Life is just a dream~?

LethiferousLupus

LethiferousLupus

Legacy Member
A philosophical musing on life, value, and perception.

Perhaps this thing I have given the label of reality to is simply just a rather lengthy lucid dream. If though so, then nothing in it actually means or changes anything. Then again, contrast it to the interpretation that this thing I label as reality truly is reality, and you find no objective base either. In the absence of a finite point, there is left two infinite reference points. One, is the absence of objective value, and the other is the existence of infinite subjective interpretations of value. With no anchor, there is only drifting. If nothing means anything, then what do people do? Then, the only value ends up being subjective values, selected and erected by people and other sentient creatures. What a useless idea though, for truly, if it that it were, what would anyone be doing? We humans find ourselves living to serve. It is akin to the food chain, where money is transferred like energy in an energy pyramid, but in inverse proportion to the normal model. Everything I give value to is a part of myself in a way. It is part of my subjective interpretation of reality. Perhaps it has to do with introverted intuition and extroverted thinking as a function pair. Perhaps this is why other INTJ's become so often upset when others denounce their thoughts. It is basically telling me that my thoughts are wrong. A rejection of my existence through the rejection of my ideas; telling me I hold no value and no place in the realm of the area in which I'm speaking.
 
In the nature of universe all what we do is irrelevant any way. All that matters is, what matters to you. So if playing a game means alot to you, and you get upset if you lose then it becomes more than a game and controls your emotions, and this is relevant for every person. Every one will just have different interests that means alot to them.

Peace
 
Life is just a dream!

I have made a few thoughts about this. Because it has been a discussion among my friends.
How do i reason my life?

I started out by asking: who am I.

When i asked my self this question a few alternatives accrued.

When i dream i am still Me. I am the same person but in a different environment and location. In my dreams reality is just as real as when i am awake.

The only difference is that when i am in my dreams i can't acknowledge that the real me is dreaming my present reality. Its like that person don't exist. Ask your self right now: Is the real you laying in bed somewhere and dreaming your present reality?

You would have a hard time acknowledging that possibility.

If we go back to Who am I and look at the real big picture. I am the Original , and so are all of you. We are all the same but in different bodies observing existence from different view points and different locations in time.

The original "I am" is the infinite dimension. There can not be anyone else,because where would another I am come from?

Every time a new person is borne, it is borne with the original "I am". And it gets its personality from its new surroundings.

We are not living in a dream. We are the original "I am" experiencing a created reality from different view points, location and time. The original I am has created a reality where "it" can experiance what it would be like if there was more like him.
 
That was a very interesting thing to read actually.
I often say that, "Reality is just another illusion". One may never really know for sure though, of course.
When one really thinks about it, what most religions tell us is that life is just a dream, yes. Most religions say that when one dies, one (even though buried) goes either in heaven or in hell, which does indeed mean that life is just a dream for now, in which we need to stick to some rules in case we want to live 'happily' after we die (or get up and out of the dream).
 
LethiferousLupus said:
I have given the label of reality to is simply just a rather lengthy lucid dream
Click to expand...

Lucid dreams are a fancy topic of their own. And while it is true that we can't escape the possibility that everything we are experiencing is just a dream and that another transcending level of reality exists, I would contend that certain rules do apply to different levels of dreaming.


LethiferousLupus said:
Everything I give value to is a part of myself in a way
Click to expand...

If everything is a dream, if everything is a projection of your subconscious mind, this would mean that everything including the people you know are figments of your own mind. I had an interesting experience a few times while having lucid dreams where I talked to someone. I started to realize that what I was talking to wasn't the person I recognized before me, it was a personality within my subconscious mind. I started to understand that it was an adjunct of my own persona, not something true and real to reality. If life is a dream, doesn't that make it equally true about all that is around us? When others denounce our thoughts, is it really someone else doing so? Or your part of yourself that is rejecting your ideas?

Nothingness said:
Ask your self right now: Is the real you laying in bed somewhere and dreaming your present reality?
Click to expand...

This is very similiar to the thinkings of Chinese philosopher Zhaungzi: "I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?"

Nothingness said:
Every time a new person is borne, it is borne with the original "I am". And it gets its personality from its new surroundings.
Click to expand...

It's very interesting that you would say that; it makes me wonder whether you are theistic or not. Yahweh, the name of the Abrahamic God is a derivative of the term, "I am," which is part of the reason there was such reverence given when Jesus responded to the question, "Are you the son of God?" with, "I am." (as opposed to the more grammatically correct Hebrew phrase for "I am he").
 
Reality is just another illusion. The only thing is we're dependant on our bodies. What we do is limited and empowered within its limits. Live the maximum out of this life !
 
All I know is that everything is relative and that our reality is what we think of. The question whether there is really a finite mooring for thing sin life is a very difficult question to answer because once again this is a very subjective matter to discuss and one definite for you may not for me. Oh well, life is sometimes confusing. And though we could ask so many questions and would probably press for the right answers, in most cases the mere try of answering these questions will only raise more questions in the process.
 
For me, life isn't just a dream. It is a matter of choices, responsibilities, and realization. All that we experience in life is real. We experience real struggles, real tests, and real happiness. So I guess that's not all illusions since we can really feel everything. Well, that's how I see life. :)
 
Life is real, but there are some things that lead me to believe that part of what we see daily is a hologram of some sort. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something about the way the Moon appears at night on different nights that leads me to this belief.
 
