What would you do if you woke up and it had been a dream?

I've heard all these people talk about how one day they hope to wake up, not from their dreams but from the reality that they are currently experiencing. They say that when they do they will be enlightened and perhaps eternally loved, if so, or by what I am not certain, but that is not for me to debate. What I was contemplating one time a few days ago was, What would happen if I were to awake and my reality had been a dream?

So I thought I'd pose the question here.

What would you do? How would you react if you woke up and it had all been a dream?

Something like that, think about it for a second, however do not get ahead of me, I am not intending to find out what you would do if you awoke and everything were blissful and better and you spent eternity partying with God/Buddha/Your friends/Etc., I ask you this instead;

What would you do if you awoke and everything was not better? What instead, if you awoke to find that everyone you loved and anyone you cared about were gone? That you lived an existence with no pleasurable experiences or gratifying social interactions whatsoever?

What would you do if everythig were suddenly like this? Not actually one, but like a deal with the devil? You got what you wanted, you woke up, but it was so screwed up that you werent sure what to do?

i really couldn't answer what i would do. it's such a complex situation to try and imagine.

as for waking up from this reality, i'm working on it......! awareness is a lovely thing, as is breaking down barriers placed by society and the common perception. you start realising how abstract everything really is.

Interesting discussion. I would probably be so depressed that I would lapse into depression and eventually die from an overdose of drugs or alcohol.

I know it sounds a little extreme, but I had a similar thing happen to me and know the excruciating pain it can cause. Here is my story:

As most of you know, I have had a successful career for the last 24 years or so at a great company. I've been married to the same wonderful woman for the last 20 years, have two kids and am living the middle class American dream; living the country with my own mortgage, pets, credit card debt, and all of that.

My dream:

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One night, I was dreaming and the dream was pretty much like waking reality with family interactions and all the normal stuff.
Suddenly, in the dream, I \"woke up\" to find myself back at my parents house, in my own bedroom, back in 1980. *I came to the realization the fine life I had was only a dream.

I cannot begin to express the EXTREME pain, loneliness, and sense of loss I felt. *It was so intense it brought me to my knees. *In the dream, I wandered around my bedroom examining all of my things. *It was so real that I took it for reality.

I was so screwed up that I even went into my parents room and asked them to take me to the local psychiatric hospital.

This went on for about 20 minutes.

I finally woke up for real, in my own bed, back in 2002 I think the year was at the time. *Talk about a sense of relief! *My life was back. *

I kissed my wife on the neck, got out of bed, showered and drove to work with a new sense of how lucky I am.[/b]

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So, I hope you can now understand my answer better.

Now, with all that on the table, think of everyone that is locked up in psychiatric wards. Not the mildly neurotic people, but those that have had a total break with reality and live in their own dreamworld.

Could they be people that have woken up into our reality and are desparate to return the the "dream"?

DOes that include like, that there are any others in the world at all?

Hard to answer..if that was so, and there were still other people I would go out in the world and help others even though my own life was worthless and everybody hated me wernt grateful etc whatever the worst possible is. And I would live by the idea that the current reality isnt the reality you shall live forever.

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Originally posted by Lucius
DOes that include like, that there are any others in the world at all?

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Hmm.. Well you seem like the kind of guy who likes to be around others and help them, so as I believe a scenario like this would go, you would wake up in a world that is the very antithesis of what you would have loved.

A world, devoid of others and with absolutely nothing that you could do for anyone, no matter how hard you tried

At least thats what I'm trying to get you all to consider, take what and those you love most and imagine a world where they do not exist and are unatainable...

You like to help others... You could not.

You love your friends and family... they do not exist here.

You want to bring joy... Only pain and misery can exist.

You treasure your freedom... You have none.

Thats bad.. X_X if that was the case I would start a rebelion =P And if everybody sucks so bad they wont join I'll fight the crap until I die. Nah..I dunno, thats just silly but, I really would not know what to do then..would I still have my thoughts? my memories? my imagination? It keeps getting worse.. =P

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Originally posted by Lucius
It keeps getting worse.. =P

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Indeed it does. http://e.deviantart.com/emoticons/m/mwahaha.gif

I mean, I'm just trying to see what people would think if they one day awoke and thing were not better.

"Life is a dream from which we must someday wake." - somewhere in some book series i read

you seem to be raising the ideas of heaven and hell, in a sort of way... a perfect would, wake up from the nightmare of earth and rejoice with god or whatever diety u believe in, whatever afterlife; because, heaven, of course, ideally, is what YOUR ideal of perfection is, no? your ultimate bliss. and then, would hell not be your ultimate misery? perhaps this reality is but a dream, and we have yet to wake for the afterlife; that comes with death. death in a dream? death in a dream is not death, correct? that starts to raise the question of immortaility... and then the religion and cult topic on which this is a fledgling cult and someday lucid dreamers will be saints. :P don't mind me though, i just love tossing ideas...

