You are living in a dream

Patrick LaLiberte
Staff Writer

             “Row, row, row you boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” I am sure you know that song; everyone does. It is a song that everyone has known since they were five years old. Most people know every word to it. However, something that most people don’t know about this song is that it holds a very important piece of information particularly in the last line; “Life is but a dream.” The song is telling you that life is just a dream, and you should not take it so seriously. And these simple nursery rhyme lyrics may have more real meaning and significance to them than you think.
        No one exactly prove that we are living in a dream. This theory has been debated by philosophers for a long time, and it cannot really be known for sure if the theory is true. If life really is a dream, then no one would ever really die; they just die in this life. After death, maybe they will just wake up in the “real” world, wherever that may be. Then later on, they might find out that that was a dream, too! Think about it; when you are in a dream, do you ever realize that you are dreaming? Do you ever realize that none of the things going on around you make any sense? I am sure we have all had dreams in which most of what is happening is impossible in this world, but in the dream, you just went along with it. Maybe it was snowing in ninety degree weather, or maybe your skin was purple. It is not until the next morning that you realize how crazy the dream was. During the dream however, you do not really take notice of these things. 

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              Could it be possible that this life is just a really elaborate dream? A dream so detailed that we don’t even realize that it is a dream? If this were to be the case, why can’t I realize that this life is just a dream? Did I choose to live this dream? A lot of these questions do not seem to have answers. Maybe you can only find these answers after death which, if this dream theory were true, is just an illusion. If this really were a dream, then death would have to be yourself waking up. And who knows what kind of reality you are in when you wake up.
         A lot of people think that if life really were a dream, then we are not really experiencing anything right now. That is not necessarily the case. The life that you are experiencing right now is still real. You are still living out a very complex and intricate life in an equally complex and intricate universe. However, to your soul, spirit, higher self, or whatever you want to call it, this is just a short span of time. Once you wake up, you will look back on this life realizing that the whole eighty years you spent here were nothing more than a dream. I am not saying that this life is equivalent to the dreams we have at night, but to our soul this life is considered similar to the dreams that we have.
         Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that there is no way that this dream theory could be possible. This life is likely all there is and not much happens after it. Only time will tell as nobody really knows for sure what this life really is.