Do you believe that reality is fixed or variable or doesnt even exist?

Question

Do you believe that reality is fixed or variable or doesnt even exist?

Answer 1

Well reality of some form or other definitely exists. If reality didn't exist then YOU wouldn't exist! (whether you're dreaming or not!) lol



Simply speaking, by "reality" philosophers typically mean "all that exists." or something of the like. And things obviously exist in this world. Even if you doubt every single thing, you cannot doubt that YOU exist so that's at least one thing that exists, meaning reality would also exist.



But you also are addressing two distinct problems here. One is epistemological in nature (how do you KNOW you're not right now dreaming, or a brain-in-a-vat, or in the Matrix, etc.) and one that concerns metaphysics (what exists, what is reality, what is it made of, etc.)



It's hard to know what you mean by "is reality fixed" or is it "variable" because that can be interpreted in many ways.



By general and special relativity, we do know that when we speed up really fast, weird things are observed to happen. And also, gravity appears to affect time, etc. In this sense, the question is already answered, yes reality is in many respects 'relative.' BUT, in a sense it's fixed. It works according to certain metaphysical and physical laws, in which Einsteins equations, (and all other scientific equations) simply describe. And this is something that appears to never change.



Now the whole thing about dreaming doesn't really concern the nature or reality much, but is traditionally brought up to address problems of knowledge and justification, which is different from the question of what reality actually consists of.



One philosophical theory about reality called Idealism sort of relates to your dreaming comments. It traditionally holds that reality consists of purely ideas. There is no material world. When you look at a tree, kick it, etc. Think about what you as a person are confronted with. Are you really confronted with a PHYSICAL tree or just IDEAS of it. Also, if you think its a physical tree, how would you back up that claim? Everything you say could be said to just boil down to ideas in your mind.

Answer 2

If REALITY comprises of everything that happens in this physical world then -



There has to be some sort of existence of what you perceive to be real.



What we dream of, doesn't exist. It is simply what I "want to happen" or what i "fear would happen" or just an unexplained imagination. That happening does not exist in reality. There is no record in time that it occurred. Hence term it as "imagination".



When we die we do not realise that what happened in this world wasn't "real"....i think it was and always will be real if i assume the definition of "reality" to be what ive written in my first line here.

Our soul after death realises that what happened in this world wasn't "permanent" it was very much real. It will not last but it was there. In biology we are taught the difference between living, non living and dead things.... a non living thing is that which never had life....while the dead thing had life once and now it is not alive. Similarly, what we dream was never a reality, and what happens to us in this world was a reality thought it will not last.



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If REALITY is merely anything that can directly or indirectly influence us...then yes! everything is real.... directly influence us meaning, when we see a sad happening we cry...direct influence.

Indirectly influence us meaning.... we think of something sad that "might" happen and has not happened yet in the physical world, yet in the fear and perceiving the imagination to be real, we cry. It is an indirect influence. People laugh and cry seeing films....again an indirect influence. The film isn't real by the first definition....but it influences us and initiates a reaction....hence by the 2nd definition it is real.





The Q can be answered by every person in their own way, going by how they will define " reality "



Very nice Q!



Keep :-)

Answer 3

''when you were sleeping,whatever that happened during the sleep was reality for you at that point of time''



Mind boggling!



I'm not sure if you can call this fixed or not..



We all know that when we fall asleep we are perceived as the most vulnerable to anything..

Hence our minds open more freely in this 'unconscious' state and we can think of anything in the world..

We dream about flying, we dream about being an Oscar winning actor/actress, we dream about being with some lover and other x-rated stuff, we dream about being super heroes, etc.

It is never ending..



I dont think these dreams or this 'fake reality' is fixed..



Its not like you actually want to fly, or maybe we all do, but still, you know in truth, that it is impossible to fly, without some hi-tech gadget, but does your inner self, that comes out during a dream know that? Because all that inner self will dream about is only you, without any machinery or anything else, soaring above the clouds..



Some people also say that whatever happens in dreams, is related to reality, like, a person who dreams of a certain object, actually wants that object in real life..



Again this is not proven whether we actually dream of what we want or secretly crave..



For example, when I was younger, I remember vaguely always dreaming of a crocodile, a ferocious one.. But at that age I had never even seen a crocodile, I hardly watched Discovery and my local zoo did not have them.. Why I dreamed of it, I cant really say..

And it was a recurring dream..



Another recurring dream, about 2 years ago was 'the world is ending' sort of one, with me stranded on a bridge with the water levels increasing from underneath and the entire city wiped out



Most of the times I realize that I had a lovely dream, but I cant seem to remember anything about it!



So at the moment, our dreams are mostly far from reality.



I guess you are almost right to say that what happened in a dream was actually a reality at one time, but it is a reality in your sub-conscious mind, not in this physical word..



Who knows, maybe we might actually wake up when we die, and realize all of this - our families-school-yahoo-Europe- every damn thing was just one big dream..

Could happen, but we would never really know unless we die right?

We are still dreaming then..!

