Is Anything 'Real'?

I have often wondered why is this life the way it is, which I am sure is not unique to me. The questions - 'what is life / what is real / do I really exist', do make their presence felt in my mind. There are a couple of reasons for me to write this post: one, I have been thinking & writing about life, reality, pain and similar things - making this post only natural and two (more importantly), earlier today I saw the movie Inception again (on TV).

There are two movies that have left me with a feeling that, probably, what we consider our world, our reality, is all a game for somebody - or worse, a joke! 

I was in college when The Matrix came out and for the first time, after seeing the movie - I walked out questioning if indeed what I considered as real, was real! Before I saw this movie, I had never questioned my surroundings, my environment, my reality - as I lived. Needless to say questioning the reality didn't last long and, obviously, I didn't get any answers to help me understand anything better - neither about the reality, nor about possibility of my existence inside 'the matrix'!

However, impact of this movie has been strangely strong still. Till date I wonder if I am nothing more than a small part of a ginormous game making me, somehow, inconsequential. This is an important feeling, especially when I feel ginormous pressure of things not going my way. If I accept that I am inconsequential in the larger scheme of things, then my problems, my fears, my disappointments are just as inconsequential...thus not worth fretting about!

The second movie that pushed me to question my real-seeming-life was Inception. My take away from Inception is not about possibility of stealing ideas from someone's mind or bigger still - planting the seed of an idea in someone's mind. That, I understand, is fantasy world. The concept of dreams becoming more real than reality and possibility of building alternative reality basis shared dreams is my take from this movie.

For someone who rarely remembers any of his dreams, this concept of dreams becoming more real than reality was quite a leap. Almost similar to the idea that The Matrix had - reality is not necessarily as we know it, as we feel it, as we see it, as we understand it...how can I be absolutely certain that I am not just a computer generated entity living on commands given to me, within the scope allowed OR just a projection of someone's mind, in his / her dream!