Thread: Our life just a dream?

Originally Posted by boo1030

Has anyone had the thought that, your entire life up to this point, has been a dream, just one night and it suddenly ended, and you woke up to be a 1 day old baby.

Something to that sort, I know its weird, but yeah.

When I was about 3 1/2 I woke up one day. I didn't remember anything from before, but everything was sort of familiar. From that day, I had continuity of memory, but no memories from before that day except for a couple situations that people talked about quite a bit... not direct memories though.
I used to wonder even at 5 or 6 if maybe I was dreaming and would wake up and find I was really some other older kid... Never did though

TruthHunter

Oh this is quite the interesting concept. I personally like the theory that we could all be in a virtual program. I.E. we are stored in a supercomputer and our reality is the construct made of the information stored on such a device.

If this were true there could be multiple instances of the same reality being run of various computer type devices.

Also the is life a dream theory is also interesting if only there were more backing to such a theory.

The whole concept of life in general and what it really is, is really quite fascinating.

Originally Posted by TruthHunter

When I was about 3 1/2 I woke up one day. I didn't remember anything from before, but everything was sort of familiar. From that day, I had continuity of memory, but no memories from before that day except for a couple situations that people talked about quite a bit... not direct memories though.
I used to wonder even at 5 or 6 if maybe I was dreaming and would wake up and find I was really some other older kid... Never did though

TruthHunter

That's natural. Almost all people have it, except for a few who have eidetic memory....

Originally Posted by TruthHunter

When I was about 3 1/2 I woke up one day. I didn't remember anything from before, but everything was sort of familiar. From that day, I had continuity of memory, but no memories from before that day except for a couple situations that people talked about quite a bit... not direct memories though.
I used to wonder even at 5 or 6 if maybe I was dreaming and would wake up and find I was really some other older kid... Never did though
TruthHunter

Probably this was a day when your self-awareness was burn. As you may know small children do not have it at first.

The same concept can be applied to itself.
ie. What if you wake up from that reality in which you just awoke to - in a sense a false awakening. This can be applied ad-infinitum, and then is nothing but open ended philosophy.

If you can define dream by what is real and what is not, then you are defining by what is known in your perception of reality (vs dream) and therefore overlooking the silliness of it if dream is a projection of reality itself.

Whatsoever you know is what you know, what is - is.
Are you the butterfly in that which you call a dream, or are you the human in that which you call reality?

There is only one solidity, and that is of existing. You are, whatsoever you are, you cannot transcend that, for even a false dream requires a dreamer.

Even if life is really just a dream/illusion/matrix. What would stop us from living it?

Sometimes I think that life, this universe is just a part of a path we're all taking. Maybe after life we find ourselves in eternity (think heaven) or maybe a (neverending or not) series of lives like this (incarnation, but maybe in different universes/dimensions/lives).

But if this is true it surely happens for us to learn something. If we find this true, should that be a reason to say, it's all a dream anyway?

Originally Posted by TruthHunter

When I was about 3 1/2 I woke up one day. I didn't remember anything from before, but everything was sort of familiar. From that day, I had continuity of memory, but no memories from before that day except for a couple situations that people talked about quite a bit... not direct memories though.
I used to wonder even at 5 or 6 if maybe I was dreaming and would wake up and find I was really some other older kid... Never did though

TruthHunter

Really? For me, I just have some memories of age 3 (the most vivid of which is a dream) and as I grew older, I got more and more memories.

I have thought it regularly. If life is just normal dream and I cannot get lucid because there is no dream signs or reality check that works.

Would be cool.

The more I learn about dreaming, the more convinced I am that reality is a dream. There is some shared dreaming dynamic that keeps things stable which I haven't quite figured out yet, but all the basic rules of dreaming apply to the waking world.

At the very least, your dreaming attention is at work throughout the day. This is what fills in the blanks for things like optical illusions.

During the summer I was walking along and something green and shiny on the ground caught my attention. It was shinning so bright I was curious as to what it was. At first looked like a pop can, and I actually saw a pop can. But as I got closer, the details weren't quite right to be a can, and I saw something else (forget what). I got closer still and it saw a third item, which was also incorrect.

