All of life’s a stage
It’s an old question in philosophy and religion:
Is our experience of life in this world real?
It sounds a little crazy to ask the question, doesn’t it? It makes you think of people who are mentally unbalanced, who can’t tell the difference between the world they live in and the hallucinations that run around in their heads.
What do people mean when they ask if our experience of life in this world is real?
There are many questions hiding behind the simple world “real”
- Do our senses give us an accurate picture of the world outside of us, uncolored by our personal experience and expectations? Here we’re asking whether we get a clear picture of the “real” world, or whether we’re at least partially living in a world colored by our fears and desires.
- Is this world and our experience of it a superficial or limited experience of a deeper, larger, more profound reality? What if our life on this earth is just a brief moment in a much greater existence. What if there are other dimensions of existence that we live in before and after we come to this world? If true, then our life on earth has a certain reality to it, but it pales when compared with our broader existence.
- Is this world planned, structured, and orchestrated with some purpose in mind? This question is an add-on to the last one. What if our time in this world is somewhat scripted and purposeful. What if we’re here to learn some lesson, or accomplish some spiritual task before moving on to another existence? If so, this world is real to a point. Like a play or a simulation, it may have meaning, but there’s so much going on beyond the stage and beyond the simulator.
- Is this world an illusion? Does this world, like a magician, use some kind of misdirection to get me to focus on the more trivial aspects of existence and ignore more fundamental, more important aspects of existence?
What’s the difference?
Ok. What’s the difference whether this world is real?
What’s the difference to me right now if there are other realities that I’m not aware of.
Even if I was some sort of lab rat being observed, who cares?
I’m here, I’m alive. I’ve got to play the game according to what I can see.
I could imagine a thousand alternate stories for what’s beyond this world.
But they might be pure fantasy. Seems better then, to just focus on what I can see, doesn’t it? Even if we’re like the people in The Matrix, serving as unwitting but happy slaves, wouldn’t we rather not know?
Brave new world
Maybe, or maybe not.
It depends.
It depends on whether we have the ability to see beyond the world that we’re currently living in.
It depends on whether we have the capability to use knowledge of other realities to change ourselves and this world to become something much greater.
If we can rise up, take off the blinders and live differently, then there is a point in knowing whether there’s more to the world than what we’ve been told.
Not yet
Let’s say this all sounds pretty far fetched to you, and way beyond your experience.
What then?
Well, I have one more uncomfortable version of “is life real” to throw at you.
Am I living the life that I’m capable of living with all my talents? Have I fully explored the possibilities within me?
Can any of us really say that we’re living life 100%, and living up to the possibilities hidden away within us?
Can you and I live lives dramatically more powerful than the lives we’re living now?
If we feel and know that we can find and live a greatness that we’ve only seen hints of, then our current lives must be looked at as shadows of the real life that we can live in this world.
The answer to the question, “Is life real?”, might just be:
“Not yet.”
@RBG: I saw him leave on the Nebuchadnezzar.
When I awoke from the dream of life I discovered I was enlightened I would clearly see how every believes they know what they doing but they all literally in a trance trying to get into the future or past and never really exerience reality due to the illusion created by the mind. Yes this world is a prison for your mind but once you escape then u see how everyone in the world is being manipulated by this illusion.
I have been reading many writings and books of philosiphers and great minds, a lot point to a higher relem or dimension or another life before and or after. yes we dont know whats next and drugs can only help our anxiety to our perpetual fantasy that never lets us rest to the thought of the after life. The what if’s never seem to stop, having the echo of eternity tugging on our minds. I don’t think were to far off, but it almost seems like we’re the gost in the shell if every living thing has energy (aka the soul) it’s as if this is the frist time the soul recognized it self as part and an indivsual entity to this reality. is life really what I see in my day to day life, or is it some information stored somewhere? it feels real but if i have nothing to compare it then this could just be a ripple in reality,I feel to understand this question we first have to understand if we really have free will (I don’t think so, if you want to hear my thoughts on that let me know).
