Is Life Real?

[spliffwizard]

i went to town one afternoon, and i was waiting for my friends at the square. My cousin and I saw a random book lying beside a statue so we decided to pick it up and have a look. it is a philosophy book written by some weird easteren philsopher or something. I thought it was quite interesting then i carry on reading. i couldnt remember much, but the message it wants to carry out is the life that we are all living nowis not real, for instance, every night you go to sleep and you dream about things, but in those dreams, its physically impossible to remember things that are exsited in real life, or you wont be able to remember stuff that you really gotta do in real life; and when you wake up, you forget about what you dreamt about, you forget about everything that you had in your dreams.


Perphas the real life that we are living in just seems more real than dreaming or high on drugs, it is nothing more than this.

Find solid proof and ill go with you on that one.

[white_lighter]

yes find this book i would like to see it myeslf

[maxmoe]

Here is a nice quote from Philip K. Dick:



"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

[spliffwizard]

it wont prove anything if i found that book anyway, cos anyone could have written that shit and no one could really prove life is real or not, isn't it?

[white_lighter]

no thats not the point im just curious to see what it has to say its always good to see things in otheres views

[Woodman]

You might enjoy reading the Upanishads.

[Nicaine]

Answer to the basic question:



(1) You'd have to define 'reality' first.



(2) If life weren't real, any definition you came up with would be a dream definition, and thus not real.



(3) So we can't even get past the definition of 'real', let alone determine anything about life.

[P!MPJU!C3]

Ill do it by Nicaine steps. They seem wise and i would like 2 find out where one would strand.



1. real is what you believe is real. Real is subjective.



2. Life is not real and not fake ACCORDING 2 me.

Life is SUREAL because all these weird things keep happening that just can not be explained by calculations.



3 We got past real i think, in its most general form.

We would have to say 4 the moment about life that it is surreal because we can not proof that it is real nor that it is unreal.

[soer]

i often think that i could be in a coma .. i could be lying on some hospital bed now with people looking over me . what i am now is jus a figment of my imagination . i might look completely different . sometimes if i hear something or see something and cant tell where its coming from or whats producing it, i think that it could possibly be the ppl in the hospital calling me .. or some machine prodding me to keep me alive or checking to see if ill wake.....

[GIR_]

What I have always thought on this subject is that what is real will never be known to us. In the scheme of things we for all we will ever know could be dreaming now we could be someone elses dream. Or as my one friend said after watching men in black too many times. our universe is a pimple on someone's back. The important thing is that we enjoy the reality that is given to us and if some other reality is shown to us we should enjoy that one too. Maybe thats what causes schizophrenia, knowing too much about nes reality

[nicholson_tyler]

What is this book called, and the author...BTW, ive also always wondered ifmaybe im in some sort of coma, and your all figments of my amagination.. But then i realized i am only half right.. in "reality" you are in the coma, and i am a figment of YOUR amagination. Makes my life seem so much less stressful to realize im just a figment of someones amagination.. Either drugs have helped us think outside the box and get a step closer to the truth.. or have just fucked us allllllllllllllllll up.. lol

[maxmoe]

What about Occams Razor. All these recursive explanations for reality are to convoluted. I am part of someone's dream etc.. etc.. ad infinitum. What really gets me is why is there anything at all? Would it not be better if nothing existed?

[grecian]

Originally Posted by Guest

Find solid proof and ill go with you on that one.

This will be impossible for spliffwizard to do as the basis for the philisophical theory (known as gloabal scepticism) that he seems to be referring to is that there is no proof for anything. Basically anything* that we "know" in this worldwe "know" through our sensory perception and we assume that this is correct. However, it is accepted by (most) philosophers that the world that you and i know (or think we know) is not necessarily real. The evil demon/brain in a vat/matrix theory serves to confirm this as it would be impossible for anyone to know that they are not being fed sensory data by some unkown third party. I think that what spliffwizard was specifically refering to was The Arguments from Illusion. If anyone is interested in this then check out this site: http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/tok/scepticism3.htm


*The only thing that one can be sure of is one's own existence at some level. "I think therefore I am" Descartes

[Chaote]

Reaaly your on your knees infront of a bus and this is your life flashing before your eyes...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh

[steve010000]

does this apply to animals??

cos ive duiscussed this with my dog and hes a bit unsure of where he stands (or if he is even standing)



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[Woodman]

Originally Posted by steve010000

does this apply to
animals??

Reminds me of a question posed by a college
professor:

"Does a 'Dog' have Buddha consciousness?"

To which I sarcastically replied, "Show me the dog."

He thought I was a genius.
Go figure!
----------------------------------------------------

As far as life being "REAL" or not I can only tell you
that I've spent no small amount of time studying
asian philosophy and Tibetans believe that life is an
illusion.

Tibetans are buddhist, and Buddha was a hindu; so
if you REALLY want to learn more you might start by
reading the Bhagavad Gitah. Edited by: woodman

[djryand]

Basically it all boils down to experience. We are all experiencing life. These experiences are happening, so they exist. I question reality all the damn time, and I am now trying just to enjoy the experience without always questioning. In our lives we will never know the ultimate truth. Maybe after we die....

[grecian]

[QUOTE=djryand]I am now trying just to enjoy the experience without always questioning.QUOTE]


But is it really better to live in the dark cavewithout questioning what is in the outside world?


even if we will never know

[philoscybin]

"Tibetans are buddhist, and Buddha was a hindu; so
if you REALLY want to learn more you might start by
reading the Bhagavad Gitah"


Buddha actually rebelled against Hinduism, much like they say Jesus did with Judaism. Most of whathe disagreed with upon Hinduism was the concept of caste systems and the worshipping of supernatural entities such as god/s. Some might say he was an atheist, but it was more so that he stoically refrained from even considering the existence/non-existence of a god, as the question was irrelevant.

[Woodman]

philoscybin, Yes, the life & times of Siddhartha
Gautama are indeed interesting.

As far as how it addresses the topic question, I'm
unsure. Not interested in engaging in academic
discourse, I'm just saying that Tibetian Buddhism
holds that life is an illusion and Tibetians are the
only culture to preserve the majority of original
buddhist philosophy and traditions, certainly more
than any other sect.

On a side note: Tibetian/Tamang women are very
pretty, always well groomed and colorfully dressed.
Make you want to be a buddhist.

GTG

[Alfa]

Reality is a variable and fluctuant.

[Woodman]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Reality is a variable and
fluctuant.

Ah, yes as an adjective this is true, but what is
"reality" as a noun?Edited by: woodman

[steve010000]

the real explanation of life that 'it just happened' or 'because it can'

is the one that feels the most right.

so can we all get over 2005 years or religon and get back on with our lives please!! *beg*

[djryand]

Grecian,

IMO, it is ok to question, but not to let it dictate your life or drive you mad in your head. We can only hope that answers will be revealed when we die.