Thought Experiment

 

Imagine for a moment that you as a soul

are an All Powerful Being.

You are God.

You have the ability to manifest and create

whatever you want based soley upon your will.

And when you're on the other side

in the great infinite beyond as a soul,

you're like, "Okay, I want to experience this creation."

So you as a soul, in line with your will,

create those things... manifest those places

that you delight in and you enjoy the pleasures.

And if you're God,

imagine you have all time, all eternity,

and all power at your disposal.

You have the unlimited power to dream...

any dream you want to dream every night.

What would you do?

You could dream any span of time.

You could dream 75 years of time in one night,

100 years of time in one night,

1000 years of time in one night,

and it could be anything you wanted.

You make up your mind before you went to sleep.

“Tonight, I'm going to dream of so and so.”

Well, naturally, you would start out by fulfilling all your wishes. 

You would have all the pleasures you could imagine,

the most marvelous meals, the most entrancing love affairs,

the most romantic journeys. You could listen to music

such as no mortal has ever heard,

and see landscapes beyond your wildest dreams.

And for several nights, maybe even for a whole month,

you could go on that way, having a wonderful time.

But then after a while you might begin to think,

“Well, I've seen quite a bit and had some good times.

Let's spice it up. Let's have a little adventure.”

So you might dream of yourself being threatened

by all sorts of dangers. You could rescue princesses from dragons. 

You could perhaps engage in notable battles.

You could be the big hero.

And then as time went on,

you might dare yourself to do even more outrageous things.

And at some point in the game, you might say,

"Tonight, I am going to dream in such a way

that I don't know that I'm dreaming."

So you would forget and the dream would seem like reality.

And what a shock when you woke up and scared yourself.

On another night you might dare yourself to experience

the most extraordinary things just for contrast.

You could dream yourself in situations

of extreme poverty, disease, agony.

You could experience the vibration of suffering

in its most intense expression

and then suddenly, whoop,

you wake up and find it was all, after all,

nothing but a dream that you created for experience

and everything was really just perfectly okay.

And you might say, "Wow, man, that was a gas.”

So how do you know that's not what you're already doing?

You sit there reading this with all your problems,

tied up in your complicated life situation,

when it is really just a dream you decided to experience.

If it is wonderful and advenurous, that is crazy good.

If you don't like it, what fun it'll be when you wake up.

But wouldn't it be great to experience any dream you wish

and imagine what it's like not to be the All.

by Alan Watts on YouTube @TimeToWakeUpTheSoul on December 11, 2025