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cybereaper
28th September 2006, 02:42 PM
It has been portrayed in books and movies that the existence we are in is not real. Whether it's the matrix or the thirteenth floor and a computer system, existenz and a complex model of the psyche and a computer system, the cube, etc. - each one asks the question, how do we define the borders of reality?

Perhaps it is that in a world where people so often see 'ghosts', that what they are really seeing is a parallel universe? Perhaps it is the real world that is bleeding through to this one? Then, the question presents itself - are we in this together, or is it one person and we are merely the thoughts within that person's self-created world?

It is interesting that we live in a world with no past, nor history, an untraceable ancestrage filled with unexplainable mysteries dating back to the beginning of time. It seems odd that we have made the phenomenal technological advances that we have in the timeframe given to us. After all, an atomic particle accelerator built in the 60's, when Star Trek was just hitting television and we were excited to see 'aliens' as nothing more than people with their skin painted green seems a bit odd. Given that - many things in this life just happen to "feel," made up.

As a side effects of my neurological disorder, I have hypnogogic hallucinations. It is the equivalent of dreaming with all five senses being active and simultaneously being consciously aware of myself and my surroundings - just with the dream taking place at the same time. A lot to be said about that - but for another time - for here, it's been my experience to witness things that could be considered 'ghost like,' or perhaps 'preminatory', when I am consciously aware none of it is 'real' - based solely on my perception of reality. Who's to say that the voices, audio or visual stimuli I have bore witness to is not more than just a hallucination, but because I interact with it (as others with my particular disorder do as well), that it's more than that. Because of my loss in one area in life, perhaps my brain has compensated in another (like the blind have incredible hearing). And, now, I hear and/or see the borders of reality being askewed, and what sits on the other side.

I think many of us have looked in the mirror and felt like our bodies are a suit for what really lies within. Many of us have found ourselves watching events on the news that are so obviously not what the reporters are telling us, that we KNOW they're lying, but others seem oblivious to it (reminds me of a bad flashback from 'V' for vendetta.. hahaha). But still, truly - we see that odd things are happening that shouldn't be, perhaps others like me see, hear, feel and interact with things that logically we know aren't there - but logically, we know that they shouldn't be able to interact with us!!!

I think, in the end then- this idea gives way to an even more disconcerting question - is it a dream, or is it the result of a machine and we are at its mercy? Thanks to Hollywood for the unecessary second half, even if the old phrase "Life is but a dream," has existed for quite some time!!

______
28th September 2006, 04:12 PM
Random thoughts on reality........ hmmmm.... <_<




How about just random thoughts? :D Is that not apart of reality?






No refill! :angry:






:lol: :lol:
Randomosity!!!!!!

Michael
28th September 2006, 05:58 PM
It is fascinating to watch the various mimes of our different realities as they struggle for expression and survival on these pages.

Listen to the voices here. Each a different reality. Each convinced to various degrees that their reality is real - even when questioning it.

We are the mystery because we ask the questions.

Mystics don't encourage questions. For them the experience is the answer. They recognise that reality is the subjective experience and embrace that.

The degree of difference in our percieved realities, even at the mundane level, is astonishing.
I was at a business expand the mind seminar. 17 other participants. The group leader asked each of us to write down a two word description of the carpet.

None of the 18 descriptions had anything in common. Astonishing.

______
28th September 2006, 08:05 PM
I can see this thread is heading in the direction of "Reality is relative". :uhoh: I think I'll take a break from this for a while.

MidnightSun
29th September 2006, 12:21 AM
The degree of difference in our percieved realities, even at the mundane level, is astonishing.
I was at a business expand the mind seminar. 17 other participants. The group leader asked each of us to write down a two word description of the carpet.

None of the 18 descriptions had anything in common. Astonishing.

Cool :)

Smurf
1st October 2006, 05:13 PM
"Their Reality"?

There is only one reality, but there are many interpretations of it. And I am sure that a finite mind can never understand the infinite reality that we inhibit... hence: "None of the 18 descriptions had anything in common. Astonishing." Just descriptions.

