On the one hand it is almost criminal that we have to spend so much of life sleeping, on the other sleep is a marvelous renewal. Which is why no doubt so many people have such brilliant ideas when they sleep and wake up raring to go and finish whatever it they have yet to start.
Dreams have long been inspirational to the artist, and some may even say artists live in a dream-like state anyway even when they are awake. As Colin Wilson wrote about it in The Outsider, they are always one-remove from the rest of us.
But the idea that all life needs to constantly recharge itself, that energy fades over the course of a day, that we have high and low moments, is very important for understanding not only how to live but also who we are. Sleep is like a time-out, when the brain can do its own thing with all the information it is gathering, when we can put aside stresses, torments and challenges and divert them into a place where we are in control.
To be woken up by someone you love, by the dawn, or even just by one’s own body clock, is itself an affirmation. A blissful stretching, which is the greatest sadness of poverty for no matter how often you wake up you are always tired.