We exist, but what are we? Where do we come from? What is the purpose of our existence? Are there  “real” people or is everything merely a figment of our imagination, a clever construct to carry our consciousness through this life and into death so we can experience the wonder of being alive.

What’s the point of any of this if I’m just an idea in your head — and who am I anyway, really, just a handful of atoms spread across space-time with no more meaning than, say, the wind.

The whole history of philosophy is the story of how people have followed one step after another on the path toward understanding reality. One early thinker would say “there’s no going back,” another would say there’s a continuity between the way things are and how they appear to us. Heidegger would say we can never understand it fully, because it is always changing. Heraclitus would say that it is never the same. Plato would say we can never know it.

Can We Really Know What Reality is?

The root of this problem lies in our use of language to describe our reality. We talk and write as if reality were something observable by the senses, something that can be measured and weighed. But the world we observe doesn’t actually exist, it is simply a mirage in our minds.

It is kind of a mental construct of grid of points, lines and surfaces. We create this grid with our instruments of measurement – telescopes, microscopes, etc – but it is really just an approximation of what our senses are really recording.

Our reality is not tied to space-time dualism or to any mathematical concepts such as “space” or “time.” Reality exists independently of us and our minds. It is a continuum of space-like phenomena, as fragmented as the electron, only constructing in a way we can perceive and measure over time. We are a function of this reality, but it is not us. The universe is so much larger than the human mind that we can never understand it completely because of the limits of our existence.

If you could travel through space-time at the speed of light, you would enter into this reality and see it from an infinite number of perspectives — but your experience would remain subjective and would be nothing more than an objectified projection upon it.

What we call reality is thus an illusion created within the mind to navigate and understand our place in this existence. Each mind has its own way of viewing reality, as subjective in its presentation as a dream. Because we are all trapped in our own perspective of reality, each separate existence is essentially alone.

The only way to come into contact with another mind is to project one’s ideas out into the world using language and mathematics. Even then, any communication between minds is limited by the vocabulary and grammar they use to define their perceptions.

Illusion of Reality

Nevertheless, we have constructed this illusion collectively through a vast cultural narrative that spans many millennia and hundreds of languages. This cultural narrative includes the philosophical and scientific writings of every great civilization on Earth: from Egypt to Greece; from China to India; from Africa to South America; etcetera. The narrative that we call “Western” civilization is the result of this collective endeavor.

What about science? Science is merely another way for us humans to understand this reality through our tools — mathematics and language. Science is not a tool for understanding reality, it is a tool for understanding our experience of it. The scientific method of observation and experimentation does not reveal the nature of reality, it reveals how our minds respond to reality. In this way science is as subjective as any other human endeavor.

Information

What about information? Our entire physical reality is a manifestation of forces and energies that are in some way bound together and oriented toward creating patterns of information. Such information exists in our universe, even if there are no physical items to contain it.

This “information” exists solely in our minds — the product of the human consciousness that recorded it streaming through time — with no counterpart on the other side of subspace-time. Information is merely an abstract concept that we use to identify patterns within reality as it unfolds before us.

Perspective

When one is in the mid point of an understanding, a learning, it is difficult to keep true perspective and therefore it is important to understand that a lesson is just that, it is a process in which to grow and gain wisdom and in that to bring about further compassion within your total passage. This is a difficult concept for many to understand and accept.

I will use rain as an example.  Rain is the lifeblood of your physical existence and yet it is often very undervalued when compared to a bright sunny day.  Your weather people on the television stations always refer to a “good weekend” as being one that is sunny and bright.  I find this amusing because most of California has been in the grip of a drought and yet, even with that understanding, the rain is still seen by many as an inconvenience and something that will hopefully still clear soon.

Lessons in Reality

It is much the same with the mid point of a lesson.  The value is not seen in the experience and you crave for the sun (happiness) to return as soon as possible. Yet in truth, the period of rain within your existence is the time of true growth and nurturing of the spirit.  It is the rain of your existence (the sadness, the struggle,the discomfort) that is the true bringer of growth to the spirit. Without the rain you would never have the ability to grow and develop.

It is often at the end of the lesson, when the wisdom is gained and integrated that you see the true value of the experience, for without the rainy period you would not be who you are today. You can then look back with gratitude for the changes that have occurred.

When you observe others within their rainy period, look beyond to the growth that they are experiencing and in that hold your compassion and higher perspective and do not allow yourself to be drawn down into the lower dimensional reality.  From the higher reality you can truly support but once you are intermingled within the lesson of another you can no longer see anything but the reality you have entered.  You can not be enmeshed in the lower reality as well as holding a higher view.

See others pain, revenge and struggle for what it truly is – the fear of love, the fear of being vulnerable and the fear of rejection for they are only learned behaviours – tools- to keep others from getting close.  Do not believe the lower reality but see truly to the heart and the pain that is behind the action.

Can You Change the Reality

Know that you cannot change anothers reality but you can offer another view for their consideration and you can only truly support by not responding in the expected manner. By not participating in their known game plan  you offer another reality for their reference of experience.

By observing anothers reality you can only see them in that reality and so you can not truly see them.  You must step back into a higher view so that you can hold the centre within the lower dimensional reality and then offer your higher perspective and empowered understanding.

So often have I heard people describe others as being “stupid” or “idiots” or “rude” but in truth they are simply reacting to their current understanding of their existence within the lower dimensional understanding.

Responsibility for Your Reality

What is within oneself is mirrored by those around you. Understand that if you are vibrating at one level and another is also vibrating at the same level – then there will be an attraction of reality. An interlock will occur, and both will be activated by the other for the opportunity of growth.

The reaction will be that – the other is exposing what each is trying to hide in their own energy. If there is a reaction to another, understand that it is truly within self. This creates an energetic reaction – a shaking up.

If there is no attraction, you will probably notice there will be no energetic reaction, no shake up, as you are not vibrating at the same level.

Your energy will pass and they will look for another to act out the reality with.