Significant dreams: Bizarre or beautiful?

The literature on highly significant dreams is filled with references to th e bizarreness of their content. On the other hand, the concept of beauty is rarely if ever mentioned in relation to these dreams. Grounded in archetyp al psychology's tenet that psychological life is aesthetic life, this artic le argues that the enduring, even life-long, influence some dreams have on the dreamer's life may be better approached through the idea of beauty than through the idea of bizarreness. The argument builds on Hunt's (1989, 1995 ) theoretical model of the nature of consciousness and dream multiplicity w ith its emphasis on cross-modal synesthesia as well as on insights provided by Scarry's (1999) recent essay on beauty. A detailed account of how one c omposer's work, was profoundly influenced by his most significant dream is presented to illustrate this aesthetic approach to understanding the on-goi ng significance of significant dreams.