Thread: Brain in a vat

Sometimes. Especially when I was younger. Being a "seeker" can be somewhat isolating.

BTW. topic reminds me of the 1973 Donovan song "Cosmic Wheels"!

sounds like a 'normal' feeling to me

Thanks for the responses. I think Skicanoe hit it right. However, I've had this feeling on and off for a long time. With that said, I've been a "seeker" for a long time as well.

Originally Posted by ZoeSeeker

Hey folks.

I am having some serious issues. I am really beginning to feel like I'm a brain in a vat (Cartesian Evil Genius hypothesis, see "Putnam").

Things just don't seem right to me. The world and everything in it has a sort of surreal feel to me. I feel like I died long ago, and my mind is just continuing experience.

Does anyone else ever feel that way? I just don't feel like I'm in a real world (ala Matrix). I can picture a different reality that seems more real to me; a life I should be living.

Perhaps I am depressed, and just don't know it....

Tell us more about the different reality, the different life that you picture. Please describe in detail.

In my alternate reality, I have only a few "snapshots". It's the feeling that I have when it pops on into my head. I have never recalled a dream like this, it's just "there".

It is night time. I live with my wife in a high-rise condo. In the main living area, there is a wall made of glass with a fantastic city view. We are very high up. In front of the view, there is a sectional couch made of beige leather. In front of that, a glass coffee table. On the opposite wall, there is rich cherry cabinetry, with a built-in wet bar. if you are facing the wet-bar, to the right is a hallway. There are bedrooms down that hallway, but I've never been down it. To the left is unknown.

My wife is wearing a black sequined dress, and holding a glass of white wine. We are having a party, although no food or anything is laid out. She is smiling. I cannot see her face, but she is tall, and thin (normal thin). I know that she is a good wife. We are in love still. There are no children or pets. Music is quietly playing. I am happy.

I know it sounds like a dream, but it's not. I've never lived in the city, I'm not married anymore, and I have two kids. This pops into my mind occasionaly when I am feeling melancholy. I would think that I would dream about it, but I don't.

As for my real life. I divorced my wife for infidelity, lost my job, lost my house, wrecked my car, and now live with my parents.

This would make sense if I started having these "visions" after this, but I've had them for most of my adult life.

Also, I seem to sense when something bad is going to happen. I wouldn't call it precognitive, but it's wierd. It happened yesterday. I was playing cards. I was winning. The only way my opponent could win was to hit a Jack. His odds were 23:1 against. I knew it was going to happen. I almost turned in my cards early, before the last card came. I said to the dealer, "It's going to be a Jack". The next card was a Jack. I lost.

I'm just have this feeling that reality is not what it seems to be. It's not the real "reality". There is something else going on. I can't shake the feeling, even though it's not logical...

There are some things in life that cannot be explained by logic alone, It sounds like you have a useful ability. I wouldn't be surprised if in time it became ridiculously useful, don't ignore it, listen to it whenever possible.

what might be happening, you may be linking up with someone, or your subconscious may be hinting at an ideal life, but the only person that can know 100% is you, I would suggest meditating on the subject and see if the answers come to you.

It's probably not the same thing, but I have always had memories from things that seem like another life. I just feel like I have flashes of memories from things that could not be my life. One of them has to do with a fancy old house in the country and another has to do with being a young black kid in a rundown city neighborhood. I have had these feelings most of my adult life, and was always perplexed by them.

However, lucid dreaming has led me to believe that these things are actually memories of dreams. Being aware in my dreams has made me realize how very real they are. Now I could easily imagine that these flashes actually come from very vivid forgotten dreams that happen in recurring environments.

I don't want to minimize how you feel, but do you think the way you feel could be a combination of these vaguely remembered recurring realistic dreams and a desire for your life to be more like this vision?

Have you considered exploring this environment in a lucid dream?

Yeah, I think your on to something Falcon. It never ceases to amaze me when suddenly something triggers a memory of a dream scene I may of experienced years ago but had never recalled.
I was starting to consider that Zoeseeker may of been experiencing past life recall, but the above seems more likely.

