Where it comes to things that mystify me, that make me think, and where I often don't come to answers, I think what is reality is at the top of the list. The problem is there are so many realities and so many people who think they have found the ONE-- except they don't agree what it is. Many of those who 'know' also are sure they are the only ones who really 'know' as in it's their truth or no truth.
Some who have found reality are content to take someone else's word for what it is. Whether that person would be a scientist, saint, book, teacher, friend, guru, or parent, they accept what they were told and are happy with it. Or at least they seem happy to not look again-- to not need to look again.
Some have personally searched for reality, come to IT independent of their family or even cultural group and they also don't have to look again. What makes them not have to look again? I understand it better when someone is in a 'tribe' and to move outside it for truth will cause great loss; but many have no such reason for not looking. They are content with what they already found.
Actually that doesn't bother me as much as-- what makes someone like me keep looking? The question is one that intrigues me. Is it better to be one way or the other? Do we have a choice? I have been where I thought I 'knew' and was pretty happy with that, but I didn't stop exploring other possibilities, looking at how they fit with what I saw as reality. Is that where I went wrong if I wanted to be more sanguine about the whole 'reality' thing?
Some would argue there is no ''one reality' and whatever you have found is real for you. I do not buy that. I think there is an ultimate reality, but the question is what is it? Everybody cannot be right when they disagree, can they?
So we have a tragic event of any sort and some say-- to the ones involved-- they signed up for this before they were born. It was a karmic agreement, part of their need to grow, or help the world through what they might contribute by their participation in such an event. That is put down as hokum by those who believe whatever happened, God was in control and the beloved person is now in heaven where it's all good for them. Both of these ways of thinking offer obvious comfort.
Another way of seeing offers no such comfort regarding god or a plan. There is not an afterlife; and we should work harder as humans to not let such things happen again as they are tragedies where the best we can make of them is to learn ways to make life better on earth.
Whether someone has looked at the world and decided atheism is the only possible conclusion. Whether they have found a true religion that they absolutely know is the ONE. What makes some find IT, stick to it and that's it? Is it something in our brains that makes one able to settle on something once they find it and never reconsider while another thinks-- well that's good for now but I'll see if more comes along to make it untrue or truer?
In a hunter gatherer culture, to be constantly aware of new events, changing conditions, would probably make that person successful and more likely to survive in a world that is full of changes. In ours, is that still so? Not so much probably. I think people are more comfortable with us if we are wearing a hat with which they are comfortable. We like boxes and are happier when we can put people or events into those boxes.
My question is really about an emotional element to living that isn't about constantly reassessing our feelings about friends, family, jobs, or where to live. It's about how we see the bigger picture around us. When something happens (good or bad) how do we incorporate it into our life perspective?
Maybe this is all tribal but not in the way it once was. What I have come to think is our emotional realities form the only tribe most of us have-- the art, political, musical, sports, religious, scientific, or inherited tribe.
Living as we do, we don't easily know what tribe someone even belongs to unless we get close to them. Our neighbor can have a house exactly like ours, family that looks the same, but their view of what is real is totally different, and the tribe they actually belong to is nearly unrecognizable to us in terms of our own set of values.
American culture doesn't force us (for now) to be in one tribe. We have many many choices for how we may see the world, picking and choosing from diverse options-- some admittedly more popular than others. The price we pay may be to be ridiculed but we are usually not going to get stoned or burned at a stake (for now).
I am reminded of our diverse ways of seeing things through the newspaper or even by reading certain blogs, receiving an email, or listening to a conversation where I realize they have seen a recent event through a lens totally differently than mine. Some of that is political but some spiritual. Emotionally it makes the world look like a very different place.
Why is that? That's the kind of question I ask that can't be answered probably and doesn't even bother a different kind of thinker. Do we really 'know' anything of what reality is? While it might not trouble others, I want to find truth with a capital T. Not a truth that suits me but one I truly believe is IT. Is there such a thing? Maybe I am just still looking for my tribe.
The digital painting is of a woman with the various ways she might interact with other people, how she is seen, the roles she plays, each one different and yet integrated into her being. They are all her to varying degrees. Is this our reality?
16 comments:
Humm? I'll have to ponder the question Rain..:-)
I don't belong to a tribe. I don't fit in and have finally come to the conclusion that I never will.
That said, I think we all want to belong to a tribe and know that we are cared for and loved.
An interesting question.
You said, "I am reminded of our diverse ways of seeing things" and I think this is very true. We are a product of our environment, upbringing and what we have been exposed to. Some of us sort of stop looking for exposure, others continue all our lives. You said that you really don't believe that there are different realities for different people, but our reality is in our mind so there really are different realities for different people. I suppose that the only absolute reality for all of us is our eventual death. And maybe taxes.
I read from a follower of the Jain religion (an off shoot of hinduism that seeks peace), that a truth cannot exist but to attain peace we should seek consensus.
Example:
"There is a tree in the forest, the logger see the trees as a harvest and can put food on the table for his family, the furniture maker sees it as the foundation for a fine peace of furniture, the environmentalist sees it as a living thing to be honored and preserved. All true.