I feel this is the biggest question we can ever ask. To know the correct answer may be all we would ever need to know again. I’ve had theories that could never be proved or disproved just because of this question.
I’ve been reading the recent comments/posts on here. It seems as though anything worth knowing has to be complicated.Even knowing the difference between this reality and the actual reality doesn’t mean that it is truth. My opinion is that truth is more than knowing and it’s unobtainable being in the state that we are all in. I’ve never read tons of books by philosphers, met with gurus, sipped tea with wise men that shared stories passed down generation after generation. I don’t know what it’s like to be enlightened by such things. I don’t even think that would be enough for me. I could share my “matrix” stories, the illusion flickering like the flame of a candle on a windy day. I could even share dreams with you all but I don’t know how that will help any us know more about “reality”. Some of my thoughts/questions revolve around people knowing. Like what would happen? Would the illusion just shatter for me or all? Would it be a good thing? Why does the illusion exist? Knowing is very complicated and it complicates everything. I strongly believe that we are all interconnected and if we all were to see the illusion for what it is all at once then that would be the only chance for us to know what is real. If we can’t all wake up together, it doesn’t matter if 1 person,2 people or 1 billion wake up because the rest are still asleep. It sometimes feel unfair to be trapped in such a small space and still have to move through the world. My only phsyical existance is me being distracted by everything around me long enough to figure things out and to fullfil my purpose whatever that may be. It just feels like i occupy myself with these things in order to buy more time to understand how to be what I am supposed to be. Everything happens for a reason and nothing is coincidental. I’ve always been inquisitive and it has always gotten me into trouble. Even recently the knowledge that I’ve gained has been nothing but stress on me. Like forces are trying to break me and stop me or maybe all of that is just being done as a test to make me stronger. It’s confusing and it’s complicated and people who dont want to understand because that knowledge challenges their thought of existance…they quickly put you inside a box. They dismiss you, they cut you off midsentence or mock the information that you’ve shared with them. And if you survive all of that and learn more about this thing we call reality then just be prepared to be put into the nuthouse. So my only advice is to take your time learning the “know” and don’t accept it as truth just as facts…also distracted yourself or atleast look distracted. Gives you more time to figure things out without “things” figuring out that you know.
lately i have began to wonder wether life is ‘real’, by that i mean, are we in control of what we do? people dont do certain things because they ‘know’ that they shouldn’t, what if in fact our lives are being controlled by something else? and this is all a ‘dream state’.
When you really find out the truth, it is something that cannot be fully described in words. It us an understanding that is so vast that it can only be comprehended in the mind and the soul. The soul is timeless. When you understand that our physical bodies are just a vessel to interact in this world and that the soul is our true nature and what we really are, that’s when all of these questions will start to make sense. We are all beings as old as time, and this lifetime here on Earth, is but one lifetime we will live in an endless lifetime of lifetimes. Since the soul is our true nature and it is immortal, then we will forget more than we will ever learn. But when one becomes aware of this, that’s when you can start to understand the true meaning of your existence. It may take lifetimes to figure this out, but once you do, that’s when you can truly start to live. :)
Everything can be Summed up in 3 words.
KNOW THY SELF
How can anything be real if we are only composed of atoms. Life must be an imaginary state or dream through which I alone am travelling in a period of 70 earth years of time which is the revolution of the earth around the sun. It is always now, and no such thing as time exists just as a reference to my three score and ten. This world is just a plaything for my enjoyment, my dream or illusion.
Life is just a dream. It can be thought of as something that doesn’t make any sense sometimes and it can feel like forever but is also so short you can’t remember it. It can be good or bad and it can be very frustrating. We wait anxiously for death, we wonder when and how it will happen. Life is a real dream, not like the dreams we have when we sleep. It is a dream with many borders, rules and laws and very few understandings,special moments and certainties. With so little guarantees this dream can turn to a nightmare and you usually wake up when you have nightmares. Try to keep dreaming and you might live a long life.
