Could life be a lucid dream?

The link below is a you tube video containing an extreme optical illusion.
Before continuing to read I encourage all to watch and follow directions closely. Give it atleast 2 tries.

Copy & Paste into web address

youtube.com/watch?v=vzSRVgF501M

This thread will partially dive into the real life possibilities of the “Matrix”
I’ve noticed a few key things about life that got me onto this train of thought. I’m looking for all possible feedback and new ideas.

The first question I asked was “What is time?” or more less how does it seem to go by at different paces. You know, while your doing something you enjoy time “flies by” And I know you’ve heard the expression “This seems like forever.” Well I took each realization a little bit deeper.

How is it that during sleep, hours seem literally like seconds. You don’t need any food/water. Bathroom necessities (for most) become unnecessary. You experience no pain. And in every bad dream the average wakes up before the final moments of death can EVER occur. Weird right… or at least I think so.

Not to become to religious but the term “sleep” is used throughout the bible. As well is the expression “waking-up” Jesus personally described death as the “deep sleep” religious or not, Christian or not. Each lucid dreamer here should be able to take something away from that. Reality just seems all to fake doesn’t it? Weird to say, weirder to prove true.

Even though the physical laws of this life can’t be broken I’ve realized which can. Open your minds up before you read the following:

"You can make anything disappear. What you do not wish you to see will not be there.

That is the quote connecting the two realities we know. Now of course in lucid dreamland if you can remember to exercise this technique results may seem instantaneous. But take it into consideration into the real world…

If you never thought about your TV would it be there, partially… maybe if you ever thought to buy 1. Or maybe your career would dissapear, if you never think about it. Chances are one may never develop all together. Your family how long could it last without conscious thought or action. Without thought one may never start. Kids, if never considered well then who’s to say you’ll have some. Even your morning coffee. Don’t think about it, you won’t have it… it won’t be there. And everything else in between I didn’t mention.

The bottom line is reality is how we perceive it… not how it actually is. Me, being the person I am, diagnosed with some control disorder or whatever had this amazing realization. We are in control of more than one could ever imagine. Grab life by the horns, so to speak. Exercise this control and please above everything else DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOUR TOLD. Reality has great potential to not be real.

That video was amazing.

Do you know the only thing harder than proving reality is fake? Proving it’s real.

I must agree. It seems all to fake at times. Times that are becoming more and more common, and more and more obvious. Video’s crazy though, riiight…??? Edit Dunno if there’s a thread started or not, but we need to get one going on questioning reallity.

-Trip

Post edited :dragon:

neat. thanks

I’ve seen these before. It’s interesting to see how we can trick our minds, but the logical leap from optical illusions to Brain in a Vat theory eludes me.

It is possible that we live in an Ancestor Simulation. It can even be said that it is likely that we live in an Ancestor Simulation. I fail to see how this could alter one’s worldview, however. It is unfalsifiable and hence no more important than claims about deathbed Flying Spaghetti Monster conversions.

Time dilation is a natural occurrence. While sleeping, dreams are experienced in our own minds, outside of external reality. Consequently, they are unbound by our normal conventions of time in waking life. You can experience, for instance, a 100 year dream. In reality, though, it all took place in the space of a single REM cycle. This sort of dilation seems paradoxical at first, but you must keep in mind that in dreams our subconscious has complete control over all elements, time included.

Yes, the term sleep is used throughout the Bible. The “Waking Up” you describe sounds like the “Enlightenment” of the Buddhist religion. I’ll be the first to mention that deep sleep is a semantic misnomer. It has little to do with actual dreaming. As a lucid dreamer, I’d like to make a few points here: Reality seems artificial sometimes, but that is only because one does not understand it. As a wise man once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” As we learn more about the world, this feeling diminishes. Reality seems illogical, but not fake. Calling reality fake is a contradiction in terms.

I’d like to interject here; this sounds suspiciously like New Age dogma. There is no connection between reality and lucid dreams. None. Philosophical insight, maybe, but there is no logical consistency betwixt both worlds.

You’re falling into the trap of Subjective Reality, a term coined by Steve Pavlina on his delusional blog. Just because you are not actively perceiving X does not imply that X does not exist. Young children who have not yet realized that the world does not center around them may believe that when they go to sleep the rest of the world ceases to be. Of course, we can recognize this as nonsense. Unless this paragraph is intended in a non literal sense, I must condemn it as absurd.

Yes, this I agree with. We do not experience reality, we experience reality filtered through our senses. We are in control of ourselves, and though the “Law of Attraction” may say that we could indirectly alter the universe with our thoughts, I must politely beg to differ. To quote Atreyu, “Grab the bull by the horns the old adage goes/Nobody tells you where to go from here.” That’s the beauty of life. There is no one way to experience it. Reality has great potential, but only if you discard magical thinking and take control with hard work, not superstition. In conclusion, it is possible that we live in The Matrix, but that should have no effect on our morality or our worldview for that matter. Regardless, this is our reality and we should respect it as such.

Forgive me if I misunderstood anything; I found this a fascinating piece to read. Very well written, also.

I watched this video twice, I noticed that the first time, it seemed to take forever, while the second time it was over at half the time. I have noticed that before but don’t have a clue why that is, my only guess is that the first time I don’t know what to expect, so I pay subconsciously more attention. The second time I know what will happen in the end so I don’t care as much.
If we live in a dream, there has to be a dreamer, no? And all of us are dream characters.

