Dream World vs. Real World

[cylon]

Lately it's becoming fairly apparent to me that the real world and the dream world are extremely similar.

For example, it's very common that if we are very focused on a particular subject, it will show up in our dreams. And when we wake up it's easy to say "Oh yeah, I was thinking about xyz the last couple days and now I'm dreaming about it. Makes sense."

But in the "real world" xyz is showing up too. But somehow you want to discount this. "Ok in my dream, it follows that I'd be seeing it everywhere. But this is reality, and I'm NOT making that up in my head. It's more powerful than little old me. So there has to be another reason that xyz is all over the place. I'm not nuts, I'm just probably experiencing my reticular activation system. Science probably has this all figured out anyway, how silly to think that I COULD BE influencing something as enormous and complicated as the universe. Remember this is tiny, insignificant lil' old me. I am like a grain of sand compared to how vast the universe is. I look up at the stars in the sky and think how small I really am. "

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that in the dream world, we are COMPLETELY convinced that our dream is reality. We may be different ages, or in different bodies, or in different time periods, but to us it is REAL and we are that person with the alternate life circumstance. But all along, it is our own brains that are creating this illusion, and we are completely fooled by it.

Just like we are completely fooled by the real world, we think THAT is reality. How are we to know? Maybe this is just a different type of dream.

But... in a dream world you are creating other people. In the real world (supposedly) other people have their own lives, and it's very gratifying to be social and interact with OTHER people. For instance, I could have written this in my journal, and just talk to myself. But I enjoy interacting with people who are NOT me, so I open it up for discussion.

If other people are just a projection of my waking dream-world, that is a bit lonely. I like thinking other people have minds of their own. If it's all "just me", then what's the point of even talking to anyone? Aren't humans social creatures? Did I (cylon) create human beings? Did I create this notion that not only do humans exist, but that we are social creatures? All the stuff I've learned about science, evolution, the physical world, and mammals with two eyes, two ears, a mouth, two arms and two legs.... I'm making all that UP? Right now? My parents... my friends... the girls I've loved... all me? The people that will listen to the music I write... all me?

Such a big part of life is doing things in order to get a certain response from another person, love, acceptance, etc. Without that motivation, I don't know what anyone of us would do. We need society to give us an idea of what life is supposed to be about. And that comes from other people. Just like this thread... it's to be read by people who aren't me, so I can get their insight. I think.

The more questions I have the more questions I have.

[Wax Frog]

I have no personal stand on the matter, since I've seldom had lucid dreams let alone had the chance to explore them, but... I've read of lucid dreamers who've encountered AUTONOMOUS figures in their dreams.

[TonyToneTone]

Hey Cylon!!!

VERY good thread. I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

I listened to a discussion once where the teacher was talking about the

Spiritual

Mental

&

Physical

which he said could be likened to

Fact

Theory

&

Fantasy

In the realm of the spirit, everything exists there in the form of ideas. The computer you are reading this on, the table I am using right now, the cup right next to me, everything. All these things were first ideas that someone had, focused on in the mental realm, and then they manifested in the physical. Even if we were to destroy any evidence of them having ever existed, and the person who had the idea was to pass away, they would still exist in the spiritual realm as ideas.

In the mental realm lies our theories about everything. Does going outside after taking a shower give you a cold? Can I make more then $1,000,000 a year? Is it easy to approach women? Will my friend find true love? Etc...

On the physical plane is where everything manifests. This could be equal to the fantasy realm because as you choose different ideas and theories about life, your physical world will reflect these changes. The physical realm might seem the most real as we can physically feel it, however it is subject to change as we change from within.

Does that make sense? Thanks for your thread. Up until now I had wanted to put this together into a logical format.

[torilink]

I've had a couple very very strange breaks in "Reality" lately, and it frightens my egoic self terribly. It's beyond the scope of this thread to discuss, but it is like when you are dreaming and something happens and you say to yourself... "this is a dream, because that just can't happen".

of course, I have believed for a long time my outer world is a reflection of my beliefs ... so as I've had these experiences that totally melt down any belief in what is real and what is not, it is a reflection of my beliefs but it scares the bejesus out of my ego... if that makes any sense at all.

or maybe I'm just out of my freakin mind! lol

[drama07]

Nice thread cylon.

When you come to think about, yes our reality could just be another dream world. You hardly notice in a sleep dream that you are in fact in a dream. I guess our ego tries to avoid this and convinces us reality as reality.

