Reality and the mind

[Noema]

Have you ever experienced something you couldn’t explain, or had a dream that disturbed you because it felt so real? Have you ever tried to explain this to anyone only to be told that you have “an over-active imagination”?

Since everyone perceives everything in their mind, “reality” can only ever be what our minds make it, so that what seems real to us is real. Do you agree that if more people accepted this, they might be kinder and more tolerant to one another?

Are you willing to help make this happen by sharing your own experiences of your reality with others who will not judge or criticise it but will accept it on its own terms?

 

[Galateasdream]

Yes.

In my experiments with lucid dreaming I had one lucid dream that was incredibly realistic, and I got sort of caught up in a short series of false wakings (I thought I woke but was still dreaming). When I finally awoke for real it was about half an hour before I was confident I still wasn't dreaming. It made me feel weird for about a week afterwards.

I've also had hyper-realistic lucid dreams where it seems everything is 'heightened' - colours more vivid etc (a bit like being on psychedelics). They're really good

 

[Darkforbid]

Everyday of my childhood, with additional problem Sleep paralysis

 

[SalixIncendium]

Yes. I call it maya.

You can actually jump to Advaita Vedanta's conceptualization for more specifics on how I view maya.

 

[ChristineM]

Many years ago i got into serious difficulty that i am not willing to discuss. For a long time after I would wake up screaming, the nightmares were so real. As time passed the nightmares reduced and now i can go for months without having one. In my mind they were as vivid as reality, i am glad to say they were/are only dreams

Reality is real, our minds perceive it, without our minds the reality is still there.

 

[Galateasdream]

without our minds the reality is still there

That seems to be a matter of ongoing conjecture:

 

[Aupmanyav]

Have you ever experienced something you couldn’t explain, ..
Since everyone perceives everything in their mind, “reality” can only ever be what our minds make it, so that what seems real to us is real.
Are you willing to help make this happen by sharing your own experiences of your reality with others ..

No. Never. Dreams are dreams. Nothing to get disturbed about.
While that is true, but science and analysis helps one to get over the illusions.
I am not afraid of criticism. The reality which I have arrived at is through science and Advaita Hinduism. The universe began at a point with energy and space, sort of bubble, which kept expanding. Whatever exists in this universe humans, living beings, non-living things, dark energy and dark matter, all have its origin in that bubble.

 

[Audie]

Have you ever experienced something you couldn’t explain, or had a dream that disturbed you because it felt so real? Have you ever tried to explain this to anyone only to be told that you have “an over-active imagination”?

Since everyone perceives everything in their mind, “reality” can only ever be what our minds make it, so that what seems real to us is real. Do you agree that if more people accepted this, they might be kinder and more tolerant to one another?

Are you willing to help make this happen by sharing your own experiences of your reality with others who will not judge or criticise it but will accept it on its own terms?

I saw something one time thay was "not of this earth".
Much later I told a couple of people who I thought
would at least believe me, but what was it?

Dreams, yeah, like with my sis Christine, of
the worst sort, hard to break free of them,
spilling their aftertaste into the rest of the day.

I suppose some get lucky with inspirational
dreams?

 

[ChristineM]

That seems to be a matter of ongoing conjecture:

Reality was here for billions of years before humans came along and i imagined they imagine it. It does not need a mind to make reality real.

However reality will often throw up an oddball who's greed wishes to dupe people by profiting off the their pet ideas.

Hoffman's "theory" is not a theory at all in the true sense, it is a hypothesis with no scientific backing, it is unverifiable and unfalsifiable.

No real conjuncture needed for that

 

[BSM1]

My wife and I had the exact same dream one night. We had both drifted off to sleep in different rooms, so we weren't even next to each other. The dream would have meant very little to others, but what we heard, saw, and experienced in the dream held a very deep meaning for us.

 

[Audie]

My wife and I had the exact same dream one night. We had both drifted off to sleep in different rooms, so we weren't even next to each other. The dream would have meant very little to others, but what we heard, saw, and experienced in the dream held a very deep meaning for us.

I do believe in some sort of dream telepathy because of same-dream.

 

[BSM1]

I do believe in some sort of dream telepathy because of same-dream.

This was very real, explicit, and weird. Neither of us had ever had anything like this happen before or after that night.

 

[Galateasdream]

@ChristineM
My ability to cope with cognitive science quantum physics is extremely limited to say the least, so I really can't say whether you are correct or not in your assessment of Hoffman's ideas.

I just thought they were interesting, and since people far smarter than me struggle with various interpretations of QP that involve a role for consciousness, and struggle with what consciousness is etc and seriously debate issues like idealism, panpsychism, quantum consciousness, and other stuff well beyond my tiny brain, I'm just gonna go with 'conjecture' and shrug. I'm too stupid to handle this sort of stuff.

 

[Thief]

I awoke to find myself on my back
I NEVER sleep on my back
no matter how exhausted and worn
even when training myself to do so......no

but I awoke with my hands on my chest
laying flat ….corner to corner on the bed
the pillow tucked neatly under my head and to my shoulders
the red blanket under my hands was drawn smooth
to the left and right
over my feet
not a wrinkle

the dream that woke me was quick and simple
I took one step to go about my affairs....and Someone took hold of my arm to stop me
I turned to confront
and it was Death
with boney fingers gripping my forearm

It was wearing the bright red blanket as hood and cape

so I woke.....and found myself laid to rest on my bed
like a dead man in a coffin

and my right arm was numb

this event took place....ten years after a car accident that should have killed me​

 

[Quintessence]

I mean, yes, but I voted no because it in no way disturbs me. It's simply normal and I don't exactly follow my culture's paradigm of "reality is this limited slice of stuff here" thing.

 

[Nakosis]

So I was dreaming ai was in my house walking through it, went into the garage and saw an evil presence in the rafters. I freaked out and tried to run out of the garage back into the house. Was having trouble grasping the door handle. So being very frightened I put a lot of intent/will into grabbing the doorknob. Finally got a hold of it and threw open the door to escape into the house. Woke up right at that moment kind of relieved to realize it was only a dream.

Got up went down stairs found my kids sitting on the couch with the TV on. which sits next to the door to the garage. They were frightened. I asked what was wrong. They told me moments before I came down stairs the door to the garage had flew opened by itself startling them. They looked into the garage but there was no one inside it. Both kids swore this just happened. Told them about the dream I had just had.

It was weird at the time, they still remember but we don't talk about it as we've no explanation.

 

[Noema]

Today, our words for visual/ auditory experiences unique to the person having them – “dreams” or “visions” – have acquired connotations of unreality. But does that reflect our technological/scientific-oriented society, and if so, is it as simple as that?

In 1858, Bernadette Soubirous’ visions of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes, France, were declared authentic by the Church. If today a 14-year old girl said that she had had “visions” as Saint Bernadette did, wouldn’t the mere use of that word make it difficult for them to be accepted as authentic, instead of being seen as fantasy or even the result of mental illness, even though millions of people today do genuinely venerate the Virgin Mary?