Is Life Real, or Just a Dream?
Jul 15th, 2007 by Joel
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.”
Hi there! Interesting thoughts! Thank you so much for sharing. I love it when I get to a blog and get to think or smile. ;)
Thank you for the thoughts.
Monica
No, life is not real..It is a dream.Can we remeber our childhood?Where is it? Or people who entered into old age,ask them: where is their youth? You have rightly said:
…….’ 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…’
Thanks for another good post.Best wishes.
Hi Phil…
I love your blog!
You are a lot of fun and I enjoy the way you think!
:-)
It depends what we mean by “real”? ;-)
Are we living up to our potential? Well, our potential is unlimited and with each moment we bring our “reality” into existence. Or another way to say it, we manifest a facet of what is possible (or God).
Like in quantum theory, we collapse our awareness into a form to express a possibility or oneness.
Nice topic… I could discuss this with you all day! Seriously!
Jen
Hey Great Post,
I really enjoyed your blog, this can really serve alot of people. I been involved in human development for many years and honestly believe that life has infinite possibilities. Our human spirit has an unlimited source of energy in a sense, and we can create and do what ever it is we desire. I love to share some of my own personal experiences with you in my blog over here if your interested.
best regards
Excellent post. These are questions that I’ve been asking myself since March of this year. People that don’t understand this concept either shun, laugh at, or ridicule you for talking about it. I theorize that there is a real aspect of life, however we don’t truly understand what we are capable of. Perhaps some of us are deities, and others simply living meaningless lives. I have no logical proof that anyone but myself exists, as do none of you have that proof. We only know of our own existence. Ever heard someone say life is good? Why do they say it? Because good things are happening to them. Ever heard someone say life sucks? Because crappy things are happening. We live in the reality that we make for ourselves. Obviously, but why do bad things happen? Why do good things happen?
Ever experience anomalies? That’s what proves to me that life is not real. Statistical improbabilities used to happen less, but within the last year, I have experienced over a thousand of them. It could have been that I just didn’t always recognize, and just blamed it on coincidence. It’s hard for me not to believe in God, but sometimes I can’t figure out why things that happen happen. I have the gift of seeing things before they happen, particularly in dreams. I will dream something, and normally it’s pretty accurate. I used to think it was a prophetic gift from God, but now I just see it as another anomaly.
Well, i thought it was just happening to me. but now i see im not alone.
wired things had happened to me. like i’ve seen things that i recognized them like if i’ve passed through them.
I see life as a software someone just built, and we are connected to it and manipulated by it.
i wonder if there’s a way to unplug ourselves from it. just to see what the “REAL” live is.
if someone share my same idea just let me know. to share some experience.
Are we real? or are you a figment of my imagination?
I’ve been asking that question [to myself] and try to figure it out.I found that nobody thinks like me but i finally found people that do.
I wish I could wake up from this dream, or as the other way I have think about life in which this is like virtual reality in which all of us are connected to it at the same time and I know that some day we´re going to be recycled to be used as energy to keep this virtual reality working.
Sometimes, I just sit at my balcony and start looking all the people that pass by there and they look so Pre-programmed that it makes my belief stronger.
I would like to find a way disconnect myself consciously. to know how the real world is.
I would like to find someone that help me to WAKE UP!!!!!!!!
I have been asking myself this question a long time ago, and now i come across this article. Sometimes i think that life is just a dream, and it’s MY dream, mine alone, So there no u who is reading this comment, and when we wake up, there’s another world, maybe where there isn’t anything like food or talking… That’s weird, but then i think about God… :( But no no no i think life is real
Dreams have a certain reality. Sometimes I sleep and dream am doing such and such things and feel that I am a certain kind of person, but I don’t know it when I am dreaming. And in waking life, I do certain things and act in a certain way and see myself in a certain way, sometimes even convicted that this is I, I! I! something for God to reckon with! But later on I calm down and for example in the middle of helping someone and I would realize that I was only dreaming when I wanted to yell at God. We fall from dream to dream, and it is probably a certain enlightment to know that we are dreaming in the midst of a dream. The part of you which realizes you are dreaming is at least not dreaming the same dream.
Australian Aboriginals believe that the trees, rivers and clouds are all dreams of the earth. For more about dreams, I suggest checking out psychologist and author Arnold Mindell. He really built upon Jung’s work and made it useful.
Is life real, or just one big dream and when u die u wake up.
either we are in opposite world and everything that is real is fake, n everything that is fake is real. or we are in a place where we think numbers matter, but in REAL (imaginary) reality where NOTHING (everything) matters our modern letters n numbers are just there to throw us off from the fact that every number is the same in value until someone thinks they can prove it wrong but cant completely do so because when u look at numbers as dots like we are from space non of them mean byah until someone blazes it! i hope i didnt make much cents cuz im in desperate need of this fake money that we all need to eat with but want nothing to do with it at the same time. i do feel like im not even here right now though and like im from the future(past) because they are the same thing… they both dont exist… the only existence that is real is now! sorry if i confused anyone but byah im from Mars ps they call me Jupiter!
