Man is supposed to be the maker of his destiny. It is only partly true. He can make his destiny, only in so far as he is allowed by the Great Power. - Mahatma Gandhi
Strange things blow in through my window on the wings of the night wind and I don't worry about my destiny. - Carl Sandburg
The #1206 “fiction” series continues ….
In a softly lit room on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, two men sat quietly, each studying the other.
“These dreams have been plaguing me for years and I couldn’t deal with them anymore. That’s why I came to see you”, concluded the younger man.
“I understand”, replied the doctor. “You did the right thing by coming to see me. So let me see if I understand you correctly. You claim that when you meet people in your dreams, that within a year or two, you actually meet them in person. Is this an accurate understanding?”
“I know it sounds crazy”, the patient replied, “but I can prove it. I’ve kept a journal of my dreams with complete descriptions of the people that I eventually meet. Many of them whom I meet for real tell me that they feel like they have met me before. But there are two things that are really bothering me about my dreams.”
“And what are they?”, the doctor asked in his monotone voice.
“Well”, replied the patient, beginning hesitantly. “The first is that there is always a third person in the room who seems to be the one who introduces us. Well, maybe introduces is the wrong word. She is always present, she never speaks and she usually just stands there and watches us without saying anything. She gives me the creeps.”
“Does this woman remind you of anyone you know?”, asked the doctor. “Does she have any distinguishing features that make her stand out?”
“Her eyes”, replied the patiently nervously. “She has very large eyes that look right through you. They are not hostile, friendly, angry or anything else. They are completely without emotion. She just stares at us without smiling or anything.”
“That would seem unusual”, agreed the doctor. “What is the other thing that is really bothering you?”
“Well”, the patient replied nervously, “The last person I met in my dreams where this large-eyed woman is also present was in a dream like no other. In the dream, I was making love to this woman while the woman with the large eyes just watched. She didn’t smile or say anything. She just watched us.”
“Having dreams of making love to strangers is not unusual”, replied the doctor. “Such dreams contain many messages about things the brain is processing. Who or what do you think the woman you are making love to represents?”
“Represents?”, asked the patient incredulously. “I met her for real two years later in a coffee shop and we hit it off as if we had known each other all our lives. No awkwardness of any kind. She even told me that she felt as if she had met me before and that she had known me for years.”
He paused before continuing. “It makes me wonder if these are dreams or if they are really happening”, he said quietly.
“Well”, replied the doctor, “We must be careful that we don’t confuse dreams and coincidences or that we don’t accidentally retrofit the memory of a past dream to match a current event. Such things are very common.”
“Maybe”, conceded the patient, “But I think there is more to it than that. I wonder if someone out there is connecting me with others for a reason or purpose.”
“That is an interesting observation”, noted the doctor, “Why don’t we save that for the next session.”
“You’re right”, agreed the patient as he stood up. Thanking the doctor for the session, he saw himself out of the office.
Two hours later, in the waning hours of the evening, he found himself reflecting on the conversation with his therapist as he drove down the quiet road to his home miles from the city. Over his left shoulder, he casually observed a plane paralleling him and as he did so, confusion and then drowsiness suddenly overcame him.
He woke up startled and confused in a small room devoid of any furniture except for the small bed he was lying on. Wondering how he got there, he stood up on shaky legs, walked slowly over to the door and opened it.
In the long hallway that stretched out of sight to his left and right, a flurry of activity attacked his senses, with people walking quickly in both directions. He noted with curiosity that quite a number of them seemed to be in military uniforms.
As his confused mind struggled to understand what he was observing, he was startled by someone clearing his throat. “I assume you have many questions”, came a voice to his left. “I will do what I can to answer them.”
As he turned, his eyes focused on two figures in front of him.
A short, nondescript man, clearly the one who had just spoken, stood before him.
But it was the other person that startled him.
The woman who had participated in the introductions in his dream stood before him, tall, unsmiling and with the same penetrating, emotionless eyes.
“Please step back into the room”, the short man said. “Let’s talk about your destiny.”
To be continued.
© 2014 – Harry Tucker – All Rights Reserved
Series Origin:
This series, a departure from my usual musings, is inspired as a result of conversations with former senior advisors to multiple Presidents of the United States, senior officers in the US Military and other interesting folks.
While this musing is just “fiction” and a departure from my musings on technology, strategy, politics and society, as a strategy guy, I do everything for a reason and with a measurable outcome in mind. :-)
This “fictional” musing is a continuation of the #1206 series noted here.
No comments:
Post a Comment