How do you know your life is real? Is it because you can see your reflection in the mirror? Because you can hear your children talking? Or maybe because you can feel the material things around you? How can you know for sure? Plato asks “How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?" Plato's questions are intriguing. It brings us to a rude awareness of our very personal sense of realness.
We each were created with 5 senses (6 if you believe in intuition like I do), and these senses are the guides we were given to interpret our realities. Because these senses are not experienced collectively, how can we tell if what we experience is the same as our neighbor? Philip K Dick explains it beautifully: "If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn't we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others?" This is a truth we must begin to acknowledge. Our own reality is only a sliver of the collective. I will never get to experience life in another person's skin. I will never see through another person's eyes. The only reality I will ever know is encased in this single mind.
Why is this important? What is the significance? If every person has the potential of experiencing life entirely different from myself, shouldn't this knowledge allow me to extend understanding and even curiosity to others who experience very different feelings and opinions than I do? I believe when we begin to realize the complexity of what is very real to each individual, we have the ability to trade our judgment for a sense of awe. The fact that someone else experiences the same situations very differently than I do is not threatening to my feelings and opinions - it can only add to them. How beautiful that we get to see a broader perspective of reality but only by being open and truly listening to the experiences of others. In this way our judgment of any other opinion or feeling is absolutely crippling. We should be humbled by gratitude to be able to share our isolated and unique lives with other human beings!!
How can you acknowledge the validity and beauty of other's experiences today? Are you able to put aside your view of how your world works and really listen to the truth someone else experiences? Let me know how you feel about relying on only your 5 (or 6) senses to shape your world. Please comment below or message me at defytheaverage@gmail.com.
We each were created with 5 senses (6 if you believe in intuition like I do), and these senses are the guides we were given to interpret our realities. Because these senses are not experienced collectively, how can we tell if what we experience is the same as our neighbor? Philip K Dick explains it beautifully: "If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn't we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others?" This is a truth we must begin to acknowledge. Our own reality is only a sliver of the collective. I will never get to experience life in another person's skin. I will never see through another person's eyes. The only reality I will ever know is encased in this single mind.
Why is this important? What is the significance? If every person has the potential of experiencing life entirely different from myself, shouldn't this knowledge allow me to extend understanding and even curiosity to others who experience very different feelings and opinions than I do? I believe when we begin to realize the complexity of what is very real to each individual, we have the ability to trade our judgment for a sense of awe. The fact that someone else experiences the same situations very differently than I do is not threatening to my feelings and opinions - it can only add to them. How beautiful that we get to see a broader perspective of reality but only by being open and truly listening to the experiences of others. In this way our judgment of any other opinion or feeling is absolutely crippling. We should be humbled by gratitude to be able to share our isolated and unique lives with other human beings!!
How can you acknowledge the validity and beauty of other's experiences today? Are you able to put aside your view of how your world works and really listen to the truth someone else experiences? Let me know how you feel about relying on only your 5 (or 6) senses to shape your world. Please comment below or message me at defytheaverage@gmail.com.
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