Cylon, you say you are the one who made us and you feel lonely. That's just your ego talking

[moonrambler]

I love this thread

Perhaps we don't create the people in our reality, and perhaps we don't create them in our dreams either

I seem to have a whole additional life going on in my dreams where I'm going around in the same places a lot. These are places which seem like alternate realities to my "real" world. For instance, the college I went to is there, but it doesn't look at all the same. My favorite college bar is there, but again, it's not the same. There's a shopping mall, and certain highways I drive on quite often. Sometimes I visit Boise, Idaho, where I lived for a short time, and I never can figure out why it looks different. It kind of weirds me out that I've created an entire alternate universe over there.

Torilink -- I think I know what you mean. It would be interesting to hear more!

[cylon]

I've been to high school several times in dreams... always different. And I always seem to be going back as my age now trying to start over again.

Tori- it does freak my ego out. And I know the less freaked out I get, the more and more evidence I'm going to get. I've had a few lucid dreams, they are usually over pretty quickly because after I realize I'm dreaming. I usually just wake up.

Same thing when experiencing some kind of reality bending circumstance in real life, first thing is to do deny it happened, and just assume that science can explain it and there's no way in hell I actually made the universe do anything, then quickly move onto something else that doesn't shake up my reality.

Just seems that if reality is in fact, not what I thought, and is actually being generated SOMEHOW by me (either the cylon ego or just the awareness that has an ego) then the premise for how I live my life, and the things I do, is totally whacked. I am still here though, I didn't go up in smoke, so that's good.

[moonrambler]

Do you guys ever wonder if we have shifted into very, very slightly different alternate reality whenever something turns out to be different than we remembered it?

Y'know how you might disagree with a friend about how some particular event happened, and it turns out they're right. And it seems so weird to remember it completely wrong.

I've started to actively look for those situations, just to play with the idea that it may not be faulty memory.

Similar to what you and Tori have mentioned here, I've also had several situations where something I dreamed about appeared in "reality" the next day, and sometimes it can be really freaky. It's like the alternate universe somehow breaks through to the "real" universe.

[magi13]

reality is what you think it is. ^,^

[cylon]

That or something you see in the real world shows up, like a synchronicity. It's the same thing, just in dreams we believe we're creating it, so we give our mind credit for being creative in the dream. In the waking world, we try to explain it away.

I believe some people say that all possibilities exist at once, like there are multiple dimensions going on at the same time, so there is an infinite amount of ways that the story could have unfolded. Maybe this is why people often don't see eye to eye.

[Wax Frog]

Another dreaming song came back to me today!

[pc99]

Originally Posted by cylon

Lately it's becoming fairly apparent to me that the real world and the dream world are extremely similar.

Do you recognize those periods when you’re in between both worlds? Those few precious seconds where you awaken from a dream. Where you’re still caught up in the dream but reality slowly starts to creep in. You awaken to what we call the real world and dismiss the dream world.

In those few seconds though you’re connected to both (or connected to something undefined)

If you recognize that feeling, I’m curious if you’ve felt the same feeling in your real world. I ask because, well, I wish to know

[Xtal]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

Do you guys ever wonder if we have shifted into very, very slightly different alternate reality whenever something turns out to be different than we remembered it?

I am certain this is the case.

[MacFly]

Originally Posted by cylon

Tori- it does freak my ego out. And I know the less freaked out I get, the more and more evidence I'm going to get. I've had a few lucid dreams, they are usually over pretty quickly because after I realize I'm dreaming. I usually just wake up.

yeah it happend to me too

is it possible if I'd realize that the "real world" is just a dream also, I'd die?

I mean, I'm dreaming, dreaming, and when I realize it's just a dream, I'm exiting the dream world. Maybe this is why ego keeps fooling me, because I'd die if I realize it. Just a thought.

[Ontowhere]

There are a few things, about dreams that make me question the reality we live in. I wonder if anyone has any answers.
First I read a long time ago, that our dreams only last for seconds and not hours as they appear. So how does our brain interpret the time. This alone, could be a hint, that time is only a perception. Or have you ever had those dreams, for example: You are in school, waiting for a class bell to go off and the next thing you know, you wake up by the door bell. I had a few dreams in my life in this similar fasion. So what happens first. The bell or the dream ?

[cylon]

I remember reading that our dreams happened in a short amount of time but had forgotten, yes it does indicate time is an illusion.