It’s all in the mind
January 7th, 2007 - Posted by Alan Howard
I was talking with my friend Garry a while back, and conversation turned to the perception of reality. The question was asked, is there one true reality?
I suggested that there isn’t, and even if there was, there would be absolutely no way to determine what that ‘one true reality’ was.
What is reality?
Reality is what you perceive it to be, isn’t it? Reality is defined by your perceptions. What you see, feel, hear, touch, taste and think all make up what your reality is to you.
Since every single person on this planet perceives things differently to everyone else, we can’t really say for sure that there is one true reality. There are as many realities as there are people to perceive it, with each person perceiving that reality differently.
There have been some throughout history who have said that if reality is determined only by our perception of it, then if there is no one around to perceive it, there is no reality.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? If no one heard it or saw it, it may as well not have happened at all. How can we know if a tree fell unless we observe it?
There is no reality until that reality is observed.
Schrodinger’s cat is another example of thhe paradox of reality and observation. It thoerises about a device placed into a box with a cat, and then the box is sealed. The device may or may not cause the death of the cat due to whether or not an atom decays, and yet the result is not known until the box is open and an observation is made on the condition of the cat.
It suggests, using the term ’superposition’, that all possible states of being exist simultaneously - as long as we don’t look to check. It’s the observation, or the measurement thereof, that brings about only a single possibility.
What’s the point?
What is the point of all this in the real world? What does it matter to your life and how you live it?
If you can understand that your reality is based on your perception of it, then you can understand that the effect it has on you is always by your choice. No one makes you perceive something in a particular way. No one forces you to believe something is the way it is. It’s entirely up to you how you see something, and how you feel about it, and how it affects you.
Reality, by being valid only because of how you perceive it, can be changed by changing your perceptions.
Your perceptions are based on your beliefs about how things should be. Something causes you happiness or sadness, anger or frustration, because of how you believe you should perceive it, interpret it, or react to it.
If your reality is filled with bad things happening to you, it’s because of how you’re interpreting the events around you. You can choose to react negatively, and your reactions, based on negative beliefs, are themselves negative.
You act on what you believe.
Change what you believe, and you begin to change how you act. When you change how you act, you change how others react to you. You have it in your power to change your life around from one that’s negative, for example, to one that’s positive.
How you perceive things determines your reality. Changing your perceptions is entirely within your capacity, by understanding that it’s your choice.
You might think that your perceptions, your beliefs, are simply how things are. But they’ve been created by how you’ve interpreted past experiences. The things that have happened to you or around you have resulted in you thinking about them in a certain way. What other people have told you or taught you, or even what you’ve told yourself, has had an effect on how you interpret and perceive things from that point on.
As an example, what if your teacher, when you were a child, told you that you deserved to fail at a particular subject because you never applied yourself? What if they told you that you would never be any good at it? What if you chose to believe them?
That single event of choice is what changed things for you. From that point on, you were never any good at that subject, and you had all kind of frustrations around it for the rest of your life. Your reality from that point on was determined by a perception of how things should be.
This is exactly the same for everything in your life. You act and react according to what you believe is right, and yet your beliefs are results of choices you made.
What if, in the above example, you decided to disbelieve them? Your reality would have been completely different, as you go to great lengths to prove them wrong. You would have studied that subject, passed all the exams, and possibly gone on to be incredibly successful in a career based on that subject. All because you chose not to believe them when they said you would always fail. Because you chose to believe something different when they said you weren’t good enough.
Near the beginning of this article I described reality as ‘what you see, feel, hear, touch, taste and think‘. While reality is based on your 5 senses, so is it based on how you think about things. And when you can change how you think, you change your reality.
Since your reality is really all in your mind, you can actually change your reality by changing how you think about it. No one can do this for you, it’s up to you. Those beliefs that you have had for most of your life which limit you in one way or another, can be changed. You can create new beliefs for yourself that allow you to achieve your potential.
You can create them simply by telling yourself - and believing it because you now understand it’s your choice - that you are worth a better life than what you have now. Tell yourself that you can get what you want, and that you’re the one who decides what your reality is.
Take back the power of creating your reality. Don’t give that power to other people to tell you how your reality is or should be. Make the decisions yourself.
Your reality is in your mind. You can make it what you want.
Entry Filed under: Create Your Reality
15 Responses to “It’s all in the mind”
Posted: Jan 8th, 2007 at
“If your reality is filled with bad things happening to you, it’s because of how you’re interpreting the events around you. You can choose to react negatively, and your reactions, based on negative beliefs, are themselves negative.”
So, if a 12 year old girl is sent to the Police for wetting or if the people of Iraq are ripped asunder from their oil it really is just a matter of perception.
Greg.
