What is Reality, Really?
Any "reality check" should begin with the words "For me ..." for "reality" is as individual as fingerprints. Actually, much more so.
By Bruce W Chenoweth

For most of my life I was clearly able to discern what was real, and what wasn't. What was real was whatever my experience was, and what was unreal were the ideas, responses and reactions of everyone else. It used to be so simple!

Frequently I would meet someone who seemed to also have it all together. This, of course, meant that they apparently agreed with my point of view. At least they did so on whatever subjects and ideas were occupying my mind in the moment. Invariable, however, over time they would reveal the "truth." In most areas of perception they were no closer to reality than the next person. It seemed that I was all alone in the "real world."

Then "it" began to happen. My paradigm, or perception of reality, shifted. I realized that I had been wrong before! As humbling as the realization was, I was reassured to know that, at least now I knew what was real. I set off to tutor the world. To bring them up to the lofty plateau of wisdom that I had been blessed and endowed to attain ...

... But, it happened again! Another major paradigm shift! Then another. Then another. Again and again and again. A pattern was beginning to form.

Each time I stepped into a new "reality" I was faced with how shallow my perspective had been before. And, even though it seemed so clear with each subsequent shift, that plateau too would fall into the abyss of laughable myth as each new plateau would emerge. The "wiser" I became, the more confused I seemed to be.

Long ago I read a statement that had "stuck" in my mind, even though I had not understood it. Now it was beginning to make more and more sense to me. It was:

"Confusion is the final stage before enlightenment."

Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh

Likely the only reason it began to make sense was because it became integrated with something else that I had learned years before. It was about Socrates.

Socrates was considered by many scholars of his day to be the wisest man alive. Possibly even the wisest man who had ever lived. One scholarly student sought his council for this very reason. When Socrates asked why he had come, he replied "to study under the wisest man alive!"

Socrates scoffed and retorted that the student had made a serious error. Socrates went on to inform him that he considered himself to be a complete fool, knowing absolutely nothing at all! He sent the young man on his way.

When the young man returned to the teacher from whom he had learned about Socrates, he sadly reported his encounter, relating that Socrates believed that he knew absolutely nothing at all.

The wise teacher replied "Yes. I know. This is what makes him the wisest man alive."

So with all that, I will also confess that you are reading the ramblings of a confused fool. All that I have ever learned, for certain, is how little I know. The clarity that I have been developing in this regard allows me to more acutely be aware of the obscuring haze of existence. It is like the Milky Way on a clear, cold, dark night. Although what I am looking at is apparently an amazingly enormous assortment of super-gigantic celestial bodies, it all seems like a distant hazy cloud to me.

As I metamorphose from the state of "knowing everything" to the more probable recognition of total ignorance, there are two "truths" which, at least for now, still remain "real" to me. These are:

• The human species is incapable of ever perceiving anything resembling "Reality," and,

• We are all very skilled at inventing our own "realities" along our journey.

If those two statements are meaningful to you, possibly you are as confused, ignorant and foolish as I am. You will more than likely find great folly on this web site.

If, instead, the two statements seem totally absurd to you, you are certainly absolutely "right." Unfortunately, it seems that being "right", as I have been learning, is the chief form of self sabotage. If this is the case for you, you are welcome to indulge your superior mind in the ramblings and madness of this site and its associated links. Given enough time here, you should be able to become as confused and ignorant as some of the rest of us ...