I often have dreams where life is better... Where I'm in 'paradise'.

In the morning I feel kind of bitter-sweet, but I'm used to this 'real' life so I just get on with it.

However, the dreams are never as big as the life I'm living now ;D

Alphius, in that dream, do you have LD powers? Or is it just a new life you are aware of?

If it is a neverending dream, I'll summon ppl I know, then start creating new worlds and finally die/reach another plane...

Sometimes I almost wish I could just wake up from this reality. I mean, if all this still existed and it was just ME who was gone, I'd be terribly depressed for the ones I love, but if it was all part of me and everything went with it, then I'd be overjoyed. I'd look upon the new reality with a sense of enlightenment and wonder. Of course it wouldn't work like that if the "new" reality was more tedious and crappy than this one ;)

reminds me of a question I meant to ask...I think I'll make a thread

I don't think i'd be surprised, but that could be because I don't believe in it. It's like saying "what if a peice of toast floated up in the sky although you believed in gravity?", "what if god wasn't real?"...etc.

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Originally posted by Negaigoto
you seem to be raising the ideas of heaven and hell, in a sort of way... *a perfect would, wake up from the nightmare of earth and rejoice with god or whatever diety u believe in, whatever afterlife; because, heaven, of course, ideally, is what YOUR ideal of perfection is, no? *your ultimate bliss. *and then, would hell not be your ultimate misery? *perhaps this reality is but a dream, and we have yet to wake for the afterlife; that comes with death. *death in a dream? *death in a dream is not death, correct? *that starts to raise the question of immortaility... *and then the religion and cult topic on which this is a fledgling cult and someday lucid dreamers will be saints. * :P *don't mind me though, i just love tossing ideas...

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Tossing ideas rocks, things tend to get more philosophical when people toss good ones. :P

In a way I am sort of looking at the concepts of things like heaven and hell, I guess one could relate it more to the concept of death and rebirth as opposed to the afterlife... The \"death\" of the physical in one reality and it's re-birth in another, although it may be a less than favourable to the concious being.

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Originally posted by Ev+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ev)</div>

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Alphius, in that dream, do you have LD powers? Or is it just a new life you are aware of?

If it is a neverending dream, I'll summon ppl I know, then start creating new worlds and finally die/reach another plane...[/b]

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Its not a dream.

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Alphius

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Did you call me Alphius? (O_o)

Well, to be honest all I would need to survive in that reality would be a purpose. That is all anyone needs in order to live their life. What this purpose would be, whether it would be real or it would be a delusion and a front that I create myself in order accept my life, is completely irrelevant. I would find I way to keep busy, and I am sure I would find a way to make myself feel like what I did is a good thing, and elevate myself above everyone, the way I always do. I know how many of my defense mechanisms work, and that is why I am able to pinpoint my reactions to certain matters. It is all logic, in the end...

Living for being alive. hm.

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Originally posted by Truthbutter+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Truthbutter)</div>

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I am sure I would find a way to make myself feel like what I did is a good thing[/b]

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I'm unsure what you mean by this. What would you have done? :|

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elevate myself above everyone, the way I always do. I know how many of my defense mechanisms work, and that is why I am able to pinpoint my reactions to certain matters. It is all logic, in the end...

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In regards to self-elevation, nobody ever said that everyone else was in the same position as you...
How would knowing your reactions to certain situations and matters help you?

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I am sure I would find a way to make myself feel like what I did is a good thing

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I'm unsure what you mean by this. What would you have done? :| [/b]

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What I basically mean by this is that I would pretty much just tell myself that it is best that I truly discovered that my previous reality was a sham. I would know that it is for the best for there is no use in being \"happy\" in something that is not real. I would make up reasons to make myself understand that \"waking up\" was necesary and that it will just help me evolve in life.

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Originally posted by Aphius+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Aphius)</div>

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elevate myself above everyone, the way I always do. I know how many of my defense mechanisms work, and that is why I am able to pinpoint my reactions to certain matters. It is all logic, in the end...

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In regards to self-elevation, nobody ever said that everyone else was in the same position as you...
How would knowing your reactions to certain situations and matters help you?[/b]

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What I meant with elevating myself, is pretty much just feeding my ego. To be honest I generally tend to elevate myself above others in this world because of what I know and what I do. I know that they are ignorant to many truths which is the cause to the way they act or live their lives. I am sure I would do the same thing in this situation. I would think how I have evolved past them, and eventhough they are happier, more confortable, etc, I am more enlightened, and I am more closer to some sort of universal truth. So, pretty much exactly the same thing I tell myself now...I generally wonder how much of that is delusion and excuses to make myself feel well, and how much of it is actually true. Isn't it funny how we all lie to ourselves to be able to live with ourselves, to make us happy?

