Question:
Is there any proof that life is real?
Benjamin
2015-03-01 00:15:47 UTC
I'm a solipsist, and many people laugh at my beliefs. But is there proof that life isn't a dream?
43 answers:
Special EPhex
2015-03-01 17:14:52 UTC
If there is any proof one way or the other it can only be proven and accepted from the stand point of 'this' life, regardless of the results. If the evidence shows that it isn't real, how would you know? The reality of life doesn't shut on and off like a light switch for the convenience of proof. Life is either real or it is not, so you would have to first suggest how to prove it or not before seriously presenting the question.



The idea of solipsism, which I believe is widely misconceived, does not suggest any method of proof of reality. In fact the definition of solipsism implies little to nothing about reality at all. According to Webster's Dictionary the definition states, 'since all knowledge is subjective, the self is the only thing that can be directly known.' The ideology is more about 'knowledge' than it is 'reality.' The definition does not directly suggest that only the self is 'real' or anything outside the self is 'unreal'. The term is adopted and discussed in intellectual circles as if it does so which is where the misconception comes in.



Solipsism is an epistemological argument, rather than an ontological one. It is also in accordance with something I always state here regularly, which is, "the only way to 'know' anything means to identify with and be the known." Using the mind and intellect, one can only know 'about' knowledge. Knowing about China is not the same as being there or what it means to be Chinese.



Another limitation imposed on the subject is the idea of proof, which is limited to the linear paradigm of material form and content, which defines difference and appearances. Because the mind does not register the nonlinear paradigm of formless context, which defines essence and meaning, the abstract cannot be proven by conventional means, nor is it subject to it. The presumption that life is strictly or entirely material in essence, leads to the notion that it is subject to proof. Things like life, love, peace, justice, etc., are formless and non-material, and therefore cannot be proven nor disproven.
Bob B
2015-03-01 02:14:28 UTC
In terms of concrete, 100% proof, then no, there isn't, and indeed such proof would probably be impossible (any proof I could offer you, well that could just be something you dreamed up). So there's no way I can conclusively prove it.



However, at the same time, I can't think of any good reason to believe it is a dream either. Most of what we do is like this- most of the things we accept are based on some kind of assumption- most of what we are taught, we take more or less on faith that it isn't made up, or that what our senses tell us can be trusted, and so forth. Most of the time, this isn't conclusively proved, but there's no good reason to believe it isn't valid either.



An example I like to use- nobody has ever conclusively proved that humans need oxygen. We know that if you cut off someone's oxygen supply, every time we've done that they die, but statistically that could just be a very weird coincidence- I can't "prove" otherwise. It would still be a pretty bad idea to suffocate oneself to find out, though.
nameless
2015-03-01 01:03:11 UTC
Is there any proof that life is real?



~~~ "Proof" is no different than "fact' or 'belief'; something that you are 'willing to accept' as Truth, and not need to think about it again (other than regular care and feeding).



I'm a solipsist, and many people laugh at my beliefs.



~~~ Hey, they laughed at 'The Three Stooges', also!

Screw 'em if they can't take a joke!

There's lots of funny 'beliefs/facts/proofs'!



