It was one of Thoreau’s ambitions to improve upon the nick
of time. I would rather conqueror that
transitional moment between awareness and sleep. Somewhere between fluffing one’s pillow and
having no recollection of the bed a small mental switch gets flipped.
The moment of waiting for sleep to
arrive leaves me anxious, as if hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa. Each night I tell myself, “This will be the
night. Tonight I’ll stay awake
throughout the entire transition. I will see
the exact moment when I fall asleep and then I will understand the
process. I will gain a modicum of
knowledge about that threshold and I will know where to find it again whenever
I wish.”
I remember
when light switches would make a loud snapping noise when they were flipped on
or off. Then someone invented the silent
switch. No more noise, just a smooth, quiet
transition between light and dark. I
expect the person who invented that quiet switch had, only nights before,
conquered that transitional moment that I speak of. They must have seen for themselves the
mechanism that takes us quietly into sleep.
There must be
some correlation between the old fashioned light switch and a hypnotist, as
each required that snapping sound. “…and
when I snap my fingers, you’ll awake, feeling refreshed and completely
rested.”
Without fingers there would be
no snaping sound and consequently no hypnotists - or if there were they would have employed the use of light
switches at the end of their performance.
“…and when I flip this switch you’ll awake.”
You may think
this a foolish endeavor but who shall have the last laugh when there I am -
wide-awake in the midst of sleep?
Beyond this,
I will attempt to comprehend how a hypnotist without fingers might flip on a
light switch.
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