I feel like life has me trapped. I have bad anxiety and cant even talk to people bc I….i just cant. I dont know what to say, I cant form opinions or ask questions. I cant even put my name with this bc im afraid somone who knows me will read it and laugh at me for how I feel. I cant end my life bc im too afraid of what will come of it. Im trapped. I cry bc im sad and alone, and I cant get myself out of this state of mind no matter what. I feel like a lab rat. I feel like I am not real, im a test subject thats forced to be around a bunch of “normal” people. Why would anyone put someone in a trap lime mine? I wish I understood what I am, and why.
You should not tell others that life is a dream – it is something they need to discover within themselves – you know – like Santa! :) LIFE IS A DREAM!!
Thinking about this just leads to question after question after question. There is no straight-forward answer so I’ll say enjoy life how it is; dream or real. But in my opinion, it doesn’t matter, as a psychiatrist, this question pops up on a regular basis; my reply: I don’t know, no-one knows and they never will. You choose in what you want to believe. And thats my advice to all you: believe what you want to believe in this problem…
Life might be a simulated learning environment. The objective being to learn. The simulation could be contained within a construct. The construct may be the product of extra-dimensional beings, a super computer of sorts or a future version of our race experiencing a form of historical simulation. Nothing is physical; everything is energy. Atoms aren’t solid spherical components; they’re energy. Every atomic derivative whether it be your body or a chair is therefore energy. If you want to take it a step further, assess how quantum physics behaves: the behavior changes upon human observation. Is this not how modern video games operate? i.e. a character moves from one area of the game to the next seamlessly however each area of the game does not load until required i.e. just like quantum physics; upon human observation. You can apply this behavior to your field of vision. Everything in front of your eyes (what you’re observing) is in focus. You then have a peripheral vision. It’s out of focus but on standby. When you switch to it, it comes into focus (loads). Just like quantum physics and modern video games, the behavior changes upon observation. As outlandish as such a hypothesis may seem, it begins to make a lot of sense if you’re unafraid to entertain it.
If you went a week without thinking and then experienced life you will see more clearly how life is a dream. Meditation is a good way of waking up from the dream of life. Sometimes it can be a good dream sometimes a bad dream but ultimately all you see is a reflection of yourself in the external world.
Life is a dream created by the ego. The Ego is ultimately an illusion. People misidentify the voice in their heads As them. The real You is consciousness. This conciousness experiences itself subjectively. So the ego creates a external world around itself where everything is seperate from you and dreams up life according to its interests and likes and dislikes. As this ego isn’t real it feels very insecure and constantly tries to trick you into believing that it’s you, just as life a dream created by the ego. So just like the film the matrix we are living in a dream world created by the illumanti.
Hi anonymous
Go into the fear and feelings and do not resist them. The trapped feeling is you thinking you are a puppet to something external and that you are your body and thoughts – when you actually are the divine consciousness that flows through your body. It is you that is using the body as a puppet – not you being a puppet.
All our suffering comes from us thinking we are the puppeteer and we suffer because we cannot control anything including our lives from this state
Let your troubled thoughts flow like a fountain and do not catch hold of them and make them you. The are just thoughts.
If you allow yourself to be still and trust – Love will arise and you will feel its embrace and watch life unfold perfectly and not predictably x
To Kate and T
I resonate most with what you have shared.
Thank you.
I feel I am at the door and am so afraid to open it and go inside. A battle of fear, fear of letting go. How do I just let go and trust myself?
I’ve completed “Busting Loose from the Business Game” by Robert Scheinfeld and am in the “walking in truth” program. Anyone have any experience with this?
To all you people who think life is just a dream, if that’s so then how do you explain the feeling of knowing something, interacting with someone you love being taught something. Those aren’t ideas, they’re ways/how to’s of things another person has already lived. God is real, if he’s not then we’re all fake, sure there could be a single cell organism that formed us all, but who put it there? The big bang could have created our galaxy, but who put the matter/energy there to make all of this? Existence was created, and so where you.