• "Single-mindedness" of dreams (Allan Rechtschaffen)
• dreams are lacking in imagination
• dream image fills the dream entirely
• there is no room for other "reveries"
• we are entirely in the grip of the experience
• we are unable to reflect on it or evaluate it
• we are not surprised by the most astonishing and unlikely happenings

"Dreams cannot be told; they dissolve when the rational mind tries to grasp them in words."

Carl Spitteler (1845-1924), Swiss poet

"Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly I awaked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."

Extensive studies made by the American researchers Hall, Van de Castle, and Snyder support this conclusion. Hall analyzed the reports of 1'000 people about their dreams at home; Snyder studied the reports of 650 people who were awakened from REM sleep in a laboratory. Evaluations of this considerable amount of dream material showed that only a small percentage of the dreams contained the bizarre and fantastic elements that we usually associate with them. It is such untypical dreams that stick in our memory, while we forget the ordinary ones.