Is It For Real?
By Sajawal Javaid
Seeing is believing, or is it?
What is reality but the categorization and organization of subjective events into an objective way of life defined by our society? The unification of various experiences of different people; an attempt to give coherence and meaning to why the world is as it is. Does this make reality any more real than any subjective experience? Does categorizing reality as objective make it absolutely true?
Let’s see what reality truly is: reality is the way we express all that we observe from our senses. Everything we perceive that makes logical sense is our definition of reality. However, the major flaw with this argument, especially since we have decided to grant reality the honor of being an absolute truth, is that we are assuming that all that we perceive is all that there is; that our perception of the world around us is flawless. Though that, in itself, is ironically a flawed assumption.
Time and time again, we as a race, and as individuals, prove to ourselves that we are imperfect beings; imperfect in understanding, perception of and interacting with this universe. The human eye, a complex feature over which theologians marvel and awe, is in actuality extremely ill-formed for survival in this world.
world is real but your conception of the world is an illusion ~ Radhanath Swami
Upon other disabilities like almost no night-vision or the natural blind spots that each eye experiences, the one that I would like to lay emphasis on is the limited nature of human perception in the greater scheme of things. The entire Electro-Magnetic Spectrum, ranges from 1 x 106Hz to over 1 x 1019Hz, humans can only perceive about, if not less than, 10Hz. That is a ratio of about 1 : 1000,000,000,000.
Now considering this, the only reason we do know of all the other constituents of the Electro-Magnetic Spectrum, like X-Rays and Radio Waves, is because we have devised methods of viewing the constituents indirectly. For example, the only way to perceive Radio Waves is via transceivers.
The point is: perception is flawed. Our mind has the tendency to play tricks on us. That is why illusions exist, where we look at a hollow mask the right-side out or inside-out and it would create the illusion that the hollow side does not exist.
This leads me to the question – if we are to base our reality merely on the assumption that what we perceive is real and correct, how can such a reality ever be real? Like the humans suspended in a reality which they believed to be real and coherent in the movie Matrix, how are we to believe that all that we see is just what it is? Or that what we can’t see doesn’t exist? Dogs are incapable of seeing the colors red and orange, but simply because those colors are absent from the reality experienced by a dog, does it mean that these colors don’t exist altogether? They do, but only to the mind perceiving them.
Reality is nothing more than an assumption. My reality is not yours, yours is not mine, and ours is not someone else’s. It is a construct of the mind that is subjective to the core. The only reason we declare it to be objective is because there is a large majority which perceives some of the core things similarly hence they declare those core values to be real and objective; existent. But are they really?
"but simply because those colors are absent from the reality experienced by a dog, does it mean that these colors don’t exist altogether? They do, but only to the mind perceiving them."
brilliant!!! the way the author has argued his case is impressive.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO PROUD!
Sajawal yaar: LEVEL
Proud tht u were in B1 wid me, ahahaha
And thr r big LIES yet to be learnt!!!
Thank you so much for the comments
I am glad I could provide a nice enough input to the realities your minds are generating 
Thank you!
Looks like someone is a huge hit =P
Thank you, Thank you :p I wont call it huge but I'm satisfied :p
oh you provided such a nice input that my imagination is turning into reality!
the biggest reality is my excitement!
Thank you so much for the comment!
"Since all of us are creating the same reality, it does not seem weird/unusual to us."
If I may disagree, I would like to say that everyone is not creating the same reality at all. Unless two human beings were to exist in the same place in the same plan of both time and space, it is pretty much near impossible for their minds to project the same reality for reality here also encompasses the visual construct of the material around us, and not just attributes of the objects surrounding us. For what if all that we observe to be real, say a car or a house, is in fact unreal? But again, real only in the reality created by only our own mind?