It was actually a green candy bar wrapper of a kind I've never seen before. The shiny green wrapper was unfamiliar and crumpled in an odd shape. But I distinctly say three different things before I got close enough to identify it for sure. (Or at least that's when it stopped changing)

I could give tons of example on why reality is a dream, but I don't want to get into a big debate right now. All I'm saying is that once you learn how dreams work, you see that reality works the same way. And I don't mean knowing in theory how dreams work, you have to verify it and see for yourself. True knowledge isn't something you can read and memorize, it fundamentally changes you fundamentally forever.

Originally Posted by ThreeLetterSyndrom

That's natural. Almost all people have it, except for a few who have eidetic memory....

So what?

This is certainley not a dream, but very real, it would be confusing anyway and we have dreams, we're not constantly asleep and missing out on the real world, cos if this was a dream what would reality be. makes no sense.

Originally Posted by Matthewlovesammy

This is certainley not a dream, but very real, it would be confusing anyway and we have dreams, we're not constantly asleep and missing out on the real world, cos if this was a dream what would reality be. makes no sense.

Well if we want to throw wild ideas this could just be very vivid dream that dilates time or maybe we are species that sleep for years. Or maybe this just feels like lifetime and we just don't understand it. Or maybe our real dreams work different way and not with the laws we are used to be

Dream within a dream. That is possible. I have seen lots of dreams in which I see dream. Very confusing indeed.

Or maybe some robots are just keeping us in drugs and asleep as in Matrix.

Anything could be possible if we are to trust our senses. They often fail us.

We can't hurt in dreams, we can't die in dreams. Life is certainly not a dream.

Originally Posted by Arutad

We can't hurt in dreams, we can't die in dreams. Life is certainly not a dream.

In dreams we know. What if life is just more complicated and more realistic dream where you will bleed.

Have you died? what if you wake up when you do?

Sidenote : I do feel pain in dreams. Very realistic pain.

experiencing LD's certainly reaffirms my buddhist belief that life is just a dream. A much more stable one- yes, however if a dream can be so indistinguishable from RL what makes us so certain life is not just dream 2.0? In fact this slightly unrelated thought came to mind- the debate about reincarnation- people claim it isn't real because they/we can't remember our previous lives- is it really that surprising considering most of the worlds people can't even recall the dream they had just that morning? Plus I like how the concept of reality checking and doing RC's is basically just a way for you not to get carried away by life, to stand back and question it, and not allowing it to hypnotize you the same way you can be hypnotized in dreams- if that's not a buddhist practice I don;t know what is.

Originally Posted by Unelias

In dreams we know. What if life is just more complicated and more realistic dream where you will bleed.

Life isn't only "more complicated and realistic"...

Life is visually stable, with linear time, with uncontrollable "characters" who have integrity and unchanging past, with physical laws that can't be broken by you by will, without an ability to interrupt it forever by any other means than death, etc.

Dreams don't have all that. If you want to say that life is a dream, then I'm not sure what similar features you have in mind... Life is visually unstable? With non-linear time?

Have you died? what if you wake up when you do?

Even if I find myself somewhere else after death, it won't prove that this world is a dream Unless the place of awakening happens to be a more real "reality" in comparison to which this reality is as lame as a dream.

@yuriythebest

Lol.. You have "lotus pose" and such things as goals in your signature, and then followed by "participate in genocide"... You aren't a real buddhist are you? Stop confusing people

Originally Posted by Arutad

Life isn't only "more complicated and realistic"...

Life is visually stable, with linear time, with uncontrollable "characters" who have integrity and unchanging past, with physical laws that can't be broken by you by will, without an ability to interrupt it forever by any other means than death, etc.

But if we think that life is a dream where dream control is insanely hard? This life has only those regulations because you think they are true and you don't have strenght to break them because you are still dreaming but as I said, this could be a dream that is completely different from concept of dream we know but I gotta admit, there are places and situations where I am forced to do reality check. Just because life seems so unreal sometimes.

Originally Posted by Arutad

Dreams don't have all that. If you want to say that life is a dream, then I'm not sure what similar features you have in mind... Life is visually unstable? With non-linear time?

