What exactly is reality?

[DieForelle]

So what is reality? Does it even exist? How do we know everything we know? Our sensory perception is the only way we can get to know the external world. One may argue that we also use logical induction and deduction to make conclusions about the world. However, the basis of all inductive observations is through sensory perception, and the premises of all deductive conclusions is also through sensory perception. As a sentient creature, we are able to learn about the external world through our senses. However, this is very unfortunate, as our sensory perception is extremely limited. For example, many people cannot hear these so called "dog-whistles", sounds that have a very high pitch. Similarily, people cannot see things that are far away, or things that are microscopic in size. Some people are color-blind, others deaf. Clearly, our sensory perceptions are not as dependable as we would hope. Furthermore, we only have a limited number of different perceptions. This gives us a very biased view of the world. It's as if you're watching a basketball game, but the camera is always focused in the middle of the court. All you will see throughout the game is people running around and bouncing the ball back and forth, nothing else. Can you conclude that the game of basketball only composes of people bouncing balls back and forth?

Now we may wonder, does the real world even exist? Perhaps all this is a figment of our imagination? Or perhaps we are merely test subjects of a mad scientist, who is feeding us false memories and sensations? Is it possible, that the real world does not exist at all?

The answer is no. A famous mathematican in the 17th century named Renes Descartes "proved" that at least something exists. He proved this with a simple but powerful sentence: "I think, therefore I am." Yes, our thought, our conciousness must exist, afterall, we think. Even if all we know about the external world was false, even if there was a mad scientist controlling all our thoughts, at least our thought still exists, and reality still exists. Just reality may not be what we know it today.

Now, we will ask a bold question: If at least one thought exists, can we prove that there is more than one thought in existence? I personally believe we can. Let's assume there is only one thought, one concious being in existence. This means that there is no mad scientist, there is no world, there is no me. The only thing that exists is the thought which you have, the conciousness. As only one thought exists, this must mean that everything it thinks is right. There is no opposing force which will make what it thinks to be false, as it is the only thinking in existence. Now, ask yourself a question: do you believe that other beings with thoughts exist? I'm sure that everyone's answer to that is "yes". It really isn't possible living a life thinking that none other than yourself exists. Now going back, and realizing that if your thought was the only one that exists, this means that all you think is true. You think that other thoughts, other beings with conciousness exists, therefore they must exist. Now we see a contradiction: we assumed that out thought was the only one that existed, but we concluded that there is other forms of thought. This means that our assumption must have been false.

If there are at least two forms of thought, at least two concious beings, what if their view on the world differ? Who then, is right? This means that an external reality must exist. If a reality did not exist, we cannot distinguish between the two thoughts. Now if there is an external reality, who is in charge of it? who decides that that is reality?

Christopher Lagan, possibly the smartest man alive in the world right now stated that it is impossible to prove that god does not exist. In a lengthy essay he wrote in 1998 about his theory, the CTMU, or the cognitive-thoretic model of the universe, he "proves" the existence of god. So what is god? Is it like the god in christianity? Or are there many gods, such as in hinduism? Is god a kind being who will let good people go to heaven? Or is god apathetic? Most people would not like to believe that god is an evil being, as that would defeat the purpose of believeing in a god.

So what is god? My belief is that "god" is the explanation to the external reality. However many thoughts, whatever that may exist outside this world, that, to me, is god. We are discovering more and more about the external world, and about ourselves everyday. However, what we do "know" may not be correct, and even if it were, it is a very insignificant part of what composes of reality. How do thoughts interconnect? Our thoughts must communicate to each other in some way. Even if they are completely unrelated, they still have a common ground, and that is existence. So what exactly is existence? Existence is very hard to define. Does a dream "exist"? Does an illusion "exist"? They exist in our minds, in our thoughts, but they may not to other people, or other thoughts. So who, or what looks over existence? I believe it is god. There is a theory, that if a tree falls in the middle of a forest, but no sentient creature was there to experience it, then there is no sound. However, one philosopher refuted this by saying that "god" looks over everything. Therefore "god", is the perfect entity, the thought that composes of all existence, the only thing that includes all existence, or perhaps, even existence itself.

[chinothepony]

Comedian Bill Hicks summed it up:

"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather."

BTW I love your article very much. I support your views.

[devis666]

thats deep man...

i believe that existence or reality or whatever else you choose to refer to it as is completely and utterly pointless... if the human existence had a point what is it... to cause destruction... to eat away at our world.... to destroy everything.... or is it to learn...

if it is to learn why is the human race so ignorant. the death, wars, destruction, and pollution we are causing is tearing us apart. i believe the human race is unfit for this world and life in general. if there is a god, and he built us in his image why are we so flawed......

[chinothepony]

It is well known that God made us in the images of himself / herself right?

Well I think God is this super power that is able to manifest everything. I think we as the "image" of God or "shape" has that power as well. We manifest our realities.

I believe when we dream we are awake. When we are awake we are dreaming. That is why people who have big ideas and go against the grain can be so successful even though the math of it states they have a 1% chance of making it or 0.5. Because in this time on Earth, everything is slow dramatically. You can't insta wish things to come true. But it happens when you persevere. Those virtues are there for you. Patience, perserverence, etc. They are there for you to hold onto your dream and shape it.

