by marie44 on October 5th, 2006

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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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Answers. 10 helpful answers below.

by Anonymous on October 6th, 2006
Forklifts exist. Forklifts are very real. Everything else derives its reality from that of forklifts.
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- interesting theory.
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  by lady fuschia on October 6th, 2006
- I find that answer curiously uplifting.
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  by Stableboy on October 6th, 2006
- Nice answer. LOL
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  by Anonymous on January 20th, 2008
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by Sandra5 on October 5th, 2006
A French philosopher came up with this answer to your question: I think, therefore I am. (Because we can think about the world, we do exist.)

No, we do not live two lives. Our minds create a complete--or incomplete--scenario when we dream. Dreaming is a way of dealing with what happened during the real, awake part of the day. We have fears, emotions, and desires, which come out in dreams.

You are precious, special and important because God made you that way, and nothing anyone can say or do can ever change that. And nothing you can say or do can change it. Saying nothing is real does not make it true. Proof you are real is that you ask such an important question.
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- Descartes. He said "Cogito ergo sum", Latin for 'I think, therefore I am". And he was killed as a blasphemer by the church. So much for 'God made you that way'.
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  by Ullyses on October 6th, 2006
- Trouble is, he put Descartes before de Horse
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  by Stableboy on October 6th, 2006
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by Constel on October 27th, 2006
I to have this feeling. It's weird. O.o
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by BAM@Cyberscrewed.tk on October 20th, 2006
This question is absurd, there is no way to tell. It takes a powerful mind just to wrap yourself around this question and a dangerously powerful mind to solve it. In this day and age, none such exists and won't for an indefinate amount of time.
Millions of theories exist but these are still just theories, there is not a single grain of evidence to built reference on. Don't even trouble yourself, unless you are in prison, criminally insane, or retired, you don't have the time and/or resources to even ponder things of this magnitude.
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- if we didnt ponder these things then what would be the purpose of living. to only think only about the things you see everyday? i want more purpose in my life than only concerning myself with money and time.
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  by marie44 on October 22nd, 2006
- The problem with people like you is that your inability to see a mind of a significant magnitude to solve such a problem as other than dangerous simply because it is more than you can conceive of... Are you surprised that you are unaware of (possible) solutions to posited problem? You don't give a five-yr-old your car keys either. Those who, as marie sorrows over, only care about money and possessions, are stuck in a mind-space where such matters can be, and are, their only concern..
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  by ... on April 19th, 2007
- Aha, and who exactly is "people like me"? I have the ability to think about such mysteries of the universe but you are right, I do not trouble myself with them. Why? There's not much I can do, I've come too close to being commited to dive deep into a theoretical/philosophical world of chaos theory and speculation. Once of my favorite composers, Robert Schumann supposably went insane from merely one measly little music note. Unless someone kicks down my door and tells me to swallow the red pill, I doubt much will change in my train of thought. Science has been goaded over the years by various groups, whenever a new idea comes forth the thinker is sold off as crazy, remember Galileo? Imprisoned in his own home on suspicion to commit heresy when he dissagreed with, what was thought to be, the truth.
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  by BAM@Cyberscrewed.tk on April 19th, 2007
- ability supposed or real is not even half the equation, more is the courage needed to reject everything others believe just because they believe it. if you don't trouble yourself, then you will continue to be hemmed in by fears, that of others' ridicule for being controversial, which also stems from their fear of innovation and your own..... everdecreasing circles are not my forte. you however, in avoiding the thjoughts that you fear would have commited you to a mental hospital, have confined yourself to the larger padded room of others' thoughtways...
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  by ... on April 29th, 2007
- If you say so, I would rather not spend any more time attempting to convince you of my comprehension abilities and open mindedness. I do not fear the sanitarium, you could argue anyone in these times could be wrongly committed.
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  by BAM@Cyberscrewed.tk on April 30th, 2007
