Nightmares

I could have written this blog about a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, but I didn't. I have not recently been raped or eaten my own son. Not even on a metaphorical level. My near-death experiences lie in the category of far-death experiences. (In other words: not exciting). The closest I come to death is in my nightmares.

I am in a parking lot, usually at a grocery store, and suddenly everyone is looking up above the store. It's an asteroid hurtling towards Earth. I am filled with the most terrible of feelings. I am thinking to myself that, "this is it. I'm going to die now." And then I wake up.

I'm in a large city with skyscrapers everywhere. It is cloudy, but it could be all smoke; I cannot tell. Planes are crashing into buildings all around me. I have no idea if I am in a building that's about to get hit or if I am standing on the floor that is about to get hit of a certain building. I hurry to the lobby where others have bunkered down behind a desk. It's understood that we have to get moving because the building is about to collapse. Somehow the group is able to hijack a plane that is attempting to take off outside. I tackle a terrorist and slice his throat with a knife.

I am the star of an action movie that is no longer entertaining when the danger becomes all the more imminent.

Professor Sexson also asked us to have a sublime experience; one where we experience beauty and fear at the same time. I would argue that we as humans can only experience simulated sublime moments and that we reach greater heights of fear and beauty within our dreams and our encounters with our subconscious. Let's say you are in a car accident where you were pushed to the brink of death. How aware are we of that brink? How much time do we have to think, "I am going to die"? Aren't our dreams slowed down more so that we can have a heightened sense of our existence? The phrase "being lulled into something" indicates someone being put into a sleep or dream state. When people are groggy, their defenses are down. In most dreams (and in all of my dreams) people are not in control. Isn't that the most frightening state of all?