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About Hank Hokamp
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Books, books and more book! Personal experiences can sometimes disprove philosophical discussions and writings. My PHILOSOPHY: If you do wrong to people, you don't have the right to exist. Helping people is WHY we're here. At least it's my purpose of life. Why do people keep seeking humanism, nihilism and existentialism? Few seem to realize satisfaction. All humans are subject to death and Earth has not been cultivated into an earth-wide paradise. Perhaps it can be if we serve one another. I can't imagine a more satisfying life than using my free will to serve thy neighbor. Let's get started. It's 2009! In fact, it's 3/24/09!

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You are here:  Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Theology > Philosophy > Life is a dream

Philosophy - Life is a dream


Expert: Hank Hokamp - 6/26/2009

Question
Hello Hank,
I got few question I need to ask you. It seem to be easy, but I just don't understand.


I don't know how to relate how one of the metaphysical descriptions of reality to having a dream. For example, I don't know how my experience with dreams make sense in light of Plato's ideas about forms?

I hope you are able to explain it in a way to help me to understand.

Thanks

Answer

  Hello, Jolie. Glad you're interested in Philosophy. Dreams will always be a mystery but ... maybe I can give you some clues:

  Aristotle determined that dreams came from within the Self. This was a revolutionary idea because until that time it was widely believed that dreams came from outside of Self rather than welling up from within. Aristotle’s work spanned the nature of consciousness beyond the physical and for his incredible insight historical accounts have remembered him as the father of metaphysics. PLATO, a contemporary and student of Aristotle, took these ideas a bit farther. PLATO identified dreams as a communication from the soul of man. Thus, the eternal Forms or Ideas are the universal characteristics by which things ARE what they ARE and are KNOWN as WHAT they ARE.

  WE ALL LEAD TWO LIVES, JOLIE ... an inner life of thoughts, feelings and reactions and an outer life of roles in work and family, and actions in the world. Thus, dreams are a language of images, like a game of Charades, that makes them the natural vehicle for the unconscious to communicate with the waking self.

  As I said, dreams are a mystery.

                                          HANK  

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