I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. Nor do I intend to.
But, I have smoked one in a dream.
Now, here’s the thing. I don’t know if what I experienced in the dream is anywhere close to what actual smoking feels like. I don’t intend to find out. But I am curious.
I have also experienced traveling in an old english train, flying, falling off a cliff, having loose teeth, getting hit by a car, getting hit by a train, falling into hot lava and many other things in my dreams. Majority of which I will (/hope) never experience in real life. So, I can never be sure what I experienced was anywhere near to what would really happen.
I can also never be really sure if how I experience a very normal thing like a hot cup of coffee is the same way you experience it. Do you perceive the taste of coffee exactly the way I do? Do I experience the color green exactly the way you do? I don’t know.
What I know is anything I experience is just a tiny sliver of the actual reality. Everything else is second hand counts, models, approximations. And this model of world you have only get better with more data you get.
So listen carefully when a friend is telling you about their mundane life, about their last cup of coffee at third wave, because You will never experience that cup of coffee exactly the way they did.