Man's Experiences in the Dream State
All the experiences of man's waking state can be duplicated in his dream state of consciousness. In the dream state a man may find himself walking joyously in a lovely garden and then seeing the dead body of a friend. He is grief-stricken, sheds tears, suffers from headache, and feels his heart throb painfully. Perhaps a rainstorm blows up suddenly and he becomes wet and cold. Then he wakes up and laughs at his illusory dream experiences.
What is the difference between the experiences of a dreaming man (experiences of matter as displayed in the bodies of himself and his friend, the garden, and so on; and experiences of consciousness as displayed in his feelings of joy and grief) and the experiences of the same man in the waking state? Awareness of matter and of consciousness is present in both cases.
Man is able to create both matter and consciousness in an illusory dream world; therefore it should not be difficult for him to realize that Spirit, utilizing the power of maya, has created for man a dream world of "life" or conscious existence that in essence is as false (because ephemeral, ever changing) as are man's experiences in the dream state.
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submitted by Astalea7