Where Dreams Come From
And how the media we consume shapes them and the ones we chase
I warned my daughters to not watch a show because it would give them nightmares. The three of them, ten and under at the time, assured me they would not have any nightmares. Guess what? That night, they had nightmares.
I knew this instinctively, but research supports what I and many parents observe: when children are exposed to scary media—especially near bedtime—their dream lives often mirror that content. In one study (“Impact of Pre-Sleep Visual Media Exposure on Dreams: A Scoping Review,” 2024) 74% of children aged 6-18 reported dreams reflecting things they had viewed on TV or film. Another study from the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development showed that violent content and evening screen use correlated with increased sleep problems in preschool children. And experts note that media violence “has been linked to … nightmares and sleep disturbances.”
It stands to reason that the dreams of adults and children alike are impacted by our experiences in the real world. What is fed into our mind not only makes it afraid but influences what we want. (Hence the $361 billion spent in total US advertising expenditures in 2025, IBIS World).
The American Dream
All day our mind is constantly fed media via tiny video screens and audio devices. There is no lack of content to which advertising is attached: we are now surrounded by the continuous stream of media generated by over a billion people. And it all forms our wants and desires.
In the United States, it is apparent to me that the always-on content algorithm has formed the American Dream.
According to Investopedia, the American Dream costs $5 million over a lifetime. Here is the dream:
Source: Adapted from Visual Capitalist
But the American Dream did not start out as a monetary table. Coined in 1931 by historian James Truslow Adams, the “American Dream” described “a dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone” (JSTOR).
The American Dream was rooted in Enlightenment ideals and the Declaration of Independence, which promised “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (World History Journal).
Over the course of the last century, the American Dream has morphed into a series of materialistic achievements. If you don’t achieve them, then you have not achieved the American Dream.
The Algorithmic Dream
In the same span of time, technology has connected us to a pipeline of media amplifying the desire for materialistic results. The efficiencies needed to achieve these results are happily offered by what Paul Kingsnorth calls, the Machine.
In a previous post, I covered Kingsnorth’s 2025 book, Against the Machine, in which he describes how the economic growth of the West has stripped away our humanity. It is not an anti-capitalist rant, but rather an identification of the great decline of human connection and self-reliance over thousands of years. We are at the culmination of technology, AI and a socio-political environment that isolates us from one another and our families.
The Machine, Kingsnorth says, is fueled by the Want. In other words, our desire to focus on acquiring. I believe it is this Want that has resulted in today’s American Dream. It is the always-on content algorithm feeding us what the Machine needs us to Want in order for it to grow.
And children are now plugged into the Machine from birth.
Perhaps it is the children that can show us what should comprise our dreams.
Children of the Hill
Neuroscientist Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell has conducted research on autistic kids. In an interview with Glenn Beck, she discussed a striking finding: autistic children, who did not know each other, gathered together mentally.
Her discovery began with an autistic boy and an autistic friend who would go into a room and mentally connect with other autistic children. This other dimension was blissful and peaceful—they called it the Hill. It’s guarded by Angels who also taught them.
She discovered that autistic kids from across the country go into the Hill and communicate with one another. Dr. Hennacy says that in a way, we all come from the Hill, but we have all become disconnected from its source, the divine, and become more and more immersed in what we want.
It is no accident that these autistic children have been able to connect to something special, outside the Machine. The Machine gets no fuel from our appreciation of natural beauty or human to human emotional connection.
However, there has been a lack of curiosity from the science community about her findings.
Dr. Hennacy suggests that this is because, in the wanting world of today, many scientists are channeled into industries such as defense and pharmaceuticals that provide the highest monetary returns. As a result, basic sciences are poorly funded just like the arts. This creates an imbalance in our brain, where the processing is focused on the left hemisphere and no longer teaches about the beauty of nature that would be processed in the right hemisphere, giving us more of an appreciation of the natural beauty of the world.
Dr. Hennacy continues that true science is in the seeking and the testing of hypothesis—a curiosity so insatiable that you continue to learn as new thoughts enter the community. Being scientific does not mean you close the book on a subject. Scientists should always be seeking and open to new discoveries—even on old matters.
It is the constant seeking that drives Dr. Hennacy’s thoughts. She discovers answers and meanings in her dreams.
In other words, true science is seeking answers to what has been created by the Creator: the Truth.
Dr. Hennacy said that it is the seeking of the Truth that has revealed so much to humanity over thousands of years. When finding the Truth, many times through dreams and meditations, people felt that certain things were so important, they took the time to write them down, even paint them on cave walls, to tell us. This ultimately led to ancient scriptures.
In other words, the Truth is in the Bible. And it is the seeking and reading of the Truth, not the Want, that will set us free.
The Political Machine
But it is the Want that government, using the Machine, amplifies and promises to provide. The Want becomes the dream.
Karl Marx spoke of a ‘first phase of communist society… after prolonged birth-pangs, from capitalist society’ and distinguished it from the ‘higher phase’ of communism (Marxists.org). In later Marxist interpretation this “first phase” is often labeled ‘socialism’—hence the shorthand idea that socialism is the stepping-stone to full communism.”
In order to transition from capitalism, the political promise people what they Want (as determined by the Machine) to get elected. Then, once elected and in control, the government declares the rigid and necessary changes to fully provide the Want. But the government cannot provide the elusive Want—no one can—so the iron fist must come down to finally provide the Want. But it must come down on everyone. The Want is never provided and the government becomes tyrannical to keep the people at bay.
But even in free and capitalistic societies, the Machine takes hold of governments and the economy, fueled by the Want. The Machine guides us toward it, even in our dreams, while bending us to its will to keep itself growing in power.
So, you see, no matter the type of government or economic structure, the Machine promotes the Want. There may be different levers or its names may vary, but the Machine is always present. Ever since the original sin of Adam and Eve, the Machine has existed, and we Want.
Every government uses the Machine. But it is the fuel—the Want—that keeps the Machine alive. Ultimately, once the political world has collapsed the state under its own excess, the Machine will die because the people will be fighting for survival, will no longer be materialistic and will seek God. Freedom will emerge—but so will the Machine. The cycle will begin again.
Truth or Want
What we really want is the freedom to pursue happiness. I often forget that happiness is only found in seeking the Truth. It is in this seeking through every interaction and in every thought that the Truth exists. And in that pursuit of happiness, on a planet hurling through space, wave to a galaxy, wink at a star, look up and in the mirror to see the Creator’s work. In doing so, you’ve found a grain of Truth—freedom—and it is there where we will be paired with our real dreams, away from the influences of the man-made Machine.
It is in this connection with the universe—outside the Machine—where our minds connect with the Truth. Do we choose to dream here together? Or do we choose the Want—the isolated path of man? It’s a choice each of us makes in the collections of moments that is our life.
Since Adam and Eve, the choice has always been the same — Truth or Want.
Choose wisely.
Peace.