Last night, I was consumed by a dark dream. I found myself in a dreamscape of a desert plateau, unsure how I arrived.

I was confronted by swirling fog and spirits, as well as a dark figure with a glowing orb. Initially, I was filled with trepidation and the beginnings of true fear; but in the back of my extradimensional consciousness, I sensed that the figure offered not fear. Instead, it was an invitation to a dark and fantastic journey, should I have the courage to embark on it.

I gazed about me and saw a pale horse with a rider. I saw three other horseman, poised above me. Were these the four horsemen I read about in other spiritual guides, harbingers of a coming Apocalypse?

My deeper instincts told me "no" - these horsemen were pleasure, pain, ecstasy. The pale horse was la petit mort, a small death to be sure, but one from which I would resurrect.

This is not the Apocalypse we know of, but one of social norms and constructs and other inhibitions.

Shall I resist this journey?