Sleep is that which cuts into your active life. And dreams are that which cut into your passive sleep. Both are said to be necessary, but most people would rather do without them. Most, I said, but not all.
Some people love to sleep, just as some people love to dream. Strangely enough, some people love doing both. Well, what can we say? If they love it, they love it. Their waking life might not be that interesting, so they'd rather sleep. Or it may just be that they are plain sleepy.And then dreaming may be preferable to waking life for many, just so long as the dreams don't turn into nightmares of course. Can you imagine going off to sleep expecting to have sweet dreams, and getting stuck in a nightmare? I suppose it's a risk you have to take if you want to dream.
It's almost like waking life, come to think of it. You set out to live your life expecting it to be a dream, and it turns out to be a nightmare. So it seems waking life and sleep are both risky propositions. Both can be a dream, and both can turn into nightmares.Here's the deal, then. If your waking life is a mess, that is, a nightmare, you can go off to sleep, and hope to have dreams that will relieve your waking nightmare. On the other hand, if you're having nightmares in your sleep, you can wake up, and end the torture.
But, no. It's not as easy as it sounds. If your life is a nightmare, even sleep escapes you. You'll lie awake in bed, dwelling on your nightmare life. And if you're having a nightmare in your sleep, you can't snatch yourself out of it, unless you're woken up by some disturbance.
There just seems to be no escape, or easy way out. Or perhaps there is. There are people who sleep without dreaming, and dream while awake. I really can't say how they accomplish this. All I know is it can be done. I've seen it being done. At least the dreaming while awake, that is. It's not possible to see the sleeping without dreaming. We just have to take their word for it.
The dreaming while awake can be observed, and it's quite fun to observe. The eyes remain open, so you might be deceived. But there are other signs. For example, you may say something to a dreaming person, and the person will look blankly at you. Or the person may say something entirely irrelevant to what you said. There are many other signs, but we need to get on with our topic.
Sleep and dreams, then, are both necessary, but they don't come when you want them to, and steal upon you when you don't want them. Dreams, especially, reveal things about you you'd rather not know, and don't reveal stuff you'd love to see.
The whole phenomenon of sleep, dreams, and waking life can be summed up in this way. People sleep when they'd rather be awake; stay awake when they'd rather be sleeping. They dream when they'd rather be sleeping; sleep when they'd rather be dreaming. They sleep and dream when they'd rather be awake and dreaming; stay awake and dream when they'd rather be sleeping and dreaming. They sleep without dreaming when they'd....(you get the point.)
