According to old beliefs waking a sleepwalker may kill them; at least make them insane. In fact, science tells us that the opposite is true: sleepwalking (somnambulism) is the result of the interruption of muscle paralysis that ought to accompany sleep so as to avoid acting out one’s dreams, walking, running, kicking and punching or performing acts taking place in the dreamlike world.
The sleepwalker does not see reality as it is; in his mind he lives in the virtual world of dreams while at the same time living in the real world in a physical sense. Waking up the sleepwalker is therefore not more dangerous than waking up any other sleeper.
This can turn out to be vital for the sleeper, and we should always wake him up as quickly as possible, as to prevent sleepwalking toward an abyss, grabbing a knife or jumping out of the window because he dreams he is a bird.
The same goes for people and nations who do not always live entirely in the real world. As a result, they are sleepwalking. Some utterly sleepwalking when they take part in ideological delirium and create an imaginary world -this is the case for the peoples hypnotized by the charisma of their leaders. Others, because of their elites’ fault only, who describe a world in line with the people’s wishes and while deducing such suicidal actions as jumping over the abyss.
As history shows: the more people engage in the dreamlike world, the more they feel at ease, the more they are slow to wake up, the more they put their trust in leaders cooped up in their dreams, and the more severe the damage will be and the more they might be in for a rude awakening. It is not that the country is totally locked in an imaginary world: many citizens are aware of the difficult times in which we currently live, because they experience -poverty, unemployment, alienating work, making ends meet at the end of the month and, above all, to a point where they lose all hope of ever getting out of it
They also know that the real world contains many promises more magnificent than the wildest dreams. Finally, they know they need to be in charge of their future, refuse the soothing discourses and the empty promises, and confront the actual and potential challenges, without transferring them to future generations.
But many other French people, and first their leaders, talk and act like you do in a dream. They believe, and make us believe and consider reality to be servile to their ends. A company is struggling? Fair enough, let the State issue an order! Police shortage? Don’t worry, just hire new police officers!
The risk of terrorism is increasing? No problem, just lock up all suspects without charges and close borders to all foreigners. The threat of climate change? No worry, let’s keep on living as we have done until now! Until reality takes revenge. And it will take revenge. In the form of a financial crisis, a climate disaster, a war or some other disaster.
There is therefore an urgent need to shake things up and make the sleepwalkers think and react. For this to happen, it is time to realize that life in a waking state can be more beautiful than life in a dream world.
And that even if reality imposes certain constraints, it is also full of beautiful promises, exciting adventures, more exciting than those experienced in dreams.