Are dreams in “reality” portals to other worlds? Many works in literature and film explore that idea. 

As an example, for those like me who watched Inception (2010) without understanding the plot, the movie touched on the subject of “shared dreaming”. 

Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, features a skilled thief who specializes in extracting secrets from people’s minds or planting ideas in their subconscious while they dream. 

DiCaprio’s character, “Dom Cobb”, does it by entering a dreamscape that has different complicated structures and levels. Cobb brings a team of specialists, like the shape-shifter “Eames” (played by Tom Hardy) who can assume different identities within the dream to manipulate the target. There is also, for example, the character “Ariadne”(Ellen Page), a dream architect who is able to design or redesign the dream world. 

Each dream level operates with its own rules of time and physics, and has its own distinct visual and narrative style.

The film raises the question of whether our perceptions of reality can ever be fully trusted. 

Inception (2010) is cinematically a masterpiece; its camera work and special effects amazing.  

But the plot and the movie’s open-ended ending is truly controversial, sparking numerous debates, discussions and analyses about the nature of reality and the subjective nature of experience. 

A less-known production that also touches upon shared dreaming is the television series Falling Water, a psychological thriller that premiered in 2016 and ended in 2018. The show examines the idea of a larger, overarching consciousness that binds individuals together through their dreams. In this case, three individuals whose dreams hold the key to the future of the world. Falling Water explores the idea that dreams can be manipulated and controlled in ways that lead to vast consequences in the real world. 

Are our conscious minds locked, and are dreams the keys to unlocking access to other worlds? Is there such a world that our minds enter when we sleep and where we are mentally interconnected? 

The renowned psychologist Carl Jung, for one, proposed this type of idea.