Doubting your perception of reality

[scorptatious]

Sometimes I do.

Who really knows? Perhaps I'm actually in a coma and I'm not really typing all this via my smart phone. That would be weird huh?

 

[lacktheknack]

I've thought about it... and then promptly rejected it.

Even if I'm actually a dying man hallucinating a lifetime in the throes of death, there's not much I can do, is there? I'm here. My keyboard is here. If I type on it, cool things will happen. I'm all for cool things, real or not.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I'd like to think that if I were hallucinating my life, my brain would at least have the decency to come up with something interesting. So I'm probably not hallucinating right now.

Anyway, there are a few times where I've had dreams that still seemed completely real even after I woke up, and it was hard to untangle my actual life from what I'd just dreamt. I get those kind of dreams quite a lot when I'm under loads of stress, or exhausted, or under the influence of... stuff.

On a more mundane note, I doubt most of my childhood memories. I remember a park with dinosaur statue things and my grandparents were there, but my parents and grandparents have no idea what it might have been. I also feel like I remember stuff from when I was a year or so old, which doesn't normally happen, so I probably am imagining it. Apparently people invent quite a lot of memories, especially early ones.

 

[FPLOON]

Yes... and it helps me with both my writing and story-telling ability... unless I'm sick, in which I proceed to either walk like a Romero zombie and/or feel like I'm being controlled by an outside force[footnote]I thought that only happened when I was 9, glob dammit![/footnote]...

Overall, it has always peaked my curiosity to the point that I have been asked if I ever act my own age... (Let's just say that the answer is rarely a "maybe" and just leave it at that... *shifty eyes*)

 

[Old Father Eternity]

Something rather tied to this topic has been left out.

"Once upon a time, I, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was, who I am. Soon I awoke, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man."

Also, regarding relevant films, "The Thirteenth Floor"

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

A little under two years ago, I had what I can only think of as a stress-induced schizoid break.[footnote]My psychologist assures me that that isn't technically what happened, but I forget what the actual term is, and the difference is largely academic.[/footnote] I became extremely paranoid, thinking law enforcement was out to get me even though I hadn't done anything illegal. I hallucinated sirens near constantly. I would have short periods (20 minutes or so, usually directly after waking up) where I was utterly convinced that my life was a computer simulation I'd been put in to punish me for something, a la that one Twilight Zone episode. You know the one.

The problem mostly went away after a few months, though I still have periods of intense paranoia.

So yeah, questioning my perceptions of reality is pretty much a hobby at this point.

 

[Plasticaprinae]

I was very um.. alone as a child. I would prefer fictional worlds and make up my own. To the point where I desperately tried to be apart of a world that didn't exist. I was pretty emotionally unstable. I frightened easily and slept in my parents' room for years. I played pretend well into preteen years. I grew out of it as I made long-term friends and I'm pretty normal I suppose. I did nerdy things still, like roleplaying, but i believe that it helped me distinguish fantasy from reality more. By having to create a story with another person, Im forced to interact and be aware that other people have feelings and are real. I was also going through a major stage in brain development.

More currently, I lucid dream. Usually what triggers this is asking myself in a dream "is this real?" and the answer comes up no when I suddenly realize that my vision has a HUD. So... by doubting my reality whilst I sleep, I manage to deduct that it is not reality. Inception, wow.

 

[Guffe]

Once yes, in the army we had a physically pretty exhausting test which was walking with a 15kg + 25kg pack and of course full battle gear, for 80kilometers, and it had to be done in less than 28 hours. Sure the medium pace is under 4km/h (I have read somewhere that humans generally walk 5km/h pace) but we had to sleep/rest for at least 1.5 hours which we couldn't include our foodbreaks. So during night (it gets very dark in forests in Finland during autumn) I thought I saw a big house in the middle of the forest. Then again one of my mates saw a flying pizzaslice and another started running away from a nonexcisting bear. So yeah, seen hallucinations but nothing worse in reality perceptioning.