Hi,
I’m a straight-talking individual and avoid exageration or understatement as much as I can.
Subsequently you can take what I say quite literally.
I’m an educated person. I have researched every avenue of self discovery from existientialism to Freud, from Lao Tzu to the the Law of Attraction, from Paul Mc Kenna to the Bible. But I simply cannot find it. ‘It’ of course referring to ever elusive truth. I am so willing yet I cannot acertain.
The only truth that I cannot except is that we are composites of the creator and thusly return to it loosing our individuality after being some kind of experential whore.
Could it be that because I cannot except this that I cannot transition?
Please, please, please if you deem yourself more adept than me then respond to me. I am not arrogant, I am simply tired and I need help. Everyday I critically loose solvency, not from apathy but from lethargy.
I am trying so hard but eventually I fear I will give up.
Could it be that there is no destination.
Somebody please, please help me.
Love,
Rexus
@Rexus:
I don’t think of myself as more adept than you Rexus, but I believe that each of us has insights that can help others.
It’s often easier to help others, than help ourselves.
The first question I would ask you is: “What truth are you looking for, personal truth or absolute truth?”
What I mean by personal truth is a deep understanding of who you can be, your special strengths and passions, what you can do to leave your mark on the world.
Absolute truth is the elusive truth you refer to - why there is a world, what does it mean, what happens to us when our bodies die.
I don’t think that we can divorce the search for one from the search for the other.
You raise the very difficult question of what happens to our individuality after death.
For me personally, the first questions I need to focus on are “Who am I really? What extraordinary gifts am I hiding from? Why do I let myself live a little life, when I could be great?”
I believe that we all have extraordinary potential to live amazing lives.
And I think that as we accept our greatness, and grow, our insights will grow and we will find it easier to come to terms with the big Truth.
Joel
Who says theres anything at all? what if what we see is just some kind of blurry image from some kind of oblivion? but the question is weres this image from? i think.. what if noone will read this comment because nothing is real and you dont exist what if everything is created by our own imaginations.. including everyone we think we know..
sometimes i just dont know what to do…
Maybe our dreams are reality, and reality is just a dream…who really knows…lately i begin to question the existance of a “god”
I love this blog,
I think it’s our self-focused mindset that aids this idea that we’re living in a dream and everyone else is only an idea. It’s true that we have no proof of others existenting. But when I look at the lives of people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa, it almost seems insulting to think other people are just a figment of my imagination. I strongly believe in the second idea. That this human experience on earth is just one stage of life we experience. After death, we enter into a new reality. One that is more real than anything we’ve ever known. And, yes, I believe there is something we are here to do. Our existence here is what determines what’s to come. My own belief is that two places exist outside of this world that we will encounter when we die and leave this stage behind. Heaven and Hell. And the decisions we make here will determine the outcome of our eternity afterwards. Actually, the only decision we can make that will change our hell-bound life is the decision to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of our lives. This changes everything. It changes our existence into one of lasting purpose. And I know that once I’ve finished this dimension of life, I have an eternity in heaven to look forward to. :)
my god! so happy to find others who seem to have similar thoughts as i! but then i have to question, did i realy find u, or are u already a piece of me that i am just discovering or remembering? are these ur thoughts or just my own is this happens to be how i discovered them? or are all these someone or somethings else’s thoughts or creations and they are just leading me along, slowly giving me clues– or just playing a joke on me. or is this all an attempt to get me to realize that i in fact do not exist and the computer i’m sitting in front of and think i’m typing on is nothing but a vacant hole in space? can someone help me? but am i asking u, or really just asking myself? if anyone would like to communicate, please let me know!
wow thats exactly how i feel. i try to talk to people about this but nobody wants to listen and/or treats me like im some kind of lunatic. as i look at everything thats going on around me, everyday i notice how people just go on with their pointless, routine activities when were all gonna die some day. what is reality? what is this state of being? what am i? is this just a tiny film being plyed out in the emptiness of oblivion? because i dont know what the hell this is and nobody seems to want to find out… so that makes me wonder if anything, anyone, anywhere is real or just an image of nothing… i could answer your question and say that yes indeed im here, im real and im discusing this with you.. but whos to say that youre not just some mirror image of my ideas or my programmed mind… sometimes i ask people why were here and how unbelievably random and ridiculous the idea of us just being here to live a pointless life and die is…
Well I have similar thought too. And I experienced strange dreams. Dream within dream.
I totally agree with your writing Joel: 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?
