The Hourglass of Fear

Recurring nightmares teach a lot about fear, the emotion of the unknown, the unexplored and the unbearable surprise.

There would be no shouting or sweating while asleep if the mind were able to cling to a last shred of reality and be aware of the forever returning morning.

The nightly trance is too overpowering though and a nightmare is terrifying because it seems to extend indefinitely. Once brought back to wakefulness, some very palpable signs point to the untold story. Heart beating fast, palms covered in tiny salty watery beads.

It’s over and its’s not. The following night the same may happen, and it’s not less frightening. Fortunately, the recurrence may become a useful lesson. There is always an end to fear, even as primeval and animalic as that exprienced in a bad dream.

Time takes care of it all, as overworn as this phrase may sound, it is one of those invisible truths. Chronos/Cronus, the god eater, had to disgorge his fill, but the mere fact that he has swallowed them whole in the first place is a proof of his formidable powers.

Fear is subject to the same law. In nightmares, it comes to an end as soon as slumbering gives way to daily vigil. Is there such a word as daymares, the opposite of bad dreams at night? If there isn’t, it should be invented and used. Naming is therapeutic. Anonymity of feelings can be very destructive.

Daytime terrors are not eternal, same as night ones. That is why the most adequate clock for fear should be the hourglass, as its sand falling through the narrow passage from the top to the bottom glass bulbs always comes to an end.

The hourglass is totally disconnected from the outer world. Its sealed mechanism only measures time if it is turned round and the sand starts falling again, grain by grain. It is only accurate if the full cycle is allowed to go through.

With nightmares a fear too intense jolts one out of sleep. More often than not, this begs a second return to the dream.

Daymares, mirroring what happens at night, have a different trajectory. Under the sun or the moon though, the sand always come to an end.

The hourglass is the absolute certainty of the end. Does anyone know a better way of conquering fear?