Zhuangzi and the butterfly

“One night, Zhuangzi dreamed of being a butterfly - a happy butterfly, showing off and doing as he pleased, unaware of being Zhuangzi. Suddenly he awoke, drowsily, Zhuangzi again. And he could not tell whether it was Zhuangzi who had dreamt the butterfly or the butterfly dreaming Zhuangzi.” (Translation by Paul Kjellberg in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy)

Have you had an experience similar to this? Not knowing whether you are dreaming or awake? 

I have. The experience caused me to, briefly, question reality. Which was real, the dream, or the waking? I hear many people compare the butterfly dream to The Matrix movie franchise. Proof that we cannot discern dreams from reality and we might be living in a sleeping state. The world as we know it is just a dream (or a program running in all of our consciousnesses simultaneously). 

Nozick’s experience machine is an intriguing argument but I believe this is not the argument Zhuangzi is making. 

Zhuangzi's confusion of what he is in the moment isn’t about  Descartes' bold statement on what is real, "I think therefore I exist," rather, I think the fluidity expressed by Zhuangzi says sticking to rigid definitions of 'self' are counterproductive. The world is a constant state of change, and for Zhuangzi embracing the ebb and flow of the world is how to become one with the Way. 

As Michal Puett says in The Path, "In fact we spend our entire lives battling against flux and transformation: we declare our opinions to be right (and others indisputably wrong); we work ourselves up over the accomplishments of a rival; we remain stuck in a dead-end job because we're fearful of change." 

Holding on to rigid conceptions of 'this' and 'that' or 'right' and 'wrong' or even what you consider the 'self' obscures the mind from becoming one with the Dao. 

Regardless of any belief in the Dao or a theology, the world remains in a state of change.

Embrace the change.