But is there proof that life isn't a dream?



~~~ Actually, it is!

So what?

Here we are!

Now what?

In this dream, be unconditional Love!

Be the Loving star of the dream!



With the transcendental nature of unconfitional Love, it matters not a whit whether this is a dream or something else, Love transcends ALL distinctions, and is ALWAYS in demand! *__-



No matter what you 'believe', this dream character thinks that you are beautiful!

I Love you...

n
anonymous
2015-03-01 07:52:09 UTC
Interesting question. Sometimes I wish that half of the things I've been through are just dreams so I won't have to suffer or go through them, but a part of me is glad so the next time it happens, I'll be prepare for it. Situations where your life flashes before your eyes makes you wonder if it was a dream or if it's really happening.



People tend to separate dreams and reality whereas reality is just a cruel world while in dreams you can do whatever you want. At least that's what everyone thinks logically since as children we have watched Disney movies that were "fiction" and "living happily ever after".



No one knows for sure if there really is "proof". We can see, hear, feel, touch, etc. Just like in any dream. If you can sleep in your dream then who's to say that you can't live in a dream?



Let me ask you this, if life was just a dream (I like that song btw lol), then what about death? Do you think that death is just a dream as well? Or just a some sort of a "wake up call" to let us know that it's time to wake up from a "dream"? ;)



So many unanswered questions that we have yet to discover. That's why the world is so interesting and mysterious in many ways. ^^
Mark
2015-03-01 13:54:05 UTC
If you really believe that reality is an illusion created by your mind....Why are you typing questions into Yahoo Answers?

Any answer you could obtain would just be part of the illusion....



My answer would be to get up and start walking. As soon as your nose contacts the wall, you will be confronted with reality. This is the argument Samuel Johnson came up with back in the 1600s when confronted by such nonsense...He kicked a rock.

"I refute it thus!" he said.

A pragmatist, old Samuel was.



Answer me this....If the universe is an illusion created by your little mind, where did your mind come from? Do you think it just sprang into existence like a virtual particle in space?

With that marvelously-detailed illusion in place already? At some point you would have to confront the things that we who think we are living in an actual, physical universe do.....

Where did I come from?

Where did the universe come from?

Whence the amazing diversity of life on Earth, and it's constant evolution into new forms?
?
2015-03-01 00:18:44 UTC
Have you read Hume? There is a great bit in his Enquiry to Human Understanding where he noted that our imagination is very limited...it either repeats what has been seen before, or it creates a composition image of things we have seen before, for example, a gold mountain would combine 'Gold', which we all have seen, with 'Mountain', something we also all have seen.



The fact that you experience things that are totally new and unprecedented (you have, don't lie) is proof of the external world beyond your solipsist fantasy.
Naguru
2015-03-01 20:03:31 UTC
There is no scientific proof. But in actual life, we are all existing in this world. So it must be real.
Gopala Krishna
2015-03-01 21:40:57 UTC
You are a living body and posted this question. It is appearing in the print media in Yahoo Answers.

It is proved you are alive.

And this is the proof that life is real and not a dream.
?
2015-03-01 05:56:51 UTC
I do sometimes actually think this myself. It's because us and many others have an analytic sort of imagination. With unique almost magical concepts such as dreaming, birth etc. and the idea that there is still speculation over how we are even created I believe anything is possible?
Lucy
2015-03-01 01:57:11 UTC
Imagine you are seeing the first minutes of the big-bang and are rewinding still . Just as you get to the center of your questioning eye, it all disappears, because everything you see is no longer visible to the naked eye. You lose your sight, you lose some of your reality. Same goes with any sensing instrument you have. They make the world you live in, your very own. What is real is what you see, feel, react to....and so on.



My friend the immaterialist (Berkley) once said to me, nothing is real but thought. I said to him "go kick a rock."
Worship
2015-03-02 11:42:17 UTC
Reality is a relative term. Events in a dream are real so long as you wake up. Life too is real till the moment of death.
All hat
2015-03-01 10:11:28 UTC
Turns out it doesn't matter - if it is a dream, those other people in our dream can affect our lives as impactfully as if they were 100% real, so we might as well just assume they are, at least in terms of how we behave with them. Kind of a poor man's Pascal's Wager I suppose.