THE PROBLEM IS FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE RELY ON FAITH (RELIGION) SOMETHING THEY CAN’T SEE. AND IN SCRIPTURES THEY CLAIM THAT GOD/JESUS/ETC WILL COME DOWN AND FIX ALL OUR MESS. SO THEN THE BRAINWASHED PEOPLE WILL, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, REPEAT AND IMPOSE THESE SCRIPTURES. I RECCOMMEND YOU ADD THIS TO YOUR WRITINGS JOEL: IF WE ALL WORK ON WHAT WE CAN SEE AND USE THE TECHNOLOGY TO ADVANCE HUMANITY, NOT DESTROY, THEN WE WILL HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF SEEING OUR CREATOR(S) COME DOWN ON EARTH. EVERYTHING WE SEE IS REALITY AS WE KNOW IT, REALITY CAN BE ALTERED, THAT IS JUST REALITY. ANOTHER REALITY FOR YOU: IMMAGINE PUTTING YOURSELF IN AN ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS MIND AND LOOKING AT THIS PRIMITIVE RACE THAT YOU CREATED OR MAYBE DIDNT CREAT. I WOULD BE SCARED TO COME DOWN ON EARTH SEEING DESTRUCTION AND GREED AND NONSENSES OVER MONEY’S. I WOULD HAVE LOTS OF PROBLEMS FIXING THE PLANET. WE ARE ALL TO BLAME (MOST IN WEALTHY SOCIETIES) FOR THE PROBLEMS, SO WE MUST ALL WORK TOGETHER TO FIX THEM. BARACK OBAMA’S WORDS ARE RELATED TO THIS: WILL HE “REALLY” ACT ON HIS WORDS. OR IS HIS WORDS JUST ANSWERS WITHOUT PLANS, TIME WILL TELL. FOR NOW YOU CAN ALL PLAY YOUR PART TO HELP HUMANITY AND THE PLANET IF YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN. IF MOST PEOPLE ON EARTH ESPECIALLY IN THE MOST POLLUTED AND WAR STRUCK AREAS, THAN THERE IS A MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF A REALITY FOR GOD(S) OR ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS TO GREET US. SO IF THATS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT, ACT ON IT! COME SEE MY CHANNEL FOR ELECTRIC BIKES, FOR THE ENVIRONMENT! http://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/LUC59457
I totally agree with your writing Joel: 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?
THE PROBLEM IS FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE RELY ON FAITH (RELIGION) SOMETHING THEY CAN’T SEE. AND IN SCRIPTURES THEY CLAIM THAT GOD/JESUS/ETC WILL COME DOWN AND FIX ALL OUR MESS. SO THEN THE BRAINWASHED PEOPLE WILL, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, REPEAT AND IMPOSE THESE SCRIPTURES. I RECCOMMEND YOU ADD THIS TO YOUR WRITINGS JOEL: IF WE ALL WORK ON WHAT WE CAN SEE AND USE THE TECHNOLOGY TO ADVANCE HUMANITY, NOT DESTROY, THEN WE WILL HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF SEEING OUR CREATOR(S) COME DOWN ON EARTH. EVERYTHING WE SEE IS REALITY AS WE KNOW IT, REALITY CAN BE ALTERED, THAT IS JUST REALITY. ANOTHER REALITY FOR YOU: IMMAGINE PUTTING YOURSELF IN AN ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS MIND AND LOOKING AT THIS PRIMITIVE RACE THAT YOU CREATED OR MAYBE DIDNT CREAT. I WOULD BE SCARED TO COME DOWN ON EARTH SEEING DESTRUCTION AND GREED AND NONSENSES OVER MONEY’S. I WOULD HAVE LOTS OF PROBLEMS FIXING THE PLANET. WE ARE ALL TO BLAME (MOST IN WEALTHY SOCIETIES) FOR THE PROBLEMS, SO WE MUST ALL WORK TOGETHER TO FIX THEM. BARACK OBAMA’S WORDS ARE RELATED TO THIS: WILL HE “REALLY” ACT ON HIS WORDS. OR IS HIS WORDS JUST ANSWERS WITHOUT PLANS, TIME WILL TELL. FOR NOW YOU CAN ALL PLAY YOUR PART TO HELP HUMANITY AND THE PLANET IF YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN. IF MOST PEOPLE ON EARTH ESPECIALLY IN THE MOST POLLUTED AND WAR STRUCK AREAS, THAN THERE IS A MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF A REALITY FOR GOD(S) OR ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS TO GREET US. SO IF THATS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT, ACT ON IT! COME SEE MY CHANNEL FOR ELECTRIC BIKES, FOR THE ENVIRONMENT! http://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/LUC59457
OH AND AN ANSWER TO SOMEONES COMMENT, LIFE IS REAL! BECAUSE YOU DON’T REMEMBER YOU CHILDHOOD IS BECAUSE YOUR BRAIN WAS NOT DEVELOPED ENOUGH TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING. I REMEMBER SOME THINGS OF MY CHILDHOOD. AS YOU GET OLDER YOU WILL REMEMBER LESS OF YOUR CHILDHOOD. THERE ARE OTHER FACTORS TO THIS. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THINGS BEING NOT REAL!!! WAKE UP! THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ILLUSIONS ARE PEOPLE. SCIENCE EXPLAINS ALL.
