Sleep Before the Fall

In the coming time of perfection, where life consists of fun and games, where everything we need is provided for, what need will there be for long exhausted sleep? Even a few hundred years ago, in the west at least, sleep patterns were different. A first and second sleep seems to have been the norm, with creative, energetic times in between the two.

At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, a book by Roger Ekirch, reveals that until modern times, when artificial lighting, especially street lighting, allowed us to stay awake longer, a lot of people would go to bed around sunset. The time spent sleeping was split into two sections – known as first sleep and second sleep. See also: biphasic and polyphasic sleep

So in The Golden Age, a time when human beings were at their most virtuous, when human toil was unknown and life was lived without labour or fear, sleep patterns would have looked nothing like they do today. Today we often collapse exhausted into bed after hours of activity which more likely than not, drained us of our physical and mental energy, only to be awoken unnaturally by an alarm clock or iPhone app.

In a virtuous world, night time would be a safe environment in which one could freely wander and socialise with human, animal and plant without unease and fear of harm. Even the animals at that time, freed from the concern of being eaten by vegetarian humans and other animals, exhibited a nature of gentleness and curiosity towards the other occupants of planet Earth.

I wonder if, in those times, there was even need for bedrooms, as privacy was unheard of and any sleep that was required, could be had at any time, at any place, safely and easily. Being free from regimented days, timetables and schedules, we could nap when and where we pleased.

In those times, the difference between the wakened and sleep states would be very blurred, as we meandered between the inner and outer worlds. The 'sleep' state would bring unbridled creative energies into play, free from space and time we could conceive in such a way that our creations would be unbounded and unlimited. Emerging from that state of consciousness we would replicate our inner world into the outer world, producing the most wondrous arts, dance, song and architecture to share with others.

How wondrous night times would have been in that glorious age. With the changed planetary positioning, Saturn as the exemplary sun and a night sky brimming with the other planets within the system, up close and personal, sleeping would not be an option for everyone. What a delight nighttime would be. Wandering in forests under reflected planetary lighting, laying on soft grasses gazing at a unpolluted night sky overflowing with heavenly bodies.