Zaphod Beeblebrox
2015-03-01 07:23:22 UTC
Solipsism is essentially a clever word game. Although it cannot be disproved by formal logic, it is easily disproved by the empirical methods of science. The brain cannot imagine from nothing, especially not something as complex as the universe. It requires experience of physical reality in order to form ideas and exercise imagination, or even hallucinate. If you argue that the brain is imaginary, then how would something that does not exist imagine itself? Something cannot be created (or imagined) from nothing.
Leon
2015-03-01 17:04:16 UTC
Yeah, I used to have thoughts of solipsism in my head too. The truth is, maybe it's just me in the world, and everything is just a thought of mine. Maybe I am God. The difference is that sometimes I care about it and sometimes I don't care. Does it makes any difference if it is true or not? Pain and happiness will always be present, nothing will change if it's true or not, because we will never find out.
?
2015-03-01 00:38:25 UTC
Well a dream as we know it is something we experience when we sleep.

To know if life is a dream or not, just try to hold your breath and see if you can do it forever. If you can do it forever it means you are dreaming, my bad it means you will be dead. You don't have to try forever try holding the breath for around 30 minutes.

Another way to see if you are dreaming or not, pinch yourself or get someone to lash you and see if you can last for around 30min. I mean hard lashes and pinches.
anonymous
2015-03-02 06:18:27 UTC
You wrote this question is a proof that life is real and i am answering u is another example that life is real.
?
2015-03-02 05:15:46 UTC
Go to Youtube and check out the Double slit theory

Quantum physics stuff.

Most of the scientists that study such things, say that with the results of this

study, nothing is off the table including GOD.
?
2015-03-02 06:51:19 UTC
Life is real for short time until the end of life.
Yiral Poof
2015-03-01 10:36:39 UTC
What conclusive proof do you have your rational cognition is operating in accordance to the laws of logic? How can you trust your own analytical judgements?
Ali
2015-03-02 20:46:31 UTC
Life is the universes dream of itself through countless life forms
?
2015-03-01 05:07:22 UTC
And who is dreaming? This material creation is the spirit soul's dream. Actually all existence in the material world is a dream of Maha-Vishnu.
Big Spider on Your Pillow
2015-03-01 21:29:15 UTC
Stepping on jacks or pointy Lego barefoot in the dark at 3:00 am is hard to deny the reality of the pain
Plogsties
2015-03-01 09:29:04 UTC
Solipsism is the easiest - and intellectually emptiest way - to view "life". It also presents to the outside world a degree of arrogance that most of us simply wish to avoid. This point of view is dealt with by philosophical thinkers as inane, at best.
It Is Always Now
2015-03-01 01:09:27 UTC
We know for certain consciousness is real. Consciousness is the one thing that cannot be illusory, because illusions are a part of consciousness.
Pramod kumar Agrawal
2015-03-03 07:05:36 UTC
Who will prove without life?
darkcloud
2015-03-01 18:11:02 UTC
Who real y cares , dream or fact, tomorrow is just a day away and , you know what they say " The sun"ll come out tomorrow .and that's real enough for me .
Geraldine
2015-03-01 19:27:53 UTC
On the contrary, your dreams are your life.... that is your proof!
?
2015-03-01 19:13:57 UTC
Life is real belief it or not
?
2015-03-01 00:20:38 UTC
If you think your beliefs right through to their logical conclusion, where do they get you? What answers or new information does it provide?
?
2015-03-01 20:47:42 UTC
yeah.... The best proof is you and me are still living in this earth...

Don't try to make it dreamy.
?
2015-03-01 05:46:53 UTC
Then you are a very bad solipsist - why do you persist in imagining yourself to be not succesful.
TSAHPINA
2015-03-02 07:05:01 UTC
the fact that you asked is proof that you live
?
2015-03-01 09:46:40 UTC
i cant die in a dream, as i can only die if i am alive. know=(is)life=now=physical experience=true=matter=nature=my body=reality=these Words on your screen=this keyboard i am typing on, as i dont have to imagine it=1
?
2015-03-01 15:02:02 UTC
Yeah, your the proof, you exist.
anonymous
2015-03-01 00:17:40 UTC
define dream. some live it, most are destined to fantasize about it
libertarian
2015-03-01 15:43:05 UTC
Death is all the proof you need.
Guru Hank
2015-03-01 04:47:21 UTC
I think the main problem you have is defining reality.
play
2015-03-02 16:45:58 UTC
cogito ergo sum
?
2015-03-02 02:32:14 UTC
The great achievements we have made and tech wonders we discovered.
?
2015-03-02 07:34:50 UTC
My boot up your *** is real...stupid liberal
?
2015-03-02 08:04:34 UTC
yeah it hurts & it heals ,& That's real
felix
2015-03-01 15:51:49 UTC
h
hbtsr88
2015-03-01 20:28:04 UTC
you only think they are laughing at you


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