Hi, I'm Jason,
Third semester at Metro with a major in Individualized Studies focusing on Labor issues, should be finishing in December.
Between Kara's post, Paul's post and the readings, I was thinking quite a bit about existence. I am personally coming to the conclusion that everything is inevitably 'a dream.'
In relation to the coffee I currently have sitting on my desk, although it may exist in whatever the/a 'grand plane' may be, it only really has to exist in my thinking for it to exist (to me, which is really the only existence that we could understand). Further over, even if it were a dream to me that the coffee exists, that coffee still exists to me.
Even if something exists in a sleeping dream it still has an effect on my actions and my existence. If you are in a fight or flight sequence in a sleeping dream, it still effects your body. Hence, I don't understand why 'real life' should be considered any differently.
Continuing this line of reasoning, if I fully believe in the lack of existence of that cup of coffee, there would be no way in which I could interpret that cup of coffee being on my desk.
Jason
Jason, does it make a difference to you that I believe your cup of coffee exists?
You make a good point about dreams. Psychologist describe sleep/dreaming as a different state of consciousness. I think dreams can be an extension of reality. For example, as a computer programmer I have spent many hours struggling to find the right way to code a program. On a few occasions I actually dreamt the solution. Woke up the next day with the knowledge gained in my dream and finished the program. To me the dream was reality.