Hellooo

Regularly I wonder if maybe the reality, the life i live, all i see, is generated by my mind

like in a dream -> i feel, see, communicate, but it's all in my head

is there a theory for that ?

ps: sorry i know wondering about this can be quite offending because i bring the idea that maybe you are not real (lol...)

an idea i have about this is that maybe somewhere else, in the real world, i enter this reaility (which would not be real in the end)

and i don't know it's not really real, on purpose, you intentionally forget

Maybe you forget because the real reality is horrible, maybe you are alone in there, and this reality is a way to escape

and maybe each time you die, you start again

😱

Edited November 25Nov 25 by raphaelh42

5 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Regularly I wonder if maybe the reality, the life i live, all i see, is generated by my mind

like in a dream -> i feel, see, communicate, but it's all in my head

is there a theory for that ?

Yes, it's called "Solipsism". There is also "Solipsism syndrome".

It is true that the reality we see is in fact an event happening within your head. Your eyes receive light like antennas pick up a radio signal. Your brain converts this signal into "live pictures". So in some way we are kind of watching a movie inside our head.

I do have my own ideas about this concept of reality but the edge between philosophy and physics might cross each other here. I really do not know where to start..

Thanks @KJW

@Rudolf I didn't really seen it like that ^^ But that makes me think about the fact we don't all see the colors looking exactly the same

Could you share some of the ideas you have in mind regarding reality?

8 hours ago, KJW said:

Yes, it's called "Solipsism". There is also "Solipsism syndrome".

That's putting it nicely 🙂 .
Sometimes it can be termed 'delusion' 😄 .

( Delusion - a false belief or judgment about external reality, held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, as a symptom of serious mental illness. )

2 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Hellooo

Regularly I wonder if maybe the reality, the life i live, all i see, is generated by my mind

What if MY mind is the generator and gives you just enough information to make you think you actually exist in my reality?

2 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Thanks @KJW

@Rudolf I didn't really seen it like that ^^ But that makes me think about the fact we don't all see the colors looking exactly the same

Could you share some of the ideas you have in mind regarding reality?

I suspect most of us have moments in which we wonder, fleetingly, whether what we seem to be experiencing is real or just in our minds.

As far as science goes, we have a way round that issue by relying on reproducible observations of nature. That means others besides ourselves need to agree they see whatever it is too. So that gives us at least some reason to believe there is some kind of objective reality "out there", as it were. Of course we could be hallucinating what these supposed other people seem to be agreeing with us about, but going down that rabbit hole rapidly becomes paralysing, so there seems little point in pursuing that train of thought.

2 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Thanks @KJW

@Rudolf I didn't really seen it like that ^^ But that makes me think about the fact we don't all see the colors looking exactly the same

Could you share some of the ideas you have in mind regarding reality?

There is a biological aspect to this and it's perfectly normal and natural.

We have a "minds eye" how we view, experience and remember our world. We update it with new experience like a journal.

It is part of our and many animals survival. Totally normal.

7 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Thanks @KJW

@Rudolf I didn't really seen it like that ^^ But that makes me think about the fact we don't all see the colors looking exactly the same

Could you share some of the ideas you have in mind regarding reality?

I believe that each of us has a personal moment in time that we can call “now.” We experience reality from our own point of view, always with a slight delay—light needs a full second to travel 300,000 km, after all. Everyone carries their own internal clock, their own “now,” observing the world from a unique position in space and time.

When I take an action, no one can witness it in truly absolute real time. The distances between us are essentially small differences in space-time; we can never occupy exactly the same place at exactly the same moment. Fortunately, in everyday life this hardly causes any problems. 😉

The point I want to make is that what we perceive as reality is always a glimpse of the past. Our sense of “now” is, in a way, an illusion—an internal construction created and projected by the brain.

12 hours ago, Rudolf said:

I believe that each of us has a personal moment in time that we can call “now.” We experience reality from our own point of view, always with a slight delay—light needs a full second to travel 300,000 km, after all. Everyone carries their own internal clock, their own “now,” observing the world from a unique position in space and time.

When I take an action, no one can witness it in truly absolute real time. The distances between us are essentially small differences in space-time; we can never occupy exactly the same place at exactly the same moment. Fortunately, in everyday life this hardly causes any problems. 😉

The point I want to make is that what we perceive as reality is always a glimpse of the past. Our sense of “now” is, in a way, an illusion—an internal construction created and projected by the brain.

