Glen Denning

Every Tuesday morning, Jack takes a walk down to the local coffee shop where he joins a bunch of his old high school buddies for an hour or so of smart talk and tall tales. One cold winter Tuesday morning only Jack and one other fellow ventured out. Glen Denning is probably the only guy in town who is farther 'out there' than Jack.

"Hey Jack, where's everyone." Glen said as he started peeling off layers of overcoats and sweaters.

"So far we're the only one's crazy enough to be out on a day like this."

"Who doesn't have to be out on a day like this." As he nodded towards the cook/waitress who was pouring his coffee.

"Sorry Marge." I laughed. "I don't mean to say that you're crazy to be open today."

"Hey, that's fine, Jack" She said with a stern look, "next time you can just have your coffee on the sidewalk."

"No, no, you wouldn't want to leave us our there to freeze.

"I think you two would show up even if you had to sit out there."

"Probably so." Glen laughed. "Just as long as you were there serving us coffee."

"I don't know what that means." Marge laughed as she walked away.

"Neither does he." I called behind her.

Glen sat down and cradled the hot mug in his hands to warm them as he took the first sip and breathed in the warm aroma. 

"So what's new." I ventured.

"Well, I had a dream last night." Glen began. "Odd sort of thing."

"They usually are." I was speaking both generally and specifically because Glen's mind comes up with strange things even when he's awake and conscious, so his dreams are usually whoppers.

"Well, not so much the dream itself, but it got me thinking about dreams in general."

"Oh boy, " I thought, "here we go..."

"When we sleep, our conscious minds give up control and our souls are free to wander."

"Our souls?" I asked, dubiously.

"Well, yes - for want of a better word - our souls"

"Okay, so they wander when we sleep. Where do they wander?"

"Maybe to heaven."

"Heaven? Really Glen? I didn't think you believed in Heaven."

"Well Jack, you're right; maybe not Heaven. " He admitted. "But someplace else besides here. And 'Heaven' is as good a name for it as any."

"Really?"

"Yes. 'Heaven' defines in our minds a place that is outside of our day-do-day reality. It is a place that we cannot go to, and then come back from." "This, " he whispered, "is a convenient trait for those who want to make a living by describing it because they can say whatever they want and nobody can prove them wrong,"

"Whatever", I said. I had to smile because Glen has this tendency to insert his own prejudices into every conversation. "Okay. So our souls go to Heaven while we sleep." I was trying to get him off his soapbox and back on topic. "Why?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe to re-charge."

"That's real original." I scoffed. "Everyone knows that sleep is necessary to re-charge our brain cells. Isn't that the same thing?"

"Well not exactly."

"Really?"

"Well maybe they do recharge - like a chemical sort of thing. Maybe that's part of it but we know that our brains aren't idle during this recharging process." He gave me a satisfied look and continued. "Yes, we know this because we dream. And dreams are an active process performed by a working brain."

"So our brains are still active - our conscious mind is still working - during this recharging?"

"Maybe.", he continued, " Or maybe the recharging doesn't take all night and part of the time that we are asleep and part of the time we are dreaming. We don't dream all night - and I'm talking about dreaming here - the time that we're asleep and dreaming."

"Okay, so why do you think our mind is taking us into some other reality during these dreams?"

"Because they can." He paused a moment for effect.

"What do you mean, 'because they can' ?" "Who can?"

"Our brains!" He insisted. "Because while we are awake and functioning within this physical world we must be completely conscious of our surroundings in order to survive."

"Okay, that makes sense"

"Survival demands our undivided attention in order to navigate all the hazards this world is constantly throwing at us." "We have evolved this way as a species. Or, if you prefer,  we were wired this way by our creator in order to survive and propagate."

"So we're not allowed to day-dream?" I said, laughing.

"It's not the best thing to do if you want to survive." He said. "If you're not completely in the present reality - not completely in tune with your surroundings - you might not notice that ledge that you just walked off. And if you splat yourself down in that ravine, you aren't as likely to have kids. Are you"  So the affinity for day-dreaming is not a trait that will be as likely to be passed on to future generations. Full and complete attention is required in order to survive in what we call our physical universe."

"But, we're not fully attentive of our surroundings while we sleep and yet we still survive." I countered.

"That's right." He continued; "One of the things we do when we are consciously navigating this world is to find a place where we can be safe for those hours when we need to sleep. So our sleep time is a time when we don't need to be fully aware of our surroundings in order to survive another day."

"So what if this place that you find is a nice cave. And while you're sleeping a large bear - the rightful owner  - returns and eats you while you sleep."

"Well it won't matter much if you were asleep or not when this happens", he said. " it won't change the end result, will it?"

I laughed, "I guess not."

