While my soul was asleep, the world was my dream. Nothing was real, everything was ephemeral. Colors were dull, joy edged with sadness, my place uncertain. Now I am Awake; and though I had to die, I have never been so alive. I have Awakened to a world that I hardly understand. Yet it is the same world I used to sleep in. I now understand that the uncertainty I once felt was my soul longing to break free from the dream world I was trapped in and experience the world as it truly is. I don’t know what caused me to trip that night in the cemetery, but I strongly suspect a ghost was involved. The doctors said I was clinically dead for 5 minutes. They had ceased resuscitation, knowing that after that length of time permanent brain damage was guaranteed. But then my heart started to beat on its own. I was in a coma for 3 days after that. They told my parents that it was unlikely that I would ever wake up, and even if I did they said I would be a vegetable for the rest of my life. If only the doctors knew just how wrong they were.
What I experienced in those 5 minutes; or 3 days, depending
on who you believe more (quack mystic, priests, or neurologists), can only be
described as Rebirth. Not the fake rebirth of modern religions, but a true
remaking of my soul. I saw a great tower made of lead on the horizon. For days I
traveled across a field of marble accompanied only by the shades of the deceased
that call that place home. When I finally reached the tower I had to climb the
endless steps to the top. Days I climbed, never needing food or rest. At the top
sat a throne of bone and gold, empty and waiting. Along the walls there were
statues that looked almost alive in their realism. A name I could not read
carved in to the base of each. At the end of the hall a blank block of stone
waited, and I felt that it was waiting for me. I picked up chisel and hammer and
began to carve a likeness of myself into that rock. As the days passed I realized
that I didn’t need any tools; that my will and hands were all I needed to shape
the stone. After a week of working, my offering to the tower was complete, and I
carved my name into the base. The trip to the base of the tower took only
moments now that I understood that the size of the tower was a projection of my
will. I exited the tower and Awoke in a hospital bed. The doctors were confused
and elated by my miraculous recovery. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I met
someone that could explain the truth behind my strange dream.
