Dream of Prison (questioning reality)

I dreamt that I was in prison.

I was in prison for a terrible crime which I did not commit (reminiscent of a real life situation that has happened to my cousin). The emotions in this dream were absolutely real. When I woke up in my comfortable bed, I was very relieved that it was not real, but then I started to ask myself: how do I know that this bed is real? How do I know that my so called “waking life” is real?

Why do we so willingly accept our present situation as absolutely real? In my dream, I didn’t question the reality of my situation just as I do not typically question my waking life. How do any of us know what we see as “real” is not a dream?

Perhaps our minds makes this place real and conveniently misses the discrepancies of our reality such that we have no need to question it.

Neo: I thought you said it wasn’t real
Morpheus: Your mind makes it real
- the matrix

I’ve been reading a Padre Pio book. Padre Pio was a great Catholic Friar with remarkable dedication. At his level of dedication and devotion, he would pray for Jesus let him to help bear his cross. In essence we was asking for unimaginable suffering.

I am perplexed at the positive light given toward suffering. Catholic saints such as St. Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and Mother Teresa revered suffering as it was an emulation of christ’s suffering on the cross (his suffering is considered a sacrafice to save the souls of all mankind - John 3:16 KJV Bible, for those who what more info). But if this world is illusion, what good is suffering? Why not just pass through never to return? Or come and go as one pleases and collect knowledge to become like a god. In the Bible the Devil “tempts” Jesus with something like this, to which Jesus replies, “Get behind me Satan.” No matter how good it looks, its still illusion.

In his book, The Yogas of Dreams and Sleep, Tenzin Wangyal mentions rising above both pleasure and suffering as they are each of Samsara, part of the great illusion of this world. In Hinduism, this is called Maya, the illusion of our self being separate from everything else.

The word Islam actually means “submission to God” in Arabic. All these religions address suffering as something that should be submitted to or allowed to happen not resisted but observed and in some cases even honored.

SUFFERING SUCKS
I don’t know about you but Suffering really, really pisses me off and I suppose that is not very holy of me. I am just saying how I truly feel at times. I hate seeing people around the world suffering (especially children). It makes me mad at humanity and mad at god. Sometimes I can’t help but think that a lot of it is just not necessary.

We don’t really have to suffer…

SUFFERING = GOOD/EVIL
But the more I learn about what science has discovered about physical reality, the more I realize that suffering really is apart of this reality. The duality of this reality (good/evil, light/darkness, valley/mountain) is why there must be suffering. It is in the fabric of everything here and there is nothing we can do about it but suffer. And I suppose that is why the saints embrace it and why sages of the east don’t resist it any more than they praise pleasure. Because it is an illusion (as a dream) compared to a truer more holistic place that is not afflicted with duality. These saints and sages see all physical reality as a type of dream for preparation of a greater here and now.

I attribute all suffering to ignorance (not knowing our true nature not so much stupidity). I believe it is the greatest atrocity humanity will ever have. Ignorance of our physical, subtle and spiritual true selves. Perhaps that is why we are here, to graduate from ignorance.

… YEAH BUT
Why doesn’t an omniscient/omnipotent God simply instantly give us a deliverance from ignorance and its symptom, suffering, rather than growing into some greater realization?

A: If a rose never blooms, can it still be considered a rose? Perhaps, we are here to experience the blooming of humanity.