But back to the hypnogogic hallucinations, they must be interesting :P

Hmm seeing what's on the "other side" ey? Interesting... also yes there is doubt as to whether what you see might be actual reality, because it is happening "here" hmm yes...

We are the mystery because we ask the questions.

well, yes and no. We ask the questions because it is a mystery to us aswell as us being a mystery to it. We ask the questions so we create the answers :P

(hope that was random enough? But trust me I can do better :P however this interest topics me ...)

______
2nd October 2006, 05:22 PM
...however this interest topics me ...)
Smurf's rock grammars! :D :lol: :lol: :P

Smurf
2nd October 2006, 05:23 PM
I say should that was it deliberate!

______
2nd October 2006, 05:27 PM
I was it know! :lol:

Smurf
2nd October 2006, 05:33 PM
SO hope that I you not are this post of afraid, it is because discussing world reality relative as?

______
2nd October 2006, 05:54 PM
ummm..... :uhoh: :idea: Of course! :lol:

Smurf
2nd October 2006, 06:11 PM
sorry about that :D
But I have a theory, you know how the human mind can interpret words that are not spelt correctly but it understands them anyway? Such as Tihs cna ba seomohw udnrestood?
You know that right?

Ok so maybe, just maybe! This can be applied to mixing words in a sentence?
I doubt that it would work, but it is interesting I think :P



:uhoh:

______
2nd October 2006, 06:59 PM
Tihs cna ba seomohw udnrestood
:o I read this perfectly without stuttering or second-guessing it! :o

Don't think it works as well with mixing up words, though. Had to think it through.

Arctic-Stranger
3rd October 2006, 07:48 AM
Originally posted by @--
Mystics don't encourage questions. For them the experience is the answer. They recognise that reality is the subjective experience and embrace that.

I think you are right that mystics are better with questions than answers. But to say that "experience is the answer" paints them with a broad brush. For many modern mystics, that would be true (modern being from Blake on).

But for the English 14th Century mystics, or the Rheinish mystics, or even the Spanish mystics, experience was a means for knowing God. It was not an answer in and of itself. They were not looking for experiences, they were looking for God, and claim they were able to experience God.

Actually I think most premodern mystics would take great umbrage at the notion that they are only in it for the experience. They do want to know God, and for them that usually entails an experience of God, but not always. Plus I am still surprised to read these people speak again and again of maintaining "pure doctrine" vis a vis the Catholic church. Some of that may have been CYA, especially for Teresa of Avilla, but most of them were sincere in that. I guess that realized that if they were not tethered somehow, they would just float away.

Starry_Canopy
10th October 2006, 10:27 PM
A zen master woke up one morning and sat, looking puzzled. He then asked his students to gather around him.

"Sometime back", he said, "I was a butterfly in a beautiful garden, full of plants and flowers. The air was filled with their scents and my friends and I flitted joyfully, sipping the nectar from those flowers and dancing to the breeze against our wings.

Now I am a zen master surrounded by my eager students listening to my every word.

I am afraid I am unable to say - Am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a zen master or am I a zen master who dreamt that he was a butterfly?"

Michael
10th October 2006, 11:34 PM
[QUOTE]Actually I think most premodern mystics would take great umbrage at the notion that they are only in it for the experience.[QUOTE]

You're running in the wrong direction with the ball.

I never said or implied the mystics at any time or in any place were, 'in it only for the experience'.

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

In my book a mystic is someone whose soul has direct experience of God, and I was using the word with that interpretation of the meaning in mind.

What is the difference between premodern mystics and modern mystics? Do you mean that early Christian mystics had a greater propensity for dogmatism?

There is a point in that. One which I find somewhat disconcerting because it throws up a number of uncomfortable questions about the nature of the mystical experience.

Today the Christian Churches are most uncomfortable around mystics. They would rather they kept their visions to themselves and frequently take active steps to keep them quiet. Mystics have a habit of coming up with uncomfortable home truths that don't square with dogma.



:lol: