Reality
In everyday life, reality is hardly questioned; if one can see it, hear it, touch it or perceive it through any other sense, then that thing is accepted to be real. However, this simple reality test is by no means reliable and is conducted under the complete trust in our human sensors. This may be why we as a human race find it hard to understand thing like space-time and antimatter because although theorised and somewhat proved, it moves beyond what our human sensors can detect. Rather, it moves into enhanced machinery and the imagination of the human brain. With this in mind, how we define real cannot be restricted to material things, and we must contemplate the reality of the mind, …show more content…
The movie Inception, by Christopher Nolan, presents the idea of using dreams to create a reality in which ideas can be planted in ones’ mind. In the film, it is clear that dreams become almost impossible to differentiate from reality for the dreamer. In fact, the ‘idea’ that even our waking world may be a dream can be perceived to undermine the entire film. Two points can be discussed from this statement that help to summarise both dreams and reality. Firstly, are ideas real? And secondly, how does reality become separate from a dream, if at all? By referring back to Descartes and the theories of empiricism and rationalism, a common point of view is one in which ideas, being thoughts cannot be doubted. In regards to the second question, it is understood that unless in a state of lucidness (being aware of dreaming while dreaming), it is impossible for a dreamer to differentiate a dream from real life while in a dream. In reference to personal dreams, I have observed that it is almost impossible for one to recognise that the ‘reality’ created during a dream is in fact a dream. Lucid dreamers claim that there is a recognisable difference between the two, but there is no evidence that suggests that a dreamed reality is any more real than the waking reality we live
In everyday life, reality is hardly questioned; if one can see it, hear it, touch it or perceive it through any other sense, then that thing is accepted to be real. However, this simple reality test is by no means reliable and is conducted under the complete trust in our human sensors. This may be why we as a human race find it hard to understand thing like space-time and antimatter because although theorised and somewhat proved, it moves beyond what our human sensors can detect. Rather, it moves into enhanced machinery and the imagination of the human brain. With this in mind, how we define real cannot be restricted to material things, and we must contemplate the reality of the mind, …show more content…
The movie Inception, by Christopher Nolan, presents the idea of using dreams to create a reality in which ideas can be planted in ones’ mind. In the film, it is clear that dreams become almost impossible to differentiate from reality for the dreamer. In fact, the ‘idea’ that even our waking world may be a dream can be perceived to undermine the entire film. Two points can be discussed from this statement that help to summarise both dreams and reality. Firstly, are ideas real? And secondly, how does reality become separate from a dream, if at all? By referring back to Descartes and the theories of empiricism and rationalism, a common point of view is one in which ideas, being thoughts cannot be doubted. In regards to the second question, it is understood that unless in a state of lucidness (being aware of dreaming while dreaming), it is impossible for a dreamer to differentiate a dream from real life while in a dream. In reference to personal dreams, I have observed that it is almost impossible for one to recognise that the ‘reality’ created during a dream is in fact a dream. Lucid dreamers claim that there is a recognisable difference between the two, but there is no evidence that suggests that a dreamed reality is any more real than the waking reality we live