From living metaphors in impactful dreams to sublime disquietude and sublime enthrallment
Frontiers in Psychology August 11, 2026 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1818552 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study (two online studies) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 304 |
| Population | Adults who reported impactful dreams (nightmares, existential dreams, transcendent dreams) |
| Key findings | Existential dreams transition into sublime disquietude, transcendent dreams into sublime enthrallment, and nightmares into inflexible vigilance. The authors argue that existential and transcendent dreams support metacognition enabling continued attunement to metaphoric-literal tension, precipitating epistemic and aesthetic significance. |
Abstract
Introduction: The continuing impact of spontaneously recalled dreams sometimes depends upon the same kind of unfolding semantic complexity that literary scholars attribute to poetic literary metaphors.
Methods: We present the results of two online studies of impactful dreams (i.e., nightmares, existential dreams, and transcendent dreams) that reinforce this account.
Results: In both Study 1 (N = 147) and Study 2 (N = 157), assessment of dream experience indicated that (a) existential dreams transition into sublime disquietude (inexpressible realizations, self-perceptual depth, disquietude) and (b) transcendent dreams transition into sublime enthrallment (inexpressible realizations; self-perceptual depth, reverence), while (c) nightmares, in contrast, transition into inflexible vigilance.
Discussion: Because existential dreams and transcendent dreams support a type of metacognition that enables continued attunement to tension between the metaphoric (“is”) and literal (“is not”) truth-value of metaphoric dream images, these two types of impactful dreams may precipitate the epistemic—and aesthetic—significance of unfolding semantic resonance within the dream.
Citations in the library
Cites 22
- The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Journal of Sleep Research May 26, 2004
- Incorporation of concern- and nonconcern-related verbal stimuli into dream content. Journal of Abnormal Psychology February 1, 1981
- Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming Frontiers in Psychology August 18, 2015
- The Phenomenal Contents and Neural Correlates of Spontaneous Thoughts across Wakefulness, NREM Sleep, and REM Sleep Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience May 31, 2017
- How deep is the rift between conscious states in sleep and wakefulness? Spontaneous experience over the sleep–wake cycle Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences December 13, 2020
and 17 more in the library