What is Reality? (1 Viewer)

[grip]

Is reality based on perception, or is reality self-defining?

I heard from a new TV show that there is no single truth, but many individual truth's made up by us all.
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Viktor Frankl

"Humans evolved to make sense of things. Every time a stimulus comes to us, our brain does the efficient thing, it responds based on past experience. In so doing, the brain continually redefines normality. It is being shaped, literally, as a consequence of trial and error. The brain did not evolve to see the world the way it really is, it can't. We can't help but to see things according to history, our own history and that of our ancestors, because we are defined by ecology. Not just by biology, or DNA, but by our history of interactions.

Society gets inside of our heads and habits. It forms everything from our taste in food, our sensibilities, what we think is good, bad or evil. None of these beliefs occur in isolation. This profound social influence, known as "habitus," is acquired through activities and experiences of everyday life, and is often taken for granted. Quite often relying unconsciously on habitus for context serves us well. Until it doesn't.

Take the infamous example of mistaken perception plucked from the news: So much of the encounter between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman had to do with context and perceptions. As do many of our individual differences about social political issues."

The power of perceptions: Imagining the reality you want - CNN.com

So, is reality completely objective, or is it a mixed bag of physically concrete and perceptually subjective?

I did a search and came across this answer on a blog.

-So the overarching reality is quite simply put, "the universal singularity of now"?

This could be true and the entire universe might be experiencing it concurrently. However, I am pretty certain that no human mind can experience the universe wholly, it's simply a matter of scale, so our experience of reality can only ever be, partial. The universe is a pretty big place, relatively...

For instance, as I write this I may be the only one experiencing the idea I am writing down. Since I am a human like all who are reading this thread, if I hit the submit button I can share the experience in a finite and imperfect manner, through language. But the fact remains I need the benefit of what we know as time in order to facilitate this, and my perception of what I have written will be at the very least, slightly different from anyone else who reads it.

So then there must be a universal or singular reality, and there must be many contextual or perceptive realities.-

Adrinn Chelton
Is reality based on perception, or is reality self-defining? | A conversation on TED.com

The point being, that we can't ever know the complete truth of reality, even the physically objective one that we all share, because of the limits of scale, knowledge and individual perceptions, which lead to unique perspectives.

On an objective scale we may all agree the sky is blue, though to what varying degrees of importance it means are thru our own personal interpretation. The singular reality allows us to physically interact on a daily basis and survive, giving us a similarly shared perception of things and ideas. But no two people share the exact same reality, because of limited individual perceptions, experiences, knowledge and points of view. By this definition, "reality" is only a problem in a social context.

Unless we were somehow magically given omniscient, time spanning, cosmic awareness, we will never be completely aware of the universal reality, only a fuzzy picture of the whole or an approximation.

 

[Tim the plumber]

There is one real world.

We have our own perceptions of it.

This new age/post modernist gibberish is highly damaging to being able to think straight.

 

[zyzygy]

There is one real world.

We have our own perceptions of it.

This new age/post modernist gibberish is highly damaging to being able to think straight.

I'm itching to know what this "universal reality" is. When I look up outside at night I see a tiny part of the universe, the real one, the only one that exists.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

Reality is simply what things are - it's not open to interpretation, emotions, or opinions. Reality = Facts.

 

[lizzie]

Is reality based on perception, or is reality self-defining?

I heard from a new TV show that there is no single truth, but many individual truth's made up by us all.
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Viktor Frankl

.

Most likely a little of both. There is the reality that can proven with facts and science, and through our senses, then there's the preconceptions and emotional filters that we process information through, differentiating us from each other, to a certain degree. As an example, any of a number of atheists here on this site would tell me that I am crazy for believing in something which they cannot see nor hear, but I know, and the people who know me realize, I am as reasonable and sane as most anyone you could meet. We all have certain experiences, either mentally, psychologically, or physically, which are not subject to the same reality that others experience.

And about Viktor Fraknl- :thumbs:

 

[spud_meister]

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

All I know of philosophy, I learnt from the Matrix.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

Reality is the opposite of non-reality.

 

[Unrepresented]

Humans love narratives. It's up there with good and shelter. The validity to any narrative that tries to isolate an aspect of the entirety is always going to be limited, subjective, and flawed. The entire universe is reality. Any take on it will omit truth and introduce bias.

 

[Beaudreaux]

Perception is reality. What ever you perceive to be reality, is your reality, however it may not be the same for others.

 

[grip]

None of these posts are actually wrong, because of the subjective nature of the subject.

How many times have you commented on someone being attractive, only to hear from someone else "bow wow"? Or heard a song you liked as being "annoying", or food you thought was tasty called "poo"?

