The Existential Microcosm-Macrocosm of Dreams

As above so below

One perspective changing concept we learn from dream analysis is to see every part of the dream as an aspect of yourself. You - as the dreamer - project images and stories into an immersive vignette. Everything in the dream comes from within you and is performed in a “closed movie set.” All the actors, all the set designs, all the plot lines are your creations. You are your own Hollywood Studio.

This is also true of psychologically induced visions. Part of the sage advice I received prior to my first Ayahuasca journey was to realize everything seen comes from within. During the ceremony unpleasant images were framed as just another part of me desiring expression, which dispelled fear and any resistance. That was key in order to “get to the other side” of the image and find the hidden insight of gold behind it.

In his delightful conversation with Scott Adams, Naval Ravikant points to truth about reality. Here’s a edited version of his statements starting around 1:06:00:

At the end of the day existence itself is an unexplained Miracle. There's so much here that you just have to take axiomatically and that is spirituality and I think your [Scott Adams] spirituality, your current religion is a simulation hypothesis, which is perfectly valid. Mine is probably closer to the Dao and you know other people's Christianity or whatever but somehow have to explain this miracle of existence and you and everyone has to do it in their own frame.

But the rest is science, and follows the rules of Science. So what I don't like is when someone says: this one!, I'm correct, it's scientific, you should believe it because of these following arguments. Then I ask what are the implications, how do we test it? If you want me to believe [it] in the real world it has to be scientific which means it has to be testable.

There's a third category that I will accept which is direct experience, but that's only valid for you. So if you have a direct experience of something you can hold it but your ability to convey it is zero because everybody has their own experience and you can't take anybody else's experience at face value.

The whole exchange is informative and I believe Naval rightly calls out Simulation Theory for what it is — a veiled form of spirituality. He also says personal experience is valid for the individual, but not for the collective. Perhaps one caveat to that axiom is an experience that is shared by the collective – in this case dreaming. Dreams are ubiquitous. What do dreams show us? We create a world and insert ourselves into it. All parts of the dream come from the Dreamer.

Tangentially, this idea also scales to God/Reality/Universe/Life/The One/The Self – that everything originates from a source* so everything is an aspect, a manifestation, an appearance of that source.

Everything is an aspect of the Universe

Everything is an aspect of Source

Everything is an aspect of the One

Everything is an aspect of Life

Everything is an aspect of Reality

Everything is an aspect of God

Everything is an aspect of the Self

This very much leads to the Hindu philosophical idea that life is a drama, dream-like state where individual identities are roles played by the one supreme Self, ultimately leading back to unity and understanding of the true Self.

One interpretation of Christianity is that God created a world and then instantiated a finite, limited, human being inside it (Jesus). By the work of this man, others then have the opportunity to realize their own relationship with God. “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:21)

What does this mean practically? Not only can we interpret dreams as aspects of ourselves, we can also do that within any waking situation. Have a poor interaction with a coworker? Lose your phone at just the most inopportune time? Have a strange coincidence occur you couldn’t normally explain? Step back into the role of an observer and ask yourself, “What if this happened in a dream? How would I interpret it?” Alternatively, if this were a movie, what is the scriptwriter trying to say?

Perhaps investigating the nature of reality is equally available to anyone, anywhere, by careful examination of their own conscious experience. Contemplating the nature of dreams is an exploration of our own direct experience to understand reality.

As above, so below.

Note:

*There is the argument that Source / God / Origin is just another belief. There are always further layers of releasing the mind from stories.