Are we responsible in our current dream for our actions in a previous dream?

I just want to know because I almost got fired in my dream one night because of a mistake I made in a previous dream. Fortunately, I woke up before I had to face the wrath of my boss.

It’s not that my behavior in my previous dream was so egregious. It was more a matter of forgetfulness bordering on irresponsibility. But I was just trying to help someone.

I just didn’t follow through…but for a very good reason.

Since much of my career was in higher education, the context for my dreams is sometimes on a college campus. In one particular dream I collected tuition payments from some students but dropped their checks in a  file folder with the intent of taking them to the business office later that day. (Admittedly, not an appropriate financial procedure for collecting tuition but it was, after all, a dream.)

I suppose I never followed through with carrying the tuition payments to the business office because apparently I woke up before doing so!

A few nights later I again had a dream that took place in a college context. In this dream I encountered the Dean of my college as she was getting into her car and hurrying off to an important event. She paused as she was getting into the car and  told me I needed to come by her office first thing the next morning.

As I considered in my dream why she needed me to come by her office, I suddenly remembered those tuition checks that I received from students and dropped in a file folder and had never taken to the business office….from another dream!

I wondered how I was going to explain my negligence to the Dean.  I supposed that it might appear that I had some ill intent with regard to those tuition checks dropped in my file folder.

I began to worry that I would be fired from the college and if not fired at least issued a severe reprimand. My integrity is very important to me and I would forever have the label of irresponsibility etched into my career.

Then, I woke up and in that daze of semi-cognizance you experience when you first wake up–somewhere between asleep and awake–I wast so relieved because I didn’t even work for that college–or for any college for that matter.

Besides, the misdeed that I was about to be accused of committing was from a different dream!

So, why should I have to fear losing my job in my present dream because of my irresponsibility in  a previous dream?

It doesn’t really seem fair to me!

Doesn’t waking up sort of acquit you of any offenses  that you perpetrated in your dreams? Isn’t it like  a statute of limitations for any misdeeds committed in your dreams?

Or, can you be held accountable in your current dream for your transgressions occurring in a previous dream?

This is sort of like the question my sister and I used to ask ourselves when we were children. If you fall off a cliff in a dream and don’t wake up before you hit the bottom, would you die? And if you died in your dream, would you die in real life?

I certainly hope I always wake up from my dream before I get fired (or hit the bottom from a fall off a cliff) because I don’t want to find out if I would be fired in real life–especially  from a job I don’t really have at a place I don’t really work!

Hmmm, this whole thing is starting to remind me of a scene from a Seinfeld episode….