Dreaming of Snakes, and Me
a creative writing edition (#8)
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Context: I’ve been terrified of snakes all my life, to the point that even getting Slytherin-themed Harry Potter merchandise takes a couple of deep breaths and a conscious choice to invoke sufficient willpower to overcome my fear. I’ve also had a serious sleep disorder since my earliest memories.
The last book of the Bible, Revelation, was written by John during his exile on the Isle of Patmos. He wrote it while suffering from the psychological consequences of isolation and snacking on the local mushrooms.
If you’ve ever read the book of Revelation as a non-Christian adult, you’re probably thinking, “That….explains a lot.”
When I consider the extent to which belief in that book as a prophecy that will one day come true has influenced religion in the United States, it seems to me that the writing John did during that exile means that the decision to exile him in the first place may serve as the largest case study of unintended and unstudied consquences in history.
What Happened Last Night
I woke up a couple of hours ago from a nightmare about snakes.
In classic “the kind of dumbass mistake that only I could make” fashion, I scared myself far more than necessary because I forgot to do something.
One of my weird little habits is to keep a dirty t-shirt (or, this time of year, hoodie) on the lower bookshelf of my headboard.
My bed, which I had a local carpenter build to my specifications, was my first major purchase after getting my grown-up job. It has a bookcase headboard and drawers underneath. I keep the space behind the pillows mostly clear, with just a bottle of melatonin and the piece of dirty laundry.
I do this because I often need to wipe or blow my nose on something during the night, either because my nose is running with allergy/respiratory symptoms, or because I’m crying. Why use dirty laundry? My nose is extraordinarily sensitive. Nosebleeds are common, and using kleenex tends to aggravate it.
If I use this t-shirt or hoodie for its intended purpose and then forget to put it back on the bookshelf, it ends up beside me while I sleep, sometimes working its way down my body.
Last night, I fell asleep before I put it back on the bookshelf.
I had a nightmare about snakes.
Do you see where this is going?
Antichrist Levels of Sadism
I grew up in a church obsessed with the end times. That Jesus may return at any moment is a baseline assumption, an axiom on which all decisions partially depend. This is called “the rapture,” when every Christian and everyone too young to be held responsible for the fate of their soul will vanish into thin air.
The rapture is not believed to be a metaphor.
A significant proportion of adults who practice evangelical Christianity believe in a literal rapture. They believe that a moment is coming when every baby and child, along with every Christian, will vanish. Only their clothing will be left behind. Pilots will vanish from airplanes, drivers from cars, technicians from nuclear power plants. The chaos and destruction left behind from this event will be world-shaking, to say nothing of the trauma of a world left suddenly without children.
Belief that this event is imminent is not rare.