Dreams what dream in this life consist those features you mentioned but my dreams are quite realistic for of all five senses. I mean, waking world realistic.

Originally Posted by Arutad

Even if I find myself somewhere else after death, it won't prove that this world is a dream Unless the place of awakening happens to be a more real "reality" in comparison to which this reality is as lame as a dream.

That is true. But what if after you die, you wake up on stone bed in some cave spooky..... We are just tossing with the idea after all but honestly, there is no way to tell if we aren't dreaming, because this "dream" could have rules we are not aware. ^^

Originally Posted by Unelias

But if we think that life is a dream where dream control is insanely hard? This life has only those regulations because you think they are true and you don't have strenght to break them because you are still dreaming

That must mean that other people don't exist If it's all in your mind only...
That poses a problem... people would start to argue. Hey, it's all in my mind, how dare you think that it's all in yours?! It's you who's unreal, not me!

There is such a thing as mental illness, too. Those people can break any laws of reality, and yet others think that what's going on in their mind is not influencing reality. We can see that what they say isn't happening, even if they can vividly see (if they hallucinate) the opposite. How comes reality isn't influenced if they see it happening?

but I gotta admit, there are places and situations where I am forced to do reality check. Just because life seems so unreal sometimes.

*shocked* I hope you're saying it to write beautifully

but honestly, there is no way to tell if we aren't dreaming, because this "dream" could have rules we are not aware. ^^

If this "dream" might be a totally different concept of a dream as we know it, as you said, then it makes not much sense to call it a dream. Why do you call it a dream, only because we could 'wake up'? The latter seems a very far-fetched idea for me to be honest, like a last straw that the drowning men are grasping in hope that they won't die. At least I can see no normal reasons to think so, it's purely wishful thinking, even thinking that life's laws can be bent makes more sense

P.S. What is it, as your avatar?

Originally Posted by Arutad

@yuriythebest

Lol.. You have "lotus pose" and such things as goals in your signature, and then followed by "participate in genocide"... You aren't a real buddhist are you? Stop confusing people

I hold buddhist beliefs and am a vegeterian- but just as christians are not always "orthdox" neither am I

Well, if this life was a dream, what would stop it from being a dream within a dream within a dream, ad infinitum? Just a thought.

I agree with Unelias that there are some circumstances which seem to defy logic and reason and/or deviate from the world we are accustomed to seeing. On the other hand, does it mean something supernatural has happened? Not necessarily.

To be honest, I find the notion of life being a dream rather depressing. Logically, if that were the case, I would be the point of consciousness, thus making it my dream, thus denying the reality of those around me. When I woke up, they would be gone. In addition, if this world was just a dream, what would stop me (or the dreamer) from doing whatever I (or the/she/it) wanted without thought for anyone or anything else? Enough people think themselves to be a god and destroy parts of the world. I suppose it just matters to which standards one holds him/herself, but still...

Anyway, those are just the thoughts of a non-philosopher.

Originally Posted by yuriythebest

I hold buddhist beliefs and am a vegeterian- but just as christians are not always "orthdox" neither am I

Err.. You must be a New Ager then, with a buddhist trend

When the point comes to where you can't distinguish between a dream and reality you let me know. So far I haven't seen any pink elephants or any U.S Marines wearing man thongs so I dont think im dreaming right now.

Originally Posted by Arutad

That must mean that other people don't exist If it's all in your mind only...
That poses a problem... people would start to argue. Hey, it's all in my mind, how dare you think that it's all in yours?! It's you who's unreal, not me!

Indeed. I dislike arguing in the first place anyway ^^ I am more in conversations I love to hear people thoughts and compare them to my own. There is always room to broaden your knowledge through that.

Originally Posted by Arutad

There is such a thing as mental illness, too. Those people can break any laws of reality, and yet others think that what's going on in their mind is not influencing reality. We can see that what they say isn't happening, even if they can vividly see (if they hallucinate) the opposite. How comes reality isn't influenced if they see it happening?