Answer 4

Dreaming and imagination are two separate things, that unite the reality which you are living now

... Your reality is the reflection of past Dreams, Thoughts (imagination)...



you hold the answer, yet you are confusing your self with what you are curious about

Answer 5

reality is a variable because reality is whatever you perceive to be real at that moment dream or not

the harder question does it exist... if you suddenly die your reality would cease to exist but everyone else's would continue assuming you arn't imagining everyone else existence if that happens then we all cease to be as well



assuming of course that im not imagining you

Answer 6

I do not 'believe' anything!

May I answer anyway?



Existence = the complete Universe = Reality = Consciousness = Truth = 'Self!' =God = Brahman = Tao ...

All INCLUSIVE!!

Everything exists! All inclusive!

Everything is Real! All inclusive!

Existence/Reality is all inclusive!

That which is perceived exists. All inclusive!

That which exists is perceived. All inclusive!

Not a thing exists (notice that I didn't say that 'nothing' exists, 'cause it don't! *__- ) that is not perceived. All inclusive!

Not a thing is perceived that does not exist. All inclusive!

There is no, nor can there be, any evidence to the contrary!



Every moment of existence is as it is!

No moment of existence can ever be 'otherwise'!!

You can not be any other than Here! Now!



Every moment of existence manifests synchronously!



"The Laws of Nature are not rules controlling the metamorphosis of what is, into what will be. They are descriptions of patterns that exist, all at once... The four-dimensional space-time manifold displays all eternity at once." - Genius; the Life and Science of Richard Feynman



There is only one moment (Planck moment; 10^-43/sec; "almost" one billion trillion trillion trillionths of a second!!!) of the entirety of existence/Reality/the Universe!

All existence, ever, in one, literally, 'timeless' moment!

Now!



'Reality...' is a synchrony of moments!



Reality is ALL inclusive; dreams, thoughts, hamburgers, galaxies, image-ination-thoughts, memory-thoughts,... all inclusive!



'Reality' is not 'variable', but every moment is unique as it is!



Everything exists!

Everything is True!



tat tvam asi

Answer 7

Reality is multidimentional , living, changing ,growing and all encompassing reality,bonded by a force of consciosness we know as Spirit. It can not be measured by words, only experienced.

In many ways ,it can be said, that you are a fleshy projection of your dreaming self.

Answer 8

i believe that if you try to play with the crocodiles you are likely to be torn to shreds

Answer 9

Unfortunately, it is true!

It is this deep question, this deep doubt, this deep uncertainty that draws a person to seek further. The logical mind accompanies this 'seeking' and that presents the perceptional problem. This mind keeps preconcluding every observation, every perception, and makes the progress painfully slow. Spiritual masters, since ancient days have spent lots of time & effort, just to evolve techniques that would hasten the progress towards deeper perception. Please see, there are at least a few occasions, where we dream, and in a half-sleep state. We know that we are just a 'witness' to some sort of 'visualisation'. We do not even have that clarity during the witnessing that it is just a 'dream' but we do not that it is not all that real too! That witnessing aspect is the clue. In wakeful states, we can shift into that 'witnessing' state, where we are in our so called 'reality' and yet we 'experience' the 'stuff', the raw stuff, that goes into making this reality. This 'witnessing' state is also known as meditative state. It is a state of being. We also call the pratices that bring us to this state as 'meditation'. It is almost like the state of 'walking'. We have legs, but there is no 'walking' in it till we are in a state of 'walking'. Again, this witnessing instantly tempts our mind to refer to it as 'seeing' with eyes, or visualising with mind. (That is the result of the 'accompanyment' by a logical mind!). So, any meaningful progress to reach closer to that 'ultimate' reality could happen only when the mind is not! We cannot apply brakes to the mind. It has to cease by itself. (In Indian tradition, Yoga is defined as cessation of mind!). The moment, the mind gets switched off consciously, in full alertness, awareness, we get 'tuned-in' with that 'nothingness' . Please see, when we are in 'good' sleep state, (deep sleep states), our sense organs are "withdrawn" (not plugged.... we don't plug our ears, we don't plug our nose).

So, this question is going to remain unanswered for an individual, simply because the grasp of the answer is at a level beyond the sensory level of perception. (A good number, amongst the best of scientists, since decades, we find, turn inwards quietly, having done everything on the outside, to reach this 'reality'! For curiosity sake, we have our present day scientists trying to solve the riddle of 'quantum-entanglement'!).

To keep the inquisitiveness alive, we have our 'self-awareness' which can deepen further if we are keen about it. It is our past 'dream' that designed us into this 'human' frame with this unique capability of 'self-awareness'. This preceding statement is difficult to 'accept' and agree. But it does not seek any concurrence. It is up to us, to keep an open mind, and temporarily try to use it as 'suppose it is true' basis, since there is no big harm or loss in experimenting.

The 'contents' of the question is quite deep. The basis of the highest of scientific enquiries are presently engaged in unraveling the very same contents in a deeper manner.