« Right This Minute | This We Know #3

Dream Time

By Tom Evans

Randy Gardner holds the scientifically documented record for the longest period a human being has intentionally gone without sleep not using stimulants of any kind. In 1964, he stayed awake for 11 days.

While you are reading this and awake, about 2 billion people are asleep.

Quite a few are snoring. Some of them are insomniacs who want to fall asleep but can’t seem to nod off.

Around half of them are dreaming. This means every minute of every day, around one billion dreams are playing out.

At the same time, 5 billion people are experiencing a form of waking dream. About one billion people are on the Internet at any one time. Another billion are watching TV. Some are doing both.

Around 3 billion people are at work. Some are dreaming of what it would be like not to be. Some of them are dreaming of what it would be like to be rich and happy. Some of them are dreaming up ways to have a better life for themselves and others.

About one billion people are dreaming of what it would be like to lose some weight. About one billion people are wondering where their next meal is coming from.

Of the 5 billion or so people who are awake, 3 billion or so live in cities polluted by light and airborne particulates.

This means that in those short magical hours between dusk and the other Dream Time, only a precious few people could actually look up and see the stars.

For some of them, the clouds in both senses, may not even part sufficiently for them to look.

So out of all these 7 billion souls sharing a journey on this blue-green jewel we call Earth, only a relative handful are even looking up at any time.

Attention is focused in and down. Dreams nest inside dreams. Co-creation of our current reality is thus achieved.

As a result, for many, there is no Up-Side. •

Next: Spaceship Earth »

This inspiring article is serialized from the ebook This We Know © 2012 Tom Evans. All rights reserved. More »

10/28/12