Shifting into Dream Mode.

During the electric storm last night I spent some time standing inside my shed watching it. There’s an edgy thrill about an electric storm – the flashing, the crashing and the teeming rain put you on the primal cusp. They make you aware that nature is a bit more powerful than humans can handle when it wants to be, and that takes you closer to the edge of the comfort zone.

In my case, there was another reason to be uncomfortable: I knew that some of this watery deluge was making its way into my house and soaking parts of it that are meant to be dry. Imagine what it must be like having the whole structure swept away by floods, mud slides, lava flows, earthquakes, wildfires or powerful winds. Yes indeed.

But back to the easy stuff. Sitting in my office watching a little bird preening himself in the sunshine, the memory of last night’s storm has an air of unreality about it. It’s a bit like talking to a beautiful woman from New York. We get used to the parameters of normality, and when we step outside them, the experience edges into that area of consciousness normally reserved for dreams.