Is life a Dream?

Imagine that your whole life is a dream. Now imagine that you have dreamed up all of the characters in the cast of your life. You dreamed your father and mother and even your own human body. Everything is just a product of your imagination. Some of the characters in your dream seem to get old and die. Where do they go? They must float back into your mind. Have you heard of anyone coming back and telling you that they floated through a tunnel towards a bright, loving, light? That light was you. You will then ask yourself, “How can this whole universe that I see be centered around me? Am I God? Is nobody else real?” They are exactly as real as you. What if everyone is God? What if we are simply one being with the illusion of separation.

If you haven't read these theories already:

Simulated theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality

Towards the end I was reminded of this:
http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html


I am still too tired from going out last night to put my own thoughts on this, just that sometimes I freak the shit out of myself when I'm on the bus/train/in class and I manage to convince myself that I'm the only person alive and everything and everyone else are just robots/simulation all made to fool me into thinking that this is real...

/narcissism

Oh so we are going all Inception right now.

To me:

To even dream, you must be alive in the first place.
So technically, you should rephrase your question to : are you currently living in a dream?
Because if not, then using my argument, to even dream is to live, and to live is to have life.


Next, answering the rephrased question, I believe not.
To my (own, personal) experiences, dreams are often surreal.

Granted, what's surreal is totally up for debate.
The most VIVID dream I can remember having is me being chased by a shark that float-moves on ice. Half of my body was in the ice and I did not feel trapped. My legs still moved normally.
At that time I didn't think of a float-moving shark being surreal, only when I woke up when I thought "that's retarded".

Now, my second argument I put forth is the concept of lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreaming is the phenomenon when someone Is dreaming and realizes he/she is dreaming. When that happens, (rarely, most people don't even think of dreaming while...dreaming) they can control the dream (eg turn it into a bloody sex orgy).
If I am in a dream now, I can theoretically cause a sexy loli to appear right I. Front of me and lap dance, because I thought of dreaming. But that isn't happening...

The whole lucid dream thing is purely theoretical, sadly.

So my Tl;dr answer : probably not.

I'm not saying that were not alive of course we are but we could always be a figment of a great entity imagination or dream.
You raise some good points but the main point of your argument(Lucid Dreaming) is a bit flawed.Yes you can control your dreams when you 'realize your dreaming'. You have to realize that you are dreaming ie;Enlightenment(universal awakening). After becoming Elightned the possibilities are endless. Maybe god is simply a enlightened human who realizes the dream.

Anything is possible, I guess. Then again, that's like trying to choose what religion to believe in.

I do ponder the possibility every now and then though. Like, what if there wasn't actually a world or even a universe, but only my subconsciousness that exists? Then again, even if it were all just a dream, what can you do but to keep dreaming until you wake up?

I forcefully remind myself that this isn't a dream though. It gets too boring and dull and even too 'real' at times that it doesn't feel like something I would dream about.

Interesting theory nevertheless.

Im sure you had dreams where you felt as if it was real, that you werent dreaming and when you woke up your were surprised that it was a dream. It happened to me alot but how about this. What if every time you dream your actually waking up and vice versa but of course it's just my theory and speculation.

must we dream our dreams and have them too?

So what if everything was a dream? If you wake up and realize it was a dream? Move on and accept it was all a lie or not. I'd accept it as the world's lie but my own truth? So what if none of those experiences and feelings weren't real? I'd still accept it as my reality, it helped shape me even if it was fake. If it was fake, the the old me is just a thought of what I could be, so that means I could have been him yet not. That just means I'll make a new me and stumble through the world a better person. What value you place in something is your own, along with all your doubts. So what if it is a lie? We live in a world of illusions we have created since time began. Does that change anything? Not really to me anyway.

It depends if your the origin of the dream or your simply part of another beings dream.

And? If I was nothing more than a figment of another being's dream, then I'm happy that I existed for at least a while. Because ever if life is short, I'll make something of it. If you understand the quote we both share, then you'll understand this.

"If one notices how some individuals know how to treat their experiences (their insignificant everyday experiences) so that these become a plot of ground that bears fruit three times a year; while others (and how many of them!) are driven through the waves of the most exciting turns of fate, of the most varied currents of their time or nation, and yet always stay lightly on the surface, like cork: then one is finally tempted to divide mankind into a minority (minimality) of those people who know how to make much out of little and a majority of those who know how to make a little out of much; indeed, one meets those perverse wizards who, instead of creating the world out of nothing, create nothing out of the world." Nietzsche

I'll make something of my small exustance, even if it leaves no impact, it'll leave a ripple.

I believe you misunderstood my reply. It's up to you to decide just how much you a worth, whether your the dreamer or simply a a part of it. i meant if you found out your the dreamer or vice versa you look on your worth will vary.

Two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves.
They flickered out saying:
"It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow thirty seconds.”-Carl Sandburg.

Then I am the hopeless optimist that shall cease. It still doesn't matter. If I have the Universe's truth's before me, I'd still walk forward, that's just me. If someone breaks down or blocks it out, it isn't my problem, it just means they couldn't take it.

Interesting thought, but the things that separates dreams from reality are sensations and stimulation. If I can feel pain and pleasure, then I can't really say I'm dreaming right now. Dreams are thoughts we have while asleep. If this is a dream, then what is reality and how do you define it?