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Originally posted by Truthbutter
What I basically mean by this is that I would pretty much just tell myself that it is best that I truly discovered that my previous reality was a sham. I would know that it is for the best for there is no use in being \"happy\" in something that is not real. I would make up reasons to make myself understand that \"waking up\" was necesary and that it will just help me evolve in life.

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A sham? Only as much as one makes it. As like some of us, we could refer to the world we left as the we do the dreamworld. Like you said, perhaps the waking up helped us evolve. Our experiences, wether in this world or another, wether good or bad, these events help shape who we are, maybe give us something to strive for. They allow us the opportunity to experience events beyond the scope of the horizons to which we are born, and take with us lessons and experiences that others without knowledge and abilities like ours could never have. That is a reason to be happy for something that isn't real.

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Also I guess it could be a reason like you said to want to elevate yourself above others... :lol:

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Originally posted by Truthbutter
I generally wonder how much of that is delusion and excuses to make myself feel well, and how much of it is actually true. Isn't it funny how we all lie to ourselves to be able to live with ourselves, to make us happy?

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It sure is. We seem to be afraid of unhappiness. I wonder myself about things like that, I guess you'd really have to take a look at how you deal with sitiuations and how you view those you interact with and cotemplate wether you are being truthful with yourself... I don't know.

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Originally posted by Aphius+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Aphius)</div>

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I generally wonder how much of that is delusion and excuses to make myself feel well, and how much of it is actually true. Isn't it funny how we all lie to ourselves to be able to live with ourselves, to make us happy?

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It sure is. We seem to be afraid of unhappiness. I wonder myself about things like that, I guess you'd really have to take a look at how you deal with sitiuations and how you view those you interact with and cotemplate wether you are being truthful with yourself... I don't know.[/b]

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That is what I do, I try to find out whether I am being true to myself or not, and I generally end up landlocked. It's just part of our battle of conscious vs. unconscious desires. I don't know. I try to stay true to myself, to be objective. However, my unconscious is indeed part of myself, so I guess I am being true nonetheless. Anyway, in conditions as bad as those that you describe, I really wouldn't mind lying to myself to make me "happy", and I wouldn't mind giving myself some elevated purpose either....

have a couple drops of lsd into your system, then you'll know what waking of this dream feels like. Heeeeaaaaaavvvyyyy stuff.
Anyway, even when you wake, you only wake inside another dream, of which you can also be awaken, and so on until you reach the zero, the source, if there is one, if there aint, you'll probably just end up being born again in this reality, but with a superior awareness even if you dont notice it ever.
Perhaps thats what reencarnation really is, achieving levels of awareness and passing it up to you the moment you're born, so that you can reach higher levels...
but, that implies a belief in "progress" and maybe thats not the case
maybe dying is, in fact, a sort of awakening to something else, and if it is, you'll know your "new reality" just as well as we know our reality when we wake up in the mornings
Life aint but a long long night?

And, finally, i'll answer the question. If i retained my memories and no insta-illumination came, then i would be freaked out for a while, just a period in which i would try to absorb/accept the fact that now im awake from my past life (it was a dream, but a very enlightening one) But i'd try to make this period as short as possible, cuz you know, a whole new reality awaits, and even though i'd mourn a lot the loss (if that was the case) of my loved ones, i'd be happy to be able to carry them into a whole new reality as a part of me

Regalecus, I like your idea on hallucinogens. Last time I did shrooms, I laid down and closed my eyes. Above my head I felt this incredibly warm presence, which slowly came down and enveloped my entire consciousness. It was a very vivid feeling in which I felt awakened into a new, abstract, and completely inexplicable reality. All I can describe is the feeling, which was like every positive emotion mixed together, combined with that nice feeling between being awake and asleep. It brought me to tears because it was the most overwhelmingly pleasant, comforting feeling I've ever had in my life. My physical awareness ceased to exist at this point, yet I was still aware that I would return to it - in other words, I knew I wasn't dead. :) I literally never wanted to come down.

Somehow I felt like this would be at least in part what it's like to die.

I've had so many thoughts that "what if one day we all just wake up to a more real reality".

I think that once we wake up we would treasure this "dream" and move on. Although I don't belive such a reality could possibly exist without an equal opposite. Besides, once we wake up (like when we wake up from our normal dreams) we will remember how to interact in that dimension as good as we can.

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Originally posted by Aphius
What would you do? How would you react if you woke up and it had all been a dream?

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In some ways that would be better. I'd miss this dream but be so glad to be away from it..I guess its the same for everyone. But it would deffinetly be strange.

i would be SOOO scared if nothing, nothing, and absolutely nothing would be around, that i would fall and die instantly of a heart attack :?




and i can't believe i said i would be scared... :oops:

[quote] think of everyone that is locked up in psychiatric wards. Not the mildly neurotic people, but those that have had a total break with reality and live in their own dreamworld.

Could they be people that have woken up into our reality and are desparate to return to the "dream"?

Seeker, I'd never thought of them in that way.. how unbelievably sad.