Why do we dream not of the things we exactly want to dream? Because we are still learning. We are still babies in the scope of the universe. And our successes.

I'm sorry to jump all over this thread. But I'm really into this stuff. And I want to leave with a Tool lyric:

"Swirling round with this familiar parable.
Spinning, weaving round each new experience.
Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this
Chance to be alive and breathing"

[DieForelle]

Comedian Bill Hicks summed it up:

"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather."

BTW I love your article very much. I support your views.

Thanks

It is well known that God made us in the images of himself / herself right?

It is well known in christianity that god made us as images of himself.

However different religions have different beliefs, and atheists don't believe god at all.

Here's some food for thought: Did god create us, or did we create god?

[chinothepony]

DieForelle,

To jump around your question a bit, I think too many religions put him/her on a pedestal. I think they distance him/her as this great all knowing being and that causes them fail to look at things outside of human ideas and not see the real truth.

I believe God is cyclical. The alpha and omega. The beginning and the end. Therefore I believe the answer to your question is both.

And if you believe God is a state of perfection, I think you can see how he/she can be both.

[Avarwen]

I'm not gonna touch on the whole "does reality exist" concept because it seems kind of pointless to me. If it doesn't exist then whatever does exist I'm part of and that's all I really need to know. And if I don't exist then I don't exist so the existance of reality doesn't exactly impact me.

"What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet."

thats deep man...

i believe that existence or reality or whatever else you choose to refer to it as is completely and utterly pointless... if the human existence had a point what is it... to cause destruction... to eat away at our world.... to destroy everything.... or is it to learn...

if it is to learn why is the human race so ignorant. the death, wars, destruction, and pollution we are causing is tearing us apart. i believe the human race is unfit for this world and life in general. if there is a god, and he built us in his image why are we so flawed......

Well technically if you believe in God i think it said we were made to keep him company, but then Adam and Eve ate the fruit and that opened up the whole destruction business. We weren't created self destructive, we chose to become it. Kinda sucks actually. That's where all the flaws stem from too.

Idt the point to our existance was ever to destroy ourselves. But it's what we're doing. And if you believe in God or not, then as chinothepony said, we try and distance ourselves from him but I think it's more because we crave our independance than because we want him on a pedestal. And the problem with that is if he does exist, we've now isolated ourselves from him (and though he would help, we won't let him); if he doesn't then basically we're wasting our energy trying to deny a being that doesn't exist.

I think the point to any human being is simply to live, love, reproduce, and take care of the earth and the people around them as best they can-- as cliche as that may sound. But we all view ourselves as being unfulfilled. We all want answers to questions that have already been answered in a way we're just not satisfied with.

But I can't speak for everyone. As far as I'm concerned, if you can't find the meaning in your own life, then you're probably looking in the wrong places. Until you feel satisfied with your own existance, it's kind of hard to try and explain everybody else's, neh?

I've lost my train of thought now so I'm gonna leave it there. Hopefully some part of that made some sort of sense.

[chinothepony]

I think the point to any human being is simply to live, love, reproduce, and take care of the earth and the people around them as best they can-- as cliche as that may sound. But we all view ourselves as being unfulfilled. We all want answers to questions that have already been answered in a way we're just not satisfied with.

I think this is a very Earthly view.

I believe that we are meant to learn from our experiences here and then use those experiences as a higher being to truly fashion our lives and progress. I think all these things you learn in your mortality feeds into immortality.

That is the mistake I tend to make. I tend to think too far in advance and only care about what feeds the spirit and forsake all the things that are underlined. We are here to enjoy the experience. Not just make it to the end.

[DieForelle]

On one hand, we could say "why does this matter? Who cares what reality is?". However, the same goes to anything else. Why strive for fame or fortune? Afterall, all is vanity. When you die, none of that follows you. There really is no point in trying to earn a lot of money, is there. However true satisfaction can be found by discovering what reality really is, what truth really is.

Another thing we must watch out for, is christianity is by far the most dominant religion here. We tend to look at god through a christian persceptive though we don't realize. There are many different beliefs about god, and many different definitions. You can't say isn't god this because god is many different things to many different people.

[chinothepony]

Well said, finally a meat and potatoes kinda person!

When I come up with my references to God, albeit christianity, it didn't matter where it came from. I'm a firm believer in the truth is more about what is, then what is not.

People die for "what is not." They fight and die because of specifics like how the Sabbath should be a Saturday. Or should be a Sunday. If you want to get in the specific game then its probably neither. The calender system is flawed and we lost so much time a year. It prob falls on a Wednesday.

That's why I use he/she. My faith doesn't matter in this discussion, but I'm actually not a Christian. But I still believe in a lot of Christian philosophies. I don't say they are wrong. I just say they are no the only one. I believe in Hindu philosophy. Life is but a dream. I believe in Wiccan, for I see her as a Goddess. All this doesn't matter. What matters is how it all is the ONE TRUTH.