This article relates to a dream I had this week highlighting a topic that I am sure a lot of people relate to when it comes to contemplating safety, security and the future.  The dream links to work that I was contemplating when I was in university some 10 years earlier, that focuses around a topic that relates to the future when it comes to privacy and security.  Here is one of the pieces that probably suits best some of the concepts that I want to write about here in this article:

You can imagine by the picture alone that the topics I am going to discuss are not going to be what people find comfortable to read about, however the picture shows the emotion behind someone dealing with insecurity and pressure from loosing their privacy in life.  These were a lot of the issues on the minds of people some ten years earlier, especially with the popularity of the internet.  People had this feeling back then that within the coming years their private information would be absorbed by the internet able to be accessed by anyone who can tap into their information in the background.  They did not know that they would actually be foretelling the future, a future where all information, no matter what it was, would be shown for all to see, hear and read about like an open book. 

What they did not realize however was how accepting people would actually be to the changes going on around them.  People thought back then that all would fight against such a system where personal information would become open access.  They would only now have to look at social sites where information is given so easily by each individual.  Given on their own basis, showing how they would themselves give up their own information freely.  That it would not be the internet that would force a person to divulge their personal information without choice, but instead the individual who would give up their personal information freely and willingly through social networks in order to gain popularity and a means of entertainment. 

In my dream I was sitting on a bus loaded with people that were being taken to some place within the centre of the city.  It was to be a central location that all would meet up for some reason that was not yet told to anyone.  They were encouraging people into buses, masses of people that were mostly within the younger ages of society.   I remember thinking in the dream how strange it was that everyone was being made to go to a central location point in order to be shown something.  All the young adults were excited all around me, curious of what was about to unfold.  They were all in a buzz as if something new and exciting was about to take place.  The experience was likened to a great social gathering from all parts of the city for some wondrous event.

I could hear all people around me chattering wildly.  I was just there watching them all in the dream, not really feeling like I was part of what was going on around me.  Mostly I found it strange to be there and I was questioning what would be so important that all people would need to be rushed into one central location in order to participate?  The people around me were mostly young.  The people chosen to go first were teenagers or people in their early twenties.  I could see a lot of them mucking around and playing popularity games amongst themselves. 

As I was walking off the bus I remember thinking about my partner wondering if he had also turned up by bus at a different part of the site.  I had gone on the bus alone, so I was not even totally sure if he was even there or not.  Then all of sudden as we were nearing the stairs to go inside there were people giving out these square pieces of paper, each with a different colour designating each person off into different locations around the building.  To the surprise of a lot of the people the tickets were limited to so many people having access to the site at any one time.  This at the time I found odd.  Why would they send people into the city and not allow all of them to go straight away into the building in order to see what was to be shown? 

I proceeded down the stairs into a lower more hidden entrance way that went into the building where I saw someone giving out some of the last of the tickets and I asked to have one.  This man handed me a ticket which was white with a red line around the outside.  It had also a number or writing within it, to which I do not remember what it was.  I reached into my bag to pull out my mobile phone in order to call through to my partner and tell him that I had a ticket to go into the building ahead of me.  It was not surprising that my phone was almost on empty and that I could not use it to phone out.  Instead in a rather strange way I received a verbal message through the phone that was a recording from a discussion that my partner had earlier with an old friend of mine.

I remembered a while back that this friend had told me that they could not understand my partner when he talked to them over the phone, that his accent was far too strong to understand.  This I found very peculiar because my partner had always had such a clear level of English.  Yet here I was listening to a conversation over the phone, listening to him talking in a strong German accent to my friend.  It was strange for me to hear him talking with such an accent.  It was very out of place within the dream.  I put my phone away and proceeded towards the building in order to find where I needed to be.

As I entered the building it was fairly dark, with all of these screens above showing previews of some sort of film that would be showing for everyone to see inside the numerous cinemas within the complex.  I remembered when I looked up, above one of the cinema entrance doors, that the first thing I saw on the corner of a preview screen was a black and white film of men marching in uniform.  After a few seconds of watching these men marching, they seemed to turn into what can only be described as gremlins walking along in suits.  Then they flashed back into looking like humans again.  I found this really strange as if the movie was making me hallucinate while I was watching it.  Right then it dawned on me what was going on and why all these people were brought to this location.  I became aware of what was to happen to all of these people, and what I too would be facing if I would choose to go to watch the film as well. 

