From tomorrow onward
two possible scenarios will unfold.
In the first you shall lead a happy normal life that fulfills all your desires and allows you to justifiably feel like you are making the world a better place simply by existing. But, of course, there is one major catch.
Every night when you go to sleep, you are plagued by horrible nightmares that feel as real as anything you normally experience. You always know that they are dreams and that you cannot be harmed by what occurs in them, but when they are happening it truly feels like you are there. And as much as you dread them, you never experience insomnia because of them. You are always able to get a full 8 hours at night. Nor do the dreams cause you any real world stress or neurosis. Though you know they happen every night, the details of the dreams always vanish as soon as you wake up. You have simply come to accept that for 1/3 of each day you will be tortured in all the worst ways your unconscious mind can imagine, without any effect.
In the second scenario, the opposite occurs. Your real life isn’t filled with torture, but it is pretty bleak and unhappy. Mostly it’s boring with occasional bursts of misery, loneliness and existential despair. It’s bearable, but not much fun. But for 1/3 of each day all of your greatest fantasies come true while you sleep and they feel as real as anything you’ve lived through. Once again, you will forget everything that happened once you wake up and the knowledge of having the dreams will never make your life feel any easier or make you more optimistic.
Which one of these
would you prefer?
I would have to go with the first… I just had a nightmare a couple nights ago about being sent away to prison for a felony I didn’t commit. I kept telling everyone I knew, “This is my worst nightmare!” When I woke up, I was grateful for my freedom in a way I hadn’t been… ever. So I want the amazing life and then the nightmares to remind me that I lead an amazing life.