Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams
         He opens the door and enters the room.  Adorned in strange garments and marked by age, he stands out amongst the crowd.  His shirt is fastened together at several points by strange circles.  There is an excess stiff bit of shirt at his neck so he has folded it down.  This portion covers a long slim piece of fabric, tied below his neck, which runs down his torso ending abruptly in angled lines which come to a point.  Atop this he wears a peculiar jacket.  It too has circles but they do not run up its whole.  The odd folds near its center look completely ornamental.  It is slit  for a small portion in the back as well.  His pants have small ridges running vertically down, and their color seems to change when his hand brushes up against a portion of them.  His shoes have a dull glow and they form creases by his toes when he walks.   
         It is clear he will not sit among them.  Instead he goes in front of them, ascends the small stage and stands behind the table.  It is covered with a cloth and on it several objects have been placed with some secret kind of symmetry.  He places his jacket on the high-backed chair behind the table, and pushes it aside.  He places both hands on the table’s corners and leans over, surveying the crowd.  The sleeves of his shirt do not rise as he leans, constrained by more of those strange circles.  The piece of cloth which hangs from his neck dangles above the table.
         He clears his throat and begins to speak in a whisper at first which grows into clarity: “Good morning.  I am here today to preach to you the good news of my faith, and to set straight the bad news you have been hearing about the other sects of my faith.  My religion began long ago in a different time, and I come to you in the professional attire of that time, they called it a suit.  This is how I dress when I speak to my brethren at our services.  I am a dream leader and I will now go on to tell you about my faith and its people.”
         Several head are cocked quizzically to the side in emulation of the canine act of confusion.  Others appear disinterested, starring into space.  While others whisper to each other, some about the man in front of them others about the day’s news and gossip.  Several are given harsh glances by those standing about outside of the ranks of seats.  He continues. 
         “Now back some hundreds of years ago, there was a popular philosophical theory which was a discussion on reality. It proposed that this whole reality could very well be conjured in the mind of any one of us.  Some went on to claim that being able to think proved that you were, in fact, real...or aware--meaning you could not be the figment of someone else’s imagination.  It is, or was, impossible back then to prove that someone aside from yourself was able to think, thus the foundation for the theory.” 
         More whispers, confident confirmations and doubtful denials.  But they have all shifted forward in their folding chairs.  And the well engineered foam under them gives accordingly.   
         “Then came along a man who called this theory absurd.  He was an author (although not very well known) by the name of Steven Smith, my faith’s prophet and the founder of my religion.  He claimed that no man would have the cognitive capacity to create this world and all its inhabitants in his mind.  Further, he said that this world and its activities are too varied to all have been created by one who resides inside it.  Therefore, this world must be the creation of some other mind.  Now Steven as a story writer said it takes an author outside of a story to create such a vast story, like the one of this universe.  Steven went on to say that the best of stories come to a writer in their dreams, or at least day-dreams.” 
         “He then went on to state the foundation of my faith: this is all in fact just a dream of the superior being of this world.  The real fear here is that the all-powerful dreamer may wake up, and just like that, this would all be over.  The Great Dreamer has imagined us all, and given us life.  However, the Great Dreamer’s cognitive capacity is beyond our own; he can dream things he has never seen and give the beings in his dream free will.  Being his children, our ways of dreaming are like his but much more limited.”
         He has their attention now.  Few continue to follow the painted lines on the ground and compare the colors.  They now all look up to the stage to hear the man and his interesting story. 
         “Now our prophet made this proclamation in a time of great conflict, a great world war, the third of its kind.  He claimed that even the great dreamer is not all powerful and can become stressed.  Part of the stress is handling great influxes of creatures into his dream (in particular, man).  Conflict takes two sides, which means multiple views...which takes multiple people.  So influxes of men cause the Great Dreamer stress and his grip on maintaining peace loosens and men begin to battle.  Now the loss of lives in these wars and the backlash of sadness and relative peace used to be enough to calm down the dreamer, but people kept growing in number.”