I can answer everyones comments in here. As for Paul: MOST, important to note, “MOST” not all, People go on in their daily routines because that’s the reality of society. that’s just how it works at present. People don’t have much choice and some with world power may feel the same, or they simply have no good plans. If You don’t follow routines, especially for work, you might end up on the streets, or welfare. Also Paul, you must learn about what is called, Brainwashing. Society and the people who constructed them (the money society) orchestrated the majority of people to not realize they have another purpose other than, routine, work and die. You see, it is only humans that creat illusions. The ones who created money is the sole cause of this mess but there are many more people not being held accountable, contributing, even as present/currently, to these economic messes. This is mostly because many societies are still holding onto primitive ways, greed and poor use of money, by too many, and to conclude, that is why the financial systems are collapsing all over the world. =) You see, everything has an explanation. Knowledge and education makes reality more real. Science is not an illusion, a rabit, that screws another rabit and the female has a baby, that is not illusion, it is explained scientifically. I do not know if you watch alot of movies or are spiritual (are consumed by religion-s) but your comment makes me wonder. no offence. Lack of understanding, can make the world seem like an illusion. There is too much proof, to prove otherwise. Science.
I will tell you your true purpose on earth along with everyone elses. Forget about the brainwashing purpose society has given you for a moment. If you choose not to follow this purpose i will explain further on, you will most likely continue to be contributing to the mess in general, in 1 way or another. Your True purpose on earth is to help humanity and the planet that keeps you alive. Not contribute to destroying it. But since money is the root of all evil, it is usually in its power to do the oposite when in the wrong hands which is alarmingly common. That is because people just want to live and have fun, and yes it is selfish, only because we are aware now of our impact on the planet as a majority. How much will it take, how many people have to die before people act as a whole on the solutions. Listen to the song Wisemen by james Blunt and then watch the movie Zeitgeist. It is good to analyze and question alot. There are so many small to enormous ways to assist others and the earth that sustains us. Though if money is the barrier for you, that is really no excuse. There are so many ways to make money, and it really doesnt take much to play your individual part, now if you were to help others, that will most likely cost more. But as the famous and true saying goes: If you clean up your own back yard, there is better chances of your neighbours to follow rather than doing nothing. Come see my channel Paul: Maybe you might know someone who would like to help the planet in this way: http://www.youtube.com/luc59457
To Dana Walker: There’s a perfect example of someone who imposes religion. Dana, I hate to break the truth to you. But this life is as real as it gets, and when you die, instead of hell-bound life on earth, you will have peace, into NOTHINGNESS. You will be once again unconscient, like you were before you were born. Actually you were more something before your born. Half of You was mixed in with all that sperm and the other half the egg. Half of you in 2 places PROVES, you were not conscient before. It’s just all these man made myths give people illusions, start arguements and even wars. I hope you know Religion in all its glory, was made by man, to bring order and something to believe in. Otherwise what would you have to believe in, yourself? Is that really enough for you? It is for me! =P So to conclude this, I would like you to know Dana, when we/you die, we are all going to the same place. Blank-ness. Think of it how you see it. There is nothing else going on when that person is dead other than their body slowly rotting away. So make the best of your lives! It’s sad to know there’s nothing after. When the brain stops activity, immagination stops. When someone is cremated, nothing escapes there body other than ashes. You do not hold any more of a special place than anyone else after death. The universe is fair in that way.
Hey great post,
I’ve been thinking about this kinda stuff a lot lately and its really freaking me out, if anyone wants to talk about it email me at jakespiro@rocketmail.com
What a interesting concept.
In a way I find it very scary to admit that maybe there is nothing after death, but it seems to be the only awnser. . .
Loving this,
I have been thinking a lot about this lately, more as each day passes, but not just thoughts, weird feelings as if i feel the reality i am in is not reality at all. I cannot explain this into words and i must sound totally crazy to the people around me.
I would say iv been thinking this for a good few months now and just last night i watched the matrix and was so sort of freaked out by it. For there to be a film about the thoughts and feelings i had been experiencing, that somehow some people must have the same thoughts and feelings as i do. My curiosity lead me to this site.
