The Workings of a Dream
I once had a dream that felt so real, so out of my own conscious control yet so utterly vivid, that upon waking I was convinced that it was spurred on by some show or story I had taken in at some point in my life.
I quickly recorded as much detail as I could remember in my audio journal and then proceeded to obsessively discuss the contents of this dream with my friends at work. Ben, Fern, Ashley and Rob all verified that they had in fact never heard of such a story, yet they would be interested in hearing more.
With this validation, I realized to my amazement that this story was in fact a unique production of my unconscious mind. And with that realization, I discovered a bold truth about my self and my future life experience - I am the purveyor of this story. Since that day, I have contemplated this dream and the meaning behind it in comprehensive detail. Through this exploration I've realized new additions to the story, mechanisms of the world that it creates, and perhaps most profoundly, an artistic vehicle to bring the story into reality.
Almost exactly a year after this dream presented itself to me, I was speaking with my friend Ben about it once again and made one of the most significant realizations of my life - this dream was meant to be the narrative framework for a greater vision that I had been contemplating for a year prior to that night. It took me a year to see the connection between this story and the story of my greatest aspiration, a project led by a vision that also presented itself to me through the circumstances of my life.
That leads us here. It has been yet another year since that connective revelation, and in that time I have begun to produce a series of "artifacts," written on notecards, that expand on the dream in many ways. I've continued my research in the necessary realms required to pursue this vision and have finally found myself at a point where it is time to write this story exactly as I remember it, and then some.
This collection of story artifacts will live here, for now, as a testament to the vision of this project and as a basis for the work to come. As I craft this narrative, I will continue my independent research and will also lay out the entirety of this project in a separate series, so as to prepare for the creation of this work in whatever context I one day find myself in.
Over the last year or so, the development of the story has progressed quite dramatically from this original dream. It is my desire now to write this story in sections and segments, sometimes following a linear path, other times jumping sporadically between ideas and developments. This process will inspire a new way of interacting with narrative fiction as time goes on.
I would like to share the recording I made about the dream soon after waking up. Having just barely awoken, I groggily recount the primary details of the story. The characters presented themselves as people I had just met in New York City (a group of friends of a former girlfriend) but I believe that the story goes beyond those people in particular. As is often the case with dreams, my mind seems to have utilized these new friends to draw me into the greater story that developed.
For now, I leave this original recording here to begin crafting the collection of writing that will one day materialize into what very well be the greatest achievement of my life.
Thanks for following the journey :)
MRM
