I often question the concept of reality. This may come as little surprise to anyone that regularly reads my philosophy posts, but regardless here goes another attempt to put into words abstract ideas and gain some semblance of understanding between what I view as my self and all of you, or from my perspective "the other." I've spoken in the past about how I view us all as one and ultimately connected in a higher source of consciousness and how we are all equally necessary to the big picture, and today I'll dive further into that topic. I want to discuss what I think reality actually is and how we all play a part in it.
Reality is as subjective as our perspectives and minds will allow it to be. The issue with getting that point across is that meaning and understanding are also both subjective. Even the words I'm writing now are based on some assumption that we generally share the same basic concept of what all of these words mean and that they evoke the same or similar enough thoughts and ideas in the mind of the reader. In short I could never tell anyone what anything actually means because all of our perspectives and understandings of everything vary, some greater than others. This is our perspective and together all of our perspectives make up the whole perspective which is our shared reality.
If we then understand that every single person that reads this or uses words is to some degree or another biased to their own interpretations, we can grasp the fundamental concept of reality. We all have our own illusions and assumptions about our own understanding and that of others and ultimately every single one of us is biased to believing that our's is more correct than anyone else's understanding. The truth I've found is that they are all ultimately of equal importance when it comes to things such as communication and collaboration. Some people operate on a more similarly tuned frequency of understanding and can communicate better with each other. It doesn't mean that either is better or worse because to get the whole perspective to make up reality we need all of the pieces to the puzzle.
In my mind, if we take all of the individual selves and consider that all of our perspectives are equally important and valid to co-creating reality and that none of us view it identically, we can gain more awareness and understanding of reality. Some would argue that reality is simply the way things are and that it can't be different, but reality is really just as shaky as illusion if we understand that everyone's perspective of reality is different and changes over time. I can tell you that the sky is blue and even if 99% of the human population agrees with me, there is still 1% of the world living in a different reality. This is one binary instance with one word that doesn't take into account how many different perspectives the other 1% may hold.
If we look at language and understand that even simple words have multiple meanings, such as "I'm blue," then it should be easy to see how quickly this problem grows out of hand by our minds assuming there is some level of understanding that we may not actually have. Most would assume that I don't mean the pigment of my skin is blue and that I'm referring to my emotional state, but what about those that don't make the connection? Is there any less importance on their understanding and perspective if they don't understand that we as a society collectively make up meanings and colloquialisms as we go? Looking at all of the literary devices in general, they are all ways we try to shape and manipulate understanding. Perhaps reality is little more than a democracy of our shared perspectives and only matters as much as we allow ourselves to buy into it being governed at all. Namaste.
Trust in God and obey him.
Which one? What about when it contradicts itself? What if my understanding of what a 'god' is differs from the one you have?
Nice thought piece :) I obviously followed that all the way through, could've been me writing it after smoking a J ;)
One thing that gets me, is what if the color blue to me looks like green to you and so on? I mean, we can all say that is blue, because we've been told it is blue, but if I had your eyes, would it look like the blue I see with my own?
Now I'm thinking about the oracle-- What's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
I remember when I first watched that movie, I was impressed with myself for having thought that exact thing (well more or less, not 'bake your noodle' haha) a millisecond before she said it.
I definitely believe we are co-creators. I think my biggest question at this point in time is...are all of us spirit beings? Or are there...extras if you will. Now, we know there are extras in our own play here, those that we pass on the street never to see again for example. But what I mean is, just like on steemit, are some people actually bots?
Not sure if that's an answerable question so it might be a pointless one.
I do know one thing...i can feel the spirits of people, even those I've never met in person. I imagine it's similar to those who say they see auras. But it's not a visual thing for me. it truly is a feeling, one that tells me I could identify every being here that I've come to know, particularly know well and even pretty well, no matter what form they were in once we leave this plane of existence. There is a basic, and very very unique signature to each and every one. A core...and actually, even those who appear to change drastically over time, such as a close friend of mine from childhood--her core remains the same to me. A bit outside of that core, I can also feel something with each being, but that can fluctuate. Never the core though.
Have you always said Namaste? What an odd thing for me to just be noticing if so, I have seen others do it.
Many of your thoughts and questions are the same ones I think about when I recognize people in a dream that I've never met or like when you just meet someone and instantly know that you've known them forever even if you've never laid eyes on them. There is beyond any doubt in my mind some sort of connection between people. I started saying namaste at the end of most of my post probably a year ago. "The spirit in me recognizes the spirit in you." :)
I think we might all be bots to some extent in that there are a lot of areas of our lives, even those of us who feel we know ourselves and the world we live in where the opinions and perspectives we have formed we believe are our own but in actual fact have had some help in being formed by outside influences subconsciously. A lot of the things we do, we do without too much thought, even the wisest and most self aware still act in ways that are neither good for themselves nor the world they live in and yet don't ever realise that these things they do or perspectives they have may be negatives or that they may not be entirely their own. :(
Actually, that has occurred to me as well. At this point it would be somewhat miraculous for someone to say something that I've never thought about before, a possibility that hasn't at least crossed my mind and most of them I have explored a bit or a lot depending on how credible they might be, or if I thought there was a good enough point to it.