"So assuming our brains are smart enough to choose a good; safe place for these bodies to sleep every night,  this leaves our minds free to wander. To explore places where our bodies cannot go. "

"Whoa," I said, "You're saying that dreams are really out-of-body experiences?"

"Hmm, " he said, "I guess you could say that."

Marge walked over to our table with a pot of coffee and as she filled up our cups she asked; "So which of the world's problems are you guys solving today?"

"Glen says dreams are really out-of-body experiences." I laughed.

"Well, I can believe that - for Glen, at least. "she said. And then in a mock whisper (loud enough for Glen to hear) she said; "His mind is out there most of the time even when he's awake."

"Hey, " Glen protested, "I'm right here, you know."

We laughed.

"And I resemble that remark." He continued.

Just then the bakery delivery guy came through the door and Marge excused herself; "You guys let me know what you figure out. Okay?"

"Well, I don't know if I trust you not to laugh." Glen said as she walked away.

She laughed. "That's never stopped you before."

Glen poured cream in his coffee and watched the white cloud spread through the dark liquid. "I think that's so pretty." he said. "I never stir it because it just turns to mud."

"So, you're asleep and dreaming." I pressed on, "where do you go to, exactly?"

"Another universe - perhaps? A meta-physical sort of place, I guess you could say. It could be heaven, I guess. Maybe a place that you go to recharge your soul. Maybe it's a place you go to atone for your actions the past day. Why should our souls have to wait until we die to face judgement day? Perhaps every day (night) is judgement day."

"So you're saying that every night we stand before God and answer for our sins?" I asked incredulously.

"Maybe." He answered. "Why not?"

"Well, I don't know if you want to be saying that too loud." I cautioned.

"Hey, it's just you and me here." He protested. "It's just coffee - right? -isn't this a safe place?"

"Yeah, but I'm just sayin' , you know."

"Yeah, I know. But all I'm sayin' is why not? That's all."

 We sat for a while and sipped our coffee and watched the bakery guy carry the day's supply of bread and pastries in from his truck. Each time the door opened a gust of cold snowy wind blew in to remind us what we'd soon have to face ourselves.

"Do you want a doughnut?" I asked.

"Sure. It might be the only thing Marge sells this morning."


So we asked Marge bring us two glazed doughnuts along with a refill on our coffees. This time she was too busy with the deliveries to stay and chat.

"It doesn't have to be Heaven, you know." Glen continued as he bit into the doughnut.

"Whew, that's a relief." I sighed.

"It could be a parallel universe."

"Oh boy, here we go..." I said, and thought, "Oh geez, here we go."

"Well, why not?" "Look at the evidence. Our dreams seem surreal but they usually are based on things we experience only in a different context." "Maybe we're drifting into this parallel universe where we are the same but our surroundings are the result of slightly different choices."

"Different choices?"

"Yeah, you know, we make decisions all the time. Should I do this? Or should I do that? These are forks in the road and depending on which fork we choose determines the paths that our lives take. They define the universe in which we live - so to speak."

"So what if in this other parallel universe, at some time in the past I was faced with the decision that ultimately lead to my death? How could I go there? Because I don't exist there anymore."

"No, you couldn't go there very well could you." He admitted.

I thought I had him now.

But he continued; "But suppose there are an infinite number of parallel universes."

"Ugh." I groaned.

"Right." He pressed on.  "And in some of those universes you have made very similar decisions - or very similar decisions have been made - and therefore these universes are very close to this one. And the closer these universes match the easier it is to move back and forth between them."

"As we sleep." I said.

"Yes, as we sleep. Like I said, that's the only time we can afford to risk moving about like this."

"Okay," I said, "So, I guess in some of these universes I don't even exist."

"And you never would have existed. Yes, in most of them, I'd guess." He paused. "There are an infinite number after all."

"Then, theoretically, there could be some number of these universes which are exactly the same as this one?"

"Yes, I guess that would be possible." He thought for a bit while he looked into his cup. Then he continued; " But why bother? If any universe is exactly the same as this one why would it NOT BE this one?"

"You're assuming some logic here. Which means that it's not just random chance."

"Perhaps." He agreed. 

"The existance of God - perhaps?", I ventured.

I thought I had him.

"Perhaps. In essence. But it could just be a systemic parameter built in to the model. A structural requirement."

Yes, he's pretty slippery alright. But I wasn't ready to give in. "So, if there is a system with  parameters and there is a model, as you call it,  who (or what) built it?"

"Listen Jack," He said, "It's like story of the man who explained to his son that the world rides on the back of a giant turtle. And when the son asked what is holding up the turtle, the man said, 'It's just turtles, Son, all the way down.' "

Our coffee cups were empty and our doughnuts were eaten. It was time to face the cold wind and deep snow once again.