Reality and Perception

What appears as a fact today is deemed to be real, but the same fact tomorrow may not appear to be real due to disclosure of other related facts. Reality also differs when seen through different eyes and through ones perception of the so called reality. Have you ever recalled an event in your memory, a place you may have visited or an object you have visualized and then you actually the event occurs or you visit the place or see the object and then realize that it is not in any way close to what you thought about it. You my think of visiting a tourist resort or watch a movie based on descriptions given by friends, and then when you actually visit that place or watch the movie you find it to be completely different than what you imagined it to be! This is because you were trying to see what your friend saw – what you perceived was your friends reality hence your reality of the place visited or movie seen is different from that of your friends. For instance if you taste something bitter for the first time, for e.g. beer, you would not want to drink it again. This is because the reality at that point is that beer tastes bitter and is difficult to swallow. The same beer drunk repeatedly begins to taste nice – you say you have now developed a taste for beer! So the perception that beer is bitter has now been overtaken by the reality that beer is cool! So now tell me is perception more real than what we perceive to be real? Confusing? Interesting? I will leave you to ponder over it.

Over time your outlook on life changes with experiences – both good and bad – this again leads to a change in your perception of reality. Reality is the fact of existence of events that have occurred and are indelibly etched in your memory. Its all a mind game really – ultimately what you perceive to be real will be the reality for you till circumstances make you change your opinion on what you perceived. So now your perceived reality changes to the new set of circumstances as you are seeing things with either more information and facts made available to you which tells you that earlier what you thought was completely wrong! This happens very often with the police force when they come up with announcements based on limited facts only to do an about turn when new facts turn up.

A simple way to try and understand this is to think about something which you consider to be a problem right now. Having thought of this problem, instead of calling it a problem – try calling it a challenge! What can you learn from this challenge? How do you think this challenge is going to benefit you, your experience of life and that of others? The moment you think of a problem as a challenge your perception of the problem changes and your mind starts thinking of a solution to the problem as now your mind considers the problem to be a challenge. It is how you program your mind to confront life which will give insight on what you can achieve in life. Based on your approach you will realize whether you can be considered to be a solution provider or for whom the perceived problem always appears to be bigger than the solution!

Pause for a moment and think about what you think is real…… Your reality is actually your perception of it. Or is that just my perception of what the difference between reality and perception is? :-)

My reality will always be my perception of it. There is no right or wrong with perceptions, no absolute truth except my experience of what is right or wrong based on what life teaches me.

There is a saying “ just as history is written by those that have murdered heroes and razed down nations, the vision of reality is nothing more than what our eyes or rather our mind, wants it to be.”

This could bring us to discuss “subjective reality”. A glass can be half full or half empty depending on your outlook – optimistic or pessimistic – how you view the glass is your reality which is subjective. It is precisely for this that misunderstandings are a given in any relationship, irrespective of the strength of the bond between two people. The same incident, same gesture, same emotion may be perceived in different ways by different people according to their subjectivity. Thus you can safely say that reality is as real as you deem it to be.

In Vasubandhu’s thesis the concept of Reality as Consciousness (metaphysical idealism) is explored. The external world is an IDEA, i.e. a construction of consciousness, mind, thought and perception. There are, in fact, no objects external to consciousness, no non-mental realities. If the objects of consciousness have no external existence, then, contrary to actual experience any idea could arise at any time or place, different minds could “perceive” different objects at the same time and in the same place differently and objects could function in unexpected (surprising, unpredictable) ways. While dreaming you experience reality, in the sense that events in your dreams actually transpire at a later date giving you the feeling of déjà vu. Thus you say that your dreams have come true.

It is a fact that I have written this note on my blog – this is reality, it exists – but what you read and understand could be your perception of my reality. What do you think?