I wish i could explain this better but i find it so hard to put into words, but having read some of the comments it makes me feel that i am not alone and for so many people to feel this way only proves to me that there has to be some truth in this.
Please comment, the more we discuss this, the more we can help eachother to understand this weird reality that we feel is not actually real.
I read somewhere, that we have become so detached from nature, that life has become fake and materialistic in our eyes. Technology is a key factor in this, the big cities, noise everywhere, the serenity of the country, the wild, is what our body and minds crave. Routine is what gets me through the day, thinking on these matters only makes you more insane, searching for answers and purpose, once you accept the fact that maybe this is it, that we are just biological beings, and will whither away and die, there is nothing else to it, maybe that’s enough, but no, we don’t accept it, we won’t. Once you give up on those questions, that is the day you truly die. To find purpose and meaning is all that drives me, I have accepted that one day I will die, and there is nothing I can do about it, so while I am here I will do my best and everything that is in my power to live a life worth living. They say energy cannot be created nor destroyed, so does our energy live on forever? If not in one form, maybe another? Why do I waste so much energy contemplating life and my existance? Why can’t I get in tune with the earth’s, or universes energy, that will give me the answers I need? Am I tuning in with people who are on a similar wavelength as me? Will I look back on this blog comment years from now at another level and see it as juvenile? I feel my body weakning everyday looking for answers, and they only bring more questions. A long time ago they thought the world was flat, hundreds of years from now will they mock us and say they though there was a God? If this is like the Matrix, than why should I care about how I live my life? Why not just go and jump off a tall bulding right now? Or is there some logic, inner voice, or force preventing me from so, thinking what If I die and don’t wake up in the real world, would I have just made a mistake, and wasted my life, leaving all my family behind? Or what if? I did wake up? In the real world? Am I losing out on a reality that is true? Why not just wait until I whither away and die for the answer? Is it too long and painful here to wait that long? Old age? Will my time on earth even last that long? What If I die in a car accident tomorrow? What If when I’m fifty they discover a fountain of youth chemical drink that will restore me back to young age? Or a way for my spirit and mind to live on in a computer? All questions and no answers? Think of your time here on earth, nothing but ups and downs, pain, and sorrow, good times and bad, laughs, and tears. Now think of the time before you were born? Nothing, no pain, no laughter, no agony, no bills, lol, nothing. Wait, we can barely remember are childhoods though except for faint memories here and there, so what if before we were born we carry even fainter memories, of another state of being, deja vu, dreams, people in my dreams that I never saw or met before, feel like a lived a life time with them, I don’t know, but the nothingness before I was born sure sounds good, even in childhood I can remember times of happiness and sadness, but I remember nothing of before I was born? Will I remember anything after I am dead? If I am awake for twelve hours, and asleep for twelve hours, how do I tell the difference from the real world and the dream world, is there a difference? The real world seems to be consistent, I wake up in the same room everyday, in the dream world I wake up in a different place everyday. I have used so much energy on this post, I gope it shows, I am signing off, still looking for answers, and searching for questions.
-Anonymous
P.S. This is not a figment of your imagination, unless you want it to be :)
“The Matrix is real, unfortunately you have to see it to believe it”
I’ll settle for two good sequels instead…
A while ago i was thinking about this stuff and i thought of something weird: look at something around you.. it could be any object that you cant see past. i find a wall works best. now try to imagine that, not being able to see behind that object, the whole area we cant see doesnt actually exist. its not there. of course, if you were to go around and look, there would be something, but imagine the thought that nothing is actually real, and that our mind only makes us see what we need to. people weve never met dont actually exist and places weve never been to dont either. i dunno its kind of a weak concept but it gets you thinking..
hi ya’ll,
i now believe that dreams are the true reality within us and not what we see when our eyes are open.
to live the true reality, we must follow and believe in our dreams.
do not follow and believe what you see or hear on the outside when we are “awake”.
anyone else feel the same?
Nice page, makes for good reading.
I’ve pondered this reality or elusion for a few years
now. Not yet reached a solid conclusion, however
I get the strangest feeling about life. To me it’s all
like a video, stuck on play until the tape runs out or
there’s a power cut. When the tape runs out most
VHS recorders will automatically rewind. God no!
I don’t want to see it all again!
The longer I spend in this 3rd dimension the more I lean to the belief that the aim of the game is to follow your heart weather
society deems your actions or thoughts to be good or bad. Be true to yourself, the only way your sprit / consciousness can grow and move on. May be it’s DVD or Blue ray next, I hope the picture’s a lot clearer that’s for sure.
What if you never really die? Death in our virtual world may simply be a transition from one dimension to the next….
