Are we dreaming right now?

[wulfy42]

Blah, now I can't sleep at all tonight. Tried for a few hours but just tossed and turned, finally gave up at watched the episode of Smallville I had on my DVR from last friday (good episode too). Gonna just stay up at this point as it's after 5 am now.

Usually when I can't get to sleep it's due to drinking mountain dew after 8pm or something. First time I can remember that I couldn't sleep without something stressful I was worrying about the next day or something. Hope the whole forcing myself to wake up didn't cause me to get isomnia or something!!

 

[Jedoro]

I don't really care. This is where I am, this is my reality. If I wake up, then I've moved to a new reality, and I'll go fight the damn Machines in a hovering ship.

In the meantime, I think it's very real that it's my last day of classes at Uni

 

[theComposer]

Well, in all honesty we can't truly know whether everything we see and do is a dream or not. However, there are some ways to check. Try flipping a light switch; if you're dreaming, not light will turn on or off. Also, text, particularly numbers, will change if you look away for even a second in a dream.

Have you by any chance seen Waking life?

I have not, but it's on my list of movies to watch. I have been interested in lucid dreaming for awhile though, so I've read a bit about it and seen many discussions that have involved or mentioned Waking Life however.

 

[SkoopMaster]

I would say do something you wouldn't normally do if you were awake.

If you can do it with no consequences then you are most likely asleep.

 

[crudus]

One way I can tell I am in a dream is if I am having sex. (haha, wait...I made myself sad on the inside)

Anyway, I have had this discussion many, many times. The conclusion is we can't know if we are in a dream or the matrix. Therefore, we have to assume we aren't. If we assume we are then we will get nothing done. If we assume we aren't then we will actually try to get something done.

Well, in all honesty we can't truly know whether everything we see and do is a dream or not. However, there are some ways to check. Try flipping a light switch; if you're dreaming, not light will turn on or off. Also, text, particularly numbers, will change if you look away for even a second in a dream.

I actually can't read when I am in a dream.

 

[manaman]

This sounds like what a bunch of stoners skipping high school would come up with.

"Whoh dude, whoh. I just through, like, this is crazy, like, what if we where, like all, still like asleep and, like, like, still dreaming and like stuff."

 

[The Heik]

Here is why I ask.

Last night I had another one of those dreams within a dream. I have them every so often and sometimes I even have multiple layers (when I keep thinking I have awakened but I haven't).

This morning it was only a two layer dream. I was dreaming and realized I was in a dream and thought I had woken up......but later on I realized I didn't and sorta screamed "WAKE UP" in my dream....and then I was really awake.

Thing is I was still a bit fuzzy and wasn't sure if I was really awake at that point.......so I tried internally screaming WAKE UP again...and it almost felt like it was going to work!!! It was enough for me to try more then once but the feeling was strongest at first and then I couldn't feel it anymore.

That of course made me wonder....could I be in a coma and this is all a dream? That I guess would make everyone else in the universe figments of my imagination/dream mind, so for everyone else's sake I hope it's not true......but it sure was strange.

Anyone else ever felt like that? It's passed now but it sure made me think this morning!!

Don't worry btw, I don't think I'm the center of the universe and everything revolves around me.....but for a few minutes this morning I sure wasn't sure if this was a dream or not. I still have to say I can't rule it out as a possibility!!

I'd say no, as there are far too many details in this world for it to be a dream. Most dreams revolve around a specific situation or area, and the rest simply doesn't exist. this is mainly because dreams are our subconscious' way of sorting stuff out. Why would it create people and objects which have utterly no point or effect within your life? It's putting all of it's computing power to solving the issue, not flushing out the details.

There's also the ability to change the rules in our dreams. When some people reach a stage between the subconscious and conscious minds swapping control, we have a set period where we can change the not only what is happening, but how we interact with this world.

Reality is a place where things occur with no regard to our feelings or wishes. In Reality, the universe keeps on ticking no matter what we do, but in our dreams, everything is based around us and our problems, actions, and wishes.

 

[Nietz]

If life is a dream. If what we perceive as reality is all a big dream. Who is the dreamer? Who has this wonderful dream?

 

[flying_whimsy]

Years of rigorous study of philosophy and science had allowed me to give this simple answer to your title question:

Maybe.

 

[RedRussian]

Well, in all honesty we can't truly know whether everything we see and do is a dream or not. However, there are some ways to check. Try flipping a light switch; if you're dreaming, not light will turn on or off. Also, text, particularly numbers, will change if you look away for even a second in a dream.

Have you by any chance seen Waking life?

I have not, but it's on my list of movies to watch. I have been interested in lucid dreaming for awhile though, so I've read a bit about it and seen many discussions that have involved or mentioned Waking Life however.

Yeah its a major plot point in the movie.

 

[antipunt]

Nope.

There's a subtle feeling you get when you question if you're dreaming -in reality-. It's like Inception's 'totem', except more internal (not an object).

While sleeping if I try and wake up it's like I'm pushing against something. Like I am building up energy and suddenly burst through a barrier. Sometimes that barrier just brings me to a new level of dreaming.....but usually eventually I burst free into real life.

The thing that really felt weird was this morning when I fully woke up.....I was not sure I had right away and I kept trying to "push" through the barrier and wake up again....and it almost felt like it was working.

It was a very freaky feeling but when I tried it again it was not nearly as strong. First time I have every felt that feeling of almost pushing through something while awake. Really made me think perhaps I'm in a coma and this is all a dream.

For example, you can try pinching yourself. Pinching yourself in a dream usually makes you (or me at least) feel numb. I've never felt 'true' pain in a dream before (so I wasn't really sure what Inception was talking about...).

 

[Lilani]

If this is a dream, then it's the red pill you want.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I get 4 types of dreams
1. Terrifying nightmares (Not so much anymore)
2. School dreams (It's a real pain, as it adds another hour or two to my school time)
3. Dreams I can't remember
4. Incredibly detailed dreams.

(It covers pretty much everything, I guess.)

The detailed ones are usually very complex. I remember one time I made up my own book. In the dream.
I forgot it after, but I'd made about 60 pages and a front cover.
That was a cool dream.

That perfectly describes my dream categories.
Though I find elements of #1 and #4 interchange...


OT: It's pretty damn obvious when I'm dreaming.
Though I do dream an awful lot about tornadoes wrecking the city/town that I'm in, and dreams about incredibly bleak dark, imposing copper-and-iron structures resembling an immense power plant (always at night, where the orange glow of the sodium-vapor lights reflect off of the low-hanging clouds of smoke steam and vapor).

At least I occasionally have fun with these dream. I like to fly, though there are elements that attempt to trap/kill me there too. I avoid them handily.

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

I do have trouble discerning reality from dreams sometimes, but I know that I'm not dreaming. If I were, I'd be over in England walking a penguin around the block before returning home to be on the computer all night.

 

[JezebelinHell]

If this is a dream then I am a masochist and will need some serious therapy when I finally wake up.

 

[[.redacted]]

Ahaha... I hope so, this is boring.