What if the only thing real was our own being while everything and everyone else was nothing more than a figment of our imagination, made to be so surreal that our mind is unable to discern between what is real and what is not? The brain has the tendency to perceive the physical nature around it, even if the that physical thing might not exist, for example pain in phantom limbs.
But well, I shan't go on and on about it any further since this is just a comment, not an article :$
but won't man die of confusion if he thought about this in so much detail?
What Garfinkel implied was that if we are living in a certain area, being brought up with more or less the same values and norms, we'd be projecting the same social reality in light of the culture of the society. Which is why things would not seem weird to us, it would be our reality, it would be our "culture".
This goes on to explain why we find some aspects of the other cultures so different and unusual. They are not a part of our projected reality. We could not have imagined them with our limited scope – but again, this sociological view can still be very limiting. This is a very interesting topic, and would result in a great debate.
you talk of socialization into your own society! but that reality is dynamic, some realities are not considered dynamic by man!
Perception may not be flawed for sure. But one thing is flawed for sure, the human race.
disagreed! one could perceive the human race to be flawed, the other could view perception as flawed! the mere fact that two people will understand the same Literature novel differently goes to show that reality is dynamic and changing even from person to person! the human mind can not interpret the world in a single way alone! it looks for differences!
Indeed, it bursts out in all directions to look for answers and comprehends each thing in a different manner. But what I was focusing upon was not perception but mankind.
As they say, Man is to err
As Alexander Pope says, " Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such,"
I was just stating, the human race in general will remain flawed.
Agreed
And that is a view shared by all of us.
actually, there can not be anything above human perception, I believe! the only thing is, man stops to awe wonders as he matures! he comes to take things for granted and therefore doesn't accept alternatives!
han na! so there can not be anything 'supernatural' or above human perception! anything opposing logic essentially does not exist!
I never touched the topic of supernatural things or beings.
Logic does not answer anything.
Science and Faith are two things that do not go hand in hand.
Besides, black magic exists. I believe that is irrefutable or is it not? It involves super-beings too.
Broaden your horizon. =P
Ever think why not rather than why?
logic for me answers everything and my faith rests on logic! black magic, or in fact, any kind of magic is illogical for me and hence, doesn't exist in my perception of reality!
*pops your bubble*
*shoves you into the real world out there*
Sorry for the cyber violence. =P
But each to his/ her own I guess. Everyone has a right to form their own opinions and I totally respect that. Realities as Sajawal says vary person to person. I comprehend that matter in a different manner altogether.
Logic will always be limited to the boundaries of the human mind. I like to think there is more to life than just that.
if yo talk of the 11 dimensions in Physics, then yes, there id more to the world than human perception but that does not justify the supernatural!
You state what other have discovered. What would you like to believe in yourself? Logic? Luck? Science?
Maybe a fool's hope in your opinion, it can be a lost man's belief.
Makes the difference between life and death for someone….
I'm rather illiterate when it comes to science so forgive me if my knowledge is only restricted to four dimensions =P
I pointed out earlier, faith is just belief not logic neither proof.
hahaha such me??? Me to khud hi krta tha bhai, prefect ki izzat rakhni thi
How do you think generalizations exist and why? Reality is a subjective thing, then why does the human mind look for patterns? Things that may not be too obvious to you still exist.
Remember, there is magic all around us, waiting for our wits to grow sharper!
I think reality is pretty subjective, but the human mind NEEDS to reduce phenomenon to something intelligible. HENCE, it looks for generalizations and patterns. It is two sides of the same coin, or a directly proportional relationship – the more the confusion, the greater the desire to understand (read: conquer) it. Take the examples of E.T. why do we draw them all crooked and not More human like? Because confusions and ambiguities exists and the human mind is Programmed to try and solve them!
I think the human brain is a true work of art.. a Pure genius. the way it processes and operates!!
generalizations are exactly something that this article is refuting! as was stated by the sociologist, Popper, the work of any researcher is to prove that even if there are 999 white swans, the possibility exists for the 1000th to be black!