A Man Can Dream

Back in high school I read a magazine article about people who could control their dreams. They called it lucid dreaming. The article listed techniques developed during laboratory sleep studies they used to train their conscious minds to exert control while . I started trying that very night.

It was slow to start. At first you learn to become aware of the fact that you are dreaming. Most of the time that results in you waking up. Sometimes with quite a start. Eventually you get used to it and spotting the signs that you’re dreaming become easier. Then you start to exert control. Now that I’m almost thirty I’ve become quite an expert.

The rules are simple enough: if you can think it, you can dream it. Flying was the first big hurdle and I still remember the absolute joy of leaving the ground for the first time. Superpowers are a fun way to exercise power fantasies, and there’s no better movie theatre for exploring the universe than your unlimited imagination. Being a teenager, however, my fantasies turned pretty quickly to sexual delights. I lost my virginity in a dream before I did in real life. It’s not the same, to be clear, but it still feels great.

Anyone was up for grabs, men and women. People I knew, strangers I had seen that day, celebrities, even fictional characters. I sometimes felt guilty, like I was violating them, especially if it was someone I was close to. But that didn’t stop me. Hell, it was part of the thrill! I got to do whatever I wanted and they would be none the wiser as long as I didn’t tell anyone. Consequence free sex.

Now I should point out that while dreams aren’t dangerous that there is still a risk, of course. There’s no such thing as perfect control. A stray thought can turn a perfect fantasy into a nightmare at the drop of a hat. Also, a neuroscientist quoted in the article said that some lucid dreamers reported feeling that sometimes their dreams felt like they were connecting to something outside themselves; they were journeying to another reality or plane of being. A word of warning, if you take a dream someplace you aren’t quite ready for then sometimes the dream can take you where you couldn’t imagine.

Which reminds me of last night. Last night… well last night was a doozy.