The Butterfly Dream

Have you ever wondered if the life your living is an illusion?  There are lots of possible explanations for how this illusion could take place.  There is the classic dream argument put forth by French Philosopher Rene Descartes, which suggests that for all you know, you could be dreaming right now, dreaming that you’re reading a beautifully written piece on your favorite website of all time, theDIHEDRAL.  Maybe it isn’t simply a dream, maybe you are in a long-term comatose state reliving some of life’s most interesting and riveting moments, e.g., reading an article on your favorite website of all time, theDIHEDRAL?

In Descartes’ Meditations, he proposes that perhaps your entire existence and all the perceptions you’ve ever experienced are illusions forced upon you by a malicious demon of great power and cunning.  Perhaps all your memories are spurious, and nothing about you exists independently of the script you are forced to believe.

A more contemporary version of Descartes’ Evil Demon is the notion that you are merely a brain in a vat.  Your brain is hooked up to electrodes that produce the illusion that you’re sitting here reading the latest article on your favorite website, theDIHEDRAL.  Again, perhaps all your memories were implanted moments ago, and you brain is just experiencing the whims of the neuroscientists interacting with that powerful grey blob!

More popular recently is the idea that all of this could just be a simulation on some future supercomputer in which we are just some type of NPC responding to the programing of the computer scientists who wrote the code.  The routes we’ve sent over the years, the falls that scared us, the nicks, scrapes, bruises, all the highs and lows are simply 1’s and 0’s, blips on a computer.

Predating all of these examples takes us back to The Zhuangzi.  One of two foundational Taoist texts along with the Tao Te Ching.  The Zhuangzi is said to have been composed between 476-221 BCE and named for the Taoist author Zhuang Zhou.  The Zhuangzi is presented as the collected works of Zhuang Zhou although it’s more likely the collected works of several authors over centuries.

There are 33 chapters, most are very short and come in the form of parables and allegories.  That being said, the most famous story comes at the end of the second chapter and is often referred to as The Butterfly Dream.

昔者莊周夢為胡蝶，栩栩然胡蝶也，自喻適志與。不知周也。
Once, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering about, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know that he was Zhuang Zhou.

俄然覺，則蘧蘧然周也。不知周之夢為胡蝶與，胡蝶之夢為周與。周與胡蝶，則必有分矣。此之謂物化。
Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou. But he didn’t know if he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.

— Zhuangzi, chapter 2 (Watson translation)

I’ve always been enamored with the dream argument, in all of its forms.  While most dismiss it at merely a philosophical musing, I think it is a serious challenge that shouldn’t be disregarded.  Reality is shrouded in a mystery which may allow the experience of perceptions, feelings, and memories, but in the end you may simply be a butterfly, dreaming that you are reading the latest article on your favorite website of all time.