“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
– Albert Einstein
Welcome back to The @mindunleashed on @Steemit! 🐣
What is Reality?
The question is everywhere, all the time. Every action we take is completely based on what we consider as real. So what it real? Possibly the most common question but the hardest to answer and yet who we are, what we do and what we think is possible and what is not, are all based on our definition of reality.
Most people believe that reality is merely a projection of our senses. Science has endorsed this worldview for centuries and has agreed that if something is not perceivable with the five senses then it is not real. Ultraviolet and infrared light are not visible and we cannot touch, taste, smell or hear them, yet they exist. Similarly, when we look through an electron microscope, things no longer appear as things and are no longer perceivable. Does that mean matter is not real? Far from it. There are different frequencies of light and energy out there and our minds can only capture some of the channels (similarly to radios or TVs). Reality may be a part of our imagination. 💭
All matter and all objects are preceded by an idea. The computer you are using right now and the chair you are sitting on were all preceded with the ideas of a computer and a chair. Someone thought of those objects and created them. So if your computer and your chair are real, are the ideas of a computer and a chair real as well? Everyone knows first-hand that thoughts and emotions are real but scientists typically avoid talking about such things.
What is Matter?
The question what is reality? turned out to be more difficult to answer than expected. As a result, human society started questioning matter (the stuff around us that we all agree to be real) and moved the conversation to the laboratory where matter is collected and smashed into small pieces to see what its made of (with the infamous CERN hadron collider for instance). According to scientists, it seems easier to analyze matter than to analyze thoughts, emotions and subjective ideas.
The Greek Philosopher Democritus Abdera created the first concept of the atom and claimed that "nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion." We are all told as kids that atoms are the building blocks of everything including you and your computer. With the advent of quantum mechanics, that neat concept of atom building blocks crumbled like a house of cards.
We used to think of atoms as solid blocks like Lego until we discovered atoms are 99.99% empty space. What's mind-unleashing is that we too are made of atoms and we too are 99.99% empty space. 💡
We must not confuse our scientific models of reality and reality itself. All we do in theoretical science is come up with theories that have fewer assumptions and that are increasingly less imperfect. The state-of-the-art consensus is that matter is essentially insubstantial. It seems that matter is more like a thought, or bits of information, just like a solid state hard disk holds bits of information. All matter is essentially information.
Science can give us models of reality and physical objects, but we still have to deal the subject: us, our consciousness. We are always the observer in science and we are always constrained to the little information that reaches our brain and allows us to see and perceive colors and smells. It may be possible that our entire human experience is nothing but an illusion, a five-sense prison that we cannot escape to see what's really out there.
Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole
A long time ago in ancient India, sages and gurus knew that that there is much more going on beyond our senses. Hindus and Buddhists have been teaching for millennia that the physical world is maya or illusion. They claim that there is a greater source of energy underlying the physical realm beyond our senses, which it is more fundamental and more real than matter itself (even though it is intangible).
Spirituality has always claimed that there is a larger reality that is more fundamental than the material world, and that it has something to do with consciousness. Quantum physics is coming to the same conclusion that reality is governed by probability waves or information.
NASA astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell had a realization when he first saw Earth from space.
"In one moment, I realized that this universe is intelligent. This creative spirit within us is also within the planet and everything out there. It is all the same. Consciousness is fundamental and matter is a by-product of consciousness." - Dr. Edgar Mitchell
We used to think that our mind is somewhere in our brain. Scientists have dissected countless animal and human bodies to find the seat of the soul and yet it is nowhere to be found. That is because the mind is not in the body but rather the entire five-sense experience is in the mind. The body is also experienced in the mind. This is the shift in perspective that is currently causing a paradigm shift in our current worldview.
What's the Verdict?
We need to study the mind-body relationships. During the first renaissance, the Church (which was the form of government at the time) had banned science from all discussions about the mind and consciousness. Scientists were told to stick to physical objects. The mind-body split was created for political reasons rather than scientific ones. It is time to re-evaluate our assumptions about reality and investigate whether consciousness or information is the fundamental fabric of the universe or not.
Will We Ever Know
Our studies only provide answers to the question we ask, which are limited to the capabilities of the human mind. Everything we perceive goes through our five-sense filters and our mind projects the image of the world in our consciousness. Reality is phenomena that occurs as a result of interactions between consciousness and what's really out there. We don't perceive reality, only our construction of it, which is built by our mind. We co-create reality, the physical world is a mind-construct. Space and time are also human concepts. What's really out there is forever hidden.
One Last Thought to Ponder:
What are dreams? If both dreams and reality are both primarily mind-constructs due to brain activities, then why would we think dreams are as real as the outside world? Is reality nothing but a dream that we are dreaming together? 💭
If you would like to read more about dreams or any other topics in the next post, please share your thoughts in the comments below. We'd love to hear what you think!
Break out of your shell.
Fly out of your cocoon.
Unleash your mind.
Thanks for reading!
@mindunleashed
🐣
Notice: The information provided to you on this blog is solely for educational purposes. It is recommended to always remain skeptical, to not believe or disbelieve and to question everything including yourself.
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