Dreams

Enter Master.
Master: Before the dream play starts I want everybody to let the experience of these candles flow over your entire body. While these candles take over your five senses you will be experiencing a very deep dream. Now I’m going to have four professors come out one at a time and talk to you about people's dreams, and that will twist your perceptions on what dreams can do for the human race.
Exit Master.
Enter Robert and William.
Robert: William, how do you experience the state of dreaming?
William: It’s very strange; parts of my body keep changing into different parts of my dreams.
Robert: Well, in the state of dreaming anything is possible, including things that can't happen in real life.
Enter Linda.
Linda: William, is it true that dreams have a deeper meaning?
William: Well, dreams do have a deeper meaning, but it’s up to individual people to figure out the meaning behind their dreams.
Robert: William, what if some people don't want to figure out the meaning?
William: That just means those people aren’t interested in piecing together the meaning of their dreams.
Linda: On Earth the human race is split into two groups. The first group is people who take the time to work with their dreams. The second group is people who would rather spend their time doing something else.
William: You can tell by looking at their eyes which people go into which group.
Robert: My mentor died of a heart attack before he finished the term, so I’m taking his place so that the term can be finished.
Linda: William, my teacher told me that it doesn’t matter what gender you are; as long as you study hard, you will gain more knowledge.
Enter Master.
Master: Audience, if you want to share your dreams, just speak without any pauses. Let your words flow freely, and don’t edit anything.
Linda: If anybody has a very personal dream they may not want to share it with other people. Some personal dreams should be kept private. If a dream is more impersonal it can safely be shared with other people.
Robert: While their five senses are enhanced they will have had a dream that has an effect on them.
William: Every year I add more names to my list of people who think they don’t have what it takes to become a professor. Every term I get together with the people whose names I’ve written down to talk about what makes them feel uncomfortable about becoming a professor. When they get comfortable with teaching students I take their names off my list, but I still get together with them from time to time to see how they’re doing.
Linda: So, Robert, basically what you're saying is that we appear inside of people’s dreams to give them our knowledge about the dream state.
Robert: It’s up to them what kind of effect the knowledge has on their understanding of dreams.
Master: If any of you in the audience want to become a professor of dreams like us, then just read books and do research on dreams until you have the same knowledge that we have gained from studying about the Theory of Dreams.
William: Books can give people knowledge about dreams, but it’s up to human beings to find out what their dreams have in common with their real lives.
Enter Franklin.
Franklin: When I was homeless I met a person who was an alcoholic. People who drink too much will forget if they have had any dreams. I also met a drug user. People who get high often will be too toxic to dream, because dreaming only happens to people who sleep naturally. Robert, William and Linda cleaned me up and gave me fresh food to eat. Now these three professors are helping me study to become a professor on the Theory of Dreams.
Master: Gay and bisexual people may get AIDS from having unsafe sex. So, does that mean they can’t dream?
Franklin: Anybody can get AIDS from having unsafe sex. Homophobes think only gays and bisexuals get AIDS, but the only difference between gays and bisexuals and people who are straight is that gays and bisexuals choose people of the same sex for partners. Homophobes think only partners of the opposite sex are acceptable. Every human being can dream, and sexual preference doesn’t matter.
Master: This topic deals with people who are different, and how they dream.
William: Robert, what is dreaming upon a dream?
Robert: When you go to sleep you dream, and if there is another dream inside of that dream then that is what it means to dream upon a dream.
William: I don't see how anybody can have a dream inside of a dream.
Robert: Well, William, you only see a dream as one single dream; but dreams can be a lot more than what people picture dreams as being.
William: But won't that idea change people's minds about dreams that they have?
Robert: That is why our Master summoned these four professors to come here today; to show people who have an open mind the full range of possibility of dreams.
Master: I'm the Master because I don't want anybody to not keep an open mind about anything. So if there is anybody who doesn't want to hear what these four professors have to say, please go away because I don't have the time to deal with you.
Linda: Would it better if the Master just disappeared and let the professors do their job of teaching people about dreams?
Franklin: It would be better if he just let us do our job, but here is the problem with that: we are connected to our Master, so if he disappears I will go back to being homeless. William, Robert and Linda will go back to doing whatever they used to do. So, let’s just do what we were summoned here for. Then we can go on with our lives, because the Master won't need us any more.
Master: Now, Professors, let’s move on to stage two and change people's minds about dreams.
Robert: Master, all we came here for is to just talk to people about dreams, not to try to make them believe that we are the only ones who have knowledge about dreaming.
Master: It amounts to the same thing, because once we explain the full range of people's dreams their minds will take in the information, and they will understand dreaming in the same way we do.
Robert: If the information changes what people think dreams can do, they won't want to hear anything that will change what dreams can do for the human race.
Master: Some people close their minds whenever they receive new information. I am only friendly with people who keep their mind open to new ideas.
Linda: William, what should we do about Master trying to convert people's minds to his wayof thinking?
William: Let’s show Master that people will not allow themselves to be converted to his ideas. At the same time, we can still teach the audience about dreams.
Robert: If people want to make their dreams come true, they have to do anything in their power to make it happen. They will have to discover new abilities in themselves. People who are afraid of change don’t want life-changing dreams to come true. I want everybody to search inside of their minds until they find the one dream that is waiting for them. Once you have the dream that is waiting for you, keep your eyes closed and search for any way to help the dream come to life. You will never ever regret it when your dream becomes a part of who you are. Your family and your friends will notice that you have found your dream and it is a part of you, because the dream is always shining through your body and anybody who is near you can see it. If everybody is brave enough, they will be part of a special group of people who can feel what it is like to have something deep down inside of themselves to lift their spirits to a such a high level that they won’t want to go back to the way they were before. I have taken the step so my spirit can grow to its highest level; then my spirit will grow even higher. You see, it can be done; you just have to be brave. You can’t stop dreaming, because when you go to sleep you dream whether you want to or not. If you could decide not to dream, you would regret your decision.
Franklin: When you go to sleep you dream, because that’s when your mind is most active. Whether your dream is a nightmare or a good dream, it’s always good when you’re dreaming, because if we don’t dream we don’t get our REM sleep. Dreaming fills the person who is sleeping with pride and self-belonging. When that person wakes up, he/she knows deep inside that dreams have a great effect on a person. If all of the people in the whole wide world are dreaming at the same moment, then everybody is having a different dream and at the same time sharing everybody else’s dreams. When everybody wakes up, they will know they were connected to everybody else in the world.
Master: You think you can change my mind about forcing people to accept my way of thinking. Before these four professors met me they were leading boring lives, without any excitement. But now William, Robert, Linda and Franklin are professors of the Theory of Dreams. So, do you want to go back to your boring lives?
William: Master, yeah we are leading interesting lives thanks to you, but we could become professors of the Theory of Dreams in our old lives if we want to.
Master: Well, fine, it seems I can’t change your mind about forcing people to accept my way. In that case, I’m going to disappear.
Master exits silently.
Linda: Now we can get back to the correct way of teaching people about the Theory of Dreams, without our Master getting in the way.
Franklin: Why don’t we just sit back and wait to see if our students will lead more interesting lives? If not, we can always come back and see where they have gone wrong.
Robert: When I blow these candles out your five senses will be back to normal. But, if you want to keep your enhance senses, all you need to do is to remember what we’ve told you about the Theory of Dreams.Robert, William, Linda, Franklin Robert, William, Linda and Franklin exit silently