Are you tired of hearing the term “reality checks” in the lucid dreaming community? Do you think it’s misleading and inaccurate? Well, you’re not alone! That’s why I’m proposing a new term: “physics checks.”
Why physics checks, you may ask? Because, let’s face it, the waking world is also a dream. Everything we perceive and experience is nothing but a construct of our minds, just like in lucid dreams. The laws of physics that govern our waking reality are nothing but a set of arbitrary rules that our brain has created to make sense of the world around us. So, by calling them “physics checks,” we’re acknowledging the fact that the waking world is also a dream, and that the rules that govern it are just as malleable as in a lucid dream.
Now, I know some of you may be skeptical about this idea. You may be thinking, “But the waking world is real, and dreams are just imaginary.” Well, let me ask you this: how do you know that the waking world is real? Have you ever questioned your perception of reality? Have you ever had a dream induced lucid dream where you suddenly realized that everything around you was just a product of your own mind and the rules you previously perceived as definitive suddenly broke free with a single thought. I stand on top of a formerly thriving ant hill and proclaim that I have seen the truth! I have seen the dissolution of physics!
So, let’s start a petition to change the term “reality checks” to “physics checks.” Let’s embrace the fact that the world around us is just as dreamlike as the world within us. And who knows, maybe one day we’ll even be able to control the laws of physics in our waking life, just like we do in our lucid dreams.
Until next time, sweet dreams (or should I say, sweet physics simulations?)!
I have to disagree, but respectfully. Maybe I’m too old to change, but reality, or what it is/isn’t seems to me to be what it’s all about. I don’t think about the term when checking my hand or putting my head through a wall (in a dream), I hope it’s just instinct, or maybe a thought drifts in. I do like that you are trying to re-conceptualize how we think about what to call it, and if it works for you—great! I hope your suggestion/petition appeals to others who feel the same way.
Absolutely! LOL I can imagine many of the top Buddhist monks having a feild day tearing this terminology tomshreads.
Funny you bring up this topic. I had the same thought a while back. Great minds think a like I will definitely be signing your petition.
The only pushback I can see, is a word smith like Andrew saying the word ‘physics’ takes its root in the ‘physical’ world. Maybe an ‘Awareness Assessment’ or ‘consciousness check’ would be more fitting?
Love your new profile pic: Waves of a body of water meets the waves of the bodies.
In my personal experience, what I have written is true. I wanted to share a humorous post about it because I’ve had some issues with the emphasis placed on “reality checks” in lucid dreaming books, videos, and discussions. I have had a couple of definitive first-hand experiences that made me question the term.
However, I wrote this post with a mix of sarcasm and truth while trying to be funny, primarily because one of the main focuses of illusory form is to view the waking world as a dream, hence the emphasis on physics rather than reality checks.
I hope this provides some insight into my perspective on the above post.
I see where you are coming from, and I do agree that “physics check” is a more accurate way to refer to them. I guess I do still feel comfortable with using the word “reality” though. I see the waking and dreaming states as provisional realities- both equal to each other, one not better than the other. I’ve heard that there is a further state of being that is more real than these states and which has been called by different names by various traditions- emptiness, turiya, the Dao, etc. I have no experience of this state of being however, so experientially it’s not real for me- though I trust that it is real and that someday I will experience it. So right now I’m playing with equalizing the states of being I do have access to, the waking and dreaming states. I guess for me then “reality checks” become a way for me to distinguish which reality I’m currently in.
I will definitely be signing your petition.