I think there's similar topics but none with this as the main focus, as far as I am aware. Hopefully I am correct. So assuming that I am I shall get on to the point now then. Often I will wonder what is real and what is not, as it's been said to me that we can easily be the imagination of another, reliving our last moments in a 'life flashing before your eyes moment', fictional like characters from a show or something, etc. In the end I think it's best not to question how or why we are here and just accept that we are and live our lives. But this doesn't always make it easy to feel 'real.' One way I've used in the past is pain and now it's through connections in a like 'if they know they are real and see and talk to me then they acknowledge me as real too.' Though I'm not really sure how often I think about it like that, as they could be just as fake. And typing this out is making me feel silly, but I did not find any threads that focused on this enough to just read through it and I really wish to know how others do it.
Frankly I barely bother with it. I do entertain the notion every now and then, but just as a form of mental masturbation : unless I actually find a way out of Plato' s cave then hypothesizing about what could be out of the cave is just unverifiable speculation, it has zero practical usefulness. Ultimate truth is a red herring. In my day to day life, the occasional reverie aside, I' d rather think about what' s practically true than waste my time (or my sanity) chasing ultimate truth windmills.
Why would you even want to think about it?? There's really no point. Just enjoy what you are experiencing.
I saw this topic last night and it really stuck with me. I tend to daydream. A lot. And the subject of those hopeless fantasies tends to be the distinction between reality and fiction. I'll often think about my life and all the things that have happened, and wonder whether or not anything is actually... I don't know, lifelike? It's hard to explain, but entertaining the thought tends to be something of a hobby. It's nice to just drift off into dreams of what life might be like if it were something different (that's usually the fuel that feeds my fanfics). And media doesn't help much, considering stuff like Inception and KH (where Roxas is in a data Twilight Town with no memory of his previous existence; KH3D; all of Chain of Memories).
"I think, therefore I am." That is what I believe. Descartes was a famous philosopher and decided to cross off everything he can't 100% prove to be real, in the end he was only left with thought- even if the world he lives in is fake, he has thoughts. The story is something like that, I can't remember exactly but that is how I see the world. You can't prove something you do not see but still I have faith in God, I see this world and I just chose to believe it's real, if it isn't then I would know no different. I do tend to think a lot about the idea that everyone else around me are just like computer players and they aren't real but I quickly disregarded that thought because... well I just grew over the idea. I sometimes think, it's a weird thought, that I wake up as someone different each day but I have that persons memories so it feels like a real life- basically, there is no way to prove that the memories I have are ones I (as a thinking entity) experienced. It's weird, and also pointless. I ponder a lot on the butterfly effect- how one simple action can have such a dramatic effect. How would things be different if I did this or didn't do that, or chose the other option. I could ponder for ages about that and it's amazing how my life turns out. I believe I am where I am for a reason and this world is real because I don't want to think that everyone around me is fake. I believe in existence.
Yeah, that's something else I tend to ponder on as well. Everything feels real when you're experiencing it at that moment but when I wake up the morning after, I start to wonder how time passed so quickly between then and now. idk, just something weird I like to consider Again, another thing I think about VERY often. The butterfly effect is a huge medium in movies, books, shows, and etc. nowadays, so it really gets me thinking about what my choices do not only for myself, but for the world around me. Same goes for the choices others make. It's interesting to think about, but at the same time it's really unnerving. I mean, what would I do without this Nub above me? [sorry, I know this is Discussion but just to lighten the mood ;~;]
LIFE.. I used to think when I was little that when we sleep that our real selves wake up and think we were in a coma. I used to think that we could jump into books like off of tv and fly to the heavens. I used to believe that Texas still in the 1800's. I used to think that I was the smartest person in the whole. But after all the imaging and dreaming I except reality as it is.
It is impossible to stop thinking about it as I have tried. It simply always return to my mind sooner or later. I'm also one to day dream a lot so same reason it seems. At one point I was convinced that my dreams could be the reality and what others thought as reality were merely dreams. Was such a confusing time. Not any less confusing now but not as convinced. The line is there so I can't say it blurs but I keep expecting, almost hoping that it does. I like this, it's like okay could be fake but as far as I know I am real. So I accept this fact. Something like that anyway. The butterfly effect is...something. All linking into a chain of effects. With that in mind it leads to another thing like... 'I effect others' life therefore I must exist.' I had more to say but as I was typing I got sidetracked and forgot a lot... Still hopefully I made sense.
“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?” I use to suffer problems with this. Reality. Dreams, What's real to me, what is not? Some days I do, sometimes they blur, the fake, the real, that in-between. Delusions, hallucinations. If it looks, smells, feels, sounds real to me, isn't it real? No, that's sometimes not enough. It's where the idea of faith comes in, you can become quiet a spiritual person because of it all. This is where the whole water focus in Eastern Philosophy comes to mind for me. Is the reflection in the water me? Something I've also thought looking at a pond on TV just now. I can see fish under the surface, the image of them in the water is wavy, blurred from the currents of the moving water. I see a fish is there, wavy in form, yet when the fish is taken out of the water, it is a solid formed shape, no longer wav. So is the fish in the water a false image, a fake of the truth? The fish's body is solid, unmoving, yet in the water I can see it all wavy. Is that a fake image? I will never really know if the fish in the water is the same fish when I take it out water, because they look different, and so are different to me. Honestly, I dwell on it when I have to and ignore it for the rest. You become numb to it eventually, so part of your experiences that it matters little to your normal day. It's the 'curse' of being human. You're self aware. You wonder if what you do is right or wrong, whether the outcome is worth the actions, the guilt if you have done something wrong. It reminds me of this video I saw on youtube, hopefully this can help you ponder and maybe find an answer:
I' ve managed to wish my way out of a few nightmares when I was a kid because I was able to see the nightmares for what they were, a mere dream, there are practical ways to distinguish dreams from reality. Lucid dreaming is proof enough for me that our own brains are the creators and rulers of our dreams. I' m the God of my dreams, chances are you' re the God of yours. I' ve tried wishing my way out of reality, needless to say it didn' t work. Scientists are well aware of cognitive dissonance, the N rays debacle evidenced the possibility of unconscious bias quite clearly. Thankfully we can devise experimental protocols that rule it out. Reminds me of that conversation : Spoiler
Our God is an awesome God. That's how i know i exist. everything is too stupid and our enotions seem to last forever even though they are ephemeral. there has got to be something better than this and i have been assured that there is. so i exist, and that is that.:)
Please add more to your posts, and describe more your opinions and points like other people in Discussion threads do in the future, please. I understand you're relatively new but just keep this in mind please.