         The large lights in the room glow lightly, as shafts of sunlight shoot in through the high windows. The light leaves spots of sheen on the waxed wood floor. 
         “The prophet Smith said that it would not be enough this time, that the dreamer needed more comfort.  He claimed that since we are like him we should know how to help him.  The first step is then awareness, and gratitude--something you all appreciate.  Everyone likes to know that they are loved and respected; but this is not enough.  The next step was religious rest.  Now the dreamer has trouble concentrating on all the world, but it is easier to do when we sleep.  So we take religious rest during the day to lessen the amount that the great dreamer must dream about.”
         “Leading these religious rest ceremonies is part of my job as a leader in my church.  I am a dream leader; three times a day I hold ceremonies to help people fall into a deep meditative sleep to offer a small piece of respite to our imaginer.”
         Recognition shines in several faces.  The details are remembered several have heard snip its of such.  They relay this to those around them in hushed tones. 
         “Now there have been factions that have split off from the Church’s main body. In fact, before I was born, the church’s ideology was a little different.  You see Steven Smith died in his sleep soon after putting down his new religion in the greatest book he ever wrote, and the only one that was not fiction: The Church of the Great Dreamer.  The faith began as the belief that the Great Dreamer loved peace and wanted us to be at peace. They feared that violence would startle the Great Dreamer from slumber.  So the faith began as crusaders for peace and they did a great service in ending the third world war.” 
         Surprise is seen in many faces of both the standing and seated alike.
         “However some believe that the war ended too soon and the economies of the world were not able to adjust to peace so suddenly.  There were market crashes and famine abounding in many areas.  This led to an ideological backlash.  Now, some went on to claim that the Great Dreamer loves conflict and that peace will wake him.  They became a group of fanatical terrorists spreading violence and discord through out the world.”
         A wave of understanding nods runs through the crowd.
         “Today the majority of us have come to believe in a middle ground.  Either complete peace or total destruction would leave nothing left for the Great Dreamer to dream about. So, we strive for a middle road;  we work to end large conflict but we do not crusade for total peace for we fear what it could do.  Mainly we focus on our prayers to the Great Dreamer--something all the sects have in common.  We seek to show our awareness and appreciation through our religious rest.”
         “Now to explain what I have here on this table.  First, this is the cloth of concentration. We cover our eyes with this when we go to take our rest.  But before we do this we drink of the cup of sedation to help put our minds at ease.  After we lay down on the ground and use our personal pillow of peace to rest comfortably.  Now the original tenants required that we do this three times a day for one hour each.  However, in this world this is rather inconvenient.  At one point our religion had enough clot to force the public system to allow us to go to our services during our work and school days.  They started fazing this out however and now, with their equal tolerance through no-tolerance policy, so most do not practice three times a day.  So we stress it to be done at least once a day at home.  The church has declared it acceptable for this to be done at home provided on the weekends, you adhere more strictly.  So, on Saturdays most observe thrice in their home and then on Sundays we do a one three hour session for convenience.”
         One of the young boys raises his hand: “So, wait, were you brought here to get us to join your religion mister?”
         Nearly baffled, the man responds: “Why of course not, young man, my sect does not believe in conversions.  We believe in awareness, if you wish to learn more you can come see me after this assembly, and I would be happy to put you on the path to becoming a member or answering your questions.  That is why I came here.  Now your school asked me to be here as your guest speaker for another reason.  The recent terrorist attacks as always have been renounced by my branch of the faith.  And the school here wants you to understand the reasoning behind the terrorism and, further, to not be intolerant of all of us for the acts of the few.”
         A young lady stands up: “ Is not the whole church relatively small?” 
         The man replies with a serene smile: “Well yes and no. We are one of the largest religions    remaining today.  In today’s world, the amount of religious folk is indeed quite small largely due to all the scientific advancements that have been made and the global ethics codes.  However, none of that disproves or conflicts with my faith.  Now I have seen some puzzled looks on your faces throughout my little presentation here, but I assure you we are a rather simple religion.  You would have a much harder time believing in what they used to back when my religion was getting its start.”