RE: Descartes, The Universe And Everything Else
I like the way you think. Heh.
I've considered this as well, however. Being that each individual consciousness is, by itself, a self-contained understanding of the Universe, each individual consciousness is also, by itself, an entire Universe in it's own right. It would be necessary to fully reconstruct an individual on a molecular scale in order for two of One consciousness to exist. Now, considering the similarities between Identical Twins (which are effectively perfect clones of one another) who have been separated in childhood, yet still sometimes display eerie, even frightening correspondences in behaviour and thought-processes even decades later, I can't say for entirely certain that we are not merely an individual expression (eg Dream) experienced by a magnificent beast...
I don't feel the slightest bit diminished in this, by the way. If a walking dream I am... then I am privileged to be a walking dream for this beast. And empowered, for I can change that dream with work, research, and training. I may be nominally in-charge, but I consider myself secondary. I have cast aside my human indignity, and reclaimed my beastly Glory...
I keep wondering why everybody doesn't do this...
"When someone dies, a universe is destroyed" and "You are the universe, trying to understand itself" are some of my favorite SF quotes; I leave that open as a very possible alternative explanation. About "living the dream" :
Indeed, there's no sense in feeling diminished by any of these possibilities; if anything, they should make us feel awe and wonder about both universe and self...