Allen Pollens

Alternative Lives: to Sleep, Perchance to Dream ... Another Life Allen Pollens

Psychology Professor Builds Stasis Chamber to Research Benefits of Extended Sleep. What if you could revisit a decision you made that affected the course of your life? What if you could experience the road not taken and learn whether your decision was the right one? The "Alternative Lives" phenomenon awaits discovery. It promises dream transport to other lives. The alternative life dream is one of two unexpected occurrences. The linkage between the two happenings is such that researchers have to come upon alternative life dreams first. There is no clue about the existence of yet another event. More deeply hidden than the first, the second potential happening offers a startling and dangerous opportunity. Manifestation of either occurrence requires extended sleep stasis in a chamber such as the one Harold Treadwell is designing. The chance for discovery and investigation of these events belongs to the curious ? researchers interested enough to pursue the small initial sign of strange dreams. Dr. Harold Treadwell is a PHD psychologist and a professor at Philadelphia?s Jess Hawkins University (JHU). In spite of years of successful academic achievement, Harold has extremely low self-esteem. Memories plague him of a years-earlier incident he cannot forget. He immerses himself in defining the complex requirements for a sleep-study research project. Harold?s proposed research focuses on sufferers of undiagnosed and untreated mysterious pain ? mental and physical difficulties that appear without warning and ruin lives. Harold spends five-years designing a sleep-stasis chamber ? a necessary apparatus in the proposed study. Finally, he submits a grant application to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its approval is in doubt until an unexpected source of support with NIH influence appears. NIH funds Harold?s request. The approval elates Treadwell, but his challenges are only just beginning. He suppresses thoughts of his regrettable past. Harold moves on and assembles a research team to join him in his quest for the discoveries he perceives await them. What they find is astonishing, and perilous, with implications that extend far beyond Philadelphia, PA.