Parallel universes may account for this phenomenon. What if you are in such a universe where others around you die, but you never actually die? You live on forever. This possibility exists, as there are an infinite number of possible scenarios that are constantly being played out throughout each and every life in the infinite parallel universes. Deja Vu happens when one universe happens to coincide or intersect with another. We just don’t know what happens to us when we die, but what is real in this world, is real to me and to you as well. Even if all reality is questioned by man, the very fact that reality is questioned at all should be evidence of our own existence. What all of us ultimately want to know is why we are alive, and for what purpose is our life? For example, if the Earth was suddenly removed from existence, would there still be a solar system with the remaining planets circling the Sun? If so, for what purpose would the planets and stars serve? The fine balance between the Sun (our star), our planet and the other planetary bodies is what allows us to live. Is this all just a coincidence, or do we have a special place in the infinite universe? Is the concept of purpose flawed? Does there have to be a purpose for everything? I am sure there is an answer to all of these questions, but regretfully, the human race will never be able to solve these puzzles. To this, we must either face a death of eternity, or a death and rebirth to live eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven. Personally, I would prefer the latter.
It’s very much impossible to know if this world is a dream or not.
If somebody said to me that their life is a dream, and every single form of anything in the universe has just been dreamed by this person, I could easily tell them they are not true.
I know for sure that i exist, i know i am not being dreamed by somebody because i have my own thoughts and can decide what i want.
However if i asked myself the same question, If life was a dream, and somebody told me that same answer i could not fully believe them.
How am i supposed to know if this person has their own ability to think for themselves, i could be controlling them through the power of my dreams.
Therefore I believe to just do what ever life throws at you. You might as well, it doesn’t look like were coming any closer to an answer.
hey guys i have had the same thoughts and it has realy gotten me down and just thinking that everyone i love and know is not real scares me and makes me feel very sad and alone.
but then i think perhaps this thought has come from my childhood when i lost my father and i fear that im going to lose or be alone again….. i think maybe these thoughts of am i real are coming from somethink that you fear…. i believe that life is real because if it was our imagination we wouldnt even be having this conversation and be questioning it we would just let it be… and if it wasnt real or our imagintaion then we could just easily find the answer cause its our imagination we can think what we want… but we dont know the answer and we have no idea so we must not have that power and that we are all human beings who can touch and feel and i dont want to be alone and im not smart enough to imagine what everyone has just written on this site so i would have to say yes were real….. and your not alone.
“Life is real, then, only when I AM”. This title of G.I. Gurdjieff’s third series of writings is not a pat answer but rather, a call from another level for us to wake up.
For those interested in deeply grappling with this, and learning practical techniques, a 3-month residential program is offered in Massachusetts, beginning September 5, 2009. Learn more at http://www.campcaravan.org.
Best wishes!
something ive been thinkin. Maybe we can all meet one another in our subconscious. Maybe WE CAN. Not ever1 has found the way tho. somewhat like the “need to be awakened”, not really awakened tho, just have our eyes opened, not the eyes youre reading this with tho, your ‘third eye’; your inner eye. Maybe once your ’spiritual eye’ (we’ll call it) is opened then you can actually be lifted into this sort of seperate reality where your subcoscious and everyone elses subconscious can actualy interact. Because, why is it that our subconscious’ have to be held captive in these bodies. You can’t prove that our subconscious is restricted by any of teh same restrictions our human bodies are, we cant even prove our subconscious’ even exist, yet we know they do because we think, we dream, we have desires, and ambition.
If We; our bodies and consciouses, are islands. Then our subconsciouses fill the ocean.
But we have to let our subconscious out of its cage that we’ve held it captive in for so long. Our own heads.
Maybe my subconscious is cmmunicating with everyone who has already posted here. Maybe your subconscious (you reading this now) is communication with mine now.
Maybe I just havnt been “woken” yet.
Have you ever finished sum1s sentence? I think I love some1 now. very deeply care for, like i never have before. We can finish eachothers sentences all day. To the point where its scary. like completely random things i could say or she could say and we’ll know excactly what shes going to say.. but like we won’t know?. like we wont know that we know. we just do, sumhow.
i dunno but maybe thats our subconsciouses at work.
or have you ever thought of som1? “man i miss so and so i should call them”.. and the next day they call you?, or you get a message from them…. i have. coincidence or concious?
Life is what ever you say it is, or what ever you dream it to be. you dream the world. Its all a dream.
you may have read in the bible “In the begining god created the heaven and the earth”. You are god, you dreamed everything here. do you remember creating it?
Hi, i also have had the same thoughts as many have on this page, i also like/hate to imagine im in space and suddenly eveything (i mean everything, even things that we dont know about or never seen) just sucking in and folding in on itself and just vanishing instantly. I get this weird feeling like my mind just opens and my mind has a realised this world is like a computer and it can turn of. It makes me feel so vulnerable! I also think this is why i procrastinate, i always think what is the point of doing something because it wont matter in the end. For example - whats the point of washing my car, it will only get dirty again. Also it anoys me how we fall in to a role, we go to scool/collage/uni we get a job we die. everything in life is to do with money. does anyone else get the weird mind expanding/opening feeling? Mike.
