Page 44 - Knowing The Truth

42 KNOWING THE TRUTH

salt? While swimming, did you feel the exertion and then the fatigue?
And did you hear the sounds of waves, seagulls, and other details your
senses picked up during the dream?

AHMED: Yes.

MURAD: Were you convinced that what you were experiencing
during the dream was really happening?

AHMED: Yes.

MURAD: Our experience of life in the real world, like the images in
our dreams, is even more convincing. The impressions we perceive are so
many, so clear and detailed that many people lead their whole lives
believing they have some connection with the reality of all they see. But
the same thing is also true for your dream as in your dream you thought
you had some connection with the sea or the chair where you were sitting.
If you think carefully for a moment, you'll understand that the things you
experience in your dreams and the life you live while awake are
composed of the same impressions.

AHMED: I understand this but when I wake up from a dream, I
come back to the real world which is in the same place where it was
before I fell asleep. So, it is obvious that there is a world existing apart
from our impressions. Right?

MURAD: What we call the material world is a place we can never
have direct experience of. In fact, we may never know what it looks like.
Apart from what our senses pick up and our impressions, we can neither
see nor feel matter. From the day we open our eyes, we're always affected
by impressions. As far as we know everything that makes up our daily
life – school, family, toys, food, a bus, friends, a scenic view, home, the
workplace – in other words, everything is composed of a film playing in