No, before you ask, I’m not talking about the movie, TV series or the Human League song. (and what a cheesy but great song it is, I must add!)
I’m instead talking about actual electric dreams. Let me explain:
A few weeks ago at approximately 3:30am whilst deep in slumber, I witnessed within my own head a very memorable and vivid scene. I dreamt that I was walking through a setting in the bush with lush, green trees all around me and the bright blue sky above – when I noticed that a swing set mysteriously appeared ahead of me. It was similar to one you might see in a children’s playground, except its chain was unusually long and the whole unit was made of metal that shone a radiant, almost overpowering silver colour. As you would only expect in such a situation, I walked on up to that swing set, sat myself down and started pushing myself to and fro, slowly at first but gradually gaining momentum, swaying like a heavy pendulum in the open air.
And how fresh that air was. You know when you have those breathtaking dreams where you’re flying? Where every molecule of breeze massages your cool skin, you take in the astonishing scenery surrounding you and generally feel like you’re the king of the world? This was one of those dreams. Higher and higher I kept swinging, feeling like I was ten years old again, trying to get so high in the hope that I could defy the laws of gravity and keep the swing revolving around the bar in a constant centifugal motion (that didn’t happen unfortunately, but it was worth a shot!)
I felt so free and refreshed on this swing; it was almost lucid in a way, like I knew that I was in a suspended reality and I could keep this incredible sensation up for as long as I wanted. However as I soon found out, this wasn’t to be…
All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, a set of electrical power lines materialised right in front of me, before my two hallucinatory eyes, suspended between two massive power poles. And I’m not talking about urban-like telegraph poles you might see around the city, I’m talking about those humongous eyesores sticking out of the countryside that carry electricity for hundreds of miles – not unlike this:
The swing kept on swinging. It just wouldn’t stop. The higher I swung, the more uncomfortably close I was getting to those blasted power lines. No matter how hard I tried to slow down my oscillations, I just kept swinging and swinging, higher and higher, I was screaming for the damn thing to STOP! STOP! STOP! but it just wasn’t abiding by my wishes. Almost within reach now I felt my muscles locking up and my throat clenching, getting ready for my impending doom, before finally the cold steel chain of the swing made contact with the power line and thousands of volts of sharp, scalding electricity sent shockwaves through every last vein of my body, burning me to a crisp upon my now-charcoaled mid-air platform.
I woke up in an instant. Not only did I remember every little detail from the horror I just experienced within my own mind, but I felt all the effects of it as well. My whole body was numb from tingling, my hands were shaking, my heart was actually paliptating and I’d broken out into a sweat. For a while there I wasn’t quite sure if what I’d just been through was actually real or if it was merely a dream, but I managed to calm down after about half an hour and eventually got myself back to sleep.
I was fine again by the morning; as a matter of fact I was quite impressed with the novelty of having a dream where I was actually able to physically feel its effects! I recalled the experience to a few friends over the following days but didn’t think much more of it. That is… until last night…
It was about the same time, around 3am, give or take an hour, and once again I found myself in a dream-like state. This time I was situated in my room in the middle of the day, I remember my blinds being half open and the bright, hot sun bursting through the windows, filling the room up with a warm glow. My room looked exactly the same in my dream as it does in real life – my bed taking up most of the floor space, with my pedastal fan, office chair, laptop, keyboard and guitar all lining the floor opposite the bed. The dream started off very ordinarily, I don’t even remember exactly what I was doing, but something suddenly struck my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was a little black spider, sitting atop my keyboard. I took a closer look and found out that it wasn’t just any old little black spider; it was actually an ugly, hairy, hell of a funnel-web, one of the deadliest eight-legged creatures known to man – not unlike this:
Quite frankly, I shit myself!
I went searching for the only thing I could think of to remove the spider from its threatening perch on my piano keys, and came back into my room armed with the vacuum cleaner. No, I didn’t switch it on and suck him up, instead I removed the vacuum head, unplugged the hose that sticks into the other end, and moved towards the spider with the big metal inhalant pipe pointed right at him. (Now remember the key word here – metal!)
I was hoping to somehow coerce him onto the pipe so I could throw him out the window with more than an arms length between us, but he didn’t co-operate at all. Instead he aggressively lifted up the front half of his body, directed his fangs straight towards me and bit square into that pipe, piercing the metal with his venemous talons. I saw a bright flash of white from the contact point, sparking up like fireworks, jolting down that metal pipe, and in an instant, charging my body once again with thousands of volts of sharp, scalding electricity.
I woke up, shaken by my ghastly encounter with the funnel-web, but thankful that it all took place merely within my subconscious. And strangely enough, my right arm (which had been holding the metal pipe in my dream) was tingling badly, as if it had been electrocuted in real life.
So, what a crazy couple of dreams they were! They were definitely amongst the most lifelike dreams I’ve ever had in terms of vividness and after-effects. Normally I would go forth and look up a dream interpretations website to discover what on earth this could all signify, but I think I might leave it for a while and see if I can figure out my own meaning to it, seeing as these dreamlike physical electric shocks have been a recurring theme. I’ll post an update if I ever come to a conclusion!
But for now, I’d love to hear what you think this could signify? And have you ever had a dream like this where you actually feel a similar physical after-effect?
Goodnight, my dears – and with all due respect, I sincerely hope we don’t meet together in electric dreams!
x
Follow-up: Huda (who commented below) has posted an interesting response blog regarding one of her own dreams she had in the past – you can read it here!