I imparted a comment on 12 Aug 2008 at 12:28 in relation to Joel’s blog submission. My ever-transient thoughts, as are all of ours, have since changed.
Most of us (us being Joel and anyone leaving a comment) are quite simply questioning the nature of existence. Many of us seem to be highlighting how ultimately pointless life seems. This is but the symptom and not the problem (a common confusion).
We feel discontent (the symptom) because something (the problem) is wrong. Naturally the next thing to do would be to identify the problem so that we may alleviate the symptoms.
But what is the problem?……….
IT’S BEEN STARING YOU RIGHT IN YOUR FACE AND IT HAS BEEN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!!
Answer: The minority controls the majority.
It’s honestly this simple. A minority of our species has always steered the majority even as far back Babylonians (modern day Iraq predating Egypt and Greece). Their scribings/art are littered with human bondage. The only difference with contemporary human bondage is that we are unaware of it. Sure we’re not sporting loin cloths or being whipped as we pull splintering ropes to erect a monolith but we are enslaved no less. Thanks to the monetary system we’ve have lost our site of who and why are we are. We serve our government rather than the other way around and they in turn serve centralized bankers. Please research what Nietzsche had to say on the ’slave’ and ‘noble’ classes. According to him this dichotomy is natural and self-emergent.
How can any intellect or altruist stand by pondering the meaning of life when 25,000 children die everyday from starvation and preventable diseases? Does anyone else see how unethical and illusory our lives are?
The sad thing is that most of us have been lobotomized through vaccinations and water fluoridation and we don’t even suspect. The additives and preservatives of processed foods are further dumbing us down. Can anyone else not connect the dots? Cancer is so blatantly caused by processed foods!
Don’t give me the bull-crap that ‘my spiritual path is different to yours’. The purpose and fruition of your life is right here and right now. Either you choose to accept it and do something about it or deny it and revel in the self-indulgence of pretending to not know why or how you are.
One other thing I need to get off my chest: How can we consider ourselves thinkers if we still eat flesh? I honestly feel that any meat-eater whose posted a response to Joe’ls blog is hypocrite. Just as well there isn’t any animal higher than us in the food chain with the same attitude as ours, eh? Rather than protect the animals beneath us, what do we do? We eat them! Can you imagine what it would be like walking through a shop that contains vacuum packs of slices of human leg? It’s the very same thing, just a different species.
I can go into much further detail on all of this if anyone would like to get in touch:
rexusdiablos@hotmail.com
Paul youve gone amazingly far as to question whether each and everything is fake and you are the GOD and the One.
But then the truth is that it wouldn’t be true cause THEN I AM the experiencer, the reader of the post and I wouldn’t let anyone question my reality. But honestly I feel just the same thing and is driving me mad when you begin to question even the existence of the people you know cause you don’t always keep following them.
SO as soon as you don’t see them do they stop existing!I know I am not putting this well. But I don’t see reasearching on this topic to prove healthy for my career life if I have to.
But the worst part is that when you know if there is actually the posibility and I somehow know it’s true then it’s irksome that you are the only one going through day after day experiencing all kinds of shit.
You know I even stopped reading the news as I have no proof that things actualy have HAPPENED cause I’ve not gone through
I really liked your post Paul , I finally could see someone having this kind of thought cause even the scientists form my limited knowledge have not told about this thing though they talk about other life forms and things in far fetched space which we can’t even see.
But if there is any way of knowing the Truth or coping with it do tell me.
Joel? Why have you abandoned us?
Respond to your sheep!
(why does your home page attempt to sell us something - it conflicts with your overall message - should we not be trying to cultivate each other with out making a buck - I could be wrong on this - hopefully you’ll clarify)
I am not sure if life is a dream or not or if its all fake. some responses here make me think your all real… but then again it could be there just to throw me off..
It is interesting to hear diffrent peoples views on this. Within in the last year my so called dream have become more vivid and more”real”. I use to believe that there were meanings behind dreams, now I wonder if my dreams are actually the reality. Over the last year I have had 7 profound “dreams” and in all the dreams the subject matter is very similar to one another. Not only that,but 3 out of the 7 dreams have happen on the same date, the 24th of the month. It may not mean anything, but there are 30 days in a month, what are the odds that out of 7 dreams 3 of them were on the same date….coincedence or something else? I don’t know, I just pose the question. I feel that in each dream the time frame is sequencial, in one dream something happens and the next time I have a profound dream it feels like it has been that long of a time frame. Useually one month, so I know in the dream that that month has pasted, but I can’t see what happen to get me to that point. I think it is healthy to questions’s one place in this world, to question life and to think and believe that there is much more out there that we have not tapped into yet. They always say there is so much more potenical to the human mind and body and I believe it.
immortalized in love, you are free to choose your destiny once you realize your creative potential
the signs to the UNIverse are everywhere, but its just one verse, one song, one vibration. Its the vibration of learning. Learn to love and you can love all that is
we each carry our own tune, sing your song god, we are your instruments
time and space are the creator, follow your dreams
my dream is to wake up. I just did it. whats yours?
