"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality," Yoko Ono famously sang.
The message of the song was that the only thing separating nocturnal fancies from workaday life was consensus — that the shared experience established what was real.
A new study found that many people, like Ono, believe in the connection between wakefulness and dreams.
Harvard Professor Michael Norton and Boston University professor Carey Morewedge performed a variety of experiments involving dreams. They researched possible "hidden truths," the value of the wisdom gained overnight, and whether subjects acted on that wisdom.
"We asked people, have you ever had a dream that came true? And almost everyone said yes," Norton said Thursday on Boston Public Radio.
To examine the power of dreams, Norton and Morewedge asked subjects to imagine flying in an airplane. They further asked subjects to either think about a bad act befalling them, or to imagine having a dream prior to the flight in which something bad happened.
"Having a dream was as bad or even worse than" simply having the thoughts, Norton said. "People couldn't shake the idea that, 'If I dream about a plane crash tomorrow, why would I get on a plane?'"
"Many people will say, I had a dream that came true. But if you think about the number of dreams you've had in your lifetime, (...) it's likely that one will come true," Norton said. "We seem to not give any weight to (...) any of the ones that didn't come true."
"It's a wonderful feeling to think that the universe has spoken to you. (...) There are some people who only speak to the universe and wait for things to come to them."
Norton added, "They usually live in Arizona and have crystals."
Supposed dream wisdom is not only conferred to Arizona types. Norton said he and Morewedge heard anecdotally of accomplished and critical thinkers who gave great credence to the dreams. "These are people with [degrees] from fancy institutions," Norton said, and they say "'I think I should change my job.'"
"Things pop into our head when we're dreaming and we think, Oh my God, that means everything!"
