Memories Never Dies

Prologue  Have you ever dreamed, during your sleep, of people or places that, although you're certain they're real, don't seem to belong to your world ? Or at least, not the world as you know it ? The dream feels like a memory, a moment from your life, and your perception is incredibly clear. The dream's sounds, images, and sensations seem so real that your mind and body experience them as if you've lived them before. But it's all just an illusion ! And waking up confirms that it was just a dream, dispelling the illusion. However, just like an indelible mark, the feeling of reality persists in the unconscious part of your mind, a place where intuition, instinct, and inexplicable things hide. Despite being beyond reason, your faith in these things is constant. You have the feeling that everything was real, but in the meantime, you know for sure that it can't be. You're filled with a desire to understand where this feeling of 'déjà vu' comes from, and to which indefinite past these moments belong. Some have theories on the question, though they can be difficult for rational minds to accept. Anyhow, the need to know is stronger than reason itself. It's human to always want to explain the why and how of things! The problem, and it's not a small one, is that with dreams, everything becomes more complicated. Unlike our bodies, thoughts, or memories, we have no control over the dream world. The dream world defies our usual logic and reasoning, making it a sphere beyond our control. And what could be more disconcerting than not knowing why our subconscious sends us these unusual images ? It's even completely frustrating for ourselves—it's about the same, in fact, as other inexplicable things like death or time that we don't control and to which we attribute these moments of drifting, for lack of anything else. Because it's quite clear that that's exactly what it's about. Moments of unconstrained drifting, independent of our will and lost in time. A disorienting and inconceivable notion, like the assumptions that cross your mind, and that you can only allow in your thoughts because the limited society in which you exist does not allow it. It is at this moment that the full complexity of the human being comes into play. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? In the end, it depends on the kind of person you are, a rationalist or a free spirit, but regardless, the involuntary mechanism of self-censorship is the same for everyone. The mind and reason, like little police officers of the brain (trying to maintain order inside your head), regain control of the situation by seeking a rational explanation, dismissing any questioning without a logical answer, even going so far as to erase all embarrassing evidence through memory loss, to make sure it disappears forever. Often called the dreamer's amnesia, the pretty sly technique does have its limitations, with some savvy dreamers managing to overcome this plot by taking matters into their own hands. A handful of individuals, under certain psychological conditions, are capable of what's known as lucid dreaming. During these dreams, their awareness of being in another reality allows them to control it, giving them free will, normal reasoning abilities, and even all their sensory functions. Sure, it's satisfying, but it also brings up some big, existential questions. Should we really be opening that can of worms? It's a potential minefield of complex problems, and might just be the reason our subconscious keeps us in check. Behaving this way goes against the natural order of things, and it might just be a bad idea. Who's to say that the dream world we're about to shine a light on won't mess with our mental balance, or cause some irreversible changes in our lives?