Are we in control of these characters in these body costumes (Howie calls them meat suits, but that grosses me out lol) or is someone else? Are we acting out a script? How much latitude do we have, is it only that the big moments are scripted and we control the small ones? -Did you ever see that movie The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon? Entities stopping time to adjust people's perspectives, change their memories, all for a grand plan. Creepy idea, though of course in the movie the main characters were able to balk the brainwashing, beat them at the game, which is something we always hope is true of ourselves isn't it?
Have you watched Westworld yet? There's another one that will tweak your brain a bit, though I will say I do not trust Hollywood, insofar as--the best way to put it, is that I think they tell you the truth, but they hide it amongst a bunch of half truths, maybe even lies, lots of misdirection...and generally the aim seems to be-at least when the concepts are big and deep- to take away our sense of personal power, to tell us that we are weak and not in control. Convincingly, just like the news to some people. But I call bullshit. If they want us to believe we have no power, in my mind that means we have tremendous power that they're afraid we'll realize.
Think about it. We are spiritual beings, and whether by choice or fault or trickery, we are somehow trapped in these three dimensional forms, where there is time and we age. If we chose it, which is the best case scenario, I guess the logical question would be WHY? Why would we choose to come to a place filled with pain and suffering? Maybe the answer is simple. Maybe it's just that we wanted to experience this world in all of its awesome and terrible glory. Maybe, wherever we came from before this, we watched the people running around and thought "Yeah, I could do this game. Check out that view, imagine being in it." Like if you and I were standing over a miniature world that we built, with beautiful lakes and forests, oceans and waterfalls and wished we could shrink down and run around in there. But every game has to have a challenge or it wouldn't be much of a game, would it? I mean think about this- how fucking bored would we get eventually if suddenly we were all pain free, sorrow free, strife free, no limitations? Particularly when I know that often the struggles define us far more than the victories. Perspective. yes, it's certainly possible our perspectives have all been shaped entirely by forces outside of us, an idea I really don't like but also don't dismiss. Though I often wonder--just as we control the characters in games we play, console or PC or even the imaginitive ones we played as a child, perhaps some higher form of our own selves is at the controls of this. It's not that we aren't in control, it's that this lesser being form of us is not entirely in control. Your brother and I touched on this subject, he was quite adamant he would have never chosen to be here. I should have challenged him with going to the most breathtaking spot he could think of, and staring at it for awhile. Then asking himself, if he were outside of this plane looking in, and there was nothing like it where he currently was, is he absolutely sure that it wouldn't appeal to him to take this ride? He seems to me to be the adventuring type, as i know I am. I definitely think it's possible I saw the earth and said "Yup, sign me up for this one, difficult setting--okay maybe the moderately difficult setting." And maybe there are parameters, things you check off like "I'll take finding my soulmate, in exchange for having to deal with heinous pain on and off through life" I'll take some serious brainwashing to begin my life with so that I have something to shed when I grow up, to rebel against that ultimately makes me stronger, though not to the extent that it steals my life, my joy. But it allows me to see the truth, or seek it without hypocrisy.
But there's a spark that resides in us, that can't be touched. I absolutely believe that- and my why is a little nutty sounding, but I can feel/sense other people's spirits, which i thought was purely a physical contact thing but have since learned on steemit that I don't even need to meet someone in person to feel it, sense it, almost smell it.
And Tony...you're going too far into the labyrinth my sweet friend, in fact I think you are letting something take you too far because I've been there. And 'there' is a sad and hopeless place. Do you know what allows me to call bullshit on that? Because there IS good here too. You cannot have one without the other in this dimension, there is dark and light, and sometimes they muddy up and turn grey- which is a struggle, but their are "angels" as well as 'demons'. Everything has its opposite, like cold and hot, sad and happy, joy and sorrow,
I know we've talked about this before, but the truth is I've made a decision--at least for the time being, that I'm going to enjoy this 'ride. I am no closer to the truth of what comes next-and let's face it, it's the biggest struggle in lives like ours. Yours, mine, Scott's, Paul's, Clay's etc. What is the fucking purpose and meaning of it all?
