Bright Copper Kettles

If only life was a dream.
 

You must be asleep, then, David.
 

and then there is the idea that the people who are asleep are the ones who are unaware it is a dream.
 

Well then here's a question. If life is a dream, then what is reality?

I can stop my dreams, restart them, change them and wake up from them. None of which I can do to life. Life continues in a linear fashion, unlike any dream I've ever had. Though, I have had part 2 of a dream years after part 1.
 

If life is a dream, then what is reality?

Hmmm...I don't know - I am just exploring ideas. At the moment I think what we think of as everyday life is a part of reality but not all of reality. Just like those dreams we have in sleep are a part of life. That is what I get out of "life is but a dream." Or something like that. I guess I am thinking about "dream" in a very broad sense and not sticking to just one dictionary definition.

Maybe "reality" is more than we perceive. And that reality is different for everyone because they perceive it differently.

I can stop my dreams, restart them, change them and wake up from them.

Hmm... you are better at dreaming than I am! I think I cannot do those things with my dreams, yet you can. Is it possible that life is life that too in some ways?

None of which I can do to life.
But theoretically you can stop your life. And you can change your life by making decisions and changing what you think and do.

Life continues in a linear fashion, unlike any dream I've ever had.

I am not that experienced with dreams. Usually I don't remember dreaming at all. The ones I remember seem to be linear though, although totally weird in other ways.

Though, I have had part 2 of a dream years after part 1.

That is strange!
 

Well, on some level you are correct in that life is just a part of a much greater reality. I think what gets me going on comparing life to a dream is the implication that nothing we do matters, just like in a dream nothing matters particularly much. You can kill someone close to you in a dream, and the next morning you wake up and they are very much alive as an example. Life is far more real than that - what we do can have very permanent consequences.

I like the idea that we are in exile here, this is not our natural reality but it is one we have to live in and it is one we have to succeed in to get back to where our true home is.

I've also only recently (last few years) had a lot more control over my dreams. Most of the time I try not to actively engage in them on that level, unless something comes up in them that makes me take notice.