So there may not be a global truth or certainty, but understanding of how the people we are with, and the world present to us want to co-exist."
I still play with this, and generally it works for me.
True peace comes when each can understand and agree how to honor the forest for all.
While not a follower of a religion, I found this perception to be quite enlightening, since it helps me understand why I had such a hard time finding truth. And it gave me insight when I encountered someone who said there was only one truth (laced with religious fervor). While I did not agree with said person, it helped me understand where they struggled to accept others point of view. Truth is but a concept of personal perception.
So this want interesting, I clicked on my post and got a phishing warning for my email to our blog/website. Don't know what to think or do with this. Nice to know my someone is looking out for me and my computer, just don't like it's our site!
OK then.
Phil
So this want interesting, I clicked on my post and got a phishing warning for my email to our blog/website. Don't know what to think or do with this. Nice to know my someone is looking out for me and my computer, just don't like it's our site!
OK then.
Phil
Scientists wrestle with the question of whether the universe would exist without an observer. There are over 6 billion observers on this planet which means there are over 6 billion realities. We take in all of the stimuli and data through our senses and over a lifetime our brains create the reality we live in. Reality for some people is a brittle shell they’ve built around themselves and must continually patch and reinforce to keep it from caving in. These are the ones whose concept of God was formed as a child in Sunday School and they would feel threatened by the idea of a deity that wasn’t a kindly old gentleman that sits on a throne in the sky and grants them their every wish. Or who votes for one political party because that’s what their parents did and will allow no information into their mind that might undermine their limited world view. Or those who found a vocation early in life and define themselves by it, whether it be butcher, baker or candlestick maker. Their universe must be nailed down and unchanging for them to feel secure.
Then there are those whose sense of reality is fluid and evolving. They discard old concepts as they learn new ones. Ideologies and creeds must actually work in their daily lives for them to embrace them. They belong to many tribes whose memberships overlap and blend. Like Kay, I feel no kinship or affinity to any tribe and have come to prefer my own particular solitary reality. Whose knows, maybe I’ll be locked up some day for it because the world seems to demand more and more conformity to a manufactured and marketable reality.
from Julie
This post is difficult for me to take in.
I belong to many groups (religion, ethnic, age etc.) and each one offers another way of looking at the world.
The digital painting reminded me of all the different roles we have. These identities combined together make us who we are as individuals.
I'm still a little confused about this post, but this offering was the only way I could respond.
from Julie
Also, Wally's comment about conformity really struck a nerve.
Maybe I have a lot more to think about?
I just read something about an article in the San Francisco Chronicle written by Deepak Chopra about the nature of reality. Here's an excerpt from an email summary I received:
"The solid, material world vanished a hundred years ago," he writes, "and almost all the quantum pioneers, such as Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schroedinger, either became outright mystics or remained baffled by the radical discovery that the universe emerged from a void." Chopra asserts that consciousness is now a viable topic of study, as the connection between science and spirituality is increasingly explored. "Everything in existence is experienced through our consciousness, including subatomic particles and distant galaxies. The universe exists in our consciousness. There is no proof of an objective universe, which is taken on faith, as pure assumption," he writes. "Is the universe conscious? ... Does the mind exist outside the brain? Once preposterous, these questions seem to hold the key to the future, in both physics and biology."
Intriguing, don't you think?
Sorry, I forgot to add the url to the article:
http://www.sfgate.com/columns/chopra/
Fascinating and your comments, all of them, have added a lot to the discussion as they so often do. A lot to think about and maybe goes clear back to some of Plato's writing for where we are going in our thinking. We go so far except not always...
I have been reading Stephen Hawkings latest book, "The Grand Design". He talks about this very question of what is reality, referring to the film "The Matrix" where the human race is unknowingly lifing in a simulated virtual reality created by computers. Whether or not that may be true is immaterial, it doesn't matter - our experience does not deviate from what we observe (if we are observing carefully) If our reality is merely a figment of a dream, it is the dream we exist within, it IS our reality. And until some computer programmer splits the moon into two to see our reaction, it is the only reality we can depend on.
The only reality is the here and right now. Retrospective examination of happenings are sensed by different people all from a different view point with senses that are all a little different. The future is about to happen and we are all going to see it with different expectations which will color our perception.
I think it odd for Western historians to seek an absolute true presentation of what happened. I suspect they are trying to fool us into believing a cosmic view that will support their bias or revolutionary ambitions. The Chinese on the other hand as I understand them, think we are superstitious. They consider history as the highest form of literary art with the purpose of presenting a reflection of what happened - a reflection of detail that would be important in helping people become ethical. My thinking falls in with what I understand to be Chinese. Does that make me psychologically and spiritually part of the Chinese tribe?
Wally,
I enjoyed the SF Chronical, Chopra article fascinating.
I enjoyed this post. Sometimes I wonder if there is any such thing as reality—reality being just a word made up by humans to distinguish one thing from another... but what things... hmm... there's the wonder.
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