Well, right now I choose that meaning to be that we take the gifts and talents that we arrived here with (maybe we also had a list of things on a form and we got to check a few off such as artist, check, writer, check, lol) and do with them the best we know how, honor whatever it is that gave us the opportunity to bring beauty into this world, especially at a time when it's growing ever uglier, light into darkness. If there is a "He who made the grass green' and that spirit is responsible, well, what better way to pay homage than to use what 'he' gave us, just as I believe it's possibly a spit in 'his' face to squander it. or maybe it was us on a higher plane like I mentioned, and we chose to be in this game/play/script. Well in that case, how do i want to feel when I watch the replay, when it's all said and done? Do i want to wince constantly, not because I made mistakes, hell that's part of the challenge and the fun, but because because if you have this great gift of say music, and you never touch another being with it, than what good was it for you to have it? May as well have gone to someone else, and now you just wasted all that time you could have been weaving beauty into this place.
Want to know a sad truth? My dad, who really was a fantastic being, was also a great artist...once upon a time. He did two things that I take as a lesson of what not to do (well two main things lol, though there was plenty of great lessons of what to do from him too...just for the sake of what I'm saying here I'm going to tell you about the big "don't make the same mistakes")
The first thing he did, was to turn his back on a career as an artist, after a professor of his told him "What? You're going into nursing? No Ed, you are an artist." To which he responded, " I have a family to feed." Trading passion for a paycheck at a job he worked for over twenty five years and never liked. But he still painted as a hobby on the side...until one day he listened to doctors, believed them when they told him that for his pains he should take oxy. and that, that stole every fiber of his creativity, he didn't paint a thing in the last five years of his life, not even a drawing, had no will or desire to...despite that of all the things that had failed him on his body, his hands and eyes remained perfectly in tact. No glasses, no arthritic fingers. All the way to death he had a chance, but he let it go. Pharma (which you might know this) comes from the word pharmakeia, which is greek for sorcery. The hold those things had on him, I swear he talked more about them then anything else, and at the same time did not even recognize there was a problem. Denial is powerful, and much more so when you believe in things like "The doctor knows best". What a crock. How he was misled.
Anyway...yeah, whether or not we are in control of our selves, we definitely aren't in control of others. So really the best we can do, not only for ourselves, but for our children, our spouses, our family and our friends, is to live by example. To take those talents and weave beauty and light into the world. To stop listening to all of that negative- the sky is falling down shit, because that's what the asshole devils want.They want us to live in a state of constant fear so that we're distracted from beautifying this place with our creativity. From fulfilling our purposes, which are probably pretty simple if you have a nice think about it. I don't watch the news, and if i see a post about it or even a facebook blurb, I simply tune it out. Because I don't believe in any of it. Fear your neighbor, fear the government, fear the bill collectors, fear the Man...fuck that, fuck fear. Love them instead, they can't come at you if you're dishing out love. you could even find.
Okay, this comment is as long as the post, lol. I'll stop here for now.
I think you know that I struggle more than most with this thing we call life and have to admit that you brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat when you mentioned my name because you are completely right and it is costing me more than I probably realise. I want the same things as you, I'm sure but can't stop focusing on the things that are wrong rather than those things that are right.
That's as much as I can write right now, You've got me busy lost in thought again, which is most often the problem with me. :(
Thanks, my friend. It's good to hear from you , as always. :)
Aw Tony, you should know that writing all of that for you, helped me, as I find myself in black moments as well, particularly at times like this, when the finite and finality is staring me in the face.
I wrote a Buddha quote recently, that just keeps popping into my head. The Trouble is, We Think We Have Time. If there ever was such a thing as a Godly, or good incantation, perhaps that's it.
Howie has always said "I live with death on my shoulder." But he doesn't mean that in a dark way, he means that the knowledge of running out of time is always with him, reminding him to live in this time that he has. That every moment is a gift and not a given.
In the end, it's the people you loved and the places you saw. I don't think anything else will be on my mind as I take those last breaths I just watched my father take. And if that's the case, what is the point of dwelling on so many evil things that are not within my capability to change? And here's another thought, what if it's not truly evil? What if it's simply the balance, what if they had to be and do these things to keep that balance in a realm that, well it appears to me that this place can't survive without it. Happy, sad, joy, pain, love, fear, hate, compassion, empathy, indifference, hot, cold, and on and on it goes. Do we really think that we're meant to eradicate those things we consider to be bad? Without pain, we might chop off a limb accidentally. Without fear, we might find ourselves in a foolish situation. Now Hate and Indifference are tough for me, except to say, without them would we truly understand the beauty and depth of compassion and empathy, and love?
I understand if you are still on a journey, seeking remedy for what you feel is wrong with this world. If you feel compelled, then likely you are meant to be on that journey because there are things you need to learn from it. Howie and I did, and believe me, we suffered and struggled just as you do. It was worth it, every bit, because we had to know we did all we could.
Laughter was stolen from me for a time, but when it returned, my God, was it ever like being born anew.
