A dream

Everything is a dream. Every reality, every life, every existence is absolutely the same as the dreams we see at night. Short or long, pleasant or not, they are dreams. The only reality is this abstract dreaming power. If you get hooked to a dream, the sense of 'me' arises. This is what makes it 'feel' more real than the sleep dreams. The sense of doership arises along with the me. It is non-existent just like in our night dreams nobody decided to do anything, and nothing ever happened. But this is hard to accept once you feel like a 'me'. Along with 'me' also come emotional attachments, loving relationships, burning desires, etc. To understand that it's all a dream feels like tossing them aside, like killing them. So the dreamer is trapped in a strange condition. On one hand, this sense of 'me' gives rise to endless tribulations, worries and sufferings, but on the other hand to open our eyes to the reality of things seems like a huge suffering in itself. It seems like killing all you've ever loved. It's an unsettling predicament. The dreamer is stuck. The dreamer will be released anyway with the death of the body, but knowing this doesn't help, in fact it is another factor that makes this 'being stuck' state worse. Enlightenement is the built-in mechanism to help you move on, like a seat-ejection functionality. It is maturity for the dreamer, to learn how to deal with the reality that has been made real by the belief in it. How to finish the ongoing authoring of the story cleanly and then close the book permanently and move on.

 "In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever--for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!"  Mark Twain - The Mysterious Stranger