Day 2024- Solipsism In My Dream
My dreams have been becoming more lucid. They don’t always make sense. But, I find myself, in my dream, questioning the reality of the dream. I’ve begun to notice when things in the dream state don’t add up.
In this recent dream, I was walking across a long walking bridge. There were several three-foot tall birds behind me and I think some people with me as I was walking across. I came to an escalator or staircase, I’m not sure which. Instead of stepping on the stairs/escalator, I grabbed the handrails and climbed up. There were people coming down at the same time. But, I passed right through them.
When I got to the top, I walked down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway, I entered a church sanctuary. Churches are common in my dreams because I grew up in the church my grandfather preached at. There was a wedding about to start. I knew that. But, I had no idea whose wedding it was. The sanctuary was packed. I remember seeing my mother, my Aunt Betty, and my sister among the crowd.
I made my way to find a seat near the front. It was so crowded the little girl sitting to my left was leaning on me and I was pressed up against the woman to my right. Then, it hit me that something wasn’t right. I started thinking back and realized I could not remember anything before I got to the bridge. I thought, “This must be a dream.” At that point, I was lucid in the dream. I realized I could do anything I wanted and it wouldn’t matter. But, I wasn’t quite sure. Everything felt so real. I looked up at the dark stained wood paneling of the church and was amazed by the detail in it. I felt the body of the woman next to me pressed up against me. I thought, “She’s not real. She doesn’t really have any thoughts. I’ve just made her up.”
Then, I realized I would be waking up soon because I knew when I become lucid in a dream, waking is not far behind. I looked at the wall and all of the colors around me began to de-saturate, they just faded until everything went black and I was awake in my bed.
When I woke up, the word solipsism was on my mind. I looked it up.
sol·ip·sism
/ˈsäləpˌsizəm/
noun
- the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.
Solipsism is the idea that I can only ever know my mind and that my mind may be the only mind that exists.
In my dream, I was amazed by the fantastic detail and the very real feeling that the dream world was real. I wonder if this world is also a dream, only a collective dream. I’m not a solipsist. I believe other minds exist. But, I really have no way of knowing that.
One of my favorite movies of all time is The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy goes on this great adventure and wakes to find the whole time she thought she was away from Home, she was in her bed. I believe that when we fall asleep in this life, we wake up in the next
Here’s a short video on solipsism. And, there’s a song I play when this world starts to feel too real to me.
Hush now, don’t you cry
Wipe away the teardrop from your eye
You’re lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream spinning in your head
Your mind tricked you to feel the pain
Of someone close to you leaving the game of life
So here it is, another chance
Wide awake you face the day
Your dream is over
Or has it just begun?
