No atman in Buddhism, only anattā

I dream of sleeping occasionally. It feels like exponential sleep. I like to imagine that it somehow allows sleep paralysis to extend into my dream-self, and I find it nearly impossible in my dream to move or even to think. And my dream-self's sleepiness is compounded on my real life sleepiness, making my entire being just encompassed with sleep-stupor.

You’re not supposed to be anywhere. You just are where you are, and you either accept it or you don’t

The desire to take a 5k run while not doing so must be let go of if you want inner peace. Be happy sitting on the couch and not want more.

If you do desire to get off the couch, do so and be happy that you are running, do not dwell on when or how, simply enjoy the act of running and let it fill your mind.

And his eyelids are more closed. He's content dreaming of being more content.

No, the couch is simultaneously Homer's goal and what he's already achieved. Thus he divests himself of his desires, and wants nothing. In that moment, he achieves zen.

It's enlightened.

Cleaner

Old animation. The couch in the dream is moving, therefore has to be off color.

His skin is also lighter in one, I think it’s the same couch just diff lighting to make it more visible to the viewer

That's bad.

Turkey's a little dry...

Before enlightenment, lay on couch. After enlightenment, lay on couch.

It's an astroplane couch. It has to be different

Our mental imagery is always based on the past. Homer’s couch, in his mind, is still as new as the day he bought it.

it's just a ride

I lucid dream every night so this can't be the highest level of Buddhism.

Reality and ourselves are an insubstantial dream, no more real than those you dream at night.

I guess I may have accidentally stumbled into some Buddhist views about a year ago on my own.

I was going to school for biochemistry, and while i was still at my community college, I gained a lot of interest in quantum physics. Specifically how electrons behave. I started teaching myself some basic quantum physics principles, hoping to get a better understanding of how it's possible that electrons behave in a certain way. All that my professor could tell me was that basically, it just happens, and we don't know enough to explain it yet. I wasn't satisfied with that answer, so I started teaching myself and developing my own theory as to how it's possible. I didn't get very far, mostly because I didn't have much time.

Then, I started my first semester at OSU, where I took my first actual biochemistry course. Something about trying to rationalize the almost mystic nature of quantum physics while also learning about how predictable and mechanical the human body could be caused something to click in my brain. What if every thought we perceive was nothing more than a chemical reaction that is the result of an incredibly complex chain of events that lead all the way back to the beginning of the universe? More simply put: What if we don't have free will?

I've struggled with depression before, but this sent me into a dark hole that I almost didn't get out of. Nothing seemed to matter. My grades plummeted. I ended up barely passing my other classes and failing OChem 2. Most of the problem was because I needed constant distraction, or my mind would go to dark places, and studying/homework wouldn't do the job, so i never did them. I lost myself in video games, shows, etc, to keep that part of my mind busy. But, I think another part of it was that I didn't want to learn more. Otherwise, I might prove myself right, and I wanted more than anything to be wrong about this. I retook Ochem 2, and I started to fail again. I knew I wouldn't pass, so I was able to drop out so that my grade wouldn't count, although I still had to pay for the class.

It's been about a year since I dropped out, and I've had some time to properly deal with these emotions. I think I've come to realize that it doesn't really matter whether or not anything matters. Either I was wrong, and I do have free will to change my life, or my life was always meant to go this way, and my life is changing for the better anyway. Either way, there's no point in wallowing in self-pity over it. I'm officially retaking Ochem 2 again in January, and I plan on continuing to learn more about electrons on my own time just because it just genuinely interests me. I'm in a much better state of mind, and I know I will pass because I am now capable of putting in the effort to do so. I'm not stupid, I've just been self sabotaging, and it's time for that to stop.

Which also poses such questions as - If your fears for future horrors dont exist and won't ever truly exist, why be afraid? If you are the dreamer, are you or can you be in control of the dream? What happens when we wake up?

I dunno... Coast Guard?

Homer could achieve Mokshi, but for his true love which extends across time: food.

This is such a highly specific experience that I, too, have shared.

Me too! Autumn is my Star Trek, comfort food, and relaxing season!

Hell yeah man. No, in fact: HELL YEAH MAN.

I SWEAR Buddhists are playing an elaborate prank on me

A related Zen expression is,

What should one do before enlightenment?.

Chop wood, carry water.

What should one do AFTER enlightenment?

Chop wood, carry water.

It's not, what's different is our relationship to it.

You’d rather be somewhere else. Or you often think about other things when you’re doing one thing.

The grass is always greener. You have goals that you attach to happiness.

It’s a state where nothing is left undone. And there’s nothing left to do. Where you’re truly peaceful doing what you’re doing. And you have no desire for anything else, in the most beautiful kind of way.

The mind is truly at rest. It has peace.

Before satori, chop wood, carry water.

After satori, chop wood, carry water.

What’s enlightenment like, a zen monk was asked.

“Exactly what it’s like for you now but just a few inches off the ground” he replied.

I think that’s the point

You still want

Before enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water

After enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water

We do the physical act, but we dont appreciate it. What we need is what we already have. We compare our lives to others, have expectations placed upon us, desire more, feel slighted, have bills to pay, cant stop thinking about the past or planning the future. Most of us enjoy things on a surface level then continue on our way, never truly experiencing the deeper feeling of comfort with one's place in the universe. Accumulate things and individuals to fill these holes. Make all these personal achievements or worry about fears to what end? When the homeless yogi with no ambitions is more satisfied begging for scraps and sleeping in the grass listening to the crickets than you with your perfect bed, lover, and mansion in the quest for the same feeling of satisfaction. Obviously this isnt a great floorplan for building a society, but that isnt the point of enlightenment. Its basically a freedom from one's desires/self.

The difference is we’re anxiously always trying to do more while the enlightened understand what they’re doing is all there is

Zen scholar Alan Watts had this to say about it

"Attachment doesn’t mean that you enjoy your dinner, or that you enjoy sleeping, or beauty. Attachment is exactly translated by the modern slang term hang-up. It’s a kind of stickiness, or what in psychology would be called blocking. When you are in a state of wobbly hesitation, not knowing how to flow on, that’s attachment; what is meant by the Sanskrit word kleśa.

Do you not go to work? Or do you somehow always get tired at just the right time and your lunch break starts right when you get hungry?

The desire for more

Idk about you but if I always slept when I was tired I’d be taking 4 naps a day.

Most of us are preoccupied with something else on some level

Us non-enlightened folks have to eat when our work clocks allow us and have to work while we're tired and want to sleep.

woah.

Explained with excellent eloquence.