Saturday, January 19, 2008

Reality and How to Know it


‘Reality’ is an illusion that I have come to believe in. I say so because, every time I watch a movie in which a person is in a coma I think of myself. I think of myself being in that person’s place and then wonder, ‘What if I am in a coma right now and everything around me is just a figment of my imagination? What if I am in a deep sleep and everything that I see around me is actually made up by me; am I making the world around fake?’ But these thoughts linger in my head only for some time and then I chose to accept my surroundings.
I think Reality is something that one chooses to accept. Reality is made up of layers. I think there is a one big reality where we all co-exist. Whether we choose to believe that it exists or question it, the fact remains that there is that “something” that we choose to question or ponder over. And that ‘something’ to me is Reality. It is a common bond that all of us seem to experience in our own ways. Though all of us right now may question the existence of reality, fact is that we are more or less at peace with our current state of ‘being’ and that to me is a sign saying the our belief in reality is well routed. It is human nature to question, and being the ‘curious cats’ that we are, we do so without a moment of hesitation. Like I have said before, the fact that we choose to question something, signals that we more or less believe in it’s existence already.
The basis of our ‘Reality’ is that we all choose to either question it or wonder what it is. And the fact that we do so unanimously only strengthens the idea that we believe in the term ‘Reality’, if not what it might stand for. Thus, this brings me to the point about ‘Belief’. The basis of any sort of reality firmly lies in a persons belief. Each of us has a ‘reality’ that we believe in. Our ‘Now’ is our reality because we choose to accept our surroundings and we choose to act in ways we feel suite it. Thus our acceptance to reality is subconscious.
Though there is one common reality that we live in, I believe that the other layers of ‘Reality’ are formed by each individual. Each person has his own way of viewing the ‘common’ reality and it is this difference in perception, that forms the layers. For example, if a person chooses to believe an apple isn’t really an apple, but is a hammer, it is his acceptance and belief. This acceptance and belief form the foundation of his ‘Reality’. The stronger a person’s conviction about something, the stronger the faith he would have in his reality. Hence, for me reality is what it is because I believe in it so firmly. It is reality to me because my mind has accepted it to be so.
Our mind has been conditioned I think, to accept our current environ as reality. Let me go back to my ‘coma’ ideology. If I really am in a coma and I dreaming. Then at that point in my dream my mind accepts those conditions as my reality. If I were to come out of the coma, my mind would then assimilate my surrounds then and accept that as my reality because it is what my senses are accustomed to.
Reality seems to be changing all the time, as far as a person’s state of mind is concerned. For example, there have been cases where people have jumped of buildings under the influence of psychedelic drugs. At that point their mind chooses to believe that they can fly and that is reality for them at that moment. At that point their mind may seem to have distorted ideas of what’s real and what’s not for a person who is sober. But, for them it is ‘their reality’ and they choose to embrace it. Even people who aren’t under the influence of drugs go through such transitions of reality. For example, a couple of children believed that the T.V. super-hero Shaktiman would come and save them if the fell off a building. To test this, one of the boys jumped of the building and died. In this case to the boy had accepted Shaktiman to be a real person. His mind was convinced of his existence and chose to act in the appropriate manner.
I think what we can sense or feel adds to our notion of reality. Reality manages to evoke a sense of being in us and that’s what links us to it. This bond of us with our ‘reality’ is crucial.
The layers of reality may be completely individual but are not completely personal because of the fact, that at the end of the day we all live in one common reality that binds us together. Our reality is the fact that we wonder ’If it is really there?’ But that’s the irony isn’t it.. Reality REALLY Existing. So the root cause of our misery seems to be the fact we need a sure shot answer about what’s real and what’s not. The word ‘real’ takes the pedestal and seems to torture us and become our “greatest suffering”. But I think it’s totally unnecessary because if you believe that something exists, it is enough. If that’s what makes “Your” world (or reality) a better place, so be it.