Of dreams and waking No2

When you're dreaming, don't you sometimes remember things very clearly; past events, people you've met before, places you've seen? But when you wake up, it seems that even your most vivid memories were simply a dream-construction, a special addition designed to make your dream-experience more realistic.

Where do dream-memories come from? Where are they stored? Are they totally arbitrary, built anew every time you begin to dream? Is there a memory pool that has already been created for every possible identity you might assume while asleep?

Or is it possible that all these seemingly unconnected images spring out of dreams we've had before? What if nothing is truly forgotten, even if our waking consciousness has wiped all recollections off?

What if, in our dreams, we remember everything we've ever dreamed of, so that, in a sense, we may live a million lives in one single lifetime? What if real life only happens in dreams, and what we call "reality" is nothing more than a dull, repetitive, predictable intermission?

Of dreams and waking...

Have you ever wondered when dreams are created? Are they more like movies which have already been recorded before you even begin to watch? Or are they open-ended, taking shape only as they unfold?

Is there such a thing as chance in dreams? Do we make choices and decisions according to some kind of dreaming conscience? Or is everything predetermined- every step we take, every word we utter, every person we meet?

In dreams, just like in life, we walk around believing that we are free, autonomous beings. But when we wake up, we realize that we are not who we thought we were only a few seconds ago and that all we considered real was merely the projection of an overactive subconscious.

Don't get me wrong here; I'm not saying I believe in destiny. Yet sometimes, when returning home after an intricately-woven and hardly interpretable dream, I cannot help but doubt my ability to influence what is happening around me, regardless of whether I'm asleep or not.

And on certain days, my mind may drift away while I'm engaged in what you'd describe as daily activities, and suddenly I can no longer tell if I am awake or dreaming, suddenly I do not know who I am anymore.

On certain days, this unsettling suspicion begins to creep inside my head: that maybe there is no such thing as chance in this dream, that maybe everything has been predetermined,every step I take, every word I utter, every person I meet...