Torrey Braman

3/29/11
Phil. 1012 Intro to Philosophy
Dr. Mehring
Reflection Paper #7 "How can I know that I am not dreaming?"

I’ll start this question off backwards according to your questions. Is the knowledge of our
reality, that is with respect to dreaming, a trivial, and or important question? I’ve given this paper
quite more thought than I thought I would have ever since we were introduced to the topic in
class. To start off I see it fair to state my view of how our reality could possibly be playing out.
I’ve had this layout in my head since I was little and it is like this: We are here in our world, we
have grown up to give definition to everything that our world consists of; one of those being
sleep and dreaming. We supposedly have a clear idea of the difference between our nightly
slumber and our daily lives. Now, I had always thought that there could easily be a next level up
that we could be simply sleeping, and our whole lives are a simple dream.

I find this plausible for the same exact reasons that we except dreaming in our daily lives.
Had we the ability to recognize that we were dreaming, either with lucid dreaming or the awe
moments we experience as we wake up, we would come to realize that the dream that was so
fluid and made so much sense was actually sporadic and made little sense.

Now, if our life is a dream, how do we come to realize that we are dreaming; how do we
wake up? As for waking up, nobody is entirely sure. But we have everything we need realize we
are dreaming, the only question is whether or not you will accept it. We are here, right now in
our “logical” and “fluid” lives are really not as they seem; our lives are very sporadic and most
of the time events make little sense. So, can you except that you are in fact dreaming? I truly do
not know, but the truth is that I really don’t want to know. If I awaken, whether it be some sort of
heaven or afterlife, then that time will come. For know however I like what we call life and to
realize that everything I have worked for is a waste would honestly kill me.

So the question remains, is this a trivial/important question? Trivial yes, as we will never
be certain. But important, no, as even if we were able to know the truth it would be sure to leave
us empty with the hope of someday waking up to something meaningful and tangible.