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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.

By marie44 Asked Oct 5 2006 10:38PM
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Top Answer out of 8

by Sandra5 on Oct 5, 2006 at 11:11 pm Permalink

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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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Avatar Ullyses Oct, 06 2006 at 12:35 AM
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'.
Avatar Stableboy Oct, 06 2006 at 11:53 AM
Trouble is, he put Descartes before de Horse

Answer 2 out of 8

by Anonymous on Oct 6, 2006 at 12:30 am Permalink

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  Forklifts exist.  Forklifts are very real.  Everything else derives its reality from that of forklifts.
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Avatar lady fuschia Oct, 06 2006 at 01:58 AM
interesting theory.
Avatar Stableboy Oct, 06 2006 at 06:07 AM
I find that answer curiously uplifting.
Avatar Anonymous Jan, 20 2008 at 10:57 AM
Nice answer. LOL

Answer 3 out of 8

by Constel on Oct 27, 2006 at 2:20 pm Permalink

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I to have this feeling. It's weird. O.o
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Answer 4 out of 8

by BAM@Cyberscrewed.tk on Oct 20, 2006 at 7:25 pm Permalink

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This answer was last edited on: Apr 19, 2007
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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Avatar ... May, 03 2007 at 02:28 AM
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'...
Avatar BAM@Cyberscrewed.tk May, 03 2007 at 01:29 PM
"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'.
Avatar ... May, 11 2007 at 12:38 AM
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!

Answer 5 out of 8

by Stableboy on Oct 6, 2006 at 6:17 am Permalink

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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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Avatar lady fuschia Oct, 06 2006 at 06:21 AM
wow. Just, wow.

Answer 6 out of 8

by babyghost on Jan 23, 2008 at 3:21 am Permalink

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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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Answer 7 out of 8

by Anonymous on Jan 23, 2008 at 3:06 am Permalink

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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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Answer 8 out of 8

by Anonymous on Jan 20, 2008 at 11:04 am Permalink

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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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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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