I have been thinking about this lately because on twitter, @allendh asked me (rephrased) “how do we know we are really here and the reality we see isn’t just our imagination?”

This reminds me of an old edgar allan poe poem I used to love, back in my “dark days” of being 13.

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Edgar Allan Poe

Before I go any further with my own exploration of this, I would love to hear what you all think?!
I look forward to your responses.

xo
a