True, but does this matter? I'd have thought that if there are a few microseconds delay in our perceptions, this has no practical impact (aside perhaps from a few physics or neural experiments).

There is no 'killer' argument against solipsism, but there are a few considerations that make it a useless position. The 'outer reality' simply goes its own way, uninfluenced of what you would like it to be. So even if solipsism would be true, there is no difference in how 'the world' behaves. So you could just as well believe reality is 'out there' with the same kind of existence as you self. It is also an easier way to understand that other minds exist, and that scientific established facts are valid for everybody.

As somebody once said: reality is that which stubbornly refuses to go away, how much you would like it to be different.

Here is a funny quote from Bertrand Russell:

As against solipsism it is to be said, in the first place, that it is psychologically impossible to believe, and is rejected in fact even by those who mean to accept it. I once received a letter from an eminent logician, Mrs. Christine Ladd-Franklin, saying that she was a solipsist, and was surprised that there were no others. Coming from a logician and a solipsist, her surprise surprised me.

I also must point you to a category error: you also experience your head with your senses, so it is in the outer world too. So what is in there also falls under the 'solipsist verdict'. The only thing a solipsist can say consistently is that the whole word is in his mind, and that only this mind exists.

On 11/25/2025 at 5:22 PM, Phi for All said:

What if MY mind is the generator and gives you just enough information to make you think you actually exist in my reality?

Lol that makes me think about maybe that's the situation of some god

@Eise I struggle to understand your message, it seems to me you give arguments that solipsism can't/is not true

I don't see any thought that could convince me that it is not

Since (if i understand correctly) the brain has the ability to make you live in a world that don't exist, like when you dream, i think solipsism could be true

... or it could be the "simulation hypothesis" being in progress

But when you wake up in the "real reality", maybe some other people like you are/were in the same state

Maybe we are in a game

Maybe we intentionally forget the reality when we enter to be able to fully enjoy the game...

Btw maybe we are all real but our real "body" is somewhere else

......... but last time i thought about it and since we are born in this fake reality, that could mean we never existed in the real one

.... SOOO maybe the only real person is in the real reality, and all the new humans in this fake one are just hmmmmmmm idk xD

But i like the idea that unless you don't know 100% of all there is to know, if you just know 99.9%, then maybe the last 0.1% remaining is the info that all you think is real is in fact not

6 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Lol that makes me think about maybe that's the situation of some god

@Eise I struggle to understand your message, it seems to me you give arguments that solipsism can't/is not true

I don't see any thought that could convince me that it is not

Since (if i understand correctly) the brain has the ability to make you live in a world that don't exist, like when you dream, i think solipsism could be true

... or it could be the "simulation hypothesis" being in progress

But when you wake up in the "real reality", maybe some other people like you are/were in the same state

Maybe we are in a game

Maybe we intentionally forget the reality when we enter to be able to fully enjoy the game...

Btw maybe we are all real but our real "body" is somewhere else

......... but last time i thought about it and since we are born in this fake reality, that could mean we never existed in the real one

.... SOOO maybe the only real person is in the real reality, and all the new humans in this fake one are just hmmmmmmm idk xD

But i like the idea that unless you don't know 100% of all there is to know, if you just know 99.9%, then maybe the last 0.1% remaining is the info that all you think is real is in fact not

I often dream of an impossible destination, that's when I know it's a dream...

Solipsism is just an excuse to deny reality...

Edited November 27Nov 27 by dimreepr

2 hours ago, dimreepr said:

Solipsism is just an excuse to deny reality...

It could be i agree, kinda like the fact that not believing in free will could be an excuse to deny responsibilities

Did I mention delusion ?

8 minutes ago, MigL said:

Did I mention delusion ?

Maybe wondering/believing in solipsism can either be illness, cowardice, but also something else?

in my case i don't believe in free will at all, i don't think it's to escape responsibilities, it's just it seems obvious to me that 100% of the present is influenced by the past, not by some instant thoughts coming only from yourself

regarding solipsism, i feel it could be very possible, i feel that when you die you maybe like wake up from a dream, in the other dimension

Maybe in some matryoshka doll system

But i don't believe in that 100%, i just can't believe the universe is not contained in something else, bigger, or different...

