When I was in college, I remember not being able to recall my dreams when I woke up. I had concluded that I didn’t dream anymore. I was corrected by a friend that everyone dreams¹. A few years after college I started being able to recall my dreams when I woke up. Sometimes I would write them down.

I know from speaking to my wife that she often has a plot driven dream, in a way that a task or objective is at hand. I do not have plot driven dreams often (or at least from what I can recall). Nor do I recall any extravagant dreams where I am piloting a giant Donkey Kong mech against a giant tumbleweed to save all the world’s sushi². My dreams are fairly mundane compared to my imagination.

When I do have dreams they are often like a remix of people, places, or circumstances. I’ve had the dream where I didn’t study for a college exam at all. I’ve had several dreams where I’m driving a car but something is hindering my ability to control the car, like driving from the back seat, or breaks that don’t work. I dream of people I used to know well but no longer stay in touch with. But I rarely can recall a plot of why I am in that circumstance. This has led me to a fun thought experiment or concept.

While I don’t believe this theory at all, I still think it’s a fun way at looking at dreams. I imagine that my subconscious is piercing through a membrane of other realities when I dream. As my subconscious drifts through alternate realities I see another world where something could have happened which explains why I don’t see anything crazy or non-believable. These realities are the closest to my own, which is why often I don’t see any realities where I’m world leader or piloting a giant mech. It doesn’t rule out that I can’t see those dreams, it just means my subconscious would have to drift further out into the Dreamisphere™ which would require further dream energies. When I wake up, I often feel like something has changed. It’s similar to that feeling that I get when returning home from a long vacation where home feels slightly (by a small percentage) unfamiliar³. Did my subconscious move to a new reality that’s almost indiscernible from my own?⁴

Like I said it’s just a fun thought experiment. This would be a cool science fiction story.

I actually believe that dreaming is basically the brain’s process for defragmenting and compartmentalizing information. So, basically I’m just watching this when I dream:

Now all I want is to dream that I’m piloting that giant Donkey Kong mech.

It looks like I’m not the only one who had that idea.

https://twitter.com/CatchShiroCX/status/1118204214185009152

1. Don’t we all? [Long sigh while gazing into the horizon.] ↩
2. Don’t worry, I’m writing this fanfic. It will come out in 2028. ↩
3. Not quite this:
   ↩
4. Remember the show Sliders? ↩

• Cover Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com