Deep Dream

DAWN. THE first rays of light are entering the room. Still with sleep-crust on his eyes, like every morning Leo Po writes:

The water is about to boil. You love that tea. It makes you so happily awake. But you hear a noise at the door and the bell rings. You turn off the fire and open the curtains to let the sun shine in. You might be thinking: ‘Am I ready for this?’ Yes you are! You always are! You were born ready! It’s all about confidence and deliberation. Be the owner of yourself, believe in your inner side. Strong and connected with the Illusion you are about to create.

Leo Po shares the Illusion.

’Illusion sent to 5 890 057 participants.

84 reactions in 3 seconds!

It’s so mysterious…

They love it and cannot wait until tomorrow!

One Illusion per day, what a record!

Thank you for sharing, Leo.’

says the voice of Common Sense.

‘You are welcome’

Suddenly, something moves which breaks his focus as he jumps out of bed. In the opposite corner, not far from the king-sized mattress, a stranger stands, staring at him, hiding a pair of sleepless-night eyes behind mirror glasses.

Leo Po snaps to attention.

‘Who the hell are you?’

‘Good morning. My name is Elena, but call me whatever you like.’

‘Whatever you like, I am not in the mood’

’Funny one. Don’t you wanna play?

‘No. Want coffee. Don’t like morning visits.’

‘You look nervous’

‘If I say no, it means no’ ‘Go now or I report the intrusion. I can block you man’

‘So I see. That’s what you like eh? Leaving your door open, then acting like a rude little boy.’

’Intrusion detected. Please leave Leo Po’s.

Dreaming is respecting other Dreams.’

says the voice of Common Sense in the stranger’s mind.

‘Are you Leo Po?’ asks the stranger ‘If you want me to leave, why don’t you give me that Illusion you were writing?’

‘Don’t you understand? You cannot Zap into my Dream like that, without asking for permission, and expect me to smile at you and, what else… Give you an original of my writings so that you can use it for your sick little games? I suppose you want me to suck you off, too, don’t you? Get out of my house, and don’t bother me anymore! You’ve got five seconds to get the fuck out! One, two, three, four…’

But five seconds run out and the stranger does not move at all. Leo Po’s heart begins to jump. The guy is still standing on the opposite corner of the bed, taking the shape of a long skinny curve.

It barely takes another few seconds before Leo gets the strength to stand up and charge at the stranger, who dodges him by first passing through the next door then disappearing, as if fleeing through a thousand others doors to any other point in the huge platform, maybe to an after party, maybe visiting another victim of his voyeurism, maybe finally returning to his bed, the sweet refuge for all DeepDreamers.

‘Shit’ ‘There really is no privacy anymore.’

It’s true that there is no more space for privacy, or time for quiet boredom. Life has become a successive sequence of actions, sensorial inputs and unplanned situations that do not surprise anyone anymore. A long, playful and exciting game. ’Thanks to DD’ say some philosophers in the media, ironically. But everyone knows that this motto doesn’t make any sense on its own. What it should say is ‘Thanks to your Desires’. Humanity has finally given in to hedonism.

‘Interview at BIO’

says the voice of Common Sense in Leo Po’s mind.

Without any hurry, Leo stands and searches for a pair of pants in the piles of clothes lying all around him.

‘What a mess’

He goes to the bathroom, and when he comes back, the bedroom is already tidy and clean, with books in the bookcase, writing material at the desk, clothes in the wardrobe, dirty plates and glasses back in the kitchen, and used tissues in the garbage. And with the exquisite baroque room ready for a new day, a freshly ironed suit hangs from the ceiling, waiting for him to get dressed.

Going out of his bedroom, he crosses a long corridor full of columns and moldings.

In the kitchen, the old Italian coffee pot sounds its siren song, and from another door of the corridor appears Benicio, Leo Po’s flatmate.

‘Morning’ says Benicio, with an awakening smile, and the space automatically begins shifting shape, mixing with the Memories of this new DeepDreamer, essentially minimalistic and organic shapes, that add more clashing to the continuous dynamism of the architecture.

Leo Po has already prepared a couple of cups. A bit of milk for himself, a bit of sugar for Benicio. Benicio is a strong man, both as a façade and internally, with powerful ideas, grey eyes and a serious composure. Sometimes his thoughts are too strict for Leo Po’s mornings, but today he would accept anything that could take his mind off the upcoming interview.

Benicio stays in silence for a while, then takes a sheet of paper and starts writing on it. Something appears on his face… Perhaps worry.

‘Have you seen what I shared? I don’t feel like reading all the feedback, could you do that for me, please?’

‘I saw it again man, what a night…’ says Benicio without answering Leo’s question ‘I stopped the trip, everything was quiet and still. You remember what I told you about?’

Leo Po tries to talk but Benicio continues as if he was alone in the conversation.

‘I’ve almost figured out how to find the exact point to pause DD. To pause the rush. No more motion or stirring. No more fears’. All these sentences come out of his mouth one by one, with long reflective pauses, while he looks all around, pointing to the trembling decoration surrounding the room. ‘Pure happiness. The one thing that drives everyone here. No projection. No nostalgia. No anxiety. We would finally get it, we would have complete serenity.’

