Dream #2: "Infinite Hallway"

Classification: Type III
Age: Approximately fourteen to fifteen years old.

I am in my body, as I would naturally be. I am standing rigidly with my arms straight at my side, fingers extended straight, palms facing inward. I face forward as though at attention. I am dressed in some sort of formal attire, black, comfortably fit. My eyes are closed. I am conscious that I am not permitted to move, or rather, that it is an inherent impossibility in this place. Yet I discover that I can open my eyes, and so I do.

I open my eyes and immediately experience the peculiar sensation one might experience when waking in a room completely devoid of light, yet familiar enough to give one the impression of being able to see from the mere knowledge of the layout of the room and one's position within it. Thus, I am aware that I am standing in a hallway. The walls are about a half-meter away from me on either side and I am facing down the hallway as if I had been walking along it.

The material of its construction is similar to metal or stone, black, and perfectly smooth, to the extent that I know were it to be submitted to scientific analysis, it would be of perfect construction even on an atomic level.

I stand thus, motionless, for a great duration of time, approximately four hours. As I am standing I gradually grow in my comprehension of the extent of this structure, as though I were gaining a sense of perception independent of the necessity of light. I begin to perceive that the hallway stretches an infinite distance in front, behind, and above me. I stand about another hour during this time, sensing only the continuing expanse of the hallway in all three directions.

Suddenly, and without my anticipation, an event occurs. [This event I can only find words to describe as three distinct portions; but the reader must understand that in truth they were not only simultaneous, but one and the same.]

[Firstly] The walls of the hallway light up. The light thus emitted is a very dim light, hardly in fact to be classified as light at all, and nearly impossible to be distinguished from its absence. It is almost as if I am once again perceiving light through a sense of perception, light that my eyes do not see. However in this case, whereas I had previously perceived darkness I now perceive light. The light forms extremely vivid images which nonetheless lack visible color; yet again I can perceive what colors are suppose to be represented. The light is emitted directly from the walls without the aid of any device or interface. The walls display this light as though it were subdivided into small sections or screens, about the size of a brick or roughly ten centimeters tall and twenty-five to thirty centimeters wide. Each "screen" is displaying a different image, and every image is dynamic and "real," as if it were a direct representation of an event actually occurring at that instant.

[Secondly] I experience an almost indescribable sensation, as if I had suddenly gained another sensory capacity. This sense is associated with my brain (as a physical organ) and grants me the capacity to experience the precise function of every cell in my brain in as much a physiological manner as one would experience sensations of temperature, balance, touch, etc. This experience is also an overwhelming experience, similar to the threshold of any other sensation being drastically exceeded (i.e. extreme hot or cold, blunt trauma, etc.). The result could only be described as intolerably painful, as though the entire interior of my skull were being burnt or as though every cell of my brain were on fire. I suffer an extreme impulse to scream, to fall down to my knees and collapse, and to clutch the sides of my head with my hands, and yet I cannot move.

[Thirdly] I become aware that every single "screen" of the walls of the hallway was representative of a single, individual process of a single, individual cell in my brain; and I become aware that I am suddenly simultaneously conscious of every one, and that there are an infinite number of them stretching along the infinite expanse of the hallway. [End of the event's description.]

This state continues for an indefinite, yet lengthy, amount of time, with the only activity being the continuous activity of my brain and the parallel representations of these processes on the screens of the hallway. Throughout the entire time I am consumed with an absolute desire to die, just so that the experience should end.

I wake suddenly, drenched in sweat and violently shaking, with a feeling of absolute horror.

Interpretation:

In terms of Jungian psychology, I am an INTJ personality type. One attribute often attributed to INTJs is the development of "specialized knowledge systems" early in life. In speaking to others, I have extensively confirmed this fact in my case. I tend to perceive data differently than others; I tend to arrange it, assimilate it, access it, and convert it into thought and language differently than others. In fact, to my knowledge, my construction of my own psyche out of the data in my possession is fairly unique in terms of syntax from most other individuals with whom I have spoken concerning such things. Therefore, in my opinion, this dream somehow relates to the beginning of my unique "specialized knowledge system," and in fact, I have often observed throughout my lifetime that prior to the event of this dream my memory seems exceptionally vague and instinctive whereas after this event my memory seems integrated into a whole psyche, as though this were perhaps the point of formation of ego. This is all extremely hypothetical, however, and unfortunately cannot really be examined scientifically or proven to any degree of certainty.