How Do We Know If Life Is Real?
How Do We Know If Life Is Real, What If It's Just A Dream...And If It's Not Real, How Would It Be A Dream...I Just Realized There Are No Answers In This World. Is There A Heaven And A Hell? Are We Ever Even Born...And Do We Ever Even Die? Does Everything That We See Or Do Even Happen Or Was It Just Made Up? And If We Don't Live...Then How Does Any Of This Happen? Seems Like I Answered My Own Question...But There's No Real Way Of Telling... I Know I Think Of Random $hit...But It's Just Something I Always Ask Myself. What Do You Think?
How do we know life isn't an illusion?
Is there really such thing as free will, or is it all planned out and we only think that we have control? How do we know we aren't, say, a computer game of a more advanced world, perhaps? How do we know we're not part of a higher being's dreams as they sleep, then when that being wakes up our life ends? Is there really a definite way to prove that you exist? I think too much sometimes..
How do you know that your life isn't just a dream?
That's a very nice question...I ask myself everyday that same question
How do you know your life is not a dream?
This is one of the important and major issue being discussed generally in philosophical circles. Quite interesting to pursue. During our life, we spend our time with (1) conscious level; (2) unconscious level (3) semi-conscious level, (4) sub-conscious level and (5) super-conscious level or state. We are aware of our living only during conscious state. During our deep sleep or unconscious state, our soul merges with the divine universal nature. We are totally unaware of the happenings around during this state. We do not know whether we are alive or dead. Just like semi-conscious state (or dream state) is very close to unconscious (or deep sleep) state, sub-conscious level is closer to waking state. That is when we are in meditation or deep contemplation or introspection. One can make best use of sub-conscious state. There are books available on this subject, which is worth reading. As you say our whole life is compared to a dream by some philosophers. Because there is no permanency (in our life) as in the case of dream state. Dream has an end. Life has an end. Dream cannot be relied or depended. There is no basis for dream nor can we claim any thing based on our dreams. 'Values' and 'virtues' cannot be added to dream state, whereas values and virtues can be added to our life. We can thus give a real meaning to our life and make an impact or leave an imprint.
How do we know that life isn't just a dream?
That is a good question, my friend. Also, I won't be idiotic like most of the people answering your question. Some people may think that the life they live is a dream. When you die, you wake up. I, personally, don't think life is a dream. Everything that is happening is real. When I go to sleep, that is when my dreams start to happen. And when I wake up, my dream is over and I will continue living my life. Really, the one person who can truly answer your question is yourself.
How do we know if real life isn't just a lucid dream? Or what if it is?
This might not be relevant, but this is something personal that has happened to me many times in my life. I used to be very paranoid that I was the only real person in the world and everyone else was just my imagination, and they were all simply there to fill in the blanks. This paranoia left me up at night terrified for my family to fall asleep before me because I was convinced they would pass on to the next day without me and I would be stuck in limbo for eternity all by myself. I was a strange child, I won't deny that. But then as I got older and nightmares got more frequent, there were also some very strange dreams that would pop up every now and then. Such as having dreams where I was stuck inside somebody else's head, hearing their thoughts and watching their life from the inside. Metaphorically, it was kind of like walking a mile in somebody else's shoes. A lot of the dreams I had were very emotional, I also noticed a pattern of jumping into the lives of people who were struggling with various issues in their life.For example, in one "dream" I was an older, black, crippled man. I remember hearing his thoughts about how he had always judged people for their disabilites and now that he knew how it felt, he couldn't do it anymore. He then walked into a phone booth and started dialing a number. He hung up for some reason and then caught a bus. There is more to the dream but I wont poor you with the details. Another significant dream I had like this was when I was a young black woman with a family watching her house get repossessed. I remember the absolute feeling of anguish as I watched from her eyes and as she comforted her children. Even thinking of it now, I get emotional.I always had ideas about what these dreams might mean. For a while I thought I was "soul-jumping", my consciousness jumping into other people's lives while I slept, giving me glimpses into other people's live. Gaining insight, perhaps. ( I need to work on my empathy) And the fact that just writing about these dreams makes me emotional, makes me believe that they are more real than just a dream.Life itself, may be a lucid dream, but if that's the case, then I would think we are all a part of the same dream. Hence, the examples I listed above. I don't think you will go any crazier than me, so don't worry too much. We've made it this far in life without having that answer, I believe we can make it further.
How do we know that life isn’t meaningless and full of pain and that religion is the meaning of life?
Religion is not the ‘meaning’of life but, it is the basis.Love is the meaning of life. Learning to love God, and love one another, and strive for one another, and sacrifice, and give to, and exhort, and teach, and learn from one another is the meaning of life because God first Loved us.And in loving God, we experience the fulfillment of our purpose here because when we love God, we wish to do as He says. And in doing as He says, we love one another. And in loving one another, we do no intentional evil to one another. And in doing no intentional evil to one another, we are following the Spirit of the Law(rather than the Letter of the Law, which Jesus fulfilled). And finally, in following the Spirit of the Law, we are showing our love for God because He first Loved us.People get tired of dealing hatred out(usually) because hatred out brings hatred in. Hatred is the thing that kills the soul; feeds upon itself; burns it out and leaves a dried out husk where once there was a thriving human being.But love? Who can get tired of being loved and having good done to and for you? So, we send love out that we may receive love in turn which fills us up to overflowing that we send even more love back out to receive even more back in. Love enlivens a soul; feeds upon itself; and becomes a shining light that nourishes others like itself around it.Put plainly, hatred is born of anything that poisons or defiles the soul and love is born of anything that purifies and enlivens the soul.Love that which is good, for even your enemies have some good in them. Even they can know love.And hate that which causes defilement or poisoning; that being sinful practices.Sin, when translated from the Hebrew means ‘to miss the mark’. So, we sin every time we do something that is not done out of love for the person to whom it is done, and it is not done out of love for God.God Bless you and Keep you always.Amen.
How does one know that life isn't all an elaborate lie?
A lie is something which is not true. Truth is simply an adequately accurate description of the way things are. So a lie is a description of the way things are that is demonstrably false. That is to say that the description does not accurately correspond to some salient and observable or measurable or verifiable feature of reality. Life itself cannot be a lie it is what it is however you can describe life inaccurately so in order to answer this question you need to describe what you think life is and then we can compare your description with what we can observe about life and decide if it is demonstrably false (our definition of a lie) or not. But remember only a description of life can be a lie not life itself.