Last night, I had a really weird dream. I’m usually pretty good at recalling dreams but for whatever reason, this one was more vivid than most.

In the dream, technology had evolved to a point where virtual reality games were good. Like, Ready Player One or The Three Body Problem good. To a point where games were practically indistinguishable from reality.

I found myself in one of those games. I was a virtual self, moving around artificially, but there was also my dreaming self who was controlling my virtual self, in an entirely different world. In other words, I was controlling:

• Character 1: My virtual-self
• Character 2: My dreaming-self

In the virtual game, I found myself in a dungeon. There was one other player with me – a dark-skinned, male avatar with white hair – and we were lost trying to find an exit. I remember randomly looking around the dungeon to find some sort of clue – a key, map or puzzle – but found nothing.

But then I realised I was dreaming and I entered into lucid dreaming. Now this was really trippy, because now there was:

• Character 1: My virtual-self
• Character 2: My dreaming-self
• Character 3: My lucid-self (dreaming)

Since I now had control over my environment as a lucid dreamer, I decided that I had enough of this dungeon and teleported myself to grab some bubble-tea. Which is weird, because I normally don’t drink bubble-tea (bit too sweet). But anyway, I ended up at a small, indoor, run-down bubble-tea joint that had carpet and no chairs.

Now this is where it gets really weird. This bubble-tea scene was for my virtual-self (character 1) in the game. But simultaneously, I also lucid dreamed my dreaming-self (character 2) at a different bubble-tea store. So, I was living two bubble-tea experiences at the same time, at different joints. We ordered different bubble-teas and when they came, I drank them at the same time, from two different places. And it’s impossible to describe, because it’s like your consciousness (ignoring the metaphysical considerations here) has been split in two and you’re experiencing two opposing sensations at the same time. Something simultaneously having a hot bath + a cold shower.

As the lucid-self, my field of vision constantly shifted between my dreaming-self and the virtual-self. As my virtual-self, I would be sitting on the carpet drinking my bubble-tea, then the next second I’m in my dreaming-self running down the street away from some robbers. Then I’d switch back to my virtual-self and be somewhere else entirely, then switch back to my dreaming-self, where I would be on a random mountain, still being pursued by robbers, for an unknown reason. It was extremely disorienting and frankly, terrifying.

When I woke up, my head was spinning. I felt my consciousness had been split into two and was now in one piece again. This honestly felt great; I made my bed and was delighted to see I was still there.

For whatever reason, this dream was particularly vivid and I can still recall certain scenes in there. Since waking, I’ve begun pondering metaphysical questions relating to consciousness, like:

• What is consciousness? Simply sentience, or something deeper like an ego?
• Where does consciousness come from? Is it strictly physical (i.e. the brain), or is there some mystical power at play?
• If it is strictly physical, what are the consequences of this? People might eventually be inseparable from robots with advanced enough neural networks, or consciousness could be stored and transferred between bodies (see Altered Carbon for a novel based on this idea).

Turns out, these questions have been around for ages so I’m kind of late to the party. Still, this was a fun reminder that dreams are still weird and I still have much to explore in the realms of metaphysics.