For all of you that feel lost, read the book SyncroDestiny from Deepak Chopra. I found my way with this book.
We live in 3rd dimension and very few like Albert Einstein live in 4th dimension. We are lately feeling this emptiness because we are Awakening from the Matrix. The Matrix is nothing more than a prison in your own mind, manipulated for many thousand of years back from a few Illuminati people that control the world and know the truth about how the universe works. They have programmed our brains with nonsense stuff like religions, money, cars, sex, competition, power, violence, technology so that we grow our egos so big and fight all the other big egos that have been created so that we lose our real purpose on this world so we work like robots and slaves for the few who control the world. This is done thru your TV, Radio, Movies, Newspapers, Books, Internet, etc. Don’t let them keep on programming you, Take control and choose over what you see and hear and don’t believe all that mumbo jumbo stuff that they say. The good news is that we are waking up because of the new planetary alignment taking place every 5,125 years and that will be on Dec, 21, 2012 going into the golden era where peace and harmony will rule. Right now we are coming out the darkest and worst eras which is the Dark Era that has been here for the last 5,125 years. Now here is the trick and the Mayans new this, you have to let go of your ego to go into this new era of 5th dimension. If we continue with our ugly egos hurting ourselves and others we will not make it to 2012. Our time is running out. We have Awaken that is the first step. The next is to transform like the butterfly or we will be of no good for the 5th dimension. Remember one thing. We are not what you see,hear,touch,smell, or feel. We are all ENERGY. We are all made of the same substance as the Creator, that makes us all little Gods. We are not individuals. We are all One Infinite Energy. We are all tiny drops from the same ocean. We are almost there, don’t give up. Just remember everyday; Am I a better person than yesterday.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
ruben arizpe, please get in touch. I want to learn more about what you discussed in your post.
My address is my name @hotmail.com
I do believe that there is a God and our real life begins when we wake up from this dream called life, and depending on our soul we or should I say our soul which controls the way we think, act, and love all end up in heaven or hell depending if one has a evil or a more ‘heavenly like soul’. Purgatory is a pretty deep topic that is hard for many religions and groups of people including myself to fully understand, but I am starting to gather that if there really are ghosts here on Earth, then THIS world here is purgatory for the dead and those souls that are here but can not been seen by the naked eye have unfinished business that only that soul(s) can accomplish. Living here in Wyoming helped me realize how badly secret societies (The Illuminati) want to control the aspects of your life. If they had their way, they would put a chip in a brain and control every moment of our life, just like a robot. When I look around, mainly at the people who work day in a day out and believe that everything the government is doing is right and they take every vaccine that someone asks (sometimes tries to force) you to take, then, stop, think, look, analyze, and finally realize that these guys are already succeding on controlling the world, the people, simply without even wasting their money on any mind control chips. All I ask is that everyone needs to control their own life and even if you are the Pope, everyone could still work on their soul by helping others any possible way to strengthening the divine soul we all possess, in which is the one and only thing that really means ANYTHING in this life in this universe.
Dear All
Glad to find the souls on a similar wavelength , slightly differing frequencies but the same motive i.e in search of the truth
I am 100 % sure that this life is not real ,its an illussion of a real life somewhere ( I or we( i’m not sure ) are in a dream , but for a purpose of scoring points , yes we are in a game to score points .
The scoring system is written on us or intuted or programmed the keys to understand are logical approach ( in line with the understandings ,energies n etc etc. given to us by our Programmer , The God )
Almost all of us and few more who will join afterwords have come to a similar understanding experiencing same life but slightly differing cicumstances
The resons on arriving on this stage are logical thinking , open mindedness , honesty , humbleness , etc. etc ….we all know / programmed
We are in a test to be judged on the principles written on us or feed on our abilities to understand
So what I concluded so far is , Carry on with the same spirit even if it is an illution , i am feeling it all and is for some purpose and i am being and will be judged on all what and how am i performing .
In the end I want to share the truth that I came to this understanding through the message well described in Al Quran , Please do let me know as how you individually arrives on almost the same understanding as of mine
Peace be on all of you
Mudassir Hussain
mudassirh25@Gmail.com