The Sleepwalkers

I love sleep. I think most of the normal people on the planet love sleep too.

When we were younger we were taught that growing children need at least 8 hours of sleep and adults needed 5. For that reason, once NTA started playing their news sting (an annoying hornlike sound), our parents sent us to bed. Sleep, according to scientists help the body to recover from stress. When we are asleep, our metabolism slows down and the body can refresh itself…think of it as energy-saving mode on electronic devices. Sleep also helps us to escape from the harsh realities of life, as when we are asleep; we are suspended in blissful ignorance of the world around us.

If we sleep deep enough, we enter what scientists call REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement). In this zone, we sleep deep enough for our brains to conjure up images from our daytime activities. This phenomenon is known as dreaming.

A dream technically is not real. You cannot touch it, you cannot share it, you cannot record it, you cannot measure it, so to the existential/realist thinker, a dream simply does not exist. A dream is not predictable- and it can occur many times. More often than not, the dreamer is the source of his own dreams- her thoughts, his hopes, their fears, their secrets have a way of weaving themselves. Repressed memories and thoughts find their way back from the inner recesses of the subconscious to the only place where they will encounter the individual.

For some, this is a benefit: the individual often finds himself in places he cannot ordinarily go, doing things that ordinarily would be impossible. I usually have these dreams that of flying. Not flying as a bird, but the atmosphere is so thin that there is little friction, and gravity is weak. Thus I can practice my kung fu kicks, cover short distances in a single bound, and do all manner of amazing flips and moves that would make a gymnast envious. Some people (like me) have dreams that they were the president of the country, or they won the Miss World pageant, or that they invented something spectacular. Some dream they were getting married, or they had twins, or they were astronauts. The list is endless.

For others, dreaming is a feature they’d rather turn off. Their dreams provide no respite from the world. They have nightmares, nightmares of falling down an unending hole, being chased by frightening creatures (and they can’t run no matter how hard they try), being in the middle of a war, getting shot in the heart, being stabbed, being burned alive, their bosses sacking them suddenly, going naked to the office, their girlfriends getting pregnant with triplets, being in a horrible car accident, being chased by sharks/cobras/assassins…I’m sure you get the drift.

Dreams also feature prominently on the supernatural scene. Many religions document experiences where God communicated with man through dreams- either by an Angel appearing to the dreamer, or the dreamer himself was participating in activities. In the Bible, God spoke to Joseph about his future through dreams. God showed Pharaoh the Agricultural and Climatic future of Egypt. God spoke to Solomon in a dream when he offered sacrifices upon his coronation. God spoke to Nebuchadnezzar through dreams, about the future kingdoms of the world. God showed Daniel the End of the world through a dream. God assured Joseph the father of Jesus about marrying Mary. God warned the magi in a dream not to return to Herod. God warned Joseph to leave Israel and when to return. The night before the battle of the Milvian Bridge, In a dream, emperor Constantine saw the cross in a dream, and a voice he was instructed  to "delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers", because  "in hoc signo vinces” (“in this sign you shall conquer”). He obeyed and he got victory.

Apparently, dreams are a window to deeper things. Dreams certainly come true. I have met people who shared their dreams and sometime later the dreams come to pass. This year I had a dream that actually happened within a few hours. I was sharing the dream with a classmate when it happened before our eyes. Once a friend told me that he had a dream our auditorium caught fire. We prayed about it, and some days later we were in a lecture when the junction box caught on fire. It took the bravery of Belema Fyneface to put it out, admist the cheering of the crowd that previously sought to discourage him from such a risk.

For those whose dreams are beautiful, they can’t wait till night so they can sleep. And for those whose dreams are turbulent, stay-awake-pills are being invented too slowly.

You can’t dream without sleeping.