I have thought that regularly. Are you familiar with the (mostly pagan) concept of world existance. At least in some shamanistic and druidic ideas world is constantly shaped through our minds and shaman or similar person has a way to manipulate world in order to i.e heal a sick or like.
Now if it was so, it would take lots of willpower and faith to actually shape the world with your mind, or at least that what I would assume. Also if I knew I had some kind of mental illness, I probably wouldn't have the "true faith" that I can shape the world. Just tossing with the ideas again if one hallucinational sees pen floating and four other see it on the table, they have more collective "willpower" to keep pen from floating. Therefore, the actual world leaves the pen grounded. If we think world acts in that way.

Originally Posted by Arutad

*shocked* I hope you're saying it to write beautifully

Actually I have had lots of that kind of moments feel free to be shocked if you want to I have seen a lot and there are things that fit into category of w-w-w-weird

Originally Posted by Arutad

If this "dream" might be a totally different concept of a dream as we know it, as you said, then it makes not much sense to call it a dream. Why do you call it a dream, only because we could 'wake up'? The latter seems a very far-fetched idea for me to be honest, like a last straw that the drowning men are grasping in hope that they won't die. At least I can see no normal reasons to think so, it's purely wishful thinking, even thinking that life's laws can be bent makes more sense

You are right on that, but we are humans and we operate with language. We need some word that awakens feelings and images. Since we are all here dreamers and the topic was if life was a dream, I try to reason it so that it fits somehow into that word. But of course we could invent totally new word I don't find it that different though, at least in my mind.

Originally Posted by Arutad

P.S. What is it, as your avatar?

Oh that one it is a symbol of fictional goddess Sehanine Moonbow who his goddess of dreams, moon,mysticism, transcendence, spirituality, divination and journeys. I chose it because I find it beautiful although it is very simple. Also, because the things she is seen to symbolize are very dear to me. Moon is often seen as symbol for night and dreams. Dreams are very important in shamanistic cultures, which also have very ancient tradition here in the far north. I have embraced bits of my lands shamanistic heritage too and I find it very fascinating, as it centers to personal development instead of becoming involved with religion, religious groups, people who misuse religion, fanatics, grand deities etc.

But in order to make things perfectly clear, I have nothing against different believes if they don't harm others. Faith is after all personal thing and in my opinion should be kept that way. I love to exchange thoughts tho' if someone is interested, but only then.

Originally Posted by Unelias

Indeed. I dislike arguing in the first place anyway ^^ I am more in conversations

That's what we're doing, having a conversation!

if one hallucinational sees pen floating and four other see it on the table, they have more collective "willpower" to keep pen from floating. Therefore, the actual world leaves the pen grounded. If we think world acts in that way.

That can be an explanation, yes. Although what is a hallucination then, if it's seen? Sounds like a distorted perception to me, rather than a struggle between a floating and grounded pen.

There are two types of hallucinations, one is conveniently called "pseudo-hallucinations", because it's not a distortion of something but seeing something that doesn't look vivid enough that it can be confused with reality. I guess this one could be said to be summoned with willpower But what about those real hallucinations, like when you can vividly see that the road is a river or something equally unusual...

Hm, also let's say that a small kid sits alone in a room, and sees a toy. A small kid wouldn't know much about the world, so it could make the toy float if it wanted, or something else equally bizarre, but it isn't happening, although there's nobody else in the room to counter the kid's efforts.

Although I guess this example can be made senseless if you say that collective willpower is not situational, but somehow permeates the whole world...

Actually I have had lots of that kind of moments feel free to be shocked if you want to I have seen a lot and there are things that fit into category of w-w-w-weird

Can you tell me? I'm interested

You are right on that, but we are humans and we operate with language. We need some word that awakens feelings and images. Since we are all here dreamers and the topic was if life was a dream, I try to reason it so that it fits somehow into that word.

I understand, but I think that usage of the word introduces the distortion of meaning in this case. At least if we agreed that it's a loose term. There are many associations that the word "dream" brings up almost unconsciously

I love to exchange thoughts tho' if someone is interested, but only then.

Can you tell me about that shamanistic tradition that you partially embraced? I'd be grateful, I like that kind of things, and I'm not going to go saying "eww, that's stupid" and such