Originally Posted by Perlinfalcon

I don't want to minimize how you feel, but do you think the way you feel could be a combination of these vaguely remembered recurring realistic dreams and a desire for your life to be more like this vision?

Have you considered exploring this environment in a lucid dream?

I think that is the most likely explanation. I feel the need to do to a RC when something odd happens (e.g. The Jack on the river). I conclude that I am in reality, but if I've never actually known reality, I'm really just confirming my existance on this plane of reality. If I apply The Razor, however, it is most likely that I am just wishful thinking.

These could be visions of an ideal life, a parallel life, a past life, a future life... or a dream life.

You are probably just depressed. Your desires to be happy and fulfilled intrude your dreams, and basically give you a sense of your "ideal life" as WN put it. Life may be rough right now, but from reading your profile it sounds like your on the right track (:

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by ZoeSeeker

As for my real life. I divorced my wife for infidelity, lost my job, lost my house, wrecked my car, and now live with my parents.

Me too.

But, I was able to move out, still don't have a car, am going to school, have an okay job, and a really hot girlfriend. Lucid dreaming helps. I think you should just try and dream about that life and see what happens. Did I say that already?

Thanks for everyone's input. I have concluded that I died long ago. Nothing seems real to me, at least not like it used to. I even question my memories. Are they even real? With that said, you are all just part of the dream (nightmare) that I will live until i "die". Just too many coincidences for any of this to be reality. Nothing is working out the way it should have. I think I may be in hell for something I've done. I just can't explain my misery. Anyway, closing this thread. It's not real anyway...

I think you are really down. I suggest you go in the nature for a while and let it help you. Nature helps a lot. You will still have the weird feeling about the life's reality but you will feel better inside and accept whatever life has prepared for you. As they say sometimes life is a bitch but is beautiful as well So cheer up as much as you can and go to the forest

Thanks for the uplifting words! I think I overdosed on Xanax. Too much Xanax will really screw you up. I feel back to "normal", whatever that is. The whole purpose of my Lucid Dreaming (besides that it's fun) is to ask my subconcious what the heck is going on up there. I'm also curious about alternate planes of existence. Through a totally analytical process, I think it's possible that every moment of our lives is a crossroads, with an almost infinite number of paths. Each path is taken, and you move through time. This happens ad infitum creating a infinite amount of universes. Our concsiousness is the just path that we jump to at each branch. I think that if there are such things, it may be possible to move between planes, thereby changing your future...

Originally Posted by ZoeSeeker

Thanks for the uplifting words! I think I overdosed on Xanax. Too much Xanax will really screw you up. I feel back to "normal", whatever that is. The whole purpose of my Lucid Dreaming (besides that it's fun) is to ask my subconcious what the heck is going on up there. I'm also curious about alternate planes of existence. Through a totally analytical process, I think it's possible that every moment of our lives is a crossroads, with an almost infinite number of paths. Each path is taken, and you move through time. This happens ad infitum creating a infinite amount of universes. Our concsiousness is the just path that we jump to at each branch. I think that if there are such things, it may be possible to move between planes, thereby changing your future...

Nice to hear you are back to 'normal'.
Eh, taking such pills is not a good idea Better go and smoke some MJ ) Does good for the soul. Better still go and smoke in the forest and let it be in you.
Life is changing all the time, theres no stop in that process. We are moving through space and time and even different planes all the time. Cos everything we do and think changes the reality. At any given moment. Any.

The "brain in a vat" idea is certainly interesting. But you have to understand, just because it is interesting (I wouldn't go so far as to say possible, because we don't know what is possible) doesn't make it true. Also, if this reality that we are currently experiencing is fake (which it very well could be, the things we percieve could easily be much different then we imagine) then how can you be sure we are actually all brains in vats? Maybe we are a computer? Maybe we are all tiny parts of one giant organisms? Maybe we are simply infants in a womb, and death is actually birth? Nobody knows what reality actually is. It is interesting to think about more then anything, just don't let it get you depressed.