Lucid Dreaming and Mental Illness
Source: realitysandwich.com
I got the weirdest phone call last week. The editor of Gawker, A.J. Daulerio, contacted me, requesting information on lucid dreaming. (Lucid dreaming is knowing you’re dreaming while firmly in the dreamstate). He said he’s doing a new piece on lucid dreaming and Jared Loughner, who was sentenced yesterday with life in prison without parole for his deadly rampage in Tuscon, AZ in January 2011.
Turns out, Gawker had got a hold of some emails from Jared Loughner, and Daulerio has been going through them looking for new insights in the horrendous mass shooting that left six dead and wounded 14, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. It got weird when Daulerio asked, "So, you talked to Jared, right?"
"Nope, never spoke with him," I replied.
"But you emailed with him, right?"
"No, never did. Uh...why?"
"Because we have an email from him to you."
That’s when my nervous laughter began. Good to know that I laugh when I’m freaking out, it must be my Irish heritage. "Um, do you have a reply from me?" I asked, cringing.
No reply, he says... but maybe I have it?
I have no recollection so I tell him I’ll get back to him. I got home and did a search for Loughner in my email database. Ping. With an increasingly icky feeling, I saw that not only had he emailed me, but I had responded.
Time stamp: February 2009. A full 23 months before the shooting.
I reread Loughner’s email to me and instantly understood why I didn’t remember it: it was very, very forgettable. By any reasonable standard, it was a polite inquiry about dreams, like the kind I get each and every day. No weirdness. No nonsensical queries. Even with the typo, it was a totally normal request, and I sent him a reply back a few days later and forgot about it.
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Read the full article at: realitysandwich.com
