T – Truth and Consequences or A Dreamer’s Hope
Dreams are a reality of life, for we all dream. What we dream and who we dream about vary between individuals.
Being a storyteller and a writer, my imagination helps me create the written and telling world I live in. My dreams can occasionally create a storyline that inspires me to write many stories I share.
Some of the stories I share are pure fiction. Some memoir pieces share more about where I come from and what makes me who I am. And then some combine the two—descriptions from my real life, with added fictional, or as a storyteller, I might say embellished characters or events.
Sometimes, when I dream, I picture my world as I grow older. In those instances, I am myself, and some people in the dream are known to me. Other times, I am outside myself, looking down at a previous or future version of me. In some cases, questions are raised about the truth of what I’m seeing, either in the dream or when I wake up after the dream. What are the potential consequences of whatever actions I’m looking at? Do they explain anything about me that I’m not aware of?
Such was the case in a recent dream where I saw myself in situation after situation, and I couldn’t remember the name of someone I was interacting with, or I couldn’t recall how to do something familiar to me, and simple things that I knew I could do, I couldn’t. Friends and family were around me in each instance, reminding me and helping me do or recall what was needed in that particular situation. With their help, I did remember, recall, and accomplish what needed to be done.
When I awoke, that dream was vivid in my mind. Dementia entered my thoughts. How does one get to that stage in life? Is it genetic? Is it some sort of disease of the brain? Or is it something else?
I have known several friends and family members who have had or had to deal with someone who had dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. I have not researched this, so what I’m about to suggest is speculative at best.
What if your imagination builds up these hypothetical dreams of a reality that involve you, like the ones I’ve had? With enough different possibilities that you are living through, is there a point where you can’t distinguish between what you see in real life and all the scenarios you have lived through in your head? It certainly would be enough to confuse you in your real reality.
If the overwhelming discrepancy between what is the truth and what is just fantasy is too great, maybe your mind just blocks them all out as a defense to stay sane.
However, the diagnosis from others is, “You are suffering from dementia.”
If my theory holds, then research should focus on finding a way for doctors or scientists to see what your dreams are producing. If too many conflicts distort your reality, they should work on finding ways to selectively block or limit the falsehoods so that the real world becomes your only storyline. That doesn’t mean you would stop your other creativity-inspired dreams. It wouldn’t take medicines or nursing homes, and you could live the life you were meant to live, remembering the things that are important to you and should be remembered.
If we could do that, it would make a great difference in our world.
This may sound implausible. A guy can dream, can’t he?
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