This makes no sense to me, especially the family part. If they exist, they WILL NOT go anywhere just because you don’t think of them. But they’re existence can not be proven so who knows?

I haven’t read the Bible myself (though have been meaning to). But I have heard of some things. This seems what might be in the part Jesus promises to come back and resurrect everyone worthy. You die/You fall into deep sleep, Jesus comes and wakes you up, you live happily in gods kingdom… as I said: I haven’t read the bible, just composed a picture in my mind of what I have heard, so all this most likely is gibberish.

Over all I am greatly impressed by everyone’s perspective. Pardon me for any sense of “talking down” to anyone. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the results this thread produced. As some people may not have completely understood what I meant… that maybe a lack on my part. I some time have trouble getting words from my brain to my mouth, more trouble on paper. I didn’t really mean we are like ne-yo plugged into a Matrix. I more or less borrowed the comparison. Whoever had the time explanation, appreciate it. But, just because one can put terms and logic behind something doesn’t mean it’s not “mystical”, for lack of a better term.

The link between lucid dreams, and life I believe are very much connected despite what fellow dreamers may think. I am trying very hard to keep my religious beliefs at bay. I know that is not what this site, or thread, is about.

My main point is this. Just because one attends school and learns facts/terms/ and processes, doesn’t mean they came up with them (Obvious right???). Anyone questioning why we’re here or if God does exist should just ask themselves one question…

The water cycle (1 example of natural laws). Yes it goes up and down due to heat and evaporation. Blah Blah Blah. If you ask me, sometimes people don’t, but I believe science raises many more questions that it could possible answer. I interpret science as the physical manifestation of a higher being/ God. Just because we know why the apple fell on Newton’s head doesn’t mean we’ve found the source of gravity… anybody following. Lucid dreams, in fact dreams all together, go against everything you were ever taught. Everything you every considered, and everything you ever knew. I’ve been shot, looked down at a big hole in my abdomen and just kept on walking on the beach (Dream I had). That stretched my outlook so to speak, on what maybe real…

What I meant by "making things disappear" was this. Without conscious thought it is AS IF they/it/he/her (Whatever) are not there. Basically you can alter what you think about, choosing to acknowledge or ignore ANYTHING, in a sense making things disappear atleast from your realm of thinking.

The video was not so much to make a connection between it and reality, just to illustrate how far things can bend as far as perception goes. And it best explains what my hands looked like when I used that technique to induce lucid dreaming.

Edited three posts together. :dragon:

My Sifu actually makes regular references to the Matrix. This is all a dream. I would not correlate this portion of it to a lucid dream either. Most lucid dreamers are walking around very much asleep. So much so that all they do in dreams is make a fantasy world to play in when they could be waking up.

Ah don’t get it bro

I very much agree with this, especially after reading and hearing about this new “Big Bang machine” or the LHC, that was made in order to find all the secrets to the universe and to open other dimensions. Its funny when you hear people say science goes against “God” when science is actually a form of “God”.
Your thoughts are very interesting.

The wonderful thing is… you don’t know! Just run around trying dream tests, eventually things will make sense… or you’ll get put in jail. Either way its a dream so who cares?

I think this topic is beautiful. I myself have wondered if reality is really what we say it is. If true life is really this material world one must live in every day coexisting with other people. What if its all made up, what if its all not real? What if its our dreams that we live in truly?

I don’t agree with her much, but my mom always said. “Be the example you want to see. To change the world you have to change yours.” Pretty good for my non religious mother who doesn’t have her stuff together at all. Think about it, how far of a stretch is it to say you live in your “own lil world” What’s important to you doesn’t mean anything him… or her. Reality is fake at least one that level I’m sure. You create your own… following???

By creating ones own limitations, ones own needs. Not focusing on the negative things in life or not listening to what the world tells you. Basically, refusing to join in on the reality that is life. Not necessarily living on my own, but living on my own values, beliefs and determination.

Our views are so close Lorr something it’s like they almost can’t see eachother. That’s exactly how I feel. Don’t conform. I use religion much differently than the average… and view it oddly as well. Jesus is who he said he was… That’s hard for many to grasp I understand COMPLETELY. You just seem to have to forget everything you know about religion inorder to learn it right. It’s trippy. I love god and loathe church… what can I say I’m a lil bent too. I’m on this sight with you guys aren’t I… ha

I’m so sorry you go to Christian school… I apologize on behalf of what I hold true to be GOD. It should NEVER be forced. And I only pray it’s not catholic school. Conformity sucks I know. Try to forget it… I am sincerely sorry anyone has to go through that. A christian influenced school would be the perfect hybrid. But actual doctrine I’m sorry…

I don’t conform homie.

And like I said I disagree with the Bible, Koran and Torah.

There is a god but god is not one all powerful deity. God is the spiritual forces behind our world and all the others.

I also believe that Jesus was a hoax.

And you dont have to feel so bad about me going to a Christian school. I know not all Christians are like the ones there.

A lucid dream? I’d have to say no for most people since most of the populice doesn’t believe that the “waking world” is a dream.

Is it possible that its a dream, sure, I suppose, but honestly its not something I can effect so I don’t really worry about it.

again the question of reality is raised. I think it will never be answered cuz we can never be sure if we r dream characters made up souls or whatever! we will never find out. so lets just go with the flow— :wink:

How is life any different from a lucid dream? Everything we experience is solely in our head, and we (as though it seems) control ourselves consciously.