If we dreamt the same thing every night, it would affect us as much as
the objects we see every day. And if an artisan were sure to dream every
night for twelve hours' duration that he was a king, I believe he would be
almost as happy as a king, who should dream every night for twelve hours on
end that he was an artisan.
If we were to dream every night that we were pursued by enemies and harassed
by these painful phantoms, or that we passed every day in different
occupations, as in making a voyage, we should suffer almost as much as if it
were real, and should fear to sleep, as we fear to wake when we dread in
fact to enter on such mishaps. And, indeed, it would cause pretty nearly the
same discomforts as the reality.
But since dreams are all different, and each single one is diversified, what
is seen in them affects us much less than what we see when awake, because of
its continuity, which is not, however, so continuous and level as not to
change too; but it changes less abruptly, except rarely, as when we travel,
and then we say, "It seems to me I am dreaming." For life is a dream a
little less inconstant.
387. It may be that there are true demonstrations; but this is not certain.
Thus, this proves nothing else but that it is not certain that all is
uncertain, to the glory of scepticism.
388. Good sense.--They are compelled to say, "You are not acting in good
faith; we are not asleep," etc. How I love to see this proud reason
humiliated and suppliant! For this is not the language of a man whose right
is disputed, and who defends it with the power of armed hands. He is not
foolish enough to declare that men are not acting in good faith, but he
punishes this bad faith with force.
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