Tag: Indian Philosophy

The movie Inception is the best “question reality” movie since the Matrix (ultimately the Matrix is better, in my opinion), and it raises many fascinating questions having to do with the differences between the two primary states of consciousness available to humans today: waking and dreaming.

This issue has been around for about as long as recorded history, and has formed a central piece of some very detailed philosophical considerations.  It shows up in the 4th Century B.C.E. in the famous Taoist Zuangzi’s “butterfly dream”:

“Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn’t know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.”

It also forms a central part of Indian philosophy, especially advaita vedanta,  which explores cosmological questions through the exploration of (more…)