To anyone who reads about this dream it probably seems just really strange, but I knew right at the end what it all meant and now I want to translate it for this article, linking to the idea of security and order in the future.  This dream represents a concept that could very well be the ultimate challenge of choice for a small percentage of people in the coming years, something that a great percentage of people will easily accept without needing to be given a ticket to participate.  The greater percentage of people will choose to participate in a future that is governed under control mechanisms that condition society into organization and order as a whole.  Only a few will remain that will contemplate the decision of whether to participate or not.  There is a good reason why this will occur and I want to highlight the importance of rationalizing what order actually means when it comes to stability, comfort and security, but highlight what it also takes away when it comes to individuality and personal creativity.

How does a society become conditioned in order to achieve a sublime state of acceptance?  The best way to achieve willingness of participation is to present ideas in an exciting and fun manner.  Most people in life generally want to achieve ultimate happiness, at every stage of their life.  They search out anything that will make them feel that bit more satisfied at a physical level, even to the point where they will use copious amounts of drugs in order to feel certain states of pleasure and wellbeing.  People also seek out fun things to do, such as watching films, going to concerts, listening to music, watching television and sports games.  These things become not only fun things to participate in, but also popular things that can also encourage social activity. 

When looking back at my dream it is clear to see that this is already occurring in society today, all people happily and excitedly gathering together for social activities.  As with the people in my dream who are willingly and freely choosing to go on the buses to the centre of the city to participate in the movie that was to be shown.  They were not forced into this activity, but were instead willing participators in their own experience.  Not only were these people willing participators in these social activities but also extremely conditioned to what was going on.  They were also openly trusting and did not ever question whether they would want to participate or not.  They were instead competing against each other over who would get there first, and if you were seen to be showing that you do not want to participate, you were then considered by the group as a sort of outcast, someone who was considered to be perhaps boring, or even anti-social. 

You can imagine in the dream why it is that younger people are chosen first to participate in the event for the fact that they are already socially competitive.  Through peer pressure each individual willingly chooses to be a part of the group, otherwise they already know that they will be left out by the sidelines.  Younger generations are eagerly participating in order to enhance their popularity and stature within all group environments.  They immediately criticize anyone that seems to not be excited by the proceedings, perhaps with a stare of disapproval and disgust.  They are unable to understand why someone would not want to participate in such an exciting event and look at these individuals as party poopers or pessimists. 

Little did they know, in the dream, that they were about to walk into a room to watch a movie that is going to condition them into a state of bliss and stupor, as a means to contain them within a set social order and regime.  They eagerly walked into the movie, to be drugged by what was shown to them, conditioned into thinking in a way that would forever keep them numb and always in a state of rapture.  Who would want to ever choose for something else if it feels so wonderful and blissful?  The concepts presented to these young adults, in my dream, were easily accepted as normal for the fact that they were presented with the idea of comfort and an ever pleasurable lifestyle.  They did not understand anything other than what they had already been conditioned to see and accept. 

It is no secret that hallucinatory drugs have become not only readily available in our society today but also socially accepted, especially amongst the younger generations.  In the dream I saw on the screen men that were marching who turned into gremlins and then back into their normal form.  I realized that they were pumping out drugs into the building in order to alter the way people were viewing the film.  They utilized drugs to relax the people into watching the film and accepting what they were seeing, however, the only problem with utilizing drugs in order to make a person accept what they see is that it also has side effects that can cause the mind to see things that are not really there. 

These soldiers marching were in black and white, and reminded me of old films you see on the discovery channel relating back to the second world war where the concept of regimentation and socially based peer pressure was installed as a means to create order within a society structure.  Ideas that related to repetitiveness in order to make people feel comfortable when participating in what they were conditioned to believe.  If someone sees something enough they will become accustomed to it socially and thus accepting of it.  They will easily consider it normal.  The marching men in my dream represented this order and acceptance by the masses and when I saw them turning into gremlins this represented the internal intention of what was taking place. 

