May 21, 2014

May 21, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

I dreamed about my father. We stood on the lawn of our new home and we overlooked the city down below and the mountains in the distance. We just bought our house and neighbors came by to introduce themselves. Our house and our garden was full with people. My father was making conversation, but he didn’t have anything to say. There was no real connection between him and me, but it didn’t matter. He was just one of the many people who were there. My wife gave me a meaningful look while I talked with him.

Then, a big African American man walked onto our lawn. He was some kind of celebrity and everyone seemed to notice and know him. I had never seen him before. He was very well-dressed in a three-piece suit and he wore unusual glasses. He smiled and come walking straight towards me, the man of the house. It turned out that he was a preacher from the Behaviorist Church that happened to be right behind our house. My wife smiled as I approached him. 

Almost simultaneously we held out our hand to shake each other’s hand. I held out my right hand, but the preacher held out his left hand. This momentarily threw me off and I shook his left hand with my right hand. It was an odd situation, but there was nothing wrong with it. Then, he used his right hand to hold my right hand and I used my left hand to hold his right hand. After some dance-like movements he said “Behaviorism is misunderstood.”"

I agreed and I promised to come to his church. We chatted and I liked my new friend. I was surprised to hear from him that there is Behaviorist Church, but it seemed acceptable to me. We laughed about the common misunderstanding that most people either think they cause their own behavior or that they believe in a higher power which causes them to behave the way they do. It was funny because the latter is closer to behaviorism. A beautiful girl who was with him was also laughing along and she said that more  and more people were coming to the Behaviorist Church and she would be happy to see me there. While saying that she offered herself to me, but my attraction didn’t make me want to have sex with her, because my wife was looking. 

I went back into our new house and there many people were talking with each other. They were all people I had met and it wasn’t even surprising to me to see them back. To the contrary, it was as if we had just seen each other yesterday, while most of them I had not seen for many years. Our familiarity felt comfortable and my wife approved. We took our seat at a table from where we could see everyone and everyone turned to us. It was time for a toast. 

At this moment, I woke up from my dream which was so enjoyable. I have been having positive dreams lately. It wasn’t always like that, but I am happy the anxiety I so often dreamed about is much less. It was still there in bits and pieces, but it didn’t bother me anymore like it used to. The influence of my father was absorbed by the many positive stimuli that were available. The awkward hand shake with the preacher didn’t matter either and my sexual feelings didn’t trouble me. This is the first time I have dreamed about behaviorism and it seemed as if my dream counteracted my RomanCatholic conditioning.