Summerlander

Date: 23/04/2022
Bedtime: 3.30am
Awakening: 8.45am
Return to bed: 9am
Method of entry: dream consciousness
Attempt: successful
Awakening: 12pm
DILD: The Microscope Experiment


DREAMING

I'm in a nightclub and feel like going for a pee so I walk towards a public toilet. As I head for the urinal, I sense that I'm being followed at close proximity by a lanky Oriental guy. This individual declares himself to be gay and begs me for sex. When I decline, he tells me he can't be held responsible for what might happen when I undo my trousers to urinate. Shocked and feeling a bit freaked out, I exit the toilet and decide to report him to the bouncers, but once I hear these burly men discussing how they've manhandled a few homophobes out of the nightclub, I feel apprehensive. What if they take me to be homophobic once I tell them about the man who solicited me for sex in the toilet?


WAKING

I dash off what I remember from dreaming, making a note of how extremely unlikely the nightclub situation would have been in real life and the strong emotions about it. I also realise the uncritical assumption I made in believing that I would be thought of as homophobic for spurning a gay pervert. In real life, should such a scenario present itself, I'd like to think I would be astute enough to explain myself with the clarity that calling out inappropriate behaviour does not make me a bigot. I use the loo and return to bed a few minutes later with the initial intention to enter the phase indirectly. I fall asleep with the experiment in mind.


DREAMING

I'm an onlooker at a nocturnal rodeo and I witness a man getting knocked out by a thuggish cowboy. The moustachioed father of the unconscious victim rushes to the scene in a fit of rage and attempts to hit his son's aggressor, but a group of people restrain him. Then, in an exasperating turn of events, the thug and his cronies beat up the father. On top of this, the police arrive to unjustly arrest the crying and bruised old man despite the fact that he and his son were the ones who were brutally assaulted. The sun comes up as the cops force the cuffed victim into a police car. Is this really happening? I gradually pull my right sleeve up to check my tattoo—it looks accurate at first glance, but then I turn my forearm slightly when I notice a curious addition: an ink depiction of the Virgin Mary's countenance which contradicts what is true in real life. I'm dreaming!


LUCID DREAMING

I'm standing next to a stable and the rodeo crowd is no longer present. In fact, not a soul in sight, as it were. Before me is a vivid, rural landscape at the crack of dawn. (Realism: 100%) I bring the palms of my hands to about six inches from my face and start peering at the creases, imagining that my eyes are microscope lenses. My skin turns into a beige canvas, so to speak, which comes to dominate my field of vision and, as I zoom in, its creases begin to resemble gorges enabling the flow of peculiar sperm-like swimmers of a dark pigmentation. I no longer feel like I'm looking at my hands, having acquired a bird's-eye view of a weird but captivating landscape—a world which isn't the cellular topography I initially expected. I'm eerily drawn to the craggy terrain below, which becomes increasingly defined with my approach. The bizarre sperm-like creatures turn out to be squid-shaped machines similar to the Sentinels in The Matrix, gliding through canyons in a vast desert.

As soon as I land on rocky terrain, the sky quickly darkens, turning overcast in a matter of seconds. A few mechanical squids fly above me and I take off to give chase over a mountainous grey landscape. I see someone walking alongside a precipice and decide to allay my curiosity by landing next to the character in order to strike up a conversation. Upon closer examination, I see Gerald, my best man! 'What are you doing here?' I ask. 'Let me show you something!' He replies enthusiastically. I follow him as he walks ahead visibly excited. The surroundings begin to resemble Richmond—where my in-laws used to live—and a conversation between me and Gerald becomes defocused; I fall asleep.


DREAMING

I'm walking down Manor Road and my best man is apparently taking me to his house. We arrive at his outdoor dwelling—where he literally doesn't have a roof over his head and I don't think to question it—and all his furniture and possessions are exposed to the elements. He shows me shelves stacking books, CDs and DVDs. I spot The Matrix collection: 'Have you seen all of them, Gel?' I ask. 'All of 'em!' He replies. He appears to have exactly the same interests as me! I see Black Sabbath records and his stereo is playing 'Whole Lotta Love' by Led Zeppelin. I don't remember him being into good old classic metal music.

We go for a walk again and come upon the bottom of a cliff with a rusty ladder extending all the way to the top. Gerald begins to climb the ladder and I follow, finding the situation extremely precarious. Once he reaches the top, he stands in my way of climbing up from the ladder, making me hold on to it for dear life. Experiencing extreme vertigo and trying not to panic, I try to see what's taking him so long to move out of the way; I even think about asking him for help. I am now paralysed with fear, observing Gerald with his back to me, lifting a grate from the dusty ground for some unknown reason. Scene shift: A man dressed in rags is accused of being abusive on the streets of what looks like the fictitious Walford in EastEnders. Actor Brian Conley, who plays Tom Cotton, defends the poor man, believing him to be the victim of defamation. Another citizen thinks the raggedy man is guilty and Brian Conley becomes annoyed. I'm inclined to side with the celebrity, pointing out that the accusations are just hearsay and that there is an absence of evidence against the accused. I subsequently urge bystanders to give the raggedy man the benefit of the doubt and listen to his version of events before jumping to conclusions. The unkempt man begins to speak.


WAKING

I record my lucid dream and make note of the potential and recurring oneiric cues which can be exploited in the future to promote dream consciousness. Curiously, this is the second time I experience vertigo in a dream so it could be the beginning of a dream pattern. Fights/confrontations, pursuits and celebrity meetings are recurring themes.