Lila

"Lila is a concept within Hinduism literally meaning "pastime", "sport" or "play". Lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute (Brahman)."

It does seem real. I'll admit that. My "self" does seem real. Yours seems even more real for some reason.

But it's not.

All of this stuff seems so serious. We gotta get the right job and the right partner and the right this and the right that.

But we really don't. Mostly cause there's no "we". There's only This. Only "One without a second."

So No Self. No solid, enduring self. This is the funny part, the unfathomable part. The part that if I ever see through will permit real living to begin. When the "life or death" stuff drops, the play can begin. Lila.

We wake from dreams all the time and instantly realize that none of it really happened. What if WE (the selves we feel and believe ourselves to be) were part of a dream. Part of Consciousness's dream. What if we are the ongoing dream of the divine absolute, of Brahman. How would we know? We wouldn't because we would have no reference point outside of the dream (because all potential points of reference would be similarly part of the dream).

But still, dream characters do wake up. We occasionally become lucid within our own dreams. Perhaps Consciousness does as well.

So, in the mean time, what do we do? No idea, though I do like St Augustine's suggestion:

"Love God and do what you will"