Reality exists in your brain

by Nickolas 59 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  poppers

  I agree, poppers, but the manufactured reality each of us has is our primary survival mechanism. It is for that reason we might be reluctant to let down our defenses to allow in strange and wonderful insights. I think, to give a practical example, most people don't leave the WTBTS because they are afraid to allow in thinking that threatens their utopian paradigm.

  Yes, a survival mechanism for the body/mind, but that survival mechanism is misconstrued to be "what I am". In other words, an identity is created out of thought forms that get labeled "me", but when that "me" is investigated it is found to be nothing more than a series of thoughts and ideas. People live their lives not from the reality of what they are but from and through the false reality that is created out of thought.

  This begs the question, "Who/what am I really? If I am not the 'me' that I think I am then what am I?" Finding the answer to that uncovers the reality of "what is" that exists prior to any thought. The appearance of the world "out there" doesn't change when this happens; what changes is how that world is experienced based on knowing the truth of what one actually is. Knowing the truth of what one is reveals how utopian ideas only help to sustain an illusory world, and that is what is so scary to the "false me". The biggest fear that the false me has is facing the fact of its nonexistence as a real entity - it will do anything to maintain its illusory existence, including creating utopian ideas to hide out in. The WT has created a wonderfully utopian world for that false me to hide in. Is it any wonder that that world looks so inviting?
• 

  Twitch

  It sounds like you haven't yet experienced lucid dreaming, Twitch. - Well technically, what i've experienced is a lucid dream, the definition being where one is aware that they're dreaming. More specifically it's a Wake Initiated Lucid Dream that typically happens as one falls asleep. I try to prolong the state. Lack of detail about people is common for me in the state. Surroundings are very detailed, so much so that it's like being there. And I'm aware and in control of it to a degree.
• 

  TheJigsUp

  ok, please could you explain the reality that exists in our brains where for instance that percieved reality invisibly holds a person by the throat and lifts them off of the floor up to the ceiling.

  with people looking through the skylight of the door and not being able to get in because the door which isnt locked will not open.

  or when perhaps elsewhere something hits a wall with such force that well built grown men jump out of the chair on the opposite side of the wall.

  oh i could go on,

  there is more to all of this than meets the eye.

  that was probably inappropriate overall to the subject matter, but some really crazy shit really does happen.

  and to put so many things down to our perception i feel is an inaccurate depiction of wider reality that is not often experienced but real none the less

  and without a viable explanation from so called science.

  such experiences are faced with discredit and disdain from the scientific community.

  and it is closed mindedness on their part.

  without first acknowledgement how can there ever be closure.

  and just to also acknowledge those that disagree, you have obviously not experienced such.

  yes reality i believe on a personal level exists in the brain, but to confine it to such would be, in some degree, to discredit

  reality as a whole that exists without witness.

  if a tree fell in the forest etc..

  not only that, but to confine oneself to reality being a construct of the brain would be to deny the universe beyond that we

  have yet to discover.

  i believe the brain is a link, a hardware that contains software that links us to a multifaceted reality.

  that we have yet to discover.
• 

  Nickolas

  poppers, you are officially invited to share an old single malt Islay with me at my bar. Someday.

  Yes, Twitch, I know what you're saying and you are likely right.

  TJU, everything you see, everything you hear, everything you feel and smell and touch is interpreted and presented to you as your reality by your brain. What you are perceiving right now as you read my words is ephemeral. Your reality will live only as long as you do. Once your brain is gone, your reality is gone. Your brain interprets its inputs according to its disposition, and evidently your disposition is to believe in the supernatural. That's something I don't believe in myself, so I never see it and because I never see it I don't believe it exists. Kind of a self defeating cycle.
• 

  Twitch

  @Poppers - I asked myself those questions some time ago when I still liked psilocybin, but I couldn't decide what was more disturbing; the drug or the answer lol. 'Course I was already suffering from a crisis of identity brought on from the recent exit from dubland so any answer was moot ;)
• 

  TheJigsUp

  damn, i edited and wrote a bit more but it wont let me post it.

  but i disagree nickolas,

  the 'supernatural' i am talking about are things that really happened and were witnessed by others, otherwise i wouldnt have used those as examples.

  we had more than 'two witnesses' so it would be good for a child abuse case.

  but maybe not enough proof for others.

  physical evidence to boot.

  but alas, physical evidence and several witnessess is not good enough.

  now of course i cannot prove to you that anyone was abused (on another note) other than the physical evidence and more than two witnesess

  but this brings me back to an earlier post..

  one is the same as the other in effect.
• 

  TheJigsUp

  you think therefore you are, i have no proof of that if i want to follow the same construct as some.

  you may just be a creation of my brain reacting to this and that.

  where will we draw the line?

  where should i draw the line?

  so to try and create boundaries throughout my reality, as much as it serves purpose for the most part

  does nothing but alienates me from reality as a whole.

  my boundaries limit my understanding, because in my wall making i create blocks, locking myself away from growth.my experiences design the

  blocks

  and boundaries, my thoughts are a construct formulated from my experiences.

  but in order to understand anything i am unfamiliar with i have to

  think outside of the box that my experiencesand understanding limit me to. and yet i continue to be limited.

  closed mindedness is i believe

  something that imprisons us all and we dont even recognise it when we arefully encompassed by it. at the same time we wish to think of ourselves

  as open minded individuals ever seeking knowledge.but as soon as we grasp an understanding, we lose the quality that makes children so good at

  learning language.

  childeren learn so quickly because they have not constrained themselves in a bind.we inherently grow in understanding that is

  presented to us some of which is accurate, and some of which is another stepping stone on the way to understanding. yet we believe all of which

  we incorperate into our software as real at some point.and this halts our further growth for a time until we see otherwise.and due to popular belief

  whether it be this or that, we do this on a massive scale and halt growth exponentially.so that we no longer search for any answers because we

  believe we've found them.then we stop, and go stale for a time.sorry, im ranting.carry on.
• 

  VampireDCLXV

  So... if reality is just electrical signals...

  If a man expresses his opinion in a forest and a woman isn't around to hear it, is he still wrong?

  V665
• 

  TheJigsUp

  you bet your ass vampire thats an ultimate given.
• 

  Nickolas

  One of the great imponderables of the universe, V.

  I comprehend what you are saying, TJU, and it is all valid. The line to which you refer isn't fixed. Each of us has a different line and it is constantly shifting. Most of what we perceive as reality is a substantially accurate representation of the physical world around us. Where our brains depart from reality is when nothing physical is being represented, when we interpret intangible things like another person's emotions or thoughts, for example, or when our brains go on spontaneous journeys as in lucid dreaming or in magic mushroom or LSD illusions. (I've never done psilocybin, Twitch. I'm reminded of an episode in The Sopranos in which the main character does shrooms for the first time and yells out to the world "I get it!"). Reports of paranormal experiences (and UFO sightings) are legion, yet none has been substantiated. Again citing Fatima, there were thousands of people who reported witnessing the same supernatural phenomenon yet no proof exists that it actually happened - indeed, there is only proof that it didn't happen. Proof of existence of the paranormal is more than elusive, it doesn't seem to exist. Someone who has experienced something unexplained and for which they have physical evidence is a candidate to claim the $1 million Randi prize, yet that prize has stood untouched for several years.