• Shawn
    13.3k
    Here's the quote:

    “Let's suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream that you wanted to dream. And that you could, for example, have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time. Or any length of time you wanted to have. And you would, naturally as you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fufill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure you could conceive. And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each, you would say "Well, that was pretty great." But now let's have a surprise. Let's have a dream which isn't under control. Where something is gonna happen to me that I don't know what it's going to be. And you would dig that and come out of that and say "Wow, that was a close shave, wasn't it?" And then you would get more and more adventurous, and you would make further and further out gambles as to what you would dream. And finally, you would dream ... where you are now. You would dream the dream of living the life that you are actually living today.”

    I find this quote one of the most amazing things I have ever read in my life.

    You have to understand that every being lives a life full of strife and struggle. Many people seek to escape this reality, as per the quote, into some dreamland, dope, intellectualization, faith, XYZ. Some people take the extreme and figuratively live only in this dream world, analyzing it, contemplating the meaning of each dream character and wondering if they are a part of "me" and if so, then why can't I foretell what they are going to do or say before they actually do it.

    I spent 4-5 years delving into lucid dreaming. It's by far some of the most profound feeling to feel near-omnipotent in such dreams. Strangely, most of them were about always going deeper. Never have I had a lucid dream that was intended to be self-soothing or gratifying; but, you shouldn't take my word for it as I don't have all my duck in order and all the answers in my head, even though I suspect that a solipsistic life where one cannot doubt would not be in any manner inferior to waking life. Sometimes I dream that I am sleeping. A strange thing; but, as an attempt to delve even deeper within myself.

    And, here is the profundity of Watts' quote. That such a hedonistic and self satisfying life is unnatural. Unnatural in that you have to wake up eventually. Yes, it's these unexpected downturns in the economy, or your bosses attitude that you may be concerned about; but, that's just life. Period. The sooner you come to terms with it, the closer you are to feeling satisfied, as that's what we all want in life, self-love and satisfaction.

    How do you interpret the quote?
  • OmniscientNihilist
    171


    check out a movie called: Other Life 2017
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