Philosopher Rene Descartes in his chapter “Meditation 1: What Can Be Called Into Doubt”, brought to light a highly debated philosophical question, which is how do we know when we are dreaming versus when we are in reality? Descartes begins his ‘Dream Argument’with observing how his activities and observations within his dreams are consistently similar to what he experiences in his daily life. Additionally, he states that everything within his dreams are life-like and that it can be hard to tell when he is dreaming and when he is not. Therefore, he continues by asking the question of whether people can actually tell their dreams versus reality and if they cannot, should they ever trust their senses. In other words, if people never quite know
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However, there are multiple ‘reality checks’ a person could perform to test which state they are in. For example, a simple reality check would be to try and do something that is practically impossible in reality that would not cause harm to the person, such as trying to push your fingers through your palm or even attempting to float off of the ground. Another reliable reality check a person could perform would be to read text or numbers. If the text or numbers change while a person is reading them or when they reread them, then it is highly likely that that person is dreaming. This is a highly reliable reality check because “text in dreams changes 75% of the time it is re-read once and changes 95% it is re-read twice”, according to the Lucidity Institute. If a person is able to rountinley keep up these reality checks throughout the day, when they are in the state of reality, then eventually a person will start performing these reality checks in their dream out of habit. As an effect, this person will also likely become a persistent lucid dreamer, which means that they will know when they are in a dreaming state. Therefore, with simple and consistent reality checks, a person has the ability to tell whether they are in reality or if they are in a dreaming state and does not have to be skeptical about which state they are
However, there are multiple ‘reality checks’ a person could perform to test which state they are in. For example, a simple reality check would be to try and do something that is practically impossible in reality that would not cause harm to the person, such as trying to push your fingers through your palm or even attempting to float off of the ground. Another reliable reality check a person could perform would be to read text or numbers. If the text or numbers change while a person is reading them or when they reread them, then it is highly likely that that person is dreaming. This is a highly reliable reality check because “text in dreams changes 75% of the time it is re-read once and changes 95% it is re-read twice”, according to the Lucidity Institute. If a person is able to rountinley keep up these reality checks throughout the day, when they are in the state of reality, then eventually a person will start performing these reality checks in their dream out of habit. As an effect, this person will also likely become a persistent lucid dreamer, which means that they will know when they are in a dreaming state. Therefore, with simple and consistent reality checks, a person has the ability to tell whether they are in reality or if they are in a dreaming state and does not have to be skeptical about which state they are