What exactly is reality?

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Originally Posted by chinothepony

My faith doesn't matter in this discussion

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I think that chino sumed it up; this is why this thread has yet to turn into a heated religious debate. My original intent was not to debate about religion, or to debate about which god(s) is the true god(s) if there is one.

I agree with Cyhort's point. That was what I defined as "external reality", reality in which you cannot change. The reality which we perceive is merely a small fraction of the external reality. The point, was to understand what this external reality really is.

I think therefore I am - Rene Descartes

this more or less somes it up. Although many things in life can't be absolutely verified, the fact of your existance in some form allows for some assumptions to be made. It is from this that we can deduce what our existance truely is.

I'm not sure whether you've read my post, my first post, and brought up that quote, or perhaps you brought it in from elsewhere? Either way, I agree with you, and that is exactly what I tried to do. Using that as the first step, can we logically conclude with more?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SwanSong

I believe in the future. I believe in science. I believe religion and science should go hand-in-hand, and that God exists in the details that we cannot explain (such as where did the Big Bang come from... who created that?). I believe that sacred texts such as the Bible and the Koran should be read as a book of allegories, stories, and moral guidelines; not a stereo manual with step-by-step instructions.

When people begin clinging to their beliefs so strongly out of fear of the unknown, that's when humanity shows it's embarrassing side. As merely an example, I'll bring up the notion that the Earth was the center of the universe and the persecution that resulted when one person tried to prove that it wasn't so.

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I totally support that view, and I totally agree with it. That is the same view that I have.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind"
~Einstein

lol, yeah missed that, my bad, read over that little portion.:o

But ultimately I tend not to worry about the exact nature of reality so much as the truths enclosed within its nature. Questions such as why we are here, blah blah do not really affect me so much as questions like, what will we do, how can we improve the world. Things of that nature. I personally prefer to look towards the future rather then the now or past to try to make things better. Personally, I feel that if you were to assign a number for everything in the universe and add it all up, You'd obtain 0 as your solution. Negative numbers are allowed. I also believe in 2 universes, the "Real" universe, and the "Mental" universe.

Abakkar I'm impressed with your interesting P.O.V :D And I like your adding up to equal 0 theory. I can totally see that.

well, you look at science and the facts of nature i.e. oppposites attract, and you look at the way people think, and it just seems to fall out. To be honest, I've been thinking of writing a book that expresses my theory more so though.

Yea I been thinking about writing a "spiritual awakening" based book which uses science in everyday circumstances.

There's a duality in everything. Our brains are halves. Genders are 2, etc. Science and Religion divided are what seperates us into this infinite realm of possibilities.

There is only duality if you want there to be. There is nothing special about the number "3.1415926535897932384626433832795...." (No, it wasn't a copy+paste. I memorized that). Nor is there anything special about phi, e, or even 0. In fact, the number 0 is an abstract concept which really doesn't exist. You can say that your brains are halves. You can also say it's a whole brain. you can say that there are two genders. You can also say there is one Homo sapien sapien. Much of the diversity in the universe was created by our minds, and our will to connect between spaces, objects and thoughts.

BTW looking forward to your books guys :D

thruth is, I find that the universe could be divided into 3 halves, but more or less all I'm doing is dividing the "Mental" universe into two sections, the Logical universe, and the Emotional universe. The reason why I say this is because I feel there are 3 halves to the science/religion portion. I feel that you must include philosophical within that as well because although the 3 can agree on certain aspects, they ultimately all debate amongst each other as to who is correct.

Also, yes, 0 is an abstract concept, but tell me, what in our world is not? Its the abstract basis behind it that I find important, not the number itself. Please look beyond the obvious.