I had a dream last night. No seriously, hear me out on this one. It was me and Dr. King hanging out. You might have remembered I wrote a letter to him yesterday. After which, I sought to deepen my connection and understanding of this man a little further. What ended up happening caught me completely off guard, but was a pleasant, if not slightly spooky surprise.
DREAM MACHINE/TIME MACHINE
Having a life long fascination with all matters brain related, and a particular emphasis on paranormal activity and behavior, I especially like to delve into studying dreams and altered states of consciousness.After downloading over 24 hours of audio of Martin Luther King speeches and sermons yesterday (see end of story for links on this), including some rarely heard or publicized , I planned to fully immerse my self in all things King in honor of his birthday.
I've always admired and looked up to him as a great example of leadership, courage and integrity to be emulated, so why not learn more about him? Not merely through the writings and recollections of others, but through his own words.
Being a student of history in general, studying the lives of great people who've lived before us is quite enjoyable. As a researcher, when I get into a subject I like to dig deep. I wanted to get to know Dr. King beyond popular soundbites, quotes and common perceptions.
Near the end of a long day, I thought of a little experiment. What if I played the speeches and sermons of Dr. King while I slept?
Going with the theory that our subconscious is a massive recorder, able to grab hold of data at a much greater rate than we're consciously aware. I've long had the practice of listening to audio books with the device set to play at two times, or even three times normal speed. There seems to be something about faster pace audio that helps deter drifting off, and possibly causing the subconscious to tune in closer.
My personal results have been greatly increased recollection and retention. I'm able to pour through a great amount of material in a fraction of the time it would ordinarily take. To deepen the impression and understanding, I sometimes listen to the same material at warp speed, several times in a row. This sort of feels like programming my own mind. Not much different than the well known experiments on subliminal messages, discovered to be so powerful, their use on the unsuspecting is considered highly unethical.
BACK TO THE DREAM
Somewhere in the night, after a beautiful introduction by Coretta Scott King, I fell asleep to the words of the great orator. Then came the dream ...
There I was hanging out with Dr. King. I distinctly remember the whole scene being set in the kind of grainy black and white we see on television clips from that era.
I was fully involved in the scene. Dr. King spoke to me, laughed and joked, and even posed for me to take photographs. After a few serious poses, he started to smile broadly as he sat for my lens.
TIME TRAVELER
The strangest part of the whole thing is, within the dream, I was keenly aware of the future. Though I was there with him, I was overwhelmed with sadness knowing how his life would end. It was clear in the dream, that during our time together, Dr. King had no idea what was to come, but like a strange time traveler from the future, I knew his eventual fate.
Making matters worse, much as I wanted to share with him where things were going and what was to happen, I felt a heavy inner urging to stay silent on the matter, and not to interfere with fate or future, for it wasn't my place to do this.
At some point, the whole thing became too much, I woke up and in a sleeping daze, must have paused the audio and dozed back to sleep. When I finally arose for the day, looking at the timer, over five hours of audio had played before it was stopped.
I do not intend to even try to conjure up some sort of deep meaning or conclusion to this dream. Its presented to you in the interest of sharing. Did I really travel back in time? Am I some sort of deranged delusional, neurosymptomatic patient needing to be institutionalized? I leave that for you to decide. None the less, I found the whole thing quite interesting, indeed I had a dream.
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Additional Resources:
A Call to Conscience -- The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.: The Ultimate Collection Part 1Speeches by Martin Luther King Jr.: The Ultimate Collection Part 2
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