Are We the Dream?

Astrophysicists hypothesize that 85 percent of the matter in the universe is dark matter, which we can’t sense. Or to put it another way, everything we see in the universe is only 15 percent of what’s actually there. Dark matter appears to only interact with us through gravity. It is the only explanation for certain gravitational effects that can only be explained by the presence of more matter than we can account for.

But what is dark matter really? Is it possible it is where all things go when they “die”? If there is an afterlife, what could be simpler than for that mysterious part of ourselves that we call a soul to simply transmute into dark matter? In that state we could not be perceived by any means currently known.

The universe is an awesome, terrifying place, but the idea that 85 percent of it isn’t even visible is truly astonishing. It begs the question of what existence even means. The old question of whether we are sleepers dreaming we are awake takes on new meaning. If sheer numbers exert a moral superiority, then it seems the state of existence embodied in dark matter is the reality and it is, indeed, we who are the dream.