In a Dream
In being able to understand if my subjective perceptions as real, I must first ask if the things I perceive exist external of my being or of my being. It is indeed very possible that my mind is the only thing that exists, that the world I perceive is but one of my own creation. Even if Immanuel Kant’s ideas are correct about sensation, even he admits sensation is a way we experience reality subjectively.
This begs the question of what it would mean if the world I understand is of my own creation. In this understanding, all cause and effect are created, using time to organize the processes observed through perception. With this in mind, a world of my own creation would mean that all people, places, and things exist as created relationships I use to organize my world. Some people might presume that such a world of self-creation would be a utopia, and thereby conclude that because of conflict existing that it is not possible. However, it is also possible that you could create conflict for yourself, especially if it serves a subconscious motivation. Thereby it is unlikely that I would be able to change my world in ways that seem more cooperative, if only because I have created conflict in a way that benefits me as well.
If I am able to create a reality experience in my mind, and I am able to contemplate the concept, it is possible that I might chose to reject the reality. But it is improbable that I would do so because I created the reality and its rules for some reason or another. Even at it’s most miserable, my world offers challenges that force me to improve myself. To use a metaphor, rejecting a created reality would be like waking up from a dream; even if I reject its reality, it is still a useful sensational experience in some way. Because you cannot create something without a purpose it serves, even if that purpose is to induce sensations of admiration, it would follow that a created reality serves a purpose like the things within it. For that reason alone, it is unlikely that I would deconstruct something that there are reasons I constructed.
Even if I reject the reality I have created in my mind, it is still possible there is an objective world that exists separate of my mind. This is not to say the objective world is a different way of perceiving the reality I construct, but a reality I exist in like a layer beneath this one. This world might be considered a higher reality, similar to the sense of a higher existence many religions attempt to describe.
All things considered, if I knew for sure that everything I perceive as reality is actually the product of my mind’s imagination, I don’t believe I would think or act any differently in it. After all, I have created all that I can understand in my reality for some reason. Because I cannot know for sure that my reality is not just the byproduct of my mind, I must act in accordance that I exist in an objective one. But if I do create my world, like I do in dreams, I am creating the actions and reactions that allow me to interact purposefully. For this reason, knowledge of the possibility changes nothing you have constructed, nor motivate the deconstruction thereof. I do not see any reason not to act in my own self-interest and continue acting in the interest of others who could merely be figments of my imagination. I would not expect to wake up anytime soon, unless the dream has somehow served its purpose.
This begs the question of what it would mean if the world I understand is of my own creation. In this understanding, all cause and effect are created, using time to organize the processes observed through perception. With this in mind, a world of my own creation would mean that all people, places, and things exist as created relationships I use to organize my world. Some people might presume that such a world of self-creation would be a utopia, and thereby conclude that because of conflict existing that it is not possible. However, it is also possible that you could create conflict for yourself, especially if it serves a subconscious motivation. Thereby it is unlikely that I would be able to change my world in ways that seem more cooperative, if only because I have created conflict in a way that benefits me as well.
If I am able to create a reality experience in my mind, and I am able to contemplate the concept, it is possible that I might chose to reject the reality. But it is improbable that I would do so because I created the reality and its rules for some reason or another. Even at it’s most miserable, my world offers challenges that force me to improve myself. To use a metaphor, rejecting a created reality would be like waking up from a dream; even if I reject its reality, it is still a useful sensational experience in some way. Because you cannot create something without a purpose it serves, even if that purpose is to induce sensations of admiration, it would follow that a created reality serves a purpose like the things within it. For that reason alone, it is unlikely that I would deconstruct something that there are reasons I constructed.
Even if I reject the reality I have created in my mind, it is still possible there is an objective world that exists separate of my mind. This is not to say the objective world is a different way of perceiving the reality I construct, but a reality I exist in like a layer beneath this one. This world might be considered a higher reality, similar to the sense of a higher existence many religions attempt to describe.
All things considered, if I knew for sure that everything I perceive as reality is actually the product of my mind’s imagination, I don’t believe I would think or act any differently in it. After all, I have created all that I can understand in my reality for some reason. Because I cannot know for sure that my reality is not just the byproduct of my mind, I must act in accordance that I exist in an objective one. But if I do create my world, like I do in dreams, I am creating the actions and reactions that allow me to interact purposefully. For this reason, knowledge of the possibility changes nothing you have constructed, nor motivate the deconstruction thereof. I do not see any reason not to act in my own self-interest and continue acting in the interest of others who could merely be figments of my imagination. I would not expect to wake up anytime soon, unless the dream has somehow served its purpose.