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Are we all in the mind of God as figments of his imagination?

I've felt a great calling towards Christianity mainly because it is part of my culture, has been in my family and feels perfect, I dont have faith but I want it to be true so bad. I need there to be an authority above me, to give me my authority in the world as a human being.

The main issue I have is that I don't believe in dualism, I fully believe we are all of the same mental substance, like brahman to the Hindus or the Tao. I believe the universe is mental.

The only way I can reconcile these is by seeing the universe as gods dream or something in his incredible imagination, a dream he interacts in. However I don't know if this is heresy or contradicted anywhere in the scripture.

I dont know how many of you have read George Berkeley, a Christian idealist, but what I'm getting at is something like his interpretation.
I'd appreciate any input on this

[jimwalton]

I think to consider ourselves as figments of God's imagination is a denial of reality, which I think is false direction, given that both science and the Bible, along with our personal perceptions and experiences, require that life is real.

> I don't believe in dualism

Neither do I. Nor does the Bible teach or allow for dualism, which fails to provide a foundation for dealing with the basic questions of life. If there are two equal and opposing deities, how would one know whom to believe? In such a system, there can be no such thing as truth, nor any basis for distinguishing right from wrong.

> The only way I can reconcile these is by seeing the universe as gods dream or something in his incredible imagination, a dream he interacts in.

I'll use a quote from Dr. Joe Boot to address your wondering. He was writing about the necessity of the Trinity, but I think it speaks to your statement. "If God is not the triune Lord revealed in Jesus Christ, then the doctrine of creation is rendered impossible, and man is part of a cosmic chain of being. This is because a monadic conception of God as some kind of singularity leaves us with the emptiness and void of non-personality as ultimate reality. If there is no plurality within God’s being, then there is no subject-object relationship, no particularity, but instead only a blank unity. In such a view of God there can be no foundation for knowledge, love, morality, or ethics. Indeed, without an absolute personality, there is no diversity or distinction basic to reality at all; ultimate reality is a bare unity about which nothing may be said. This is why the Trinity is so important in tackling the philosophical problem of the one and the many. Moreover, because a denial of the Trinity leads to a denial of an absolute personality, we cannot speak coherently of the willof God. Only persons have a will. But if God has no will, then creation is not the free act of an absolute, personal God. Rather, the universe is the emanation of divine being, and what we call the universe is merely the extension of god, or, as some pagans would say, it is the body of god."

In other words, creation must be real, God is not one with the universe, and we are not just a dream.