The untapped potential of our minds

I had a dream last night that got me thinking about dreams and on how our minds work. In short, I dreamt of an attractive woman that I know personally. Now, I’m not going to say her name, because I value her presence in my life that I don’t want to expose her to embarrassment. Really, the only reason that she probably was in my dream was because I came across her profile on Facebook earlier in the day, and one of her interests was “dancing”. I also happened to see a promo for one of those TV dancing shows (probably Dancing with the Stars), so as our minds are often wont to do at dreamtime, it combined my having seen this woman’s dancing interest and that dancing show promo into my dream of dancing with her in a contest.

Before I continue, let me say here that I knew this was a dream, because I dance with all the grace of a walrus. In real life, I can’t see me participating in any sort of dancing contest, not so much to spare myself the embarrassment, but that of my dance partner. I can only see disaster resulting if I should ever try, and I would live on in notoriety on YouTube for eternity – or at least until I learned how to hack YouTube’s server to crash it.

But this was dreamland, and the only reason that I’m mentioning my dream here is because of all the detail that was in it. It was like the HD version of dreams. The ballroom we danced in was gorgeous. It was the stuff of the ballrooms in Europe; it was so beautiful – and HUGE!

I had on a tuxedo – not the kind that you rent for a buddy’s wedding, but one of the fanciest tuxes that I’ve ever seen. It had a tail and one of those high, fancy collars. I also remember the red cummerbund, and that the tux fit closer than I’m used to. I like my clothes to be a little roomy, and I remember raising my arms to shoulder level to cross them in front of me to test how tense the fabric was in the back, as is the usual test of how tight one’s blazer is. It was tighter back there than I liked, and I remembered complaining to the tailor. He simply said that that was the way it was cut. It looked good on me, don’t get me wrong. I just like my suits to fit a little looser.

Hey, but if I looked good – oh, man – my dance partner looked stunning! She had on a black sequined dress that was cut pretty high on one side to allow her legs to move. It was a strapless number that hugged her pretty tight (probably so that it would stay up!). I remember sticking my hand just underneath my lapel so that I would pop it up and down like a rapidly beating heart. She just smiled and took my hand and said, “It’s showtime.”

We took to the floor, and even though I was a half step behind her (she is the dancer, remember – not me), we didn’t show it. I don’t think I can ever dance like that in real life. And like I said, even though it was only a dream, it FELT real. I remember feeling her body’s weight as she shifted from one side to the other as we danced, and I remember how narrow her waist was. I remember hearing her count steps as we moved along as well as the clicking of our heels on the dance floor in rhythmic steps. I remember the tugging of our arms as the dance steps required us to fly apart from each other stopped only by our linked hands, and then I remember tugging her back to me, and our bodies colliding.

Then, as the dance ended, I remember putting one arm behind her shoulders and the other arm around her waist as we ended with her arching her back in a kind of dip, with one of her legs up in the air, bent at the knee in an elegant pose. I remember the burst of applause, her hugging me, and then we went back to wherever dance contestants go when their turn is over. She was breathing hard, but beaming.

And then I woke up! I don’t even know if we won!

But look at all the detail that I remember. That’s more detail than I usually remember. I still hear the music in my head, and I can still feel the movement as we danced – that’s how real it felt. Who knew that my head could create such a gorgeous ballroom, and that it could produce such detail of me and my dance partner, right down to feeling the weight of her body as we danced? And who knew that it could create such a gorgeous outfit for her to wear? I know nothing about designing women’s fashion – certainly no more than I know the details of European ballroom architecture!

So how do our minds do something like that? It makes me wonder about the untapped potential in our human minds, and what we may ultimately be capable of if we are able to tap that potential. Maybe later we will, but perhaps now we are not ready to handle such a massive amount of information that having such a heightened potential would bring. Perhaps our dreams are all that we can handle at this point in regards to that kind of potential. Maybe so, but wow, if my dance with that beautiful woman is an example of what our minds are ultimately capable of doing, I can’t wait to see what we could do in real life instead of in just our dreams!