Seeing gremlins relates to movies and concepts that are fear based.  Gremlins if you think back to the movie were little creatures that caused havoc and terror.  The fact that I saw them as marching gremlins shows that the men marching were in the dream there to install fear in people if they would choose to view life that was not in the way of what was socially acceptable.  This is based on regimented order created for the fact that people desire to feel secure in this world.  You can imagine that if a person is living life always high on drugs they do not always have the ability to focus on their own material wellbeing.  People in the film were also gathered around the soldiers cheering them on, happy that they could feel safe in their world to enjoy their social activities.  The soldiers to the people represented security and safety created through order and regimentation. 

When also looking back at the part where my partner was talking in a German accent, this too relates to where a lot of these concepts were born into this world in the Second World War.  It also relates to changes in perception.  You can imagine that I had never heard my partner talking in such a strong accent so I found it hard to believe or understand why he was doing it in the first place.  In the dream he was talking in a controlling manner towards my old friend over the phone.  This relates to regimentation and the fact that it is hidden within a socially accepted lifestyle.  That people support regimentation is for the fact that they desire for security and order in life.  They want to walk outside of their house and feel safe, to be able to participate in life without harm.

Here I was standing at the end of my dream contemplating what I was going to do, whether to see the movie or not, whether to participate or not.  This shows the ultimate dilemma when it comes to the concept of order in life.  Although order can create a sense of security and comfort, it does also eliminate personal creativity and individuality.  My main philosophy as a writer focuses on the idea that people have the ability to take back their individual uniqueness and responsibility, which in turn allows for the ability to build upon life with new concepts and ideas.  Order can make life very stagnant over time, if life is never allowed to incorporate new ideas and concepts.  Here I was standing in a situation that was leaving me with a series of choices.  Firstly I could choose to watch the movie, to be drugged into the chosen customs of life just as the greater percentage of the world that were already willing to give up their creative potential and accept all that was being told to them.  What I was seeing is that 95 percent, maybe even more of the world was already following the ordered lifestyle willingly, accepting it as normality.   

The only other options I had was to either not watch the movie and to have to hide my own beliefs within myself pretending that I was fitting in.  Otherwise I could voice my opinion on my own beliefs about individual freedom and choice, maybe having to then face confronting the soldiers and all others people around me in my life who already accepted their position through choice.

The irony of it all comes down to one major factor no matter what is chosen in the end.  That major factor is relating to the idea of purpose and choice.  The fact that these people in the dream ‘choose’ to give up their individuality and personal responsibility only emphasises that they do this based on an original decision.  If as a group they did not want to participate in life in this way they would at any time have the choice to change their viewpoint on life.  However in knowing that this order creates a level of security for each and every one of them, makes it only more enticing to choose for a life where limitation does exist in order to create the feeling of security and comfort.  If the greater number of people would not choose for this and would want to take on their life through personal responsibility, they know that they might have to face at times confrontations that they would have to deal with personally.  Every individual has the ability to do this, but it also means that a person might have to face discomforts and insecure moments in order to individually seek what they want to achieve. 

Order produces a level of comfort, in turn taking away the ability for someone to seek for new and other that does not specifically relate to what is socially accepted, it strips away individuality and uniqueness.  Individuality offers the ability to develop new concepts and ideas, but means that the individual has to take responsibility into their own hands for their own survival, taking away their level of comfort and security.  It is like facing a two edge sword which is really in the end decided based on circumstance and situation.  One thing is for sure, no two ways are right or wrong, just chosen to be accepted as a way to participate in life.  What can be acknowledged is that 95 percent of us here in life have already chosen for security and comfort and the ideas relating to order and an organized and structured society.  We are now living towards what most envision as a world in order, a future based upon regimentation that will bind all together into one global system.  

This is a future we all choose for based on our desire to seek comfort in a world that is ever expanding and becoming overly competitive and confrontational.  People will seek for a future where they will be able to enjoy their life, even if it means to give up certain creative individual freedoms, based purely on the need to feel safe and secure.  They will willingly accept what is organized for them for the fact that it will allow them more time to enjoy social activities without having to focus constantly on whether they are secure, or whether they will have the ability to enjoy what they are experiencing.  

I for one may never decide.