A matter of tastes and opinion come from our own subjective perceptions. Our ideas and experiences have a tendency to shape our reality accommodatingly, regardless of objective phenomenon.

 

[marduc]

Reality is neccessarily defined by the sensory input we receive, and our interpretation of this input. It does not need to be perceived to exist; however we are only aware of its existence through our perception.

Beaudreaux already stated "perception is reality", however I will not quite go that far, there are almost certainly aspects of reality that are beyond our sensory perception. For example, microscopic organisms were very much a part of reality despite our not being able to observe them prior to Leeuwenhoek.

 

[Manny]

There is no reality without consciousness. Consciousness makes it real.

 

[Lethargic Aptitude]

None of these posts are actually wrong, because of the subjective nature of the subject.

How many times have you commented on someone being attractive, only to hear from someone else "bow wow"? Or heard a song you liked as being "annoying", or food you thought was tasty called "poo"?

A matter of tastes and opinion come from our own subjective perceptions. Our ideas and experiences have a tendency to shape our reality accommodatingly, regardless of objective phenomenon.

You seem to be just describing perceptional observations and then trying to say that is reality. But human awareness is the subjective part and reality is not subjective.

Reality: a. that which exists, independent of human awareness
b. the totality of facts as they are independent of human awareness of them.

 

[grip]

You seem to be just describing perceptional observations and then trying to say that is reality. But human awareness is the subjective part and reality is not subjective.

Reality: a. that which exists, independent of human awareness
b. the totality of facts as they are independent of human awareness of them.

No, I mention in the OP's quoted statement (below) the reality that exists independent of human awareness.

"So then there must be a universal or singular reality, and there must be many contextual or perceptive realities."

Unfortunately, we can only know the universal reality thru our temporal senses and not directly, which is the question as to what reality is to us? It is partially perception thru our senses, genetic, and learned thru education and personal experiences. But it is ultimately subjective to a large extent, regardless of the shared physical nature, which is unarguably objective.

For example, two people smell the same bag of skunk weed. One says that odor makes me nauseous, the other says, I love that smell. They may both agree that the weed is pungent, green in color and capable of getting someone high, but that's were the objectivity ends. Two different perceptions of what the sensory input of the olfactory nerve meant to them, creating alternative realities. The one who loves the smell also might enjoy smoking it, while the other possibly hates getting high.

To animals the meaning of life is the instinct to survive and procreate, a trait we still share. But a majority of their existence is made up of instinctual reactions and drives from learned 'habits'. You cannot separate objective perceptions of physical existence from what the 'meaning' of an individual human's subjective reality is. Our individual opinions, tastes and personalities are as much a part of our world in the way we each interpret it. That's what is meant by contextual, giving things and events unique symbolism, priority and value changes each of our own subjective perception of reality.

In simpler terms, there's the world we all physically live in and the one we give meaning to in our minds.

 

[grip]

There is no reality without consciousness. Consciousness makes it real.

Self awareness or consciousness may be the only aspect of our nature that gives us an abstract view of reality beyond the senses.

 

[the_recruit]

What do you mean by "is"?

 

[grip]

What do you mean by "is"?

Funny, I should've said 'what is reality to us'. I'm a little dyslexic or bassackwards.

I'll take 'is' for $600 Alex. :lol:

 

[Jango]

Is reality based on perception, or is reality self-defining?

No to both. Perception is corruptible and self-defining is irrelevant to what truly is, as, ignorance is of an unknown quantity and the way things look to someone could be very, very different then the way they actually are.

 

[Jango]

Funny, I should've said 'what is reality to us'. I'm a little dyslexic or bassackwards.

I'll take 'is' for $600 Alex. :lol:

To be honest, I do not know. Something as encompassing as that needs certain truths behind it, such as, what is the extent of surprise that exists between how our senses stimulate our brain and what is really there. We don't know that, the extent of surprises. We can seduce ourselves with absolutes if we prefer, but it isn't the path to understanding, expansion or truth.

 

[grip]

No to both. Perception is corruptible and self-defining is irrelevant to what truly is, as, ignorance is of an unknown quantity and the way things look to someone could be very, very different then the way they actually are.

Self defining is all that's relevant to the individual, since we can't perceive the exact, direct and complete nature of universal reality. We only get temporal glimpses of nature, as a series of snapshots, strung together for us to contemplate.

 

[Cephus]

There is no reality without consciousness. Consciousness makes it real.

Reality existed for billions of years before humans evolved consciousness. Reality doesn't need us at all.

