I’m going to do my best at describing this– some of you may have heard of a ‘night-terror’, most of you will probably have not. If you’ve never heard of it, skip over to this WikiPedia article to get caught up really quick.
I had night terrors chronically between the ages of 10 and 16, as far as I can remember. And if there’s anything about them that I am sure about, it’s that they’re Spiritual Experiences– not bloody genetic, like the Wiki says. But the thing I’m most interested in– which correlates with my purpose with poetry– is to attempt to convey the emotion, the feeling of the experience. To those of you who have not, or do not have night-terrors, this may be interesting, but to those of you who have had them or do have them, sorry for bringing it up and continue reading here.
On the outside
One thing the Wiki article got right is the distinct difference of a night-terror from a nightmare, mainly in that you are awake and there usually is no ’subject’ of a night-terror, but it is based almost solely on emotion. The Wiki articles qualifies this by noting that some sufferers of night-terrors do have subjects, but that it is rare. In my case, I often could correlate mine with a real object– however that object was always existing in my mind– it was never something where I would wake up and be frightened of a thing in my room or a horror film or something. Typically, I would half-wake-up and in a completely uncontrolled fit of fear I would just wander the house aimlessly, sobbing and being terrified. Usually, my mother (or after I moved, stepmother) would wake up and caudle me back to sleep. They would typically last about 20 minutes.
On the inside
Here’s where it starts getting interesting– I distinctly remember not just a sense of terror, but how incredibly irrational it was. I was so terrified I literally could not think clearly at any point, and I think I would just exhaust myself back to sleep. I also vividly remember the feelings, and I have been able to recall them back into my heart, which even at a much older age is terrifying. Another very noteworthy point of my own experience was a distinct sense of detachment from my surroundings. My equilibrium would be off, but it was almost as if I was looking through a fisheye lens or something– everything was distorted. Generally, things would appear much farther away than they were, and it induced a feeling of meaninglessness and inability to re-enter normal life, ever again. And it came upon me like a bag of bricks– instant. Just like that. Instant 100% terror, for no apparent reason.
Maybe more later. I’m sick of thinking about it.
hello
I am a Christian and work as fine artist so I am interested in your thoughts.
i had night terrors too (from age 10 – 13 yrs). In my case it was a real thing – I won’t go into it – but since I became a Christian in 1986, i have known that it was just a demon or evil spirit . So nothing to worry about cos Jesus defeated them all on the cross. Deliverance is a beautiful and holy thing (and nothing to do with horror films!). Freedom and explosions of life are within you always.
love Daphne
@Daphne
Yes – this is a heavily misunderstood topic. Again – a case where it helps to know The Creator in order to know the scientific and spiritual truth about a matter. I don’t claim to have it all figured out, but because I know Him, I have figured out a few things that even Freud couldn’t have imagined.
The trick, as always, is Jesus.