s a r a h c a s m

I had a conversation with a lab rat in my dream last night.  I was also the rat.  The lab rat was voluntarily subjecting herself to experiments.  She wore a lab coat and being an experimental  rat was her job.

Me: Why do you let them do this to you?

Rat: Do humans not volunteer their bodies to science experiments?

Me: Well, yes… but usually for money

Rat: I am compensated

Me: You are?

Rat: Yes.  Every morning, I wake up and realise that the new day has requested my presence in it.

Me: Would you not get that anyway?

Rat: The work that I do makes it all the more significant.

Is that not weird?  I am not one to analyse my own dreams, but what do you make of this?

I have always loved dreaming.  Sometimes, I go to sleep just so I can dream – and often, to finish a dream.  Yes, finish my dreams.  I have always had very vivid dreams and lucid recollections of them. At the risk of sounded cliché or crazy, I will say that my dreams are so real that it seems like they transport me.  Arguably, they feel as real when I am in them as my perceived reality feels when I am in it.

When I was kid, I pictured a TV in my head as I was falling asleep (no wonder my parents took our TV away for a few years).  As I fell asleep, I would ‘flip through the channels’ and choose what I wanted to dream about.  I would skip through the scary ones and settle on the the ones that made me feel good.  It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that this was uncommon. It served me well.  Though, I don’t have to do it anymore, I sometimes will for fun and nostalgia.

Now, I can fall asleep to finish a dream from the night (or nap) earlier.  Usually, I see where the dreams take me and go along for the ride, but when I know I am dreaming, I can dictate what happens next, when it ends, or who will appear in it.

As a result of my connections to my dreams, sometimes the distinctions between my perceived reality and my dreams blur.  I often do things in my dreams that I need to do in my reality and then I think they have actually been done.

Recently, I read the following passage in Mysticism and the New Physics by Michael Talbot (page 6 in my copy)

“I may dream that I am sitting at a table having breakfast and talking with my friends, but when I wake, I know that both I and my friends are part of the continuum of the dream. To say that there are many ‘consciousnesses’ in the dream is merely a semantic distinction. All the people in the dream are illusions. They …are constructions of consciousness”

Interesting and provocative.

What does that say about reality and consciousness?  Could it be. . . that saying there are many consciousnesses in reality is also a semantic distinction and that people in reality are constructions of one consciousness?  Illusions. . .?

I never thought I’d be one of those parents who insists that their child is destined for big things – fame, riches, celebrity, etc.  And, I never, ever, thought I’d be dreaming about his future in professional sports. Ever.

In fact, I was planning on letting him play whatever he liked – competatively, or not.  Although, I still plan on doing that, my son has an athletic talent that is hard to ignore.  He is a natural.

At 15 months, Q could hit a ball off a tee.  At 16 months, he could place the ball on the tee, pick up the bat, and hit the ball!  Now, at 17 months, he can hit a ball that is pitched to him!   He holds the bat and swings – and HITS the ball!  I am not sure how common this is for a boy his age, and I know I am biased, but that seems pretty impressive!

I don’t know what the future holds for Q.  All I hope is that he enjoys whatever he does and pursues his passion.  Maybe that will be baseball.  Maybe that will be ballet. I don’t care. However, I must say that it is pretty exciting to see natural talent in him!