How Real is Life?

A reader wants to know,  "How real is life-as-we-know-it?"

MY ANSWER
 The problem with understanding the reality of life may lie in one's definition of "real."  If you think that real means that what you are 
experiencing really exists and can be seen and heard and otherwise experienced through the physical senses then of course the life you are living is real.  But if you mean is the life you are living the only reality, then no.  Are the people in Africa or China non-existent or living an unreal life just because you can't see them?  If you are talking to someone in a room where you are surrounded by people speaking languages you don't understand, is yours the only real conversation?

 One of the problems with comparing life to a play or a game or even a dream is that it sounds like I'm suggesting it needn't be taken seriously and should not be lived to the fullest.  But that completely misses the point of incarnation.  You are here to EXPERIENCE life.  You are meant to feel emotions.  And yes, maybe learn to manage them the way you build muscles and develop skills and learn history and mathematics and whatever else is available to you to learn.  You might say one of the goals of incarnation is to attempt to gain mastery over yourself and your environment.  And to have fun.  It's supposed to be fun. 

One of the great achievements of  the carbon-based life  is to be able to experience intense emotions without letting them destroy you. Of course there are people who deal with life by saying it's just an illusion and withdrawing from the world as completely as they can.  There are essentially two kinds of people who do that.  First there are very young souls who don't yet "get it."  And there are old souls who have pretty much experienced all the variations of good and bad and ups and downs. They have learned to manage energy on a grand scale.  When they withdraw and pray or meditate they are actually generating energy that can be of benefit to the planet and the planet dwellers. 

You could say that a swimming pool is not real because it was constructed by human beings. There is even such a thing as a man-made lake.  You could say it is not real because it is artificial.  It was constructed by humans for human purposes.  But if you fall into such a lake you will be faced with real problems.  Maybe you should learn to swim.  If you spend one life time thrashing around and screaming for help you might plan to be better prepared next time you enter the lake.  You might learn to swim in advance.  (Although many people have actually learned to swim after having been unceremoniously dumped into deep water.)  Maybe if you are planning another excursion into the lake you will decide to bring your scuba gear and a treasure map. My point is that it doesn't matter whether life is real or not.  It is what you are living.  It is real enough.