- If you did not on some level fear a mind DifferenT enough to comprehend such aforementioned problems you would not consider its power dangerous. Without needing concrete evidence either way one could safely assume that if a either such a mind (capable) exists it is sufficiently detached not to bother noticeably to the general population interfering with regards to what exists etc, or, due to your insistence that it is frightening, out of consideration to those unable to comprehend and therefore fearful of- remains mainly undisclosed, or that it in fact does not exist. It was not the sanitarium that i was referring to, it was in fact the entire sum of the 'combined accepted' sum total of conventionally accepted reality... It is one thing to understand that others have differing values, another thing entirely to accept them all, put them togther in a cohesive picture, put that aside, and form your own beliefs unregarding unrelating to everything you have learned before and yet not simply rejecting for the sake of it; then to hold two or more conflicting? 'realities' without holding one (others' usually) as superior or more 'real'...
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  by ... on May 3rd, 2007
- "conventionally accepted reality" is hardly reality. You do not need to fear something to know it's dangerous, that can be written as 'respect' or 'common sense'.
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  by BAM@Cyberscrewed.tk on May 3rd, 2007
- simply because something is capable of being dangerous does not mean it is threatening. remember, with great power comes great responsibility; those that do not take this into account are more likely than not to spontaneously combust due to their own instability. But, Galileo had the mental strength and courage to openly deny 'conventionally accepted reality'.... accusing some-one of having thoughts that could lead to the asylum is simply the modern-day equivalent of screaming 'heresy!' 'burn the witch!' if i were not to wonder on my own path - i & those around me would be in far more danger (as lack of innovation would indeed cause me to become... wilfully destructively) bored.... than from my inquiring mind.. No-one gave me a 'red pill'; knowledge is there for those with the will to reach out for it. and the courage to ignore other's opinions. if you do not agree with me i will still respect your decision to think as you choose. whether or not you accord to me the same courtesy our realities will diverge on the point in question at least; however if you attempt to convince me of your correctness at the expense of mine i will do all that i can to avoid, and then defend against imposition of ideas that i know to be detrimental to the integrity of my mind, as strange as it may be to others i do not care, 'cos i made it & it works for me.... make up your own mind!
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  by ... on May 11th, 2007
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by Stableboy on October 6th, 2006
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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- wow. Just, wow.
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  by lady fuschia on October 6th, 2006
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by SalientAlien on November 25th, 2009
I refute it thus: *types this answer and clicks 'submit'*
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by Anonymous on January 23rd, 2008
Reality... Okay, how's about this. Why care? I mean, do you belive you exist? Do you think you exist? Is the fact that you are "living life" not good enough for you to just accept whatever it is, even if it is not real? How do you tell and why should you care? Seriously, the question is inherently meaningless. If questions like these are asked, it gets us nowhere. You wrote it, so to me you're real, ven if this state isn't "reality" It's good enough for me to belive I'm alive and living. You'll just get a paranoid headache if you think all this matrix stuff. My advice, just wing it, live and try to do well for yourself. because as far as we know, these 70 or so years are all we have. Why waste them?
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by babyghost on January 23rd, 2008
Hi !
We are all made up of atoms. we exist and we are real.I myself wonder about these 2 different existences.In a self help book called `the secret' they talk about the universe as a live being and its constantly on the move. when you think of the world like that, it makes you wonder how small are we in comparison to everything else that exists.
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by zocool on November 25th, 2009
see we have souls and our souls are what maks us real. and the dream world that you see some of us dont. dreaming is more of a wish in your mind that is comes true in your dreams but not real life. since we can feel in our dreams that just proves how much more of the mind we have to inlock and figure out. i can prove we are real. (do you bleed in your dreams)
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by Anonymous on January 20th, 2008
I read this before. "Any thing we remember exists only in our heads. Therefore is not real. The future exists only in our plans and therefore it is not real. Also there is a slight time lag from when we sense something and actually become intellctually aware of it. So any intellectually conceived object is not real. Reality is the moment before you sense the world. Well that is an atempt to explain when reality is but doesn't do any thing to explain what it is. Besides it's just a theroy and imposiible to prove. So it's pointless to think of such things. Still it can be fun.
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