Dear Daniel,
I must say, this is one kind of a scary blog! I never thought this could actually happen? So i never experienced something like this. Although i sometimes feel myself falling from a great height, but that’s because your heart stands still for like one second. So i don’t know what this electric shocks mean.
I hope you’ll never experience them again. or maybe you should, to find the meaning?
x
Usually, these kind of dreams have no meanings, and from what I’ve learned (and those people say) it just represents the agitated state of your soul, the anxiousness of your mind, or maybe your deepest fear. Most often, they’ll advise you to not give much of a thought into this, and if this is your first time, big chance it will go away easily if you keep on smiling, find out what makes you sad, what makes you happy, and counter that sadness with happiness. 🙂 If you still experience those dreams later on, maybe you haven’t found the core of your agitation yet.
I used to have a lot of dreams like this back then, mostly due to my unstable mental state. But then, I’ve learned to control it better and live positively nowadays, so those dreams hardly come back.
But hey, experiencing these kind of dreams are rather awesome, don’t you think? XD
btw: I’m from twitter, if you’re wondering XD
Hi Daniel!
I must say whenever you post something I’m always intrigued and have to read what you have to say no matter the subject. However this one is very interesting as you may recall I asked you to help me interpret a little over a year ago. Thankyou once again for your time.
I however have also experienced dreams like your “electric dreams”. I often have dreams or perhaps nightmares would be a better term for some, that are so realistic in my mind that i believe they are still happening when I wake. A few times last year I found myself standing up in my room, falling out of bed and even kicking my bedroom wall, which is thankfully made of brick so my foot hasn’t gine through it. These dreams are also mixed into sleep walking. The first happened when i was around five years old. I know this is going to sound stupid but remember I was five (and maybe had some mental problems). I dreamed about an evil Batman (yes… Batman) that had broken into my house. In my dream I ran from the Batman out my front door and climbed over our 6ft wooden fence and hid in the back yard. This is when the dog woke me up. contrary to being a ‘dream’ I had actually gone out the front door climbed the fence and hid in the back yard. A 6ft fenced is quite a feat for a five year old. Like you I woke in a sweat and absolutely terrified about where I was.
The next time this happened in such a vivid dream woud have been when i was close to ten years old. This time i was in a different house and conviniently enough my room had a door which lead into our poolyard. I had a dream that my grandmother was in the poolyard watering the plants. I went outside to talk to her however when i got out there she was gone. I exited the poolyard and as the pool gate closed it made a noise thus waking me from my wonderfully crappy dream. Once again i freaked out. Trying to get back in my room i found the door locked. Luckily someone else heard the pool gate and came to se who was in our yard.
The last notable dream (although this one would have to be the nightmare and probably the most on topic of your electric dreams) i found myself in my current bedroomwith the walls closing in on me. I got out of bed and stumbled around my room looking for the doorway or a lightswitch however I was disorientated and found myself knocking things over in my panic. I was ‘awake’ the whole time as I was awre of what i was doing even thought the walls weren’t actually closing in on me. When i woke i was very weak and colapsed onto my bed. I was shaking all over and sweating yet again. It took me, just like you around half an hour to settle down and convince myself that what i thought had happened actually didn’t!
I am guessing that all these dreams DO have a meaning because they are dreams, and from my understanding or belief, dreams are your subconcious thoughts. Things that exsist that you are not paying attention to and need to or things that are bothering you. Perhaps you dont have a fear of being electrocuted, maybe it’s something that it represents.
I think it is a great idea to try and work it out for yourself before consulting a webside or dream dictionary.
Ooh poor you, my dear!
Sometimes, I believe dreams are our second reality, a reality in which we can’t run from the things we normally hide away from. So when we experience something in them and then wake up, it feels very real.
Maybe life itsself is the dream and the dream is reality. Who knows…I do believe you should lisen to the things your dreams try to tell you through symbolism 🙂 Try to look for it in a book or online and it will tell you something about the reasons why you dreamed about these particular things.
*hugs*
x
Aww thanks for your responses guys! Yeah it is kinda awesome, in a strange way, to have dreams that affect you physically as well as mentally. Kyle, wow, you’ve had some really crazy ones there dude, thanks for sharing that – and it’s a good thing you didn’t end up in the pool itself :S
I’ve been properly electrocuted once as far as I can remember, which was a very uncomfortable experience and led to the doctor referring me to hospital for observation. I didn’t develop a fear of electricity, but I do associate it with general unpleasantness, which may explain the dream on surface-level. But I do fully believe there are underlying meanings behind these things. I’ll keep thinking about the symbolism and might refer to an online dream dictionary one day to see what others say about it.
Oh and Froe… “Maybe life itsself is the dream and the dream is reality…” I love it!! 🙂
Wow, intense! I’ve always been particularly affected by dreams where I’ve lost control of something I *should* have control over. So your unstoppable swing (even without the looming electricity) would have been far more upsetting to me than a venomous spider.
And I can hardly wake up without some part of my body being numb and tingling–usually one or both of my hands. I must really twist myself into some wacky positions. Or perhaps it’s from the dreams I can’t remember… 😉
you are describing about your dream very nicely. it’s very glad to know that you see electrical dreams.
I appreciate your dream and it is realistic as well. As a electrician I like to read the total reading on the issue. Thanks for this allocation.