So safe travels my beautiful friend, I'm always here to talk to if you want, and if you don't, that's okay too, I'll still be here if that changes :)
Sure, perceptions and descriptions of reality differ. We all see reality through different glasses, some blue, some green and in our perception this is a blue or green reality. But I think this is just from a relative, individual point of view. Absolute reality is a different story, I think. It is something more fundamental and naked.
In my opinion, absolute reality is beyond words and description but I'm sure it can be tasted, like a mute person tasting a delicious meal. The experience of tasting the delicious meal is undoubtedly there, but it is beyond of the realm of concepts and speech.
are all so different is another question worth thinking about.Great comment @redgaruda. I tend to agree with you that life is the world that has been pulled over our eyes and true reality is fundamentally stable, secure and ...just is what it is. Why we all have different perspectives and why they
Thanks for your profound answer, completely agree with you!
Happy 111 to you Broville!
Check it, this may answer some questions about that blue dilemma: 😀
Dabba dee dabba da!
The problem I have is where do we all get our perspectives from and are they really ours at all? All of the stimuli we experience in our lives has an effect on our perspectives as we move through life and most of this stimuli is intended to intentionally confuse our idea of reality. I don't think any of us truly know our own thoughts on the world or at least must admit that in the time before we became aware of ourselves and our thoughts, so much information had already been ingrained into us covering so many different facets of existence that we would be too compromised to come to our real own conclusions.
I read a post the other day, I can't remember by who but they asked they question if you took at child the instant they were born and placed them in a room with no stimuli whatsoever for the entirety of their lives, what would be the result? I don't have the answer to that but the amount of information we are all exposed to in our lives definitely has an effect on our outlook and perspective on life no doubt and since most stimuli is un-natural these days and in my opinion controlled to a large extent, I think it's difficult for any of us to get in touch with the real us and have a true, honest perspective on the world without admitting this to ourselves first.
Great post mate. Hope all is well. :)
Hmm... would it even be possible to take away all stimuli? You can still touch, you need to eat to live, that's tasting.
I don't think that can happen @tonyr, because who will agree what is or isn't stimuli? Is feeding them a stimuli? It'll be a short experiment if so. Then there's the fact that most people would get on Facebook and bitch about it as if having an opinion is changing something. What a fucking sad state of affairs that would be. "We got 100,000 likes and the mad man still wont let them free!"
This reminds me somewhat of subjective idealism. I think it was George Barkley who proposed that things only exist because we are perceiving them. Without our perceptions they don't exist. While this may sound silly to a point, it actually makes sense when one connects it, like you did, to a higher purpose: viz, everyone is important and each has his/her own role to play.
I love what you said too, about words being a symbol. I think I wrote something similar about that once. Everyone feels pain, but can we really feel another persons headache as he does at the moment, just by him saying the word 'headache'?? No. We can only remember when we had something similar and then extemporize.
Great piece.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for checking it out!
Yup. The reality we create collectively can't be seen individually. When I was a beautician the analogy of perceived reality was: Take a piece of paper and hold it up. What do you see? Well I don't see that because I'm not seeing the piece of paper from you view, I see the other side of the paper. It was an exercise our learning leaders used to describe why a thoroughly executed consultation is required for optimal results. See, the client can ask for honey blonde hair, but that is not enough information. What is honey color to you and what is it to me? Reality is co-created that is why the company you keep is so important. Takes a deep breath and sips coffee Great post, Clay ♥♥♥
Strap on the astronaut suit SpaceStace! :P
If assumption is the mother of all f@#kups, then accepting and respecting that perceptions vary must be the mother of true union.
Very well put.
I always wonder about simple perceptions - such as smells and colors, we have been taught names for different things and in a way it helps us to refer to certain things, but it does not necessarily mean that we perceive them the same: does flowers smell the same to everyone? is the way I see red the same as the way that the next person does or is his blue simply called red etc.
It's interesting for sure and I speculate the root of many communication issues.
You'll get me going down the rabbit hole here! I remember someone talking about possibilities of realities alongside us that we can't perceive or don't have the senses to perceive. Not alternative dimensions, but here and now.
Reality, like many things, is a concept really. We believe it and that makes it so. Like @dreemit, I often wonder if we even see colours the same. Of course were all call them by the same name, but what if my blue is your orange? Could this be why we prefer different colours?
Interesting food for thought.
I like this article, and I am going to start reading your posts. I have a quote for you from Pablo Picasso on the subject of reality: Everything you can imagine is real. 😉
Nice flow of thoughts!
Perspectives changing, a lot.
This is why I do this.
This is why I'm hot.
Thanks for being yourself!
Peace, Love, Gratitude!
This is so true, your post is the fact. Nice one
I agree with you
I never agree with myself. That would be boring.
ha ha ha
This is definitely worth reading from top to bottom. :)
I would say that each of us can choose our own reality!
its a natural fact..i apricate you. thanks a lot....
carry on.
reality is a fact that is spoken of without the element of opinion @clayboyn