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by marie44 on October 5th, 2006

marie44

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What actually exists? are we even real? sure we can touch and feel things, but we can do that when we dream. so does that mean that we are actually living two lifes. the one we think is real and live everyday. and then one while we sleep? nothing is real.

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  • by Stableboy on October 6th, 2006

    Stableboy

    This is an interesting question to many people, because often we don't challenge our common-sense ideas about reality.

    Here's the short version: reality exists. That is to say "something is definitely happening", there isn't just nothingness (if there was nothingness, you would not be experiencing the reading of this statement).

    The question that nags us is "well, what is reality?". The answer that's most available and obvious is "reality is your immediate experience." In other words, whatever experience you are having at this moment is the only thing you can be absolutely sure is real. Everything else is "second hand" knowledge of some sort, because its all based on concept, conditioning, and memory.

    Descartes is famous for having asked this question aggressively, looking for some solid basis in which to ground his philosophy. What he came up with is "I think, therefore I am." This answer is now widely regarded as flawed, because the "I" part is quite doubtful actually.

    In other words, its obvious that *thinking* is occuring, because that's something observable in each moment's experience. But the "I" in his statement just pops into existence without precedent: on what basis did Descartes conclude that he had a "self" which is doing the thinking?

    So no, you cannot be sure that "we" are real in the usual naive sense of the word. "Self" is a concept, just like "cup" or "automobile". But you can be sure that there are a lot of thoughts and body sensations going on, and you can be sure that breathing is occurring, etc.

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