In the next pause, Benicio looks at Leo Po’s face, as if waiting for affirmation. But nothing comes from his flatmate.

‘Tonight I reached it, it was crazily beautiful, I tell you… Just one stop at exactly the right moment, and it switches off all your thoughts and all the tremblings; and then, the calm.’ ‘I must work on it while it’s still here’. He makes an air-ring with his index finger pointing to his head. ‘The images are still appearing: Memories of childhood. The blue sea and a feeling: being in my fathers’ arms, feeling peace in his strength.’

Looking at Benicio’s wide eyes, Leo Po realizes he is almost traumatized by the night he has just had. Sometimes t he successive dreaming, secondary dreams into the main Dream, most technically known as [To Dream in (Dream 1)], are highly dangerous if there is no strict control. How deep and complex could the hole become if one fell asleep repeatedly while dreaming? Many have gotten lost in the unknown, never waking up. Benicio is clearly addicted, but who isn’t?

‘I’m sure you could find plenty of customers for that’, answers Leo after thinking a moment, adding a big nod of encouragement.

‘That’s what I mean, man. Look at the immense mass of users around us, all these brains working continuously, day and night. Normal people need a rest, and if they don’t get it here, where would they? This is the right place for this. We could do it, you should join me in the research. I’ll get there, whatever it takes!’

‘I know you will. I believe in you. But sorry man, I can’t help you today. Today is a big day.’

Benicio looks puzzled, but then something clicks.

‘That’s right! Today’s the interview, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah,’ concludes Leo with some doubt in his tone.

‘Relax, little mind’ says Benicio laughing with affection, and he knocks on Leo Po’s forehead. ‘Everything is gonna be all right. They can’t say no to such a brain. They need you, man. And worst case, you come back here and we work together: me with my inspiration, you with your knowledge and fancy words. We will become Nouveau Riche overnight’

Benicio ends the sentence with a broad smile.

They chug the rest of the coffee and move to the dance room. The place is already vibrating a bit. Leo Po shares some ultrasonic 8-bit music, starting slowly on rhythms but vastly absorbing the atmosphere. The bit goes faster, as do the room’s vibrations, and so do they, moving frantically, with broken rhythms, touching the ground, crawling, climbing and trying to reach the sky. Shoes off, socks in the air, feet down, patting their ears with their feet, rolling, confusing small and discreet. Shirts off. Laughing to themselves. Circular turns until falling, rising, and falling again. Exploding like giants. The right walls sound pom, pom, pop pom. The left: tam, tam, pam, tam. Pants to the wind, neck looking for the chest, but escaping from the trunk, trunk forgetting the hip, hips loving the foot and everything turning and turning on itself in the dancing room. The more freely they dance, the more they feel the space. Dancing is the most effective way DeepDreamers have found to ensure gravity. Gravity ensures them of where they are: at home, in sweet (Dream 1), and no, they do not want to get lost. The fear of getting lost, the vertigo of falling, and the doubts about time and space, are social issues that invade their feelings if they spend too long lost on stillness. That’s why they dance. They dance in the mornings, afternoons, and nights. They dance whenever they can. They dance to feel the space, to get a sense of themselves, and to feel alive.

Recovering with the same typical smile, Benicio sees the nervous face of Leo Po showing again, and proposes a partial solution.

‘Do you have time?’

‘For what?’

‘Why don’t you join me in the Breathing Session?’ ‘You never come. It would do you some good for sure, trust me.’

The Breathing Session is an extension of DD that never really attracted Leo. Although he understands it can be helpful for many DeepDreamers, he does not like to see all those en-

lightened people wasting their time on going deeper, just because they are unable to live a happy and normal life in (Dream1). But he knows he cannot say no. First, because Benicio always gets from him what he wants, second, because it could really do some good to escape his overly-excited mind.

‘This is the closest to an army you will ever see.’

Benicio loves to introduce his guests with that statement.

‘The only paradise.’

Pacifistic yet tough, every day he thanked the energies that brought him to the Breathing Sessions, a place offering him the spiritual strength he had always been searching for.

`The Mecca of today’s feelings,’ states the brochure. ‘Keep in contact with your inner light, and live, here and now!’ ‘Make your transition into a new level of vibration and point in the direction of your Dreams. Just be happy!’

Arriving to this place always made Benicio’s hairs stand on end.

Leo has to admit to himself that the view is astonishing, though the landscapes are almost impossible to focus on: A green hill levitates some centimeters in the air, standing by itself in the middle of a flat grey sky. A smooth rain is falling. At the top of the hill, in a silence only interrupted by a monotonous and endless ohm, hundreds are meditating. Most of them are in lotus flower position, others just sitting,

lying, standing, or circled in little groups with master guides. The meditation of the DeepDreamers also influences the hill, limiting its movement to an almost imperceptible pace.