Posted: Jan 8th, 2007 at
That’s right, Greg.
Posted: Jan 8th, 2007 at
However, the ‘matter of perception’ is in how you feel about it, and the effect that you let it have on your life.
Your reality is determined by your perceptions, and your perceptions are influenced by your feelings, and you choose your feelings.
Some peeople say, “Meh, it’s not my issue,” and then forget all about it. Their life isn’t affected by it, and so the events don’t form a great part of their reality. Others, like me, add it to their list of ‘moral outrages’, write about it, express their disgust at how idiotic some people are.
It is all a matter of perception, how our reality is determined by our feelings based on our perceptions.
Posted: Jan 9th, 2007 at
So in a nutshell if I punch you in the nose, Alan, your best response is to ignore it or at least not feel negatively about it. In this way your reality (your perception of reality)is a matter of choosing to accept some external reality and to decline to accept some other external reality.
I wonder, however, whether it is “You” who chooses the feelings or whether those feelings are those that control your reaction.
Consider the punch in the nose scenario. Is it not likely that your feelings are going to be of hurt, insult, outrage and revenge and that you will react accordingly?
Do “You” control yout feelings or do your feelings control you?
Greg
Posted: Jan 10th, 2007 at
“…what if your teacher, when you were a child, told you that you deserved to fail at a particular subject because you never applied yourself? What if they told you that you would never be any good at it? What if you chose to believe them?”
What if, then, a meteorite arced down out of the heavens and eradicated you, your teacher and the guy who otherwise would have thumped you in the face.
Did your choice lead to this?
Reality is. We all have a unique perspective on that reality, but that’s why it’s called a perspective: it’s a viewpoint, not the viewpoint.
Reality was before I got here and will be after I’m gone, and the only thing I have control over is how I react to it.
Moghal
P.S. Good to see the big themes still going strong, Alan. Sorry to hear about Eve
Posted: Jan 10th, 2007 at
Greg:
reality is still based on your perception. As I said, “Reality is defined by your perceptions. What you see, feel, hear, touch, taste and think all make up what your reality is to you.” Therefore, the reality of being punched in the nose is certainly different to the reality of being the one doing the punching.
But you also forget that, “If your reality is filled with bad things happening to you, it’s because of how you’re interpreting the events around you. You can choose to react negatively, and your reactions, based on negative beliefs, are themselves negative.” The only reason someone is likely to be punching you in the nose is because you interpreted their actions in a way that encouraged you to do something that ending up offending them.
If you had’ve changed your perception of them and, instead of ‘confronting them’ because of your negative perception of their actions, you walk away or choose not to acknowledge them, then your reality would change. They may not have punched you in the nose, because you did nothing to deserve it. Changing your perception of events, which changes the actions you choose, ends up avoiding that punch in the nose.
You control your feelings. Which means you can choose not to be offended by someone’s actions and walk away, or you can choose that you WILL be offended by their actions and confront them. Resulting in a punch in the nose.
Posted: Jan 10th, 2007 at
Moghal:
You’re asking questions which invite deeper answers than this article presents. This article is about interpreting events in a way that changes your reality.
In that context, if a meteorite wipes out everyone you know and leaves you alive, you can interpret that in a number of ways, all of which define the reality you feel you’re part of. You can interpret it as an act of God and, if you believed in him, you could end up hating him for his actions. Or you can tell yourself ‘there’s a plan for everything, so this must be part of his plan too. I’ll accept it as that.’ You can interpret it as a random act of horrific chance, and feel guilty that you’re still alive. You might choose feelings and actions which result in your own self-destruction. Or you might choose feelings and actions which attempt to do honour to those who were killed. Maybe you’ll join a rescue service, or provide charity to the needy.
Any event, no matter the strength of its impact on your life, is going to be interpreted by you in any number of ways. All of those interpretations, perceptions and feelings are, ultimately, your choice. And as such, you choose the reality you exist in.
As for the questions which invite deeper answers about your choices leading to a meteorite coming into your life, the answer is yes they do. But that’s on a level much deeper than individual choice of perceptions. That’s on a level of the choices we all make on a spiritual level about the kind of reality we want.
We exist in a world of war because collectively, people want to experience life during a war. Those that don’t, individually, find ways to avoid the war and live lives of peace. This goes into the belief that we choose to be born in this time because of the experiences that we can partake in, all of which help our spiritual evolution.
But that can be for another article.
Posted: Jan 10th, 2007 at
I meant to add that collectively, a natural disaster affects us because of the choices that we make. Individually and collectively.
Think about it. Why would an earthquake affect us? Because we choose to live there. We choose to build over a fault line. We choose continue staying there despite repeated earthquakes in the past. The effect a future earthquake has on us is because of our choices which led us to that location or kept us there despite our good sense to go somewhere safer.