In the words of a famous song :-

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality"

I suppose it's part of wondering what life is all about and perhaps we all wonder about that now and then.

48 minutes ago, OldTony said:

I suppose it's part of wondering what life is all about and perhaps we all wonder about that now and then.

Isn't even this a case of looking a gift horse in the mouth?

I'm with Sartre and co. on this; just accept the absurdity of it all at face value, invent whatever life-purpose you feel most comfortable with and run with it.

50 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

Isn't even this a case of looking a gift horse in the mouth?

I'm with Sartre and co. on this; just accept the absurdity of it all at face value, invent whatever life-purpose you feel most comfortable with and run with it.

It's just a fantasy, then. I'll roll with that.

Edited November 27Nov 27 by StringJunky

7 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

Isn't even this a case of looking a gift horse in the mouth?

I'm with Sartre and co. on this; just accept the absurdity of it all at face value, invent whatever life-purpose you feel most comfortable with and run with it.

I sometimes write a poem and this is one I wrote some time ago - it seems appropriate.

Being

In aimless drift, the countryside I wander
and where I roam my eyes perceive in wonder
arrays of life within my sphere of being.
Which makes me glad to be among the living.

But was it chance that brought me into being,
this heady mix of thoughtfulness and feeling;
elation in the marvel of existence
within these many forms of life’s persistence?

And why should I among these forms of living
think that my life was special in the giving?
A mote of dust that wanders in infinity;
a moment’s glow within endless eternity.

3 hours ago, OldTony said:

I sometimes write a poem and this is one I wrote some time ago - it seems appropriate.

Being

In aimless drift, the countryside I wander
and where I roam my eyes perceive in wonder
arrays of life within my sphere of being.
Which makes me glad to be among the living.

But was it chance that brought me into being,
this heady mix of thoughtfulness and feeling;
elation in the marvel of existence
within these many forms of life’s persistence?

And why should I among these forms of living
think that my life was special in the giving?
A mote of dust that wanders in infinity;
a moment’s glow within endless eternity.

Nice!

I've always found it easier to express my feelings through music than words. This old effort is a setting of Shelley's "Ozymandias" and expresses a similar sense of humility before the vast and eternal glories of existence.

https://soundcloud.com/seth_of_lagos/fantasia-on-ozymandias-for-brass-quartet

19 hours ago, raphaelh42 said:

Maybe wondering/believing in solipsism can either be illness, cowardice, but also something else?

in my case i don't believe in free will at all, i don't think it's to escape responsibilities, it's just it seems obvious to me that 100% of the present is influenced by the past, not by some instant thoughts coming only from yourself

Solipsism is where you start your philosophical journey, you being you is self evident.

free will is a few steps up the ladder and you have to have stepped on each of those rungs to understand it well enough to take Pascal's wager seriously.

Relating back to solipsism, I find that great music offers a profound rebuttal to solipsism (not like it needs one, but having that on a deep emotional level is something).

Funny how you scratch the surface of a science forumite and so often find a poet and/or musician. (Jazz improviser here) A poet like Shelley can use words that are about certain feelings and intuitions, but where we go from that is beyond those words. Music can also be about something but it can also just be something. In that case, the art IS the experience rather than about or reflecting experience. Is a C9 chord "heavenly," as some say, i.e. is it about heaven? No it just is - the experience is what it is. You're not reproducing some other experience, you're just having one. (Ok, wildly off topic and I'm ready for my manacles, moderator)

And all of this is a spin off from the organ which has as its main purpose keeping us alive long enough to reproduce before we die........................

19 hours ago, TheVat said:

Is a C9 chord "heavenly," as some say, i.e. is it about heaven?

Depends which C9 and its context.

If it's a dominant triad over a tonic base, then it's bright, masculine, and elated so yes, 'messianic' would be a fair description.

But beware, that D has only to slide up to Eb and you've gone full Norman Bates (see Hitchcock chord).

Further denials of the darkness, femininity, and melancholy of the subdominant roots and minor modes simply increase the psychotic nature of this end of the spectrum. Or 'Berserker' (C #11).

Edited November 29Nov 29 by sethoflagos