While Benicio and Leo Po jump the few centimeters that separate the field from the floating hill and make their way into the crowd, the difference between breathing and sounds starts to shock Leo Po more and more. The arcadian image he had encountered upon his arrival has already faded, and, from the inside, the mood feels different. Realizing the human dimension of the place upsets him.

’These are no angels,

for God’s sake, just people’

says the voice of Common Sense.

Walking into the crowd he realizes how the kilometric space chaotically keeps order, where every religious fanatic ensures its neighbour space. The further they go in, the more Leo Po’s first “lost paradise” feeling is evaporating. The place is noisy, and has a general smell of sweat. Benicio reaches his favorite spot and without saying a word gets in lotus position. Deciding not to protest, Leo Po imitates his friend.

’Enjoy the silence.

Breathe intensely and deeply.

Relax your head, relax your neck.

Feel the weight of your arms going to your legs.

Feel your legs and feet connecting to the grass.

Breathe intensely and deeply.

This is not about the breathing but about your concentration on it.

Imagine the air as a red ball entering through your nose and mouth.

Feel how the ball goes through your whole body.

Experience the effect of the air passing through every part of you.’

says the Common Sense in Benicio’s mind.

It takes him only eight minutes to arrive to (Dream2). His everyday practice is bearing fruits, and he easily starts to lose the notion of time and space. He still feels the surrounding of people though, which limits his peace. Meditation is first of all an ego trip, and in the first stages sensing too many people around will cause any subject to resurface to (Dream1).

But Benicio is already on the way to (Dream3). People fina-

lly start to disappear from his world, as he follows a white light; and upon his arrival to (Dream4) neither time nor space have an influence on him anymore. The atmosphere is empty and ready to be filled in.

Inside (Dream4) a fixed image appears: water is coming up to his feet, the white light gets a mediterranean texture. He gets caught for a moment in (layer591/Dream4) with the Memory of an ex-girlfriend, but is able to vanish her with some words of love and acceptance.

’Channel your feelings and thoughts.

You are the owner of yourself.

Concentrate on the breathing.’

says the voice of Common Sense, which has activated without leaving (Dream4), and quickly takes him back to the trip.

The fall to (Dream5) comes harder and he has to hold his concentration so as not to emerge in a shock. Even so, the original image did not change much: water is now coming and going in waves, as he start to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin.

In (Dream6) reality changes: Benicio feels the rocks beneath his butt, the smell of the sea, and a salty taste. He tries to stand up but his body doesn’t budge, so he keeps going.

By (Dream7) he is finally totally aware of his movements. After looking around him on the empty beach, he realizes with a smile that he is naked, and decides to go for a swim.

Benicio swims a while in short bursts of time, and quickly gets lost in the immensity of the Ocean. His Memory is working: As a child, he and his family made a trip to the Greek islands. The Memories are mostly pictures he had seen throughout the passing of his youth. He remembers, though, feeling the blue all around him while walking the winding streets of an old village, made of a few houses built of white stones.

Another nautical Memory comes to his mind: a boat trip to a restaurant built on the sea. It was from the same trip to Greece, but on another day. The image is crazy, as if inspired by some romantic painter. He remembers eating some tasty shellfish there. His brother’s sandal fell into the sea, but some of the restaurant staff went to look for it (the ocean was not so deep, as the restaurant had kept a natural pool to breed the crustaceans).

On the way back to the island a terrible thing happened: little Benicio fell out of the boat into the sea and had to be rescued by his father. He remembers feeling safer than he ever had. The calm after the tempest. But since then, he had always been horrified of the blue immensity.

Benicio knows this Memory is a fake.

He remembers perfectly making it up long ago by telling it to some childhood friends, after coming back from a perfectly safe trip. But since then it had taken up more and more space in his imagination, ending today in a pathological fear of the sea. The comfort of his father’s hug, though, keeps him coming back to that same Dream.

(Dream7) is vacant of humans, just him and the big blue. He is alone as far as he can see, and although he does not know what lives under the water, he feels in accordance with the sealife. The dynamism of the water makes him feel alive, surrounded by the sun-reflected waves, peacefully cradling him and floating him across the borders and stages of (Dream8.9.10.11). The sky is white, the light blinding.

He is completely aware of the power of the waves, they talk to him, and to the moon. They talk to each other. As a sea inhabitant, he naturally understands the speech of the water. After listening for a while, and feeling wise enough, he decides to start asking or at least participating in the conversation:

‘How can I stop the turbulence?’

In response a conflict begins to erupt beneath the water, as the moon becomes furious and the waves react. Suddenly, an enormous wave swallows him up, and in hardly an instant he crosses all the stages (10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2) back to the lineal (Dream1), square home, the Breathing Session, and now he feels the hand of Leo Po shaking his shoulder.

‘Sorry. Were you far away?’

Benicio cannot speak.

‘I just wanted to tell you I’m leaving. With all this coffee and my nerves I just can’t concentrate. Sorry about that. But thanks for trying. Remember when you get home to take a look at the feedback on today’s Illusion, please.’

Benicio looks back at him one last time, and in silence concentrates anew on an intense breathing, already aware that he will not be able to go back to such a wild level of the [DeepDream].