Does this world, this universe, really exist? Is anything that we perceive as 'real' truly out there?
These are intriguing questions (and 'no', I haven't smoked weed today!).
How can we be so sure that anything we see, hear, touch, smell..., really looks, feels, smells, sounds the way we perceive it. Bees can see ultra-violet; their world must therefore look quite different from ours...some animals can only see black and white; dogs live in an "odor universe" - they smell their world.
Our brains determine what we perceive and how we perceive the outside world.
Let's take this thought to extremes, shall we...as our brain filters and alters our perception of the outside world - we can assume that the *real* world looks quite different from the world as we know it. Why not wonder just for once, if our brains do not only re-create the outside world (filter and alter), but what if they actually create it?
What if we are living a "bubble life" :-) ?
Each and everyone living in their own little bubble, their own little universe? What if everything we take for real is nothing but a matrix, created by our respective brains?
As crazy as this sounds, the thought isn't completely insane...just like that philosophical theory about our existence being the dream of some sleeping giant.
Although this seems pulled by the hair, it certainly makes you realize that the truth or reality isn't necessarily what we perceive...our senses can be quite easily manipulated. Perception is everything...and whatever we consider real is just a reflexion of another - hidden - reality...we fail to see the true nature of things...
Have a nice Bubble Life, everybody ;-)
2 comments:
I think if you dwell on this thought, you will start to go crazy.
I think it's important to remind oneself that there is an objective reality, regarless of whether or not one is perceiving it. You are an organism capable of thought, and an organism is something tangible
Hmmm...what IS tangible? I'm just playing the Devil's advocat here, and don't worry I don't intend to go insane :-)
I'm not saying that I truly believe that none of the things that we perceive as real exist outside our brain. It is an interesting and valid question however; for me it's thinking out of the box to some degree.
And I have to disagree with you...there is nothing like an "objective reality" out there, that's the thing.
Our *reality* is the result of our perception - if you will, the result of the interaction of our neurones; there is no such thing as an objective reality. People with schizophrenia or a brain tumor can attest to that.
I guess that's what I was trying to say. Of course, I've taken this thought to extremes here :-)
If you're interested - in case you don't know the book - I can highly recommend "The Man who mistook his Wife for a Hat", by O. Sacks....it's about cerebral leasons and their effcts...it's a fascinating read!
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