How do you know what is real? Because you feel it? Because you can see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it?

Objective Reality Isn’t Really Enough

If you believe in an objective reality, a reality that is mind-independent, that means “reality” just is what it is, there is no “out there” out there, and reality is thus inclusive of objects that are unknown to  given individual and not the subject of intentionality. I have a hard time with the hard-line objective realists for whom there is no spirituality, no concept of soul or God or anything beyond this physical “reality” that can be scientifically tested and proven. Let alone for now everything science has learned about reality in Quantum Physics (that happens to be a favored subject of mine, so we’ll spend plenty of time exploring that animal, believe you me).

I can’t quite get my head around subjective reality yet, though. Look at the terminology literally. Subjective reality means that “reality is subjective” to the experience of each and every individual. Do we really all live in completely separate, different, unique worlds? If that’s the way it is, why am I even writing this for someone else to read?!? I honestly don’t know on subjective reality. But I’m definitely going to figure it out, at least for myself. Not today, but I’m working on it, so . . . someday.  J

I can tell you one thing I firmly believe though . . . objective reality isn’t really enough. I keep quoting Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, I love the way he asks “is there really an ‘out there,’ out there?” Man, I can’t wait to get Cielem’el exploring spirituality and the quantum physics of reality; that is going to be a trip!

So why don’t I believe in objective reality? Well, it’s pretty simple really, and it started as far back as I can remember in life: I can’t tell my dreams apart from reality.

Dreams vs. “Reality”

Even when I was a tiny little kid too little to remember things, I was already having dreams that were so real I had no idea what was awake and what was sleep, when I woke up. I had a recurring dream about walking home from the sledding hill in Fremont (Nebraska) and falling through the ice on the hockey rink because I rushed across instead of going around. I can’t tell you if the very first ice-falling dream was so real, but man, it wasn’t long before I was waking up screaming because the icy water was burning my skin as it froze and I was struggling to free my legs and get out, and waking up didn’t help. It was a long time before I realized the fear in that dream was more about the fact that I was alone, rather than that I fell in the shallow ice. That dream always bothered me because my brother wasn’t there watching out for me. In real life (let’s just go with the terminology for now, and assume it refers to what we generally think of as our waking reality), Eric was always with me growing up. I’m not 100% positive on this, but I’m pretty sure my brother was the most protective older brother ever when we were growing up. OK, he didn’t, like, lock me up in my bedroom so I couldn’t go play outside where I might possibly fall and scrape my knee, but he was always there to make sure that all I did was scrape my knee, rather than break my leg.

So, ok, let’s say that was just a recurring nightmare and it seemed real to me because I was just a kid. The weird thing is, all of my dreams are so real I can’t tell dreams from being awake. The senses are complete, I feel, see, hear, taste, and touch exactly the same as when I’m awake. I’ll dream a conversation with my mom, for example, and then when she and I actually do discuss the subject, I can’t remember what I have or haven’t told her because in my mind telling her in the dream was the same thing as telling her in waking reality.

I’ve gotten used to that in a way though. Besides the reality-in-dreams thing, I’ve also had some ridiculously real lucid dream experiences, but I don’t know if we’ll get to that very deeply right now. I’m just trying to get you thinking, and lay out some of my thoughts for myself so when I think and write about this again, I’m a little further along in my thought process.  J

And . . . What the BLEEP?!?

Just gotta say, “What the Bleep – Down the Rabbit Hole” is just about my favorite movie of all time. I don’t remember the name of the guy right now who talks about how they recorded brain centers and measured when the brain was stimulated in an awake state vs. a dream state, but the results made perfect sense to me.

The brain doesn’t know the difference between dreaming and not-dreaming. I don’t even have a degree in Quantum Physics, and I could have told you that!  😉  Of course, my research of the mind and reality and dreams and reality is all experiential. I just tell it like it is, as far as my experience goes. But those quantum physicists, they can prove some really freaky things. You want your mind blown, go see What the BLEEP?!?

And then, if you’re really feeling courageous about stretching your brain, go get Dr. Fred Alan Wolf’s book on CD – “Dr. Quantum: A User’s Guide to Your Universe.” I’ve listened to that thing three or four times over the last several years but it’s been too long since I did that, I’m dying to go through it again, soon.