How would I know if this so called "reality" is actually real?

Question

When I have dreams I think its really my reality and accept as it is. Then when I wake up I'm back into the "reality" I really live in. How do I know that this right now is real. I just rack my brain to figure it all out. What if I'm just in a deep coma and this is just one elaborate dream like the movie the Matrix or Vanilla Sky.

Answer 1

Reality is not real. It is what our mind makes and pretends to be real. If your mind tells you that it is reality then you will believe it is reality. What if we are dead, but we live in a world that is the world of the dead, but to us we appear to be alive? (The Sixth Sense.) Bruce Willis doesn't realize he is dead. Our mind is very powerful, so if we were born and all our parents were ever told was taught to us, isn't it possible we are all denying the accurate truths? Denial is a very powerful tool. What if when we dream we are in the "reality" of life, but when we awake it is all a fantasy? Have you ever seen "The Island"? It is a world of clones for people in the "real world". What if we are living in a world like that? I guess these are all philosophical ways to look at your question, but I guess my answer would be reality is what you believe it is. If you believe that this is reality then that is YOUR reality. If I believe that my dreams are MY reality then they are. It is all the power of the minds and the power of belief.

Answer 2

You don’t unfortunately. Your brain is very complex. It has the ability to consciously and subconsciously create elaborate situations and environments. Your mind is always adapting, trying to make the world as easy as it can be so that it may function optimally.

Think about the situation where our eyes send the message to our brain that the world is actually upside down. Our brain then computes the information very rapidly and then reverses everything to make it much simpler. I believe in some aspects - our reality is made up by our brain. But then... you must pose the question... what is reality....

Reality is what our brains make the world out to be based on our past experiences & current experiences. As Allen Watts once put it - "the world is a complex module made up of Yes and No's". Our conscious side of our brain gives us the free will of choosing what is yes and what is no, while our subconscious side is something we do not have control over.

As once mentioned in the past we as humans only use 10% of our brain - however it is my own theory that the other 90% is subconscious activity. I also think that when we are in our dream like state - the subconscious runs wild and at this time gets it "day in the sun". Meaning it has no conscious to contend with. And so when we are awake - our conscious is in control... consciously filtering what our subconscious makes up - thus making our own reality.

In conclusion - I would like to say that after stating what I have stated - remember you choose your own reality. Yes you may be in a coma or you may be in the matrix. You choose... what your reality is. So go on.... enjoy yourself... and may you live a more 'conscious' life.

Answer 3

I agree to Simon's quote of "I think therefore I am" by Rene Descartes, stating that I have the ability to excercise my intellect and make certain judgements on events and things, therefore I can be sure of my existence as nothing can control my "thoughts". It is one of the rare philosophical truths we hold at the moment and a good find by Descartes, but this doesn't answer the question of what is reality.

Firstly, if you are questioning the difference between dreams and our "real world", there is this difference: (From Freud and a few others) Dreams are constructed by the "material" we acquire from real life situation, and therefore we could not possibly dream of a round triangle or something which has not came to our minds before, though the unconcious brain could mix and match different informations to create a "different" reality, but all mixtures could be decoded to the experiences you have seen or sensed in your "life".

Therefore, if you are seeing something entirely new in your "life" you can be sure that you are not dreaming, as your dreams can only make use of old materials.

As for reality itself. Well, according to Bernat Russell, we are NOT experiencing the reality even as we speak. Far from it. What we are experiencing are the sensory data we acquire from the reality. It basically means we are recieving light waves reflected from a chair in our sight rather than the chair itself, therefore now, we cannot have a full understanding of reality even if we assume THIS is reality.

To look at it in another way, reality is seen as an "ideal" in Plato's thoughts, reality consist of all perfect ideas that are born with us. In other words, innate. These ideas allow us to weight how "good" certain things are as we compare our ideal chair with the chair within our sight and the more we learn about the "world" we live in, the more perfect the ideas we hold becomes. This is how we learn about reality.

So in both cases, we do not actually "know" reality and it is far from what we are experiencing, but we however, strife to understand it through experience or reason.

Answer 4

There exists no proof that could answer this question. You can not prove the reality that you perceive is what you would call actual reality. Even modern science states that the world we see is but a four dimension view of a larger 11 dimensional universe (that is if you feel that M-Theory has any validity), so if this view is correct than reality as you know it is only a small percentage of what is in fact 'real'. Meaning that you in fact know nothing of reality. So once again you can not know for certain.

Answer 5

I believe, that dreams are real. And we can actually travel in our dreams, for when we have no physical body our minds are sort of set free. Being able to control and realize such freedom is a different question. And i also believe that in a sense we are in a deep coma, we have the ability to realize more of our ever awesome world around us but we choose not to, whether its because of TV, social life, work, school, etc... all of these social institutions teach us to see life very close minded. And unaware of other realities (dimensions, planes, heaven, hell, call it what you will its all the same as us.)

Answer 6

I would start by keeping a dream journel by your bed so that when you wake up you can record what you dreamt about. the reality that you wake up to is the here and now as we know it but our dreams are often a prelude of things to come. most of the dreams you have are open to different meanings and may not always play out exactly as seen but with different elements of it coming true in ways that are more then just de javu. (been there done that) my dreams are the same way they often look like a movie but dont happen that way but parts of them the "storyline' for lack of a better way to put it will often happen later in my waking reality. There is more then one level of consciousness you just have to work on accepting the reality of both of the ones you have accessed

Answer 7

Philosophically speaking, you don't know and you never will. Your subconscious mind is on an eternal quest to find out what reality is. The main job of the subconscious is to adapt the body to what it believes the current reality is. That is why we are at the top of the food chain. What is real, has been a point of philosophic conjecture since the beginning of time.

Answer 8

How do you know if this answer is really real? Is the question you asked really real? Did anyone answer? Did your answer come from your mind or the minds of others? Are you sure you don't have Alzheimers?


Love, Hope, Peace, & Christ Be With You,

Cal-el & Black Canary

Answer 9

maybe none of us know. but i'm willing to run with it. this could all be an incredibly elaborate hoax brought on by a being we don't even know exists. and since no one has a real answer as to what happens after death, maybe thats when we find out. crazy!!

Answer 10

dreams are a shadow that follow us to the state of awakened.It is like the plaster that has found a space to fill in life. and one day for you to say. It has come from within the once sleeping state.( simply put and in my opinion). have a nice day .