xinjie's blog.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Q6: How do you know you are not dreaming right now?

Response:
This seems like a practical question to answer. Well, some people say that to confirm that you're not dreaming, you have to pinch yourself.

...

I've just pinched myself. Ow. If you really think about it, does anyone ever pinch himself in a dream? It just seems kind of dumb to pinch yourselves in a dream; dreams are meant to be good (nightmares aren't called dreams for a reason, yeah?). Now, if we look at the Susan Boyle hooha, her debut song on Britain's got Talent was "I dreamed a dream". The odds were stacked against her, and she beat them. Life is about hope. Dreams.

Let's get back to the point. How do we know we're not in a dream now? That's because life's a harsh reality, and if we look at dreams cynically, we often find that they don't come true most of the time. Let's face it; dreams are called dreams for a reason, because they aren't real. Yet, we constantly dream of a better future, in which one obtains better results, has a better social life, and all the million things that we dream of. Why? Because humans look towards self-improvement. They hope for a better future. Our ideal, or dream life is much more different from our current life. Our life currently can be said screwed by some. Screwed why? Screwed because we have lousy grades. Screwed because we make careless mistakes all the . Screwed by the imperfections in humanity. Screwed. Truth is, our life is screwed. We all make mistakes, it is, how do I say, programmed in us. It is in the blueprint of all humanity that we make mistakes. That's why upsets do happen, whether in tennis, soccer, or any other sport. Our current life can never compare to our dream life. Never.

I know I sound like I'm ranting but, hey, there's some relevance to the point. But why did God create dreams, if there was no practical use for them? That's because dreams motivate us, so that we strive for a better future. For what we want, so that we put in effort. Think about it, if we did actually have a perfect life, what would there be to strive for? I quote:

"It has been said: The whole is more than the sum of its parts. It is more correct to say that the whole is something else than the sum of its parts, because summing up is a meaningless procedure, whereas the whole-part relationship is meaningful." (Kurt Koffka, 1935: Principles of Gestalt Psychology. New York: Harcourt-Brace. p 176)

As a teacher one said, it's the process that matters, not the end product. In the end, we know that we're not dreaming, because we don't have that perfect life that we're dreaming for. But, there'll always be that hope, that motivates us to get closer to our destination, despite the knowledge that we'll never reach it.

~Xin Jie

Labels: ACE

8:17 PM

Thursday, June 18, 2009

"It has been said: The whole is more than the sum of its parts. It is more correct to say that the whole is something else than the sum of its parts, because summing up is a meaningless procedure, whereas the whole-part relationship is meaningful." (Kurt Koffka, 1935: Principles of Gestalt Psychology. New York: Harcourt-Brace. p 176)

Labels: ACE

8:17 PM

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