A Wisdom Archive on Reality

Reality:
(1) The result of consensus opinion.
(2) That which is most comfortable and convenient to believe.
(3) My universe.

 
(See also: Reality, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary )

For more dictionary entries, see » Reality Dictionary

Reality in everyday usage means "everything that exists." The term "Reality," in its most liberal sense, includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable, accessible or understandable by science, philosophy, theology or any other system of analysis. Reality in this sense may include both being and nothingness, whereas "existence" is often restricted to being. (Compare with nature). In the strict sense of European-German philosophy, there are levels or gradation to the nature and conception of reality. These levels include, from the most subjective to the most rigorous: Phenomenological reality ... Including:

• Reality - Simple reality
• Reality - Phenomenological reality
• Reality - Truth
• Reality - Fact
• Reality - Axiom
• Reality - What reality might not be
• Reality - Reality world views and theories of reality
• Reality - Philosophical views of reality

Read more here: » Reality: Encyclopedia - Reality

"Reality," the concept, is contrasted with a wide variety of other concepts, largely depending upon the intellectual discipline. It can help to understand what we mean by "reality" to note what we say is not real. In philosophy, reality is contrasted with nonexistence (e.g., unicorns do not exist; so they are not real) and mere possibility (a mountain made of gold is merely possible, but is not real) unless they are discovered. Sometimes philosophers speak as though reality is contrasted with existence itself, though ordinary l ...

Read more here: » Reality: Encyclopedia II - Reality - What reality might not be

Shiites seek revenge on Sunnis for the revenge they sought on Shiites; Irish Catholics retaliate against the Protestants who retaliated against them; Hezbollah and Hamas retaliate against Israel who in turn retaliates back.
 
In each of these instances, people on one side claim that they are merely responding to provocation and dismiss the other side's identical claim as disingenuous spin. But psychology research suggests that these claims reflect genuinely different perceptions of the same reality.
 
This article, by Daniel Gilbert professor of psychology at Harvard, gives an understanding to why the conflict in the Middle East can escalate into madness without the parties themselves being aware of their own role.
 

Read more here: » Retaliation, retribution and revenge: He who cast the first stone probably didn't

A leading neuroscientist, Wolf Singer, caused a sensation by claiming crimes are the result of brain abnormalities. Laura Spinney investigates a slanging match between scientists and philosophers,
 

 

Read more here: » Free Will: I'm not guilty - but my brain is

Non-dualism is the highest Vedantic truth. Only Brahman exists. The pluralistic world as we experience it is merely a figment of the imagination. An illusion.
 
At the highest level Vedanta does not encourage any discussion on the nature of the world and its cause. That would merely be emphasising the reality of something which does not exist. It focuses on the direct experience of Reality.

 
(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul )

Read more here: » Life and Death: Illusion And Reality

REALITY
"Reality" is illusion only in the sense that there is more than one version. You can alter this aeon''''s reality, but there are several million separate Kalpic realities that are also primed for re-adjustment.
 
Reality does not exist apart from you and me. Although it seems to retain a changeless nature, that is merely the illusory consensus which our society clings to. And of course, our perceptions define reality, as do history and tradition, but we can also alter reality by physical, mental & arcane means. There are the perceptionless reality systems, after all (see below). The psychedelics have also played a tremendous role in changing collective reality, that despite the built-in limitation that all psychedelics can do is restructure ephemeral, subjective consciousness on society''''s lowest, least influential levels.
 
Ordinary, right-eyed, aeonic reality depends on our senses, but there are realities interwoven through this consensus that do not derive from the bodily senses, in which (as far as our waking minds are concerned) we act unconsciously -- but deliberately. Sense reality, for all its unreliability, is not very flexible, hence it serves as the final testing field (as well as rubbish heap) of substance. Usually our work in the separate realities is more important than our work in "this" one. As for using one''''s mental expectations as a reality-set, that would apply strictly to the superzeroeth R-Levels.
 
Reality is "Non-being," and according to Grant: "...withdraws as the Principle of Consciousness recedes and returns to the point of original absence."
 
Gurdjieff describes the following while under the influence of an anomalous substance: "I perceived directly now that everything in the universe was directly connected, and that moreover these forms were all connected just because they were all one and the same, repeated to provide the illusion of complexity. When presented with such a multiplicity of images, one can infuse them with differences sufficient to completely deceive oneself even though behind it all, one knows and understands the truth." And then, as the ground began to give way under him, he thought, "Everything, as soon as it is formed, flows into infinity in which it is transformed into the void and reformed as a new formation, which in turn is instantly swallowed."
 
 
 

 
(See also: REALITY , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)
 

For more dictionary entries, see » Reality Dictionary

Science attempts to define the nature of reality. Reality, however, presents itself in a variety of names and forms: Physical, mental and psychological realities; linguistic and mathematical realities, and with the advent of computers and Internet, digital reality. But science is yet to define physical reality conclusively... hence the quest continues.

 
(See also: Absolute Reality, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul )

Read more here: » Absolute Reality: Ultimate Answer to All Your Questions