Life is a dream... we end our dream when we end our life but the dream lives on. We may be a fleeting entity within somebody else's dream or existence itself is part of our dream. Our existence in this world is tenuous and almost miraculous. I am constantly amazed at the things that we can do despite the fact that we only live such a short time. We may stop believing that life is a dream by what others say growing up but nevertheless I still declare whether you believe or not... life is a dream.
 
LethiferousLupus said:
A philosophical musing on life, value, and perception.

Perhaps this thing I have given the label of reality to is simply just a rather lengthy lucid dream. If though so, then nothing in it actually means or changes anything. Then again, contrast it to the interpretation that this thing I label as reality truly is reality, and you find no objective base either. In the absence of a finite point, there is left two infinite reference points. One, is the absence of objective value, and the other is the existence of infinite subjective interpretations of value. With no anchor, there is only drifting. If nothing means anything, then what do people do? Then, the only value ends up being subjective values, selected and erected by people and other sentient creatures. What a useless idea though, for truly, if it that it were, what would anyone be doing? We humans find ourselves living to serve. It is akin to the food chain, where money is transferred like energy in an energy pyramid, but in inverse proportion to the normal model. Everything I give value to is a part of myself in a way. It is part of my subjective interpretation of reality. Perhaps it has to do with introverted intuition and extroverted thinking as a function pair. Perhaps this is why other INTJ's become so often upset when others denounce their thoughts. It is basically telling me that my thoughts are wrong. A rejection of my existence through the rejection of my ideas; telling me I hold no value and no place in the realm of the area in which I'm speaking.
Click to expand...

Your musings bought to mind the Chinese Philosopher Zhuangzi;

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things. (2, tr. Burton Watson 1968:49)


I tend to disagree with Billy Wizz in that everything we do is indeed relevant. How we affect our reality objectively and subjectively is akin to a torch turning either on or off in the black of night. Everything we do and say affects all that exists both visible and invisible in one way shape or form, creating further complex patterns of energy interacting with each other. Dreaming or conscious these patterns are being weaved.
 
Cecil15 said:
For me, life isn't just a dream. It is a matter of choices, responsibilities, and realization. All that we experience in life is real. We experience real struggles, real tests, and real happiness. So I guess that's not all illusions since we can really feel everything. Well, that's how I see life. :)
Click to expand...

I like this take on the topic, actually. Sometimes things happen that may be unbelievable, but as you say, some of the things we feel and experience are very real, and cannot be explained away as illusory. I think life is probably a mixture of the real, the imaginary and the aspirational.
 
There are only 5 people you meet. The rest are figments in the form of those 5 people. Guess who they are? JK. "I believe" (because if I knew for a fact, I would know the total of reality), that there is an objective reality we all are perceiving, in our own way. We are all from vast different points in life and different stages in the human condition. I rarely remember dreams, but I do daydream. Does that count? Or does it have to be while you're asleep?

I think the dominant form of thought process is actually an empiricism--science, psychology, archaeology, math. You must prove something (like God) exists or does not exist. However, things like revelation, dreaming, intuition, and otherwise, perception unfounded on things-in-themselves--are off the table according to most people. Now, there are a dichotomy and dilemma here. If we can't prove the dream is reality, how can we KNOW for a fact it is or is not (reality). We ultimately have to stand on our own point-of-view and see what we have seen and believe what we believe, then form a subjective knowledge of these experiences.

But the objective reality is out there. It is we who are subjective within it. It is also we who have to put our make up on, smile a big smile, use umbrellas, walk around acting all normal, in a world that is fricking in SPACE.
 
This would qualify as the worst assertion I have ever heard. Life can't be a dream by any chance. How can giving birth, Marriage and Death be dreams to you? I believe we are here for a purpose and that purpose is very simple: To make full use of our time by bringing more peole to Christ. That is my full persuation on why Am I here...:)
 
I think this is one of those questions that always keeps restless humans. Sometimes we have the feeling that the experiences related to reality, belong to the world of dreams or are related to alternative realities that are due to another kind of world. I think we can never have a concrete answer that because if all this were a dream, we would not realize that it is a dream. At least for the common knowledge of the dreams the characters have no independence. Does our free will is just an empty staging? Anyway, it's a nice exercise to imagine everything that happens around us like a dream shared. Sigismund said in his soliloquy:

"What is this life? A frenzy, an illusion, A shadow, a delirium, a fiction. The greatest good's but little, and this life Is but a dream, and dreams are only dreams.What is this life? A frenzy, an illusion, A shadow, a delirium, a fiction. The greatest good's but little, and this life Is but a dream, and dreams are only dreams."
 
I think this is over complicating things. You are born, you dream when you are asleep and then your body dies much sooner than what was originally intended. You on the other hand keep on going...

Simple as that.
 
I also always think of this that maybe we are just all dreaming. But I think the main reason why we think of this kind of scenarios is maybe because we watched movies or read books that has a story about a man who did something but end up waking up and realizing that everything that happened is just a dream. That is where we start to think that maybe what's happening right now is just our dream and someday we'll wake up.
 
We can say that life is like a dream but life is not a dream. Just like a dream, life can be long or short, happy or sad, joyful or frightening. Even the Bible describe our life like a vapor, like a grass and even like a dream. We have dreams when we asleep and we have dreams when we're awake. However, the best way to make our dreams come true is to wake up.
 
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