13 March 2008

Would you if you could?

The first thing we discussed when Philosophy begun in October was about the "dream machine".

Essentially one would plug themselves into a programmed virtual reality, and essentially they'd be plugged in forever.

The dream machine would be programmed to a persons preferences, so that they have everything they ever wanted, on a personal level and a world level. Would you live in an altered reality forever?

It has to be said that we do already. Who really knows what is real and what isn't? I don't even believe that I am real, or my thoughts are real. The people around me amaze and astound me, and yet they are not real. Nothing is real. What I do wonder though, if everything is just a figment of the imagination, why things seem to have such a big effect on a person.

The dream machiene would not bring experience with it. Who wants to be permanently happy? The varied change in experience of our lives surely is a key to development. If there were no challenges, would there really be anything to live for? Where's the fun in that? And would a person get bored of being continuously happy? And had you not experienced sorrow, would it be real happy? For how can one truly experience ecstasy without experiencing pain and suffering?


I can understand why a person would want to live a happy life. But surely in effect the dream machine would be based on material possessions. The majority of people, at a guess, would firstly think abotu their benefits when programming their new reality. The house/car/man/woman/job they always wanted. How many people who did the programming would say my reality will be that of living in poverty in Africa. Would they even spare a thought for those in poverty? World peace is often at the tip of people's tongue, it makes them sound good after all. Ask someone what in particular they mean by this, they will probably tell you something about ending war. Is living in poverty and experiencing suffering daily living in peace?

Peace is found in the heart. You can't find it if you experience only happiness. World peace begins by finding peace in one's heart, and to find that, one must experience all that can be experienced on a roller coaster of life. Seemingly wrong decisions are just as necessary as ones that are right.



There are so many people roaming now, who spend so much time trying to work out who they are. For most people it seems the way to finding who you are is by finding what you are not. Just ask....if you don't know what you are, how can you know what you are not? You are everything and nothing. Rather than wasting so much time trying to work out who you are, or who you are not, just forget about it and simply be.

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