertaining to dreams straightened out.
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