Social Dreaming

On the corner of Russell Street and Piedmont Avenue is a grey postal mailbox covered in graffiti. Written in bright pink letters was the quote, “As long as necessity is socially dreamed, dreaming will remain a social necessity.”

I was on my way to meet my son and some of his friends for dinner in Elmwood. I text messaged the quote to him and said, “Think about this.”

By the time I arrived, I had five UC Berkeley students stumbling over each other to give me their answer. On the table was a piece of notebook paper that had an illegible mathematical formula that was completely foreign to me. Arrows pointed toward specific words and certain parts of the quote which helped the kids dissect its meaning.

"Ok, this is what it means!!” my son excitedly said. “As long as unattainable goals are socially dreamed, then you'll always be dreaming about those goals but never achieve them. So, when you finally stop trying to achieve the necessity society puts on you, dreaming about it will no longer be necessary.” 

Simon, a student from Scotland butt in, “In other words, if you're a girl and want a supermodel body, that is your "necessity" and the body of a supermodel is the social dream. As long as you (being the aggregate 'you') dream about this body, that dream will remain necessary...”

Liz, a philosophy student, had her laptop open, “The quote is actually part of a larger quote that is this: ‘As long as necessity is socially dreamed, dreaming will remain a social necessity. The spectacle is the bad dream of a modern society in chains and ultimately expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep.’ The quote is by author, filmmaker and Marxist Guy Debord and comes from his 1967 book called "Society of the Spectacle."

David, a math major finally piped in, ”It's kind of like the collective society creates a dream of that society that in effect replaces reality. However in order to exist, we have to dream; what is real is not real and what is not real is real. Therefore, how do we know what is reality and what is not reality?"

Mirabelle waited patiently to add, "We deal with this everywhere we go and at school. A lot of kids get lost in trying to fit in because society's shoe doesn’t fit.  I think they suffer because they are different. I mean, we all suffer in a way when we are different from the social dream.”

If you are going to be different, no better place than to do it than in Berkeley.  It is a stimulating kaleidescope of humanity and creation.

“Just the other day we saw an old guy standing on the corner wearing a mop on his head for hair, a red dress and a black top hat. I have the picture,” an iPhone was produced confirming the image.

This is why I love Berkeley. I can walk down a residential street and learn something from a mailbox. The people of the community, young and old have a very profound, very intuitive and very insightful outlook. The community is filled with amazing diversity and is accepted as the norm...whatever that is.

For three hours we tossed around ideas and questioned the necessity to follow the societal dream. Who then is doing the dreaming? Society or you? Do you find yourself trying to fit into an idea whose clothes don't fit?  Do we remember when we dreamed our own dreams? Why do we do it?

As the evening was coming to an end we had concluded that we were exceptionally grateful to be living in Berkeley. It is a community that supports and accepts the dream for people to live and express freely.

Debord's quote is interesting and one that is not easily understood, especially without knowing the overall context from which it came. To summarize: beyond and underneath all of this sleepy societal confusion are unique and powerful individuals that possesses the greatest gift: the ability to think for ourselves,  express, accept and love.

Berkeley is dynamic, conscious and animated.  I look forward to the unsuspecting, colorful, local education  that Berkeley serves up every day.