 

[grip]

To be honest, I do not know. Something as encompassing as that needs certain truths behind it, such as, what is the extent of surprise that exists between how our senses stimulate our brain and what is really there. We don't know that, the extent of surprises. We can seduce ourselves with absolutes if we prefer, but it isn't the path to understanding, expansion or truth.

I completely agree that it's fluid and changing, like that saying, "It's the journey, not the destination". Reality has different meaning to me now than it did in my youth, or even ten years ago.

I'm not really trying to describe in certainty what everyone's reality should be, just what it's mostly composed of in our ability to understand in general terms.

 

[grip]

Reality existed for billions of years before humans evolved consciousness. Reality doesn't need us at all.

Yeah, I believe that's true, but reality doesn't even have a designator without our conscious input and perception of it.

 

[Northern Light]

Reality is whatever is being experienced, in the present moment. Each experience is empty of self, it's not an entity in of itself, it comes and goes, arises and ceases, there's no solidity to it, everything is ephemeral and changes, without any input from any creator; the mind can intervene and alter the course, but it can't turn things off or leap from one state of being from another. The mind is only able to affect things in terms of its judgments and desires, what we want to be a certain way -- it has a certain power that leads us in a direction. But we see that things like pain we can't control, and the more we try to control the more we suffer. Once you start to see things as coming and going on their own, rising when they want and ceasing when they want, going of their own accord and not according to our wishes, and that the only input we thought we had was really just coming from the projection of mind, that is the realization of Emptiness. There is no self involved, no control involved -- everything is Empty of any being. Every part of reality is Empty of any reason or benefit to cling to it in terms of "this will make me happy when it comes, or this will make me happy when it goes." Otherwise there is dependency on things that are impermanent, unsatisfying and uncontrollable.

If you meditate and quiet the mind, whatever is left is "reality". It's all One Thing because nothing arises without a connection to something else, so it's all a lattice of interconnected things -- but there is no self in any of it. It's all just happening, no rhyme or reason.

Reality is absolutely not "what you make of it". There is no "you" in there. "You" comes and goes, just like any emotional state. When you go to sleep at night, where does "you" go. If we put you under anesthesia, where are "you"? We have this fixed idea of self and ego but it's all built upon a false premise. Desire is just as transient. People who claim they are manifesting what they want simply because they want it are dangerously deluded. There's nothing really happening within their control and there's no self perceiving it either -- just a constant, never-changing, present awareness. Anything beyond that is selective reasoning as a layer on top of present awareness, i.e. ego and mind, which is no better than a hologram.

 

[grip]

Reality is whatever is being experienced, in the present moment. Each experience is empty of self, it's not an entity in of itself, it comes and goes, arises and ceases, there's no solidity to it, everything is ephemeral and changes, without any input from any creator; the mind can intervene and alter the course, but it can't turn things off or leap from one state of being from another. The mind is only able to affect things in terms of its judgments and desires, what we want to be a certain way -- it has a certain power that leads us in a direction. But we see that things like pain we can't control, and the more we try to control the more we suffer. Once you start to see things as coming and going on their own, rising when they want and ceasing when they want, going of their own accord and not according to our wishes, and that the only input we thought we had was really just coming from the projection of mind, that is the realization of Emptiness. There is no self involved, no control involved -- everything is Empty of any being. Every part of reality is Empty of any reason or benefit to cling to it in terms of "this will make me happy when it comes, or this will make me happy when it goes." Otherwise there is dependency on things that are impermanent, unsatisfying and uncontrollable.

If you meditate and quiet the mind, whatever is left is "reality". It's all One Thing because nothing arises without a connection to something else, so it's all a lattice of interconnected things -- but there is no self in any of it. It's all just happening, no rhyme or reason.

Reality is absolutely not "what you make of it". There is no "you" in there. "You" comes and goes, just like any emotional state. When you go to sleep at night, where does "you" go. If we put you under anesthesia, where are "you"? We have this fixed idea of self and ego but it's all built upon a false premise. Desire is just as transient. People who claim they are manifesting what they want simply because they want it are dangerously deluded. There's nothing really happening within their control and there's no self perceiving it either -- just a constant, never-changing, present awareness. Anything beyond that is selective reasoning as a layer on top of present awareness, i.e. ego and mind, which is no better than a hologram.

Sounds like the Eastern philosophies/religions of Zen, Taoism and Hinduism?

That's the amazing thing about reality is that it can be interpreted in so many ways, with all of them containing truth's. I guess with time and change being the only constant, it is evident that reality is always moving. Very hard to ever wrap our minds around a subject that has no permanence or focal point, beyond our own temporal senses?