[ WP ] A religion has swept the globe , the principal tenet of which is that reality is a dream of God 's , and that when every human on Earth believes this we ( as God ) will finally be able to awaken from our dream . ( bit more inside )

# #'' A Wandering Mind'' 
 
 `` Surely, if the rest of the world believes it, it must be true, no?'' he asked the young lass, as he sat at her small kitchen table. 
 
 `` What's popular is n't always right,'' she replied curtly, standing at the counter and fidgeting with porcelain bowls. 
 
 `` And what's right is n't always popular. Yes, I've heard the saying. Ca n't fault me for trying, though, can you?'' 
 
 `` Why would you lead with a fallacy?'' 
 
 `` For simplicity's sake. I could just as easily lead with a huge set of theses and proofs and philosophical arguments, but that would turn off the average person.'' 
 
 `` Do I seem like the average person?'' 
 
 `` No. You completely deny what everyone else accepts. I suppose my old habits die hard.'' 
 
 `` Well then, let's get on with the debate. Oh, wait -- chocolate or peanut butter?'' 
 
 `` Erm... I can send someone to get food from any restaurant you want, on my dime. We do n't have to eat cereal.'' 
 
 `` I like cereal a lot more than I like waiting. Chocolate or peanut butter?'' 
 
 `` Do you perhaps have Reese's Pieces?'' 
 
 `` Sure do. Milk?'' 
 
 `` Please.'' 
 
 `` So, out with it then.'' 
 
 `` Have you ever experienced a false awakening? Woken up, gone about your daily activities, only to suddenly find yourself back in bed, waking up again?'' 
 
 `` Not really, but I know some people who have.'' 
 
 `` Is it not feasible that all of reality is simply an impenetrable false awakening?'' 
 
 `` Nope. I think; therefore I am.'' 
 
 `` A clever phrase, indeed, but I believe you are misinterpreting it. You do n't know for sure that your thoughts are your own, or that they originate from within you. It's entirely possible that they are generated from some outside source. Ignoring my religion's questions about the nature of reality for a moment, we human beings have the ability to empathize -- to *think as another. * Your thoughts could well be the result of some other entity empathizing. The phrase'I think; therefore I am' does n't prove your own existence; it merely proves the existence of a thinker.'' 
 
 `` Hm, never thought of it that way... but how do you know that the thinker is a dreamer? Maybe we're in a computer. You know, like *The Matrix*.'' 
 
 `` Computers have glitches and bugs that occur consistently. They are reproducible, even though the circumstances that led to their occurrence may be difficult to replicate. Furthermore, the probability of butterfly effects tends to be... low. Members of my religion have established an international organization whose purpose is to research anomalies in the world and attempt to replicate them. Despite a decade of work, we have had no success.'' 
 
 `` You sure that's not your fault?'' 
 
 `` I ca n't rule it out. Consider, however, that dreams could produce irreproducible anomalies. Dreams can produce things that are random -- or, at the very least, closer to being random than any fault in a computer system.'' 
 
 `` What makes you think that knowing about the dream would wake'God' up?'' 
 
 `` If we exist as characters in a dream, then we must be representative of the dreamer's mind. We are generated by it, and we are the result of its processes. If *all* of us become aware of the dream, then the dreamer's mind must, in its entirety, also be aware of the dream. If that does n't result in a full awakening, it will at least result in a lucid dream, and the resulting widespread anomalous occurrences will validate our awareness.'' 
 
 `` How do you know the dreamer is n't already awake? It could be a daydream.'' 
 
 `` That's a distinct possibility, but the anomalies we've detected are more characteristic of a sleeping dream than a daydream.'' 
 
 `` She might have a wandering mind.'' 
 
 `` I suppose.'' 
 
 `` What do you get out of waking the dreamer? If we're just characters in a dream, then we'll all die once the dream ends.'' 
 
 `` We will not die; we will ascend. The dreamer's mind will be returned to the true reality, where it will perform great deeds.'' 
 
 `` Or maybe she'll just finish her cereal before it gets soggy, and then fail another philosophy exam.''
