The Big Sleep
According to
Greek mythology sleep and death are brothers. To their ancient eyes sleep
sure the heck looked like death. To this day we eulogize the departed with
phrases like 'Eternal rest, grant onto them...' . There is a distinct
linkage between the two in most cultures. So, could it be that some
insomniacs have an unconscious fear of death that is manifested in the inability to fall
asleep? The onset of sleep means giving up control and awareness not unlike
death. Maybe a deep-seeded irrational fear of death makes some
insomniacs hyper-aware and unable to let the natural sleep process do it's
magic. Being hyper-aware in times of stress
is not unusual and can have devastating effects on our sleep cycles. It
certainly did on mine.
The Dream
State
I don't know
if sleeping and generic dreaming have any link to the the great beyond. My
thoughts on sleep is that it is a natural recharging cycle that takes place because our
little patch of the planet spins away from the sun every day, leaving
most of us with 10 to 12 hours of darkness every night. Through the eons we,
like almost all animals, overused our energy caches simply to survive in the
daylight. We recharged our bodies at night while asleep. But something
interesting happens to our brains. Our brains come alive and, in some
respects, are much more active in the sleep and dream state then during our
waking hours. It could conceivably be possible that a psychic connection was
made, over millions of years, within the human species in the realm of
sleeping and dreaming. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung suggested a Collective Unconscious links us all. I have been pondering whether death
is simply a lucid dream in the Collective Unconscious. Am I freaking you out
yet?
I would
like to point out one observation I had today. I walk quite frequently as I
know that exercise helps with my sleeping. Today I walked around a lake and
noticed two things. Schools of fish and flocks of birds seem to move,
darting this way and that way, in unison. It is as if they are of one mind.
How do they know which way to go at the exact time as the other fish or
birds unless they have some kind of mental connection? I guess one could
argue that their movements are so fast, and human eyesight is so slow, that
schools of fish and flocks of birds only appear to move in unison. But if
birds and fish do have some kind of telepathic connection isn't it possible
that humans do, too? If Carl Jung was right maybe The Big Sleep
will be more fascinating and joyful than anyone alive can even imagine.
Ergo, there is no reason to fear it. I guess now is a good time to dust off
the old saying ' Heaven is the dream you die with '. If an insomniac
does not fear death then that is just one more issue they can scratch off
their list of why they are not sleeping well.
Brad McBride
Comments?
email me
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Thoughts
