In the state of cerebral isolation named Dreaming, the confrontation between our perceived sensations and external causes is impossible, according to Lewes. Cerebral activity is actually entirely isolated from external excitations, as opposed to Hallucinations when the aforementioned confrontation is disregarded, rather than being rendered impossibility. He makes the point that “the avenues of Sense are closed in Sleep, but the emotional centers may be reached from within. (111)” He explains this by making mention of the story of a lady who dreamt that her servant was coming to murder her and upon waking she saw the servant in front of her with a knife in hand. According to him this could be explained because the woman heard sounds like a door opening or the creaking of footsteps on the stairs, which in her mind, because this concept was familiar to her, justified why this particular strain of thought encompassed this dream.
He goes on to explain that we do not pause on suggestions that may be considered absurd when we are awake while we are dreaming. Since we don’t reflect on them, but instead allow them to “succeed one another (112),” we are lulled into the sense of the absurd or surreal becoming the norm, which is complete polar opposite of waking life. Interestingly he says that he thinks that it is a mistake that nothing surprises us in dreams. He explains this by stating that he is conscious of his own experiences in dreams, and feels a slight surprise when scenes change, but he is not arrested—meaning that he does not stop to consider how this is significant in the grand scheme of things, but continues in this strand of thought that has come suddenly and interestingly arisen. Much like a wave, he says, the sensations of thought constantly succeed one another (112); as when we engage in reverie during waking life. He ultimately correlates how the senses serve to interrupt our streams of thought in waking life because we are forced to because of the physical nature of the world we are in when we are awake. This is uninhibited, however, when we are asleep. The wanderings of our minds are controlled in this manner, he argues. He goes on to say that the presence of external objects is justified because our senses are amplified right before we go to sleep. He illustrates his point by alluding to the sensations we experience upon lying awake in bed with our eyes closed, a time in which the amplification of these senses is acutely exhibited.