Note: This is kind of a cerebral post. A lot to sink in, and a lot of information. Links provided for further reading/citations whatever. Have fun and try to get lost in the rabbit hole, then when you get out drop me a line and tell me what you think.
"The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun... for a while.
Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, 'Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?' And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, 'Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever. Because this is just a ride.'
And we... kill those people!
'Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family.... This has to be real.'
It's just a ride." - Bill Hicks
I spend most of my free time reading stuff. I'm a curious guy. I've always had this feeling that something wasn't quite right, but due to my limited understanding, I've never been able to properly express it. I still can't really. Coming up with this "article", if you will, even had me stumped at times. But my understanding has grown since I first had this feeling, and has lead me to a point where I think I can get my point across, and maybe somebody else will get what I'm saying or maybe it'll interest them to look into it further for themselves. Or they'll think I'm a kook. And they'd be right but that's besides the point.
As we collectively understand the universe through science, it is an objective universe, as in the physical reality is constant and true outside of and independent of observation, a subjective viewing (that would be us and any other thinking creature.) As an aside, some research can suggest at times that our universe may not be as objective as we think, but it's not exactly mainstream or commonly accepted yet, so keep your eyes peeled. This is a very interesting sector of science that's always changing. I digress, we know that the universe is objective, or mostly objective on the average observable level. Yet, if you know anything about human biology, our interpretation of reality is entirely subjective. Our senses are imperfect. This is a core tenet of most philosophies and generally accepted by most scientists. Objective reality; Subjective viewers.
Just think of your circle of friends. Surely you have friends who view the world entirely different from you. (Chances are I'm that guy.) How can billions of people have vastly different views on such an objective place? Every mind is unique in it's own way. Think of all the religions. Think of all the mental illnesses that affect interpretation of reality. Schizophrenia certainly comes to my mind. Our minds are very, very powerful. (This clip is extremely dramatic, but not far from the truth.)
So what am I trying to tell you? Okay, bear with me, I'm sure you've seen the Matrix. You know how in the movie, they've got the humans hooked up to computers and they've tricked their minds into thinking the Matrix is reality? That's not exactly an unrealistic concept. (Now, technologically you'd probably have a hell of a time trying to get this to work.) But our senses work in such a way that this is within the realm of possibility. Your eyes don't actually see. Your ears don't actually hear. So on and so forth. All they do is gather information. Then that information is given to your brain and interpreted.
Curiously, our brain interprets reality slower than it happens. Which is to say, technically we're about a second behind the present. Literally living in the past. But our conditioning has lead us to deal with this now imperceptible time discrepancy. Not only that, but what our brain remembers is just bits and pieces. It only stores what it thinks is important, leaving out innumerable details and not noticing some altogether. Your mind will trip you up because what it perceives is often what it expects, not what is actually happening.
So in practice, our senses aren't actually that important when compared to the mind. Think about psychedelic drugs for example. People see things. They hear things. They taste things. They smell things. They feel things. But none of it is supposed to be real. But it feels real to them. This is the power of your mind. Think about your dreams. Are they not much the same? It all feels real at that moment in time. One of the greatest points in all of philosophy is known as the dream argument; You're never sure that you're dreaming until you wake up. How do we know that life isn't much the same? Maybe it's all just a dream. It's certainly a hard argument to prove or disprove. So that brings us to the inevitable question. What is real?
(Speaking of dreams and drugs, it appears that the brains of mice produce DMT, giving credence to a long postured theory that our pineal glands produce DMT in our dream cycles and near our deaths. Although the fast manner in which our bodies process DMT has made it very difficult to research the veracity of this theory.)
This all brings to mind René Descartes' "Cogito Ergo Sum" (I think, therefore I am. in latin.) The very act of doubting your existence is proof of your existence. While I don't ascribe to Solipsism strictly, it sure has a good point to it; There really is one thing I can know for sure, that I exist. I cannot know for sure that the things around me, or the other minds I know about actually exist, because I am not those things. Who's to say I'm not plugged into some computer somewhere with information being pumped into me? Or just the thought of a butterfly? Your mind is more of a canvas than the paintbrush.
"It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have
something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it
was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit
different from this." - Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