How would our choices affect the unpredictable and sometimes catastrophic storms that affect us? Earth changes or global warming are resulting from the choices we’re making collectively. We choose to allow environmentally unfriendly practices that result in the environment being unfriendly to us. If we made better choices about what we’re willing to put up with from the producers, then we’d have less effects.
We’re still choosing the reality we exist in by the choices we make. Those choices are based on our feelings. If we feel differently, and make different choices, our reality changes.
Posted: Jan 13th, 2007 at
Now let us examine more closely the notion of choices and control of those choices.
I want to start up a jackhammer outside your house and run it 24 hours a day. Now you may choose to ignore it but really it cannot be ignored. This external factor does impact upon you and your reality. Certainly you have some control over your reaction but only some.
Let me now be more mischievious and bombard your house with microwaves of which you are unaware yet which cause you mental and physical distress.
Let me again unbeknown to you put fluoride or chlorine or some virtually undetectable additive in your water supply which has a direct chemical impact and hence effect on your mental processes.
Now certainly your reality is very much influenced by your perceptions and reactions but it is not not the sole determinant. Bad things can happen to the most optimistic person and good things can happen to the dire pessimist. That is part of reality too.
Greg
Posted: Jan 17th, 2007 at
Again, you’re ignoring the most important aspect of thoughts creating reality. In the context of your comment, there’s a very important question:
WHY do you want to start up a jackhammer outside my house and run it 24 hours a day?
WHY would you want to bombard my house with microwaves (which is technology only a large government agency would possess)?
The answer to those questions is obvious: because I have done something that has resulted in you wanting to do these things. I have committed myself to actions which have resulted in you doing them. My reality is still based on my thoughts, which have led to actions, which have led to consequences.
If I don’t want you to do what you say you’ll do, then I’ll make sure I don’t piss you off to the point that you have to set up a jackhammer outside the house. Or I’ll stop being an activist so that the government has no reason to bombard me with microwaves….
Thoughts create reality. You can’t escape it, so I don’t know why you bother trying. *smile*
Posted: Jan 19th, 2007 at
Excellent post Alan…you have a strong grasp of the doctrine of mentalism- a subject this one has studied, believed and practiced for many years. I write simple poems and in many of them can be found the underlying principles of mentalism. Am glad to have stumbled upon your blog and will definitely be back to enjoy more of your posts.
Posted: Jan 19th, 2007 at
Thank you for the compliment. Could you please explain how mentalism is applicable here?
Posted: Jan 19th, 2007 at
How, exactly, do your choices cause the meteorite?
In a complex system - i.e. reality - small, inconsequential actions can have profound and significant effects, no doubt. But there are limits to the effect and some occurences are simply beyond our ability to cause or avoid.
M.
Posted: Jan 19th, 2007 at
The concept of our choices affecting meteorites is one where the belief in life after death is necessary, because along with that belief comes the belief that we choose many lives in which to experience different events. Associated with that is the belief that the future is known to us because we’re not part of the timeline yet; we’re existing outside of it, looking for a time period in which to be born and experience the events of that time. When we find a suitable time period that will allow us to experience events that we want to experience - events that we choose to become part of - then we inhabit the body of a baby about to be born into that period.
So, if you believe in reincarnation, you believe that we choose to become part of the events of the period of time we are born into. That is my belief as well, and I speak from that belief.
And then there is the collective choice, where the majority of civilisation itself want something to happen so much that their thoughts create reality.
Religiously-inspired Republicans and warmongers are making choices that will lead them to the Armageddon that they so desire. Fear-fuelled followers make choices that reflect their fear, and collectively they move forward into an environment that is more associated with their fears than anything else - because of the choices they make. They fear terrorism, so they fight it, and in so doing they create more terrorism than they ever thought possible.
Collectively, if mankind believes it deserves extinction, it will manifest a result, whether that’s nuclear war or a meteorite… the result will be what we collectively believe we deserve.
Posted: Jan 19th, 2007 at
“Since your reality is really all in your mind, you can actually change your reality by changing how you think about it…”
This quote of one of your sentences in your post Alan, is how mentalism applies to your post. Mentalism is based on the theory that all exists because of thought…we think it and so it manifests externally in the form of matter. As you have explained we can know nothing of the world beyond our own perceptions of it. One needs to dig deep into this to see that the senses do NOT come first and then the thought. It is the other way around. The thought comes first and the senses carry out the thought. A dead man’s body still has eyes that can see, ears that can hear etc etc but because his mind has left then the senses cannot externalize what the eyes see or the ears hear.
